My mom got me to try those nifty Electrosal tabs or gel packs for the dishwasher as if the act of pouring detergent into the cup were just too troublesome a trial. Okay, I do admit, they are convenient. It’s just funny that we have so many conveniences in this day and age compared to what the mothers before us endured, and yet we are constantly too busy struggling to find a quicker way to get everything done.

So, back to the tabs. They were working great at first, and I stocked up when they were free or cheap so I had quite the stockpile. The perfect time for them to start acting up. :) I’ve got both kinds, and the tabs were the first to decide they didn’t feel like operating. You’re supposed to put the tabs in the compartment and close the door. Somehow, during the cycle, they magically come out and dissolve away all that stuff I don’t feel like washing…or, at least, they’re supposed to.

So, one day, I opened the dishwasher after the cycle had finished, and there was the tab, complete and intact lying there. Actually, I think I had already started unloading before I saw the problem. I thought that was weird. So I put it back in it’s place and ran the cycle again. But again, it was just lying there untouched. I decided to just get a new one and try, and that worked. Of course, at this point, I’ve run the dishwasher THREE times for the same load. Not great news for the water and power bill.

I thought I would try the gel packs and see if they would work, and they did…until this week. I did the same little routine again, trying it again and such. Chris was beginning to wonder if it was some setting our dishwasher was on that was causing this.