User Review Bosch SMS60L12IN Dishwasher Review

I was in search of dishwasher reviews for the past couple of years, specially from Indian users.
I couldn't find much except for a review or two on YouTube, but they were not in detail for me to take the plunge.

Finally I bit the bullet and bought a Bosch SMS60L12IN from Amazon for 31.5k.

I'd summarize few points which might be useful for prospective buyers.
This review applies to all dishwashers in general since all the models from different brands sold in India are more or less with similar specs.

Which Brand?
  • AFAIK Bosch, IFB, Siemens, LG & Samsung sell dishwashers in India.

  • Bosch has only one model in two colors with different model numbers.
    People quoted that the silver model is an upgraded one with water saving features blah blah blah.
    But I verified the specs and both are in fact color variants of same model.

    Siemens has a model or two IIRC, but they are priced higher and share 90% of the components with Bosch. Both are sold and serviced by same channels too.

  • IFB has 5-6 models, out of which all the models have 12 place holders except the top of the line Neptune SX1, which has 15 place holders. This particular model has extra pullout basket for small cutlery, which is of practical use. I later found out how significant this feature is (More on this later).

  • LG and Samsung sell one model each, which are priced higher and I doubt their after sales service w.r.t dishwashers.

  • I found build quality to be better in Bosch.

  • In terms of service I heard/found Bosch to be better, can't comment on the spares availability/cost of spares at this moment. There are many horror stories about IFB service, so I stayed out of this brand.
Purchase and Installation

  • For months, I pestered almost all major stores for a demo and no one gave a positive reply. Croma, Bajaj electronics have a Bosch demo dishwasher with transparent window to see how the dishwasher works etc, but they never showed interest in showing a demo as well.

  • All of them were offering a discount of 1-2 k, so I chose Amazon as I was getting it for almost 8k discount on MRP. These store guys were selling very old stocks, but the one I ordered from Amazon was imported in Dec 2016. I think all Bosch dishwashers sold in India are made in Turkey.

  • I got a installation request acknowledgement from Bosch on the very next day I ordered on Amazon. They had been following up for installation even before it was delivered from Amazon and installation was done within hours of delivery. Satisfied with the overall purchase and installation experience.

  • There is nothing complicated about installation, just connecting the inlet hose and proper drainage for drain pipe. The purpose of waiting for installation is more or less to verify damage and to avail warranty.

  • Also ours is a free standing unit, if you want to integrate this into kitchen, you might need to get some additional work done to mount the machine into place.

What are these three cleaning agents?
  • A dishwasher needs a combination of three cleaning agents. Using all three( Salt+Detergent+Rinse Aid ) is the key to perfectly washed dishes. You can use any brand of dishwasher cleaning agents, as long as they are dishwasher compatible.

    Bosch recommends "Finish" products, which are imported and cost a bomb when compared to other brands. IFB sells their own brand of cleaning agents.

    We personally use & recommend Fortune Products >> http://fortunedishwashing.com/
    They are cheaper compared to imported brands.
    I compared the wash quality with Finish and I couldn't find any difference.
    Many Bosch/IFB users gave similar feedback about Fortune products.
    They are not easily available in super markets, but you can order from their website or their Amazon store.

  • What are these three cleaning agents anyway?
    • Salt - Don't confuse this for normal table salt.
      This is special salt, used to convert hard water into soft water which prevents hard water stains(white powdery stains) on the dishes. It is mandatory if your water hardness is medium to high. Depending on your dishwasher model, you can adjust the salt dispensing levels.

      You don't need to refill salt for every wash, you need to refill once in a month or two based on usage.In our case, we use dishwasher everyday and we need to refill it once a month with 1KG of salt. Cost of refill is around Rs. 100 per KG.

      http://fortunedishwashing.com/product/fortune-dishwasher-salt/

    • Detergent - As the name suggests, these are detergents specially made for dishwashers.
      You need to fill the detergent for every wash, just like a washing machine.

      http://fortunedishwashing.com/product/fortune-dishwasher-detergent-1-kg-pack/

    • Rinse Aid - It is a special liquid used to reduce the surface tension of water, so that water won't stick on the dishes during rinsing. This actually makes a lot of difference to the final wash quality. If you don't use it, then the dishes would have water droplet stains and white stains.

      You might have to refill rinse aid every 10 washes on average. So a 500ml Rinse Aid should be sufficient for a month or two, if you use the dishwasher daily.

      http://fortunedishwashing.com/product/fortune-rinse-aid/

      You can buy a combo pack of all three, which is more in tune with the usage cycle.
      http://fortunedishwashing.com/produ...tarter-combo-pack-free-descaler-worth-rs-150/

    • All in one Tablets - If you are lazy and don't want to buy all three of them and refill every time. These all in one tablets come with a combo of Detergent/Salt & Rinse aid all in a single tablet. You will need to use one tablet per wash.

      Manual says that if your water hardness is medium to high, then you would still need to use salt in addition to these tablets. I've tried to use tablet alone and the results weren't great. Ended up using the additional salt as well. So I won't recommend tablets, plus these are costly compared to the purchasing the individual detergents.

      For example, this costs almost 1200 for 34 tablets >> http://www.amazon.in/Finish-All-Max-Powerball-Tablets/dp/B01ET6E9XE?tag=googinhydr18418-21

Stacking the dishes and Usage
  • You need to dump all left over food particles from the utensils. Soaking is not necessary for normal utensils. Wok's on which deep fries are done, would wash well with soaking.

  • Plates go into plate holders and large dishes go on bottom rack.
    Small plates, cups, small utensils go into the top rack. There is a free standing basket for cutlery into which you place all the ladles, forks & spoons. But using this basket is tricky, as it can be placed only on bottom basket and is difficult to fit in if the bottom layer is full. This is where extra basket in IFB Neptune SX1 comes handy. Otherwise you are forced to use the assorted holder in the top rack for placing spoons and forks.

  • All dishes should be facing downwards on the racks and should not be stacked on top of other.
    Stacking the dishes is tricky and time taking for the first few runs till you get the hang of it.

  • Once you are done stacking, check for the refill indicators. Only for the first use you need to fill the salt and rinse aid. Post that you need to fill them only if the respective refill indicator is lit.
    As I had mentioned earlier, refill cycle is roughly once a month for salt and once every 10 - 15 washes for Rinse Aid (100-150ml per refill).

  • Now comes the wash options, depending on the model there will be Auto, Eco and Intense modes.
    We normally use Eco and Auto modes and are yet to use Intense kadai mode.
    Since water temperature goes to around 70 degrees, we never risked using that mode owing to plastic boxes in the wash.

    Auto/Eco modes usually take 1.5 hrs for the cycle to finish.

    Unlike a washing machine, there is no lock for the door, no sound indicators for the wash completion.
    You can open the door in the middle of wash, it automatically pauses and resumes once the door is shut. But avoid opening the door as the vapor that spews out is very hot.

    Once the wash cycle is done, machine turns itself off without any buzzer.
Wash Quality
  • Aluminium, Wood and plastics which are not dishwasher compatible should not be used in dishwasher according to manual. I tried aluminium dishes, they got cleaned properly, but are slightly discolored and have white stains even after rinse aid is used. So I won't recommend using aluminium utensils.
    I've used wooden spatula's and wash is fine.

    Silverware, steel, glass and food grade plastics are washed perfectly. Shine on the utensils and the squeaky noise from the clean dishes is so satisfying.

  • Specially if you are using Tupperware boxes for carrying lunch, the difference in wash quality is reason enough for you to buy a dishwasher. Even those sticky oil stains are washed perfectly, leaving the boxes squeaky clean. When we used to wash the dishes manually, getting the oil stains from plastic boxes is a nightmare and oil stains never used to go off.
Power Consumption
  • This particular model is rated at 1.5KW, but I guess that rating is only for the heating element.
    Never calculated the actual usage, but should be on par with any washing machine if not less.
    There is no significant spike in electricity bill, so I never bothered to check the power usage in detail.

I will add a few pictures later today, of the dishwasher and utensils before/after wash.

My parents were reluctant to get rid of the maid and get a dishwasher instead. They were apprehensive about the performance earlier, but after looking at the wash quality, even they are on the scout for a dishwasher. Since I know the practical advantages of an extra rack, I'm pushing for IFB Neptune SX1 and will update this review accordingly if we end up buying that.


This is how dishwasher was delivered by Amazon. Luckily no damages.

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A few pics from yesterday's wash cycle.

Notice that refill rinse aid indicator is lit. It's been almost 3 weeks since last refill.

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After refill, with the indicator off.

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After the wash cycle.
Those plastic flap like things you see at the bottom of the pic is where you add the detergent and the rinse aid.
550d748e0cf9298569d14ab8372e2fd2.jpg


Bottom rack, where plates and large utensils usually go.

ccde4f7f10b3c1e5bc1a5887079d560f.jpg


Top rack. Since the bottom rack is full and we couldn't fit the small cutlery basket, We had to improvise and use the Etagere for small cutlery.

07cfeda396bfcbc3cbd351fde351fa3e.jpg


Notice how the stainless steel utensils are shiny. If you don't use rinse aid, there will be a cloudy layer of water droplet marks over them.

I'll do a set of before/after wash pics of dishes, once I get some time over the weekend.
 
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@sriharsha_m
Can you please confirm that there are indeed no other differences other than the paint colour - because I do not want to spend Rs.4,100 extra for a coat of paint.

In addition to colour the water consumption of the 18L is also lesser.

There are no other differences between both the models except the color.
All the specifications are one and the same, you can confirm the same from owner's manual.
In fact we own both the models as mentioned in my earlier posts, so I can re-confirm this.

Same is the case with washing machines, refrigerators and microwave ovens, there will be one base model with solid color and multiple variants with different colors & patterns where the price difference is around 5k just for the color alone.
Screenshot_20180226-175833.jpg


I know I run the risk of sounding extremely silly by asking this, but, do the dishwashers wash both sides of the plates/vessels properly - What if there are stains on the underside of the plates and vessels? (I am trying to find videos of the inner working of a dishwasher as I type this)

Yes, it does wash both sides.
You need to place the dishes facing down on the racks, there is one nozzle on top wall and two rotating arms between each rack which covers both the sides of the vessels.
You'll be instructed during demo on the placement of vessels.
Also read the manual and refer to the demo videos on Bosch's(Global) youtube page.

 
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I bought mine through Amazon. Surprisingly at that time the L18 model was priced lower than the L12 model by about Rs. 1500. So it was a win win situation for me.

Also from my experience the Fortune powder detergent works almost similar, if not better than the Finish. It cost half, smells better.

Try setting rinse aid quantity to the minimum effective for getting your dishes in dry condition. As the rinse aid is not washed off the dishes completely and a minute quantity remains. So the least effective amount is the best.

For me a bottle of 400ml Finish rinse aid lasted me 4 month.

I plan to try vinegar as rinse aid once my current stock gets consumed.
 
I bought mine through Amazon. Surprisingly at that time the L18 model was priced lower than the L12 model by about Rs. 1500. So it was a win win situation for me.

Also from my experience the Fortune powder detergent works almost similar, if not better than the Finish. It cost half, smells better.

Try setting rinse aid quantity to the minimum effective for getting your dishes in dry condition. As the rinse aid is not washed off the dishes completely and a minute quantity remains. So the least effective amount is the best.

For me a bottle of 400ml Finish rinse aid lasted me 4 month.

I plan to try vinegar as rinse aid once my current stock gets consumed.
I am surprised by your suggestion. Why would you want to use Vinegar in its place? Vinegar is acidic and what purpose does it server? Rinse aid helps in giving a smooth finish to the utensils and helps water slide off it thus helping in drying off.
 
The water spots or water sticking to the plates/dishes occur due to deposition of salts like calcium/magnesium. Vinegar or citric acid solution works as chelating agent which forms soluble salts of Ca/Mg which helps in reducing water spots.
 
IIRC the whole purpose of rinse aid in dishwashers is to reduce the surface tension of the water so that water drops won't stay on utensils and hence no spots once dried.
Setting it to minimum just defeats the purpose.

EDIT:

The only reason for changing rinse aid settings would be when you are using all in one tablets which includes rinse aid. Ideally rinse aid should be completely disabled via settings if you
are using all in one tablets.

In hard water areas you would still need a little bit of rinse aid for squeaky clean utensils and hence you need not have factory default rinse aid setting. Any lower rinse aid dispense setting would suffice in this case because majority of the rinse aid comes with tablet.

The same scenario is mentioned in user manual as well.
 
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IIRC the whole purpose of rinse aid in dishwashers is to reduce the surface tension of the water so that water drops won't stay on utensils and hence no spots once dried.
Setting it to minimum just defeats the purpose.
Not minimum but minimum effective. I have set mine two steps lower than the factory default and it still does a good job.
 
@sriharsha_m

Hi all,
After a long time coming back here. Primarily because I am in the research phase before buying a Dishwasher. We have heard about the famous products of Bosch such as SMS60L12IN and SMS60L18IN, current price at Amazon 30,999/- and 33,949/- respectively.I had almost made up my mind for the latter , when I accidentally happened to tumble upon whirlpool.

Has any of you used the Whirlpool Dishwashers . They have got mainly two models :
1) PowerClean Pro - WFO3O33 DLX IN 2) PowerClean - WFC3C24 PF IN , on going through whatever is given in Whirlpool's website these Dishwashers seem unique in their ability , as they have extra water jets on the lower side of the back wall. We can keep our soiled Kadai facing these jets and water jets at high temp. and pressure will do it's work. Let us not doubt the power of water, we have seen water carving its way through mountains and high speed water is sometimes used for cutting these days. So these techniques seem promising , at least from the theoretical point of view.
Anyway , I could not find a single review of these Whirlpool Dishwashers , mainly because I think these are more expensive than Bosch's . Both Models are priced at 44,991/- and 35,991/ respectively-


The second model Whirlpool's WFC3C24 PF IN has a price very similar to Bosch's SMS60L18IN. So now I want to know more about WFC3C24 PF. How would it compare to Bosch's? Also Bosch's model seems very old , they do not seem eager to upgrade their model , SMS60L18IN was first available at Amazon on the 18 July 2016.

Whirlpool call themselves " World's No. 1" , In fact we have been using Whirlpools refrigerator for over 10 yrs now , and till date it has never given us any trouble. In fact its cooling power is awesome , even at the regulator setting of 4 we find our food freezing at peak summer in the Refrigerator section. Currently we have our setting at 3.

So I have positive feeling about Whirlpool Dishwashers . Hope all of you can guide us to procure the best that is available .

Looking forward towards your inputs . Thanks.
 
All this while I was looking forward for a detailed review of a dishwasher online and where do I find it ... here in TE. Thank you for the detailed review. really helps. I found out today after going through this review about IFB and Bosch split. My situation is a bit different. We have AMC utensils at home. They are huge and heavy. I wonder if that'll be an issue.
 
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Writing about the very bad experience with Bosch service in Kolkata . My one year old dishwasher started giving problems. After running for 30- 40 minutes it'd stop and hang. The key panel would become inoperable.
Technician visited after 2-3 days and said the problem is with the power control module which they don't have in stock and have to be ordered from Germany [emoji849].
So after 8 days it arrived and the problem persisted even after replacing that. Then they started the blame game. First it was my electrical wiring (they stayed for two hours to find fault in my wiring). When they couldn't find one the blamed the water pressure. Although manual measurements were all in normal range. To prove it was water pressure problem they installed a pressure booster pump. The problem persisted. Then they changed another parts, the circulating cum heater pump, no resolution. They escalated the issue to their factory for direction. For 12 days there was no reply from factory.
All these time I was pressing for a replacement machine.
After several calls to their higher ups the machine was replaced with a new one after 45 days.
What surprised me is that their approach to the service. They were practically clueless. Even they made calls to Mumbai / Delhi counter parts in my presence but they were also of no help.
After this incidence I'm quite anxious about the future problems that may occur with the machine.
 
That is scary man. I bought one in October due to the sale price. It has been a great boon so far. I will have to get a stabilizer for mine as E-27 error pops up at times.
I am hoping mine keeps running without any problems as the nearest service centre in my case is 300kms away. I got a scare within the first week with the dishwasher making lot of noise in some cycles. I got in touch with the service head immediately as I have his direct number. He advised me to place utensils properly. I do get similar noises sometimes even now but very very few times, which makes me believe his analysis. Apart from that, no issues till now.
Their diagnostic skills seem to be really bad. How could a front panel issue be related to the water pumps and water pressure. Also, did you post about this issue on team-bhp as well. I remember reading something similar very recently over there as well.
 
That is scary man. I bought one in October due to the sale price. It has been a great boon so far. I will have to get a stabilizer for mine as E-27 error pops up at times.
I am hoping mine keeps running without any problems as the nearest service centre in my case is 300kms away. I got a scare within the first week with the dishwasher making lot of noise in some cycles. I got in touch with the service head immediately as I have his direct number. He advised me to place utensils properly. I do get similar noises sometimes even now but very very few times, which makes me believe his analysis. Apart from that, no issues till now.
Their diagnostic skills seem to be really bad. How could a front panel issue be related to the water pumps and water pressure. Also, did you post about this issue on team-bhp as well. I remember reading something similar very recently over there as well.
Yes I posted on TBhp too. And noise during wash cycles are mostly due to improperly placed utensils.
 
All this while I was looking forward for a detailed review of a dishwasher online and where do I find it ... here in TE. Thank you for the detailed review. really helps. I found out today after going through this review about IFB and Bosch split. My situation is a bit different. We have AMC utensils at home. They are huge and heavy. I wonder if that'll be an issue.
I'm glad that you found the review helpful.

Regarding huge utensils, you can remove the top shelf and use the dishwasher with bottom shelf alone.
This way you can fit in utensils as big as the unit's internal dimensions.

The top rotary spray head is mounted on the underside of top shelf.
If you were to remove the top tray, you need to purchase the following spray head accessory.
https://www.bosch-home.com/us/store...ds/00167301?breadcrumb=dishwashersaccessories

This is how it looks >>
 
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Bro you got a new machine worth 30/40 INR. Be happy!
Writing about the very bad experience with Bosch service in Kolkata . My one year old dishwasher started giving problems. After running for 30- 40 minutes it'd stop and hang. The key panel would become inoperable.
Technician visited after 2-3 days and said the problem is with the power control module which they don't have in stock and have to be ordered from Germany [emoji849].
So after 8 days it arrived and the problem persisted even after replacing that. Then they started the blame game. First it was my electrical wiring (they stayed for two hours to find fault in my wiring). When they couldn't find one the blamed the water pressure. Although manual measurements were all in normal range. To prove it was water pressure problem they installed a pressure booster pump. The problem persisted. Then they changed another parts, the circulating cum heater pump, no resolution. They escalated the issue to their factory for direction. For 12 days there was no reply from factory.
All these time I was pressing for a replacement machine.
After several calls to their higher ups the machine was replaced with a new one after 45 days.
What surprised me is that their approach to the service. They were practically clueless. Even they made calls to Mumbai / Delhi counter parts in my presence but they were also of no help.
After this incidence I'm quite anxious about the future problems that may occur with the machine.
 
I'm glad that you found the review helpful.

Regarding huge utensils, you can remove the top shelf and use the dishwasher with bottom shelf alone.
This way you can fit in utensils as big as the unit's internal dimensions.

The top rotary spray head is mounted on the underside of top shelf.
If you were to remove the top tray, you need to purchase the following spray head accessory.
https://www.bosch-home.com/us/store...ds/00167301?breadcrumb=dishwashersaccessories

This is how it looks >>
Thank You. Will look into it.
 
Bro you got a new machine worth 30/40 INR. Be happy!
It is not that they will provide me a new machine every time a fault occurs. So I want my problem to be solved within a reasonable time. I never wanted a new machine. I fear what would happen if the problem occurred after the warranty was over!
 
It is not that they will provide me a new machine every time a fault occurs. So I want my problem to be solved within a reasonable time. I never wanted a new machine. I fear what would happen if the problem occurred after the warranty was over!
Well yess.. now I am really thinking to buy it or not :D
EDIT: I will prolly buy one.
 
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