Chemistry in your cupboard

How does a dishwasher work? (2 of 2)

At various points in the cycle, the water is heated to a suitable temperature for the process taking place. The profile of a typical washing cycle is shown in Figure 5 in which temperature is plotted vertically and time horizontally.

Hot water is shown in red, cold (i.e. room temperature) in blue and sections involving the ion exchange resin in white.

Figure 5: A typical dishwasher cleaning cycle. Only intensive programs use prewash cycles. Normal or Eco programs immediately start with the main cycle. The detergent is only dosed in the main wash.