Dishwasher vs. By Hand

[frogguruami]

So my dishwasher broke recently and I haven't gotten it fixed yet. I don't mind washing dishes by hand but I am wondering if I am wasting something by doing so. I know it takes less electricity. That's obvious. But what about water. Does it take les water to do dishes by hand than to do them in the dishwasher? The dishwasher I have is 4 years old and I always run it full. There are a number of times that things don't get super clean and I end up rewashing them but not super often.

Any thoughts or website referrals to answer my question???

[Trishy]

From my research the dishwasher uses a lot less water than hand washing. It also supposedly uses less soap. If you have a dishwasher that qualifies for energy star labelling it won't use much electricity at all.

Dh bought me a new dishwasher not long ago and my electric bill actually went down. This is in the same time period that we stopped using the gas heat and started using the electric air conditioning.

[1growingsprout]

dishwasher

try going to sears or the maytag store...get all the info you can from the sales people... they will flock to you... find the best machine for your needs then go check out sams club, best buy etc...

personally i only fill the DW 3/4 of the way, i find that 100% wont get 100% clean... i also use those little 'powerballs' of dishwashwer detergent... also about every 3 wks or so i run the machine fully empty to 'clean' it....

btw we have a DW with a built in garbage disposal so there is really no need to prewash the dishes... i LOVE it....

[BookGoddess]

I think it depends on how one washes dishes by hand and the type of dishwasher If you let the water run while you wash then I think a modern efficient dishwasher probably uses less water.

We wash by hand most of the time since we don't run the water while we wash. If I use the dishwasher I run a full load and I make sure to cancel the drying cycle.

Here's a link that might be useful to you.

http://www.awwa.org/waterwiser/watch...m?ArticleID=30

[MamaRabbit]

Openly biased because I hate washing dishes by hand...

We hand wash because that's all that's available! But, I can wash dishes with very little water waste. To me the bigger waste is the time it takes.

[fanniefarkle]

I wash by hand, but I don't fill the sink full of water. Instead, I use a small basin inside the sink, so I used less water. I rinse quickly, in cold water.

[Alkenny]

I had another thread on here somewhere way back when (and am too lazy to search right now)...the dishwasher actually cut our water bill.

[CarrieMF]

From my research the dishwasher uses a lot less water than hand washing. It also supposedly uses less soap.

I wash dishes by hand. I use 1 sink of water, the water is never running one the sink is 3/4 full and I do not rinse the dishes. That 1 sink of water is less than what a dishwasher would use, even if it recycles the water for the rinse cycle. Compared to the amount of soap they say to use in a dishwasher I use alot less handwashing than what is used in a dishwasher.

[spero]

Originally Posted by Alkenny

I had another thread on here somewhere way back when

So did I.

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ght=dishwasher

It was very enlightening, and I managed to convince DH that we were actually SAVING $$$ by using the dishwasher.

And then the damn thing went and broke. That's the thanks I got for not retiring it.

[Alkenny]

Originally Posted by CarrieMF

I wash dishes by hand. I use 1 sink of water, the water is never running one the sink is 3/4 full and I do not rinse the dishes. That 1 sink of water is less than what a dishwasher would use, even if it recycles the water for the rinse cycle. Compared to the amount of soap they say to use in a dishwasher I use alot less handwashing than what is used in a dishwasher.

I have a portable dishwasher (the kind that has to plug into the faucet), so I plugged up the sink to monitor how much water it used for a whole load and it actually only filled the sink 3/4 of the way full for the whole cycle.

[EmsMom]

I believe that if you only washed dishes once per day (as is common with dishwasher use) and used the water very, very conservatively (one wash basin and minimal rinsing water) and used the dishwater to clean up your kitchen afterward and put the water on your garden afterward, it would be cheaper than using a dishwasher. Of course, that does not include the cost of the dishwasher itself, which can be quite a bit. I found that my electric bill was lower after the dishwasher than before. AND I have saved quite a bit because I would often be sooooo tired just looking at all those dirty dishes that had to be washed AND dried before I could even start making dinner (very small kitchen here, folks!) that I would just give up and get Chinese or a pizza or something! I also saved a great deal of time not doing all that washing and I have put it to good use! I really, really, really love my dishwasher, frugal or not!

[lilyka]

I use4 the same amount of water to prewash my dishes for going into the dishwasher as I would for just hand washing them. The dishwasher may not use that much water but the pre rinsing sure does (if ours go in with anything stuck on it is useless. they need to be very well rinsed before going in.) I htink I am about to ditch my dishwasher. its just mroe efficient to wash by hand.

[Red]

I'm 47 and I've never lived anywherer with a dishwasher!


As a teen, I washed or dried and put away for 10 to 15! every single night. Now it's like time to reflect.

Uh, my mohter got a dishwasher right after I moved out!

[Sharlla]

I hate dishwasher. Such a waste of my time to prewash by hand, load them, then run it and unload (hand drying if I turn off the drying feature) and lets not forget when you have all your bowls and cups dirty but don't want to run a half load because your whole bottom rack is empty, so you end up hand washing the dishes you need anyway. I'm definitely not going to be buying a dishwasher. I find handwashing a lot faster.

[USAmma]

I really like my dishwasher. I do wash some things by hand every day like wooden spatulas but it only takes a minute. Our dishwasher broke twice. The first time was when dd1 was a baby and I hated it. We went without a new one for months until my hands cracked. Then I went on strike and dh bought a new one a week later. lol!

Our dishwasher fills up the bottom and cycles that water through. There is a pre-rinse, a wash, and a rinse with steady flowing water. It doesn't use much water at all. I know it uses less than I was using because I wanted to run clean water over my dishes, not dip them in rinse water that soon became dirty.

[dolphinkisser]

Hi another person without a dishwasher. I have never seen the purpose of it...like a previous poster said...you have to use water to rinse the stuff anyway...to load and unload the dishwasher takes more time to me than just to wash by hand and lay the dishes on the dish rack.
Besides...i guess it is me...but i find a zenlike rhythm to washing dishes. My sink is right by window where i can watch the birds feed as i run my hands through warm water. I know wierd...but i find it rather spiritual

[spero]

I never pre-rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.