"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
m...

Paged through the latest issue of Consumer Reports and they had some
information on dishwashers. the say three cycles is about all anyone
needs.
I agree with that.

They go on to say that the sanicycle is not needed as the dishes are no
longer sanitized once you touch them to put them away. While I agree with
that fact, I don't know about it being useless. What about germs and
other
gunk before you wash them? If everything is killed off by the typical 130
degree water and harsh detergents, I may agree. OTOH, this time of year
people often eat outdoors. Insects land on the dishes and have a meal.
Fido may lick the plates clean. Little kids can do all sorts of
unsanitary
things. I figure the sani-cycle helps to rid the dishes of some
potentially
harmful stuff on them.

Is the caustic detergent enough?

I have a KitchenAid with the sani-rinse and heated wash options. Even
though I have soft water, I find that I get the very best performance from
my dishwasher when I use those options. I keep my water heater set fairly
low - about 130F and that may be a factor. I can always tell if someone
cancelled the heat settings. I think that not only does the hot water do a
better job of cleaning, but the cycle timer goes into suspension when the
water is being brought to temperature. That prolongs the cycle and probably
also contributes to the improvement. I could probably get away with two
cycles - heavy duty and normal. I could probably count on one hand the
number of time I have used the short wash, china, and rinse only cycles. On
my dishwasher the sani-rinse and heated wash are not cycles, but options
that can be used with any cycle except rinse only. The other option is
economy dry which turns off the heating element on the dry cycle. I find
that if I use sani-rinse, the dishes are so hot that they dry completely
without using the heat assisted dry option. With that in mind, I think it
is better to use sani-rinse and get cleaner dishes that dry well then to let
the dishes use normal hot water, not get sanitized, and have to use the
heated dry cycle. As for the hygiene issue, the dishes may be contaminated
when you touch them, but the bacteria may not be as pathogenic as the ones
that are one the dishes because they touched raw poultry. All bacteria are
not equal. I figure there is a reason that health departments require that
dishes machines heat to certain temperatures in commercial settings even
though the dishes will eventually be touched.