When the Lowe’s installer finished setting up our Bosch dishwasher he opened a little box that came with the washer, took out a squeeze bottle and filled the small compartment just next to the dishwasher soap holder. “That should hold you for a couple of weeks”, he said. I nodded as if I knew what he was talking about.

When he left I looked at the almost empty container. Jet-Dry Rinse Agent, Original Formula. I have to admit, although I’ve used a dishwasher for 30 years, I had never used this product. I had never used any rinse agent. But right there on the bottle was Bosch’s recommendation.

What is it?
Jet-Dry Rinse Agent is a wetting agent, a non-ionic surfactant that causes water to sheet, rather than to stay together in droplet form. The sheeting water drains completely off the dishes and glasses and leaves them to dry virtually spot-free and shiny. Sounds pretty straight forward, but I was curious. Was this really necessary? Or, was this some marketing hype?

The Test
I figured the test was going to be easy. The Bosch Revolution 500 that we use has an indicator light on the control panel. When lit, it alerts you that more Jet-Dry (or other rinse agent) should be added. Allowing for the possibility that there must still be some remaining in the dispenser after the light came on, I allowed it to stay lit for 2 additional weeks or about 12 washes before I filled the dispenser once again.

For the first few days, I could see no difference in the results of the wash cycles. The dishes and glass-ware still looked perfect to me. I assume that in fact there was still some Jet-Dry in the system. But toward the end of the two week period I could in fact see a difference. That difference was particularly obvious on the glass-ware and silverware.

The glasses, in addition to showing water spots here and there also began to appear a little cloudy. The silverware showed obvious water spotting to the point of looking as if they required a rewash.

Refilling the small compartment on the washer door with additional Jet-Dry immediately produced the same fine results we had originally noticed, no spots, no cloudy glasses and a lot of shine.

A New Question
How come I had never noticed the difference before? Dishwashers weren’t exactly new to me. It occurs to me that there are two reasons. The first has to do with human nature. I wasn’t looking. Also, the last year and a half of our dying GE’s life we literally nursed it along until we could settle on a replacement. Any sub-standard results it produced we simply marked up to its approaching demise.

But the second reason has to do with the design of the dishwasher itself. The newer Bosch unit we installed has no external heating element to dry the contents of the washer. Instead, it dries by condensation. In its final rinse cycle it superheats the rinse water which then condenses on the quickly cooling all stainless steel interior of the washer. This is one of the reasons that wash cycles seem so long on many of the newer dishwashers. A good portion of that 115 minute estimated cycle time you see on the time-remaining indicator is actually drying time. I have in fact opened the dishwasher with 30 minutes remaining. The wash was complete, albeit still wet and far too hot to comfortably and safely handle.

Conclusion
A bottle of Jet-Dry sufficient for 80 wash cycles costs between $4 - $5. Particularly with newer dishwashers it will produce results well worth paying for. For most households a bottle will last about three months. Although I have yet to use it, a similar product is made by the makers of Cascade (Proctor & Gamble). Perhaps we’ll try it next time.

Regards,
Rudi

© Rudi Xeno 2008


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