Dazco,

The water won't hurt the chain, but the dishwashing soap would be a mistake. I can get into the links and you have to sure to get it all out. I would try just rinsing the chain with a low pressure stream of water, and then following that with a wipe down with a rag after you have done the intial chain cleaning. Make sure you have thoroughly cleaned the chain before rinsing even if the water looks dark-I think my cleaner recommended backpedaling something like 20 times and then rinsing. Sometimes the chain might just need two spins through the cleaner if it was a really muddy ride or lots of stuff got attracted to the chain. At the end of the season or if the chain seems hopelessly gunked up, you can remove it and soak it, which might penetrate deeper into the links. You would need a chain-breaker for this.

-Moab