Thread Number: 74624  /  Tag: Modern Dishwashers
Flexrak??
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Post# 984292   2/25/2018 at 13:41 (2,223 days old) by jkbff (Happy Rock, ND)        

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Has anyone tried this?









Post# 984297 , Reply# 1   2/25/2018 at 14:41 (2,223 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.)        

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Looks interesting and useful, if the coating is of good quality/durability.

The IndieGoGo link provided on the YouTube vid is defunct.  Google search finds several other failed links ... but http://www.theflexrak.com works.


Post# 984298 , Reply# 2   2/25/2018 at 14:47 (2,223 days old) by IowaBear (Cedar Rapids, IA)        

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I agree an interesting idea.  But $95 plus $10 shipping...too rich for my blood!


Post# 984300 , Reply# 3   2/25/2018 at 15:05 (2,223 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.)        

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That's on-par with many OEM replacement racks (and considerably less than some).


Post# 984304 , Reply# 4   2/25/2018 at 15:32 (2,223 days old) by philcobendixduo (San Jose)        

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Price is right - I paid slightly more for a USED lower rack for my 1994 Maytag.
Their website makes NO mention of dishwashers like my Maytag that have a "pop-up" wash tower.
I suppose as long as you leave the area clear where the tower will pop up, it's okay but "non-technical" people probably won't realize that.
When you click on the "order now" link, it takes you to Amazon.
No reviews there as of yet, though.


Post# 984310 , Reply# 5   2/25/2018 at 16:08 (2,223 days old) by appnut (TX)        

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I think the dishwasher used in the video is a Frigidaire.  "Interesting".  I don't like modern dishware because so many incorporate those style deep, rounded bowls.  Aside from being very wasteful of space in dishwasher, I think their size can encourage overeating.  They vary in size from 2-3 cups+.  Only redeeming factor is for spill-prone kids and adult. 


Post# 984316 , Reply# 6   2/25/2018 at 16:24 (2,223 days old) by logixx (Germany)        

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Who loads pans face down?! Geez...

Post# 984319 , Reply# 7   2/25/2018 at 16:57 (2,223 days old) by henene4 (Heidenheim a.d. Brenz (Germany))        
LOL

Just returned to my flat up north from holidays back home with family.

We have a low end Bosch here which is currently running a load containing 2 10" pans, 2 small pots, a strainer, rack\tray\crumbtray of the toaster oven, 2 1.5 quart jugs, a half quart thermos, 6 small tins (for tea, herbs, those things), several cups, plates, glases, mugs and random plastic containers.
Oh, and the cuttlery basket of course.

With the normal basic Bosch rack, without having to first reconfigure the rack and then to load it.

Just a question of skill and 3D-thinking abilitys.


Question though: Cuttlery basket?


Post# 984320 , Reply# 8   2/25/2018 at 17:14 (2,223 days old) by thomasortega (El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de Porciúncula)        

I bet those silver pans on 1:11 won't be squeaky clean.

Post# 984321 , Reply# 9   2/25/2018 at 17:16 (2,223 days old) by thomasortega (El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de Porciúncula)        

And that's the most stupid idea I've ever seen.

Unless you're a complete idiot, you can learn how to make real bobloads without spending $100 on a rack.

Gosh, I'm making so many miracles with a haier 4-place countertop dishwasher that I deverve the Bobload awards 2018.


Post# 984330 , Reply# 10   2/25/2018 at 18:50 (2,223 days old) by toploader55 (Massachusetts Sand Bar, Cape Cod)        

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Hmmmmmm........

Speaking of BobLoads...

Kinda a good idea, but I highly doubt it... There is not enough intelligence to figure that out now.

Just a Old Man thinking that it's sort of a Scam with a good idea when you run out of Common Sense and Creativity.




This post was last edited 02/25/2018 at 19:59
Post# 984341 , Reply# 11   2/25/2018 at 20:03 (2,223 days old) by IowaBear (Cedar Rapids, IA)        

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You guys are right about the price.  I looked up the replacement lower rack for my Whirlpool...  $175!

 

Some cheaper options on ebay for $60 to $90, some used, some new but don't look exactly like the OEM part.

 

 I can find entire used and working dishwashers on Craigslist that use the same rack for $50.


Post# 984346 , Reply# 12   2/25/2018 at 20:36 (2,223 days old) by earthling177 (Boston, MA)        

I can't see that "working with most 24-inch dishwashers" at all. Particularly the ones with the tower in the middle, the first time someone slides that rack inside without paying attention, they might clip out the tower, at least in the older machines I remember with the "saucer rack" in the back and a channel for the tower.

And the examples they give, as in any infomercial, seem very forced/contrived.

As for Bobloading, I've been wondering myself -- I've seen several examples here that looked full, but it's been my impression that if one actually unloaded the machine while sorting things (plates together, bowls etc) and told Bob to *reload* the machine, it would be at the very least 25% empty and could fit way more stuff.

"Random loading" is great and all, but if one actually wants to pack as much as possible in a machine, sorting *first* and then thinking for a couple of minutes then loading is best.

Many times in the past few years I've been on the verge of emailing Bob and saying "Really? Do you think that's as much as it fits or couldn't you reload it and squeeze another 20-25% in?", but I figured, people are having fun and it is not my job to harsh their vibes. ;-)


Post# 984363 , Reply# 13   2/25/2018 at 22:31 (2,223 days old) by appnut (TX)        

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Paulo, were you in my kitchen late in the afternoon today?  I had loaded up the dishwasher and I was kinda like, hmm, not sure how well those will get cleaned like that.  So I basically unloaded all of the bottom rack and started over--this was after I'd already rearranged the portion that was in there before I started putting all the cookware/Pyrex in there after I'd made dinner. 


Post# 984372 , Reply# 14   2/25/2018 at 23:29 (2,223 days old) by MattL (Flushing, MI)        

In all the years of using dishwashers I have never put deep bowls upright like in the video, and those pots were placed so close together odds are the inside did not see any water.  I may waste some space but I put bowls and pots FACING the water to get clean.  I've had a number of relatives complain "My dishwasher does not get my stuff clean", I see how they load and I ask the "Where does the water come from"  they indicate the bottom, then a light bulb goes off and they realize what they have been doing wrong.


Post# 984378 , Reply# 15   2/25/2018 at 23:56 (2,222 days old) by earthling177 (Boston, MA)        

LOL, Bob! No, I have not been to your kitchen.

But like you, I see people claiming their dishwasher doesn't fit much and I think they're probably not loading it right.

Also, I'm not averse to putting items in ways I'm not sure will get cleaned and find out. I've been pleasantly surprised many, many times.

And in doing so, I've found out how counter-intuitive many things can be. I've had machines that had a powerful pump with lots of water going everywhere to the point of dislodging things that wouldn't clean nearly as well as the couple of machines I've had in the last 20 years or so, which, despite being High Efficiency machines, clean *very well* even when there's only a small space for the water to reach the items.

Also, in case I am wrong and something I loaded did not get clean enough, I've learned something new and won't do it again next time, no big deal.


Post# 984405 , Reply# 16   2/26/2018 at 08:49 (2,222 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)        

Or you could put what does not fit in the machine in your second dishwasher and run it when you have a load. I agree that some of their loading would only clean pans used for boiling water.


Post# 984412 , Reply# 17   2/26/2018 at 10:09 (2,222 days old) by jkbff (Happy Rock, ND)        

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You guys knew this was coming ;-)

That is one of the things I love the most about the Miele dishwashers.

Their racks.

They are designed to be flexible in a lot of ways. But to fit some of that bigger stuff, most people don't want the dishes to actually lay against each other because they think they won't get clean. I've had to do several customer education sessions and go and reload their dishwashers in their houses because they called complaining that they can't fit near as much in the new dishwasher as they could the old one. I'd show up, unload their dishwasher, reload it the way I think it'd work and they'd have 3 to 4x more in the dishwasher than what they had. And it was always the same "OOO, I don't think that'll clean, I'll try it" and they'd call later and say they never thought of loading it that way and couldn't believe it worked.

What sparked this post though was because of my Bosch downstairs. That lower rack is what I hate the most about that dishwasher. I've even gone as far as putting a commercial ware-washing rack in, on top of the lower rack so I can wash things. I use that dishwasher primarily for my sheet pans and large cutting boards so I have the tall items sprinkler in instead of the middle rack, but still. That bottom rack leaves a lot to be desired.


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Post# 984441 , Reply# 18   2/26/2018 at 14:15 (2,222 days old) by johnb300m (Chicago)        

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Jeez, all I see is layouts to load deep things where nothing will come clean.

Post# 984484 , Reply# 19   2/26/2018 at 19:25 (2,222 days old) by toploader55 (Massachusetts Sand Bar, Cape Cod)        

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Reminds me of the Old D+M with the Loop Racks.

Sorry, No use for that rack. Desperate replacement maybe.

Most "Normal" people... (Not like us)... would or I find it useless.

You need to rely on the "Deflection" and physics of the water spray going up and coming down.

That's my story and I am sticking to it. : )


Post# 984557 , Reply# 20   2/27/2018 at 08:25 (2,221 days old) by Rolls_rapide (.)        
"Who loads pans face down?! Geez... "

Quite.

And for that matter, who loads pots precisely at right-angles to the spray?

I am of the opinion that the official manufacturer's basket will be the better option. Who's to say that this basket won't fall off the runners during the wash? What if the basket falls off and touches the heater element?

I have found that even with those 'fold down' plate racks, I can get pans and Pyrex cookware to sit better and stay in position, when the spikes are in the 'up' position. That's probably because of years of experience fighting 'fixed basket layouts' in Zanussi, Hoover and Hotpoint machines! Lol


Post# 984609 , Reply# 21   2/27/2018 at 18:28 (2,221 days old) by henene4 (Heidenheim a.d. Brenz (Germany))        
Bosch Basket

Dunno how you can hate Bosch baskets.

This load here is once again just running at the moment. Our DW here runs every day or every other day, every 3 days at least, depending on how much is cooked from scratch and how much frozen stuff is prepared. (We're a bunch of students after all.)

Loads of this kind are kind of textbook for this place. With some general planning ahead and some adjusting afterwards, you get a ton in there.



Bottom rack:
- Back right for plates (flatter plates to the right, more rounded once in the middle, deep once most left).
- Back left for cutting boards, sorted from tall most left to smaller to the right.
- Cuttlery basket is fixed front center.
- Then, depending on situation, pans and pots are tilted slightly leaning against the cuttlery basket and subsequent pans are leaned onto the next one. That way, there is always a small gap at the bottom for the spray to reach into.
- Big serving bowls are best loaded into the verry last tine before the tines change the direction they face. Thus the bowl naturaly hangs over the items in front (for us, it usually overhangs the cuttlery basket).
- Last, if you look straigth down onto the rack, where every there are areas you can see the door surface, you can load something on top that isn't to dirty (perfect are shallow tupperware items or large greasy pans). Such areas are over the plates, over the cuttlery basket, over the cutting boards.

Top Rack:
- Right side with etagers down fits the 4 tea cups one of my flatmate uses in 2 days. Further, long serving and cooking utensils like big knifes fit there, as well as tea sieves, scoops, anything small.
- Left side is cups, glases.
- The row of tines is for the small plates belonging to the tea cups, tupperware lids and small bowls.
- In front of the etagers on the right there is one more row for glases, cups, tupperware etc. Usually faceing the row of bowls to overhang the bowls or leaning onto them are lunch boxes and such.
- Ontop of anywhere where there is a cluster of cupps and glases you can perfectly fit pot lids. Those are usually barely dirty, so by laying them face down onto areas with round items like glases or cups, the spray reaching through the areas between the round surfaces is more then enough to get them clean.



That works for most every day soild items.
If loads sit for more then a day, this probably wont satisfy in terms of cleaning.
If you call a dishwasher a bad cleaner if you find a speck of parsley on one of the corners where something touches, this wont work for.
If you are out for perfect performance every time without any failure, don't do this.
If you throw burnt in pans in there and suspect perfect results, don't even try this.
(We here quick rinse any large debry out of our pans before loading, and if something is visibly stuck on, you flush the pan, add a tiny amount of handwashing liquid, take the brush, scrub out these stuck on pieces, flush again and load. Takes a minute tops, more like a 30sec job. Nothing else gets pretreated, just scraped, shaken, poured out.)



I would have applied this as BobLoad, but not only could I have loaded a couple more items (a few small spots in the top rack) and the soils weren't massive, but by tomorrow morning when the load is done and I get up, a flat mate will already have unloaded the DW for me.






Bottom line: As long as it is not physicly strongly stuck to the dish, and any surface of the dish is reachable somehow by even a tiny spray of water, it will get clean.
140°F and insane amounts of tensides in an insanley alcaline enviroment will remove most typical food soils wizh ease. Most food is made of water, substances easily dissolved in water and grease (to put it simple), and that is easy to remove.
If it is black, burnt in and barely even removable with your fingernail, you DW will get rid of it just as much as you: Not at all.


Once I have a nice load to show, I'll relly do a BobLoad application for this.

(Side node: Had to move that one pan because it slid out of place.)


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Post# 984641 , Reply# 22   2/28/2018 at 05:18 (2,220 days old) by Rolls_rapide (.)        
@henene4

In Reply #21, photo #1...

What is the grey plastic dome, immediately to the left of the bottom spray arm's centre support? It's not the salt lid, nor the filter.


Post# 984649 , Reply# 23   2/28/2018 at 06:26 (2,220 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI)        

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Just buy a "new" dishwasher in a mere few years from now, when they supposedly "all" have that standard, in what's probably now a patented design...

Your results on how their holding your wares & how the washers clean may vary...



-- Dave


Post# 984767 , Reply# 24   3/1/2018 at 04:07 (2,219 days old) by henene4 (Heidenheim a.d. Brenz (Germany))        
@Rolls_rapide

You mean that thing in the bottom next to the filter?


All BOL BSH DW with the plastic lower bottom tub have a float switch for overflow protection. Basicly it's just a hollow piecec that just floats up once the fill level gets to high and activates a microswitch which triggers a microswitch and activates the AquaStop system.
All other BSH DW with a full SS tub have a float switch on the left side on the outside of the tub.



Post# 984779 , Reply# 25   3/1/2018 at 07:55 (2,219 days old) by Rolls_rapide (.)        
@henene4

Ah I see, thanks.

This float is not present (in the tub) on the current plastic-base, bottom end Bosch machines. It's not on my mum's 2013 SMS**T** model. (They must have moved the float safety switch off to the side again).


Post# 984814 , Reply# 26   3/1/2018 at 11:36 (2,219 days old) by jkbff (Happy Rock, ND)        

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henene4,

I don't think your rack is the same as my rack.


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Post# 984870 , Reply# 27   3/1/2018 at 18:51 (2,219 days old) by Rolls_rapide (.)        
@jkbff

My mum's machine interior is quite similar (spray arms, filter, door liner and dispenser), but the bottom basket plate racks are arranged in two parallel rows, left to right - much like henene4's older basket design.

The rear plate rack is full-length, but hinged for optional folding down.

The front rack is fixed in place, but broken up half-way along, by a fixed space for a conventional dumpy cutlery basket, then there's a few more plate spikes.

It washes very well indeed.


Post# 984901 , Reply# 28   3/2/2018 at 00:53 (2,218 days old) by henene4 (Heidenheim a.d. Brenz (Germany))        
BSH loading

If it dosen't touch, it gets clean.
If it touches, but has a space facing a spray arm, it might catch a bit of parsley, not much more.

Given you don't have more then 4 types of (mainly used) plates in your cupboard, that rack still holds a ton.
Overlapping pots and pans is one necessity, using sieves as basicly free space for not so soiled pots and just plain covering the bottom rack with light soiled items basicly just resting on plates.

Given yours is a EcoSilenceDrive model (or some version of that), it has the new Auto programm which at least for Europe does wonders.
We have that on the 18" machine back down south and it outcleans this one here with week old loads.



And yes, apparently so. Never spend much time with the "Economy" line machines, as you could get a decent far greater machine reliability wise up just a little bit in the BSH lineup.
At the price point of the BOL Bosch you can far greater value IMO.



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