Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Dishwashers (related to thread on common meals clean up)

[Joanie Connors (jvcphd]

Dishes will usually get sanitized if they can be completely dry before
using. Germs have a hard time surviving if there's no moisture.

For added security during times of flus and other sicknesses, try
adding hydrogen peroxide to the water. It's also rumored that white
vinegar sanitizes, though it's good to add it to dishwasher loads for
hard water (to make the glasses come clean and prevent calcium
buildup) regardless.

On Sat, Jun 30, 2012 at 11:41 AM, Joani Blank <jeblank [at] swansway.com> wrote:
>
> A couple of people have asked me about sanitation with
> residential dishwashers. Commercial dishwashers require
> the use of chemical sanitizers, because even though the
> water is superheated, the wash cycle  is so short (2.5
> to 3 minutes) that the exposure of any germs to the hot
> water might not be long enough to absolutely assure
> their being killed dead! However some people don't
> realize that all modern residential dishwashers preheat
> the water to 140 or more, and since they can take close
> to (or quite a bit longer) than an hour to wash and
> rinse the dishes, the dishes come out just as clean
> from them as they come from a commercial dishwasher.
>
> Have you ever heard of someone getting sick because
> they ate something off a plate that just came out of a
> dishwasher?  I'll bet it's never happened.
>
> Joani
>
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