dishwasher vs manual dish washing
dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Hi . Other than convenience, does using a dishwasher use less water than doing dishes by hand?
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
You bet. I reduced my monthly water consumption by 35% once I started using dishwasher. From 10K gallons to 6+K gallons. But electricity bill went up, not 100% sure by how much.pablolo wrote:Hi . Other than convenience, does using a dishwasher use less water than doing dishes by hand?
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
By a lot I'm sure.pablolo wrote:Hi . Other than convenience, does using a dishwasher use less water than doing dishes by hand?
But for some of us, time equals money, we find it "cheaper" (in terms of time-and-money kind of relationship) to go with dishwasher.
Last edited by cflannagan on Thu Oct 10, 2013 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
There's also a sanitation aspect - dishwashers can use much hotter water than you can when hand washing, killing more bacteria, etc.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
From my experience, few people use their dishwashers as specified in the owner's manual. In particular, they rinse the all dishes before they load, which wastes water. Also, they load it incorrectly and use too much detergent.
I have only met one person who used their dishwasher specified in their owner's manual and they tried to be sneaky about it when they had guests because they thought not rinsing would gross out the guests.
I once advocated following the owner's manual on another forum and I was quickly accused of being a troll.
I have only met one person who used their dishwasher specified in their owner's manual and they tried to be sneaky about it when they had guests because they thought not rinsing would gross out the guests.
I once advocated following the owner's manual on another forum and I was quickly accused of being a troll.
Last edited by tadamsmar on Thu Oct 10, 2013 2:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
FYI:
New Energy Star machine ,3-5 gallons
Efficient hand-washing Up to 8 gallons
http://www.nrdc.org/living/stuff/great- ... debate.asp
New Energy Star machine ,3-5 gallons
Efficient hand-washing Up to 8 gallons
http://www.nrdc.org/living/stuff/great- ... debate.asp
"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity" –Bruce Lee
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
For Toons, it depends on how far he is from the crick in them hills he lives in. If he wants to save a trip, he takes his clothes and washboard along with his dishes.
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
I know it seems counter-intuitive, but I've read in many sources that it's cheaper and uses less water to use a dishwasher. As tadamsmar says, however, many people waste far too much hot water rinsing dishes nearly clean before putting them in the machine. My SIL is notorious for this, and it's just about impossible to tell whether or not the DW has been run when she loads it, based on looking at the contents. I always rinse off chunks, especially starchy food, but you can definitely tell when my DW has been run or not.
Last edited by deanbrew on Thu Oct 10, 2013 4:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"The course of history shows that as the government grows, liberty decreases." Thomas Jefferson
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
We have to rinse, otherwise the grinder in our dishwasher clogs up and recirculates the dirty water over and over. It's not a very old machine and was mid-grade when we bought it. Luckily there are YouTube videos on how to dismantle the guts of the machine and clean the grinder - saving us the wonderful $150 service fee we were paying almost annually.tadamsmar wrote:From my experience, few people use their dishwashers as specified in the owner's manual. In particular, they rinse the all dishes before they load, which wastes water. Also, they load it incorrectly and use too much detergent.
I have only met one person who used their dishwasher specified in their owner's manual and they tried to be sneaky about it when they had guests because they thought not rinsing would gross out the guests.
I once advocated following the owner's manual on another forum and I was quickly accused of being a troll.
An elephant for a dime is only a good deal if you need an elephant and have a dime.
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Jack Sprat and his wife use their tongues. No water required.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
I've never understood why people wash their dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. If there is any significant amount of food on something, I scrape it off. That's it. I don't have to deal with baked on meat, though, since this is a vegetarian household.
Some time ago I read you can use half the amount of detergent in dishwashers and clothes washers that the manufacturers of those products say to use and I've been doing that ever since. I see no difference in the results.
Edited to add, I air dry the dishes. It took a while to get used to having the dishwasher open and the racks pulled out into the kitchen, but now I don't notice it. I dump out any water in the dishes when I open it up.
Some time ago I read you can use half the amount of detergent in dishwashers and clothes washers that the manufacturers of those products say to use and I've been doing that ever since. I see no difference in the results.
Edited to add, I air dry the dishes. It took a while to get used to having the dishwasher open and the racks pulled out into the kitchen, but now I don't notice it. I dump out any water in the dishes when I open it up.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Hmmm. Interesting concept. Is it universally true? My dishwasher when full I am sure uses less water than washing all those dishes, utensils, and cups by hand, but what if the dishwasher is only half full? We always run out of clean utensils long before the dishwasher is full. I end up running the dishwasher once a week though.
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Like tadamsmar, I generally don't rinse unless it's something that needs a good soaking and/or something that I'm going to hand wash anyway, like anything that's big enough take up half my dishwasher. I'm a big fan of those long handled dish brushes to scrub off the food bits before I throw the dishes in the washer. No rinsing necessary, except for the brush at the end. Ikea makes pretty sweet ones: http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/30149556/
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Toilets work on the same principal.serbeer wrote:You bet. I reduced my monthly water consumption by 35% once I started using dishwasher. From 10K gallons to 6+K gallons. But electricity bill went up, not 100% sure by how much.pablolo wrote:Hi . Other than convenience, does using a dishwasher use less water than doing dishes by hand?
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
I'm single. I can't see using a dishwasher for washing the few dishes I use each meal.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
I'm single also and I love my dishwasher.gkaplan wrote:I'm single. I can't see using a dishwasher for washing the few dishes I use each meal.
I run it once a week whether I need to or not.
And I run a 5-minute "quick rinse" cycle just before the full cycle. This gets the cold water out of the pipes and much of the stuck on food off before the main wash cycle...
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Wife and I used to wash all our dwhes by hand.gkaplan wrote:I'm single. I can't see using a dishwasher for washing the few dishes I use each meal.
Getting ready to sell our house, we checked the dishwasher, which had not been used once in the eight years we lived there (we had used it to store large pans).
It no longer worked.
We bought a new dishwasher for the house.
In our new house, we now use the dishwasher regularly.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
For plastic containers, I find that the top rack doesn't do well for grease causing me to use dishwashing liquid to at least cut some grease. Other than that, I think it uses less water since it's not continuous rinsing of each item.
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
I am curious about this too.BrandonBogle wrote:Hmmm. Interesting concept. Is it universally true? My dishwasher when full I am sure uses less water than washing all those dishes, utensils, and cups by hand, but what if the dishwasher is only half full? We always run out of clean utensils long before the dishwasher is full. I end up running the dishwasher once a week though.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Bingo! At least for us anyway. With only two people in the house we don't like our dishes sitting around for three days in the dishwasher smelling and getting crusty before we run it. But then again, I'd probably rinse the dishes before putting them in the wash water if I was washing by hand - otherwise the wash water would get awfully grungy. So I don't know which would actually take more water. No matter which it is, you won't find me washing most of my dishes by hand unless my dishwasher is broken.tadamsmar wrote:From my experience, few people use their dishwashers as specified in the owner's manual. In particular, they rinse the all dishes before they load, which wastes water.
Have a plan, stay the course and simplify. Then ignore the noise!
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
You haven't met me. I've read the manual, I'm an expert loader, and I only use a trace of detergent.tadamsmar wrote:From my experience, few people use their dishwashers as specified in the owner's manual. In particular, they rinse the all dishes before they load, which wastes water. Also, they load it incorrectly and use too much detergent.
I have only met one person who used their dishwasher specified in their owner's manual and they tried to be sneaky about it when they had guests because they thought not rinsing would gross out the guests.
I once advocated following the owner's manual on another forum and I was quickly accused of being a troll.
Washing dishes by hand is not Boglehead like.
If you are single and can't fill the dishwasher....get more dishes. Or run it half full, or 1/4 full. Still way better than by hand.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Most modern dish washers have a rinse cycle designed to solve exactly this problem. They probably even mention it in the Fine Manual.FrugalInvestor wrote:Bingo! At least for us anyway. With only two people in the house we don't like our dishes sitting around for three days in the dishwasher smelling and getting crusty before we run it.tadamsmar wrote:From my experience, few people use their dishwashers as specified in the owner's manual. In particular, they rinse the all dishes before they load, which wastes water.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
The answer depends on how you go about washing dishes by hand. If you leave the water running on full from the time you start washing until the time you end washing, the dishwasher probably uses less water. But, one can wash dishes by hand very differently and use a minimal amount of water.
The concern with dishwashers is not simply the water used, however.
If you want to know about overall costs & impact on the environment, washing dishes by hand (without using copious amounts of water and using an environmentally friendly soap) wins hands down. It takes all kinds of resources, including water & petroleum to manufacture a dishwasher & ship it to the store then to your home. Don't forget mining certain resources using other resources. Running the dishwasher requires electricity.
But how much do you hate washing dishes by hand?
(Bosch, a dishwasher manufacturer, did the study everyone cites when they claim that dishwashers use less water. In this study, however, Bosch assumed people use FAR more water than any normal person does when washing dishes by hand. Bosch also conveniently forgot about all the water involved in all the steps related to manufacturing, and also forgot about all the other environmental costs related to manufacturing & shipping parts, then putting them all together, then shipping to store, then shipping to your home. There's a lot of petroleum in a dishwasher by the time you factor everything in!
The concern with dishwashers is not simply the water used, however.
If you want to know about overall costs & impact on the environment, washing dishes by hand (without using copious amounts of water and using an environmentally friendly soap) wins hands down. It takes all kinds of resources, including water & petroleum to manufacture a dishwasher & ship it to the store then to your home. Don't forget mining certain resources using other resources. Running the dishwasher requires electricity.
But how much do you hate washing dishes by hand?
(Bosch, a dishwasher manufacturer, did the study everyone cites when they claim that dishwashers use less water. In this study, however, Bosch assumed people use FAR more water than any normal person does when washing dishes by hand. Bosch also conveniently forgot about all the water involved in all the steps related to manufacturing, and also forgot about all the other environmental costs related to manufacturing & shipping parts, then putting them all together, then shipping to store, then shipping to your home. There's a lot of petroleum in a dishwasher by the time you factor everything in!
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Is that a Kitchenaid? We had that or a similar problem with our fairly new dishwasher. Our previous dishwasher was a lot more robust.bungalow10 wrote:We have to rinse, otherwise the grinder in our dishwasher clogs up and recirculates the dirty water over and over. It's not a very old machine and was mid-grade when we bought it. Luckily there are YouTube videos on how to dismantle the guts of the machine and clean the grinder - saving us the wonderful $150 service fee we were paying almost annually.tadamsmar wrote:From my experience, few people use their dishwashers as specified in the owner's manual. In particular, they rinse the all dishes before they load, which wastes water. Also, they load it incorrectly and use too much detergent.
I have only met one person who used their dishwasher specified in their owner's manual and they tried to be sneaky about it when they had guests because they thought not rinsing would gross out the guests.
I once advocated following the owner's manual on another forum and I was quickly accused of being a troll.
I need to learn how to unclog it if it happens again. I am now careful about scraping the food off with the new one. The technician advised us not to clean the dishes too much because the detergent needed some dirt to work on. Not sure what he meant, but pre-cleaned dishes may contribute to glass etching. Also some dishwasher manuals recommend that you fill the cups only 1/3 full if you have soft water to prevent glass etching.
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Unless you wear heat protective gloves you can't get water anywhere hot enough to kill any bacteria when washing by hand. So, by hand you have to do a lot of scrubbing to get rid of bacteria (hence why doctors scrub so long).shorvath wrote:There's also a sanitation aspect - dishwashers can use much hotter water than you can when hand washing, killing more bacteria, etc.
Anyways, I just scrape everything out and the dishwasher does the rest. I don't use heat dry as that is a waste of energy.
Not only does the dishwasher use less water compared to me washing by hand (dishwasher uses ~12 gallons of water at the most which is roughly 4 minutes of the water running), it saves me tons of time. Even if using the dishwasher used the same amount of water the time savings would be worth it for me.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Most of the time, if I was dishes by hand, this is how I do it. But then, it's usually a salad spinner, a salad bowl, and a fork. More than that and it's probably being added to the dishwasher.lindisfarne wrote:The answer depends on how you go about washing dishes by hand. If you leave the water running on full from the time you start washing until the time you end washing, the dishwasher probably uses less water. But, one can wash dishes by hand very differently and use a minimal amount of water.
I also NEVER pre-rinse my dishes. My philosophy is if it needs some special handling before the dishwasher, I will just wash that item by hand. I do however empty leftovers into the trash using a fork before putting the dish in the dishwasher.
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Wow. When we were first married, my wife and I rented a house that had no dishwasher. Somehow we overlooked that when we looked at the house. We made sure to never make that mistake again. When we renovated our current house, we installed two dishwashers and regularly use both. Having two is beneficial nearly all of the time, but is absolutely wonderful after a family gathering or party. Both my wife and I regularly comment that installing two DW was one of the smartest things we did when designing the kitchen.black jack wrote: Wife and I used to wash all our dwhes by hand.
Getting ready to sell our house, we checked the dishwasher, which had not been used once in the eight years we lived there (we had used it to store large pans).
It no longer worked.
We bought a new dishwasher for the house.
In our new house, we now use the dishwasher regularly.
"The course of history shows that as the government grows, liberty decreases." Thomas Jefferson
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Most common dirty water recycling problem is not the dishwasher but the sink disposall. Most dishwashers exhaust into the disposal. If it has not been run, the water backs up and does no not exhaust. You recirculate the dirty water.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
It's a Kenmore Elite. But I believe it was made by either Kitchenaid or Whirlpool (can't remember). We have found that if we get off most chunks and run it on the "pots and pans" cycle (using more and hotter water) it will prolong the time between cleanings and it is less fussy about things being rinsed. We run our dishwasher at least once/day, so it does get heavy use.tadamsmar wrote:Is that a Kitchenaid? We had that or a similar problem with our fairly new dishwasher. Our previous dishwasher was a lot more robust.bungalow10 wrote:We have to rinse, otherwise the grinder in our dishwasher clogs up and recirculates the dirty water over and over. It's not a very old machine and was mid-grade when we bought it. Luckily there are YouTube videos on how to dismantle the guts of the machine and clean the grinder - saving us the wonderful $150 service fee we were paying almost annually.tadamsmar wrote:From my experience, few people use their dishwashers as specified in the owner's manual. In particular, they rinse the all dishes before they load, which wastes water. Also, they load it incorrectly and use too much detergent.
I have only met one person who used their dishwasher specified in their owner's manual and they tried to be sneaky about it when they had guests because they thought not rinsing would gross out the guests.
I once advocated following the owner's manual on another forum and I was quickly accused of being a troll.
I need to learn how to unclog it if it happens again. I am now careful about scraping the food off with the new one. The technician advised us not to clean the dishes too much because the detergent needed some dirt to work on. Not sure what he meant, but pre-cleaned dishes may contribute to glass etching. Also some dishwasher manuals recommend that you fill the cups only 1/3 full if you have soft water to prevent glass etching.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Just bought a new dishwasher earlier this year and it comes with a feature that automatically determines the dirt load in the water and tailors the cycle length accordingly. The cleaner the dishes going in, the shorter (and thus less water) the cycle is.
For me, I look at it this way. How much money could I be making doing something else for an hour a day instead of dishes by hand? What is my time worth? Looking at it this way and a dishwasher more than pays for itself over handwashing.
For me, I look at it this way. How much money could I be making doing something else for an hour a day instead of dishes by hand? What is my time worth? Looking at it this way and a dishwasher more than pays for itself over handwashing.
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
My wife says she can wash dishes in the dish washer or I can wash them. I don't argue.
Slow and steady wins the race.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Everyone wrote a lot about washing dishes, nothing to do with investing. Anyway, here is what we do. We pre-rinse all dishes, use the dishwasher to sterilize our eating and drinking utensils, fill the dispenser in the washer only half with detergents. I am the loader and unloader!
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
sscritic wrote:For Toons, it depends on how far he is from the crick in them hills he lives in. If he wants to save a trip, he takes his clothes and washboard along with his dishes.
lol excellent Bravo!
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
I hand wash, but pee outside to compensate for the additional water use.
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
We rinse our dishes, cups, glasses, and utensils fairly well before loading (to avoid the "caked-on" issue), then run only when full. I do wash over-size pots and pans by hand, but that's about it.
Think about it. To wash by hand, and get anywhere near hot enough water for rinsing, you waste gallon upon gallon of water from the hot water heater to the tap, not to mention the water wasted down the sink between rinses. Having lived through many California droughts, I'm abnormally fixated on water wasting.
Think about it. To wash by hand, and get anywhere near hot enough water for rinsing, you waste gallon upon gallon of water from the hot water heater to the tap, not to mention the water wasted down the sink between rinses. Having lived through many California droughts, I'm abnormally fixated on water wasting.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Think about it: water that is hot enough to make a difference in terms of killing bacteria on your dishes would peel the skin off your hands. It is the soap, washing the grease off the dishes and carrying the bacteria away with it, that does the cleaning, not the water temperature. Same as washing your hands.john94549 wrote:Think about it. To wash by hand, and get anywhere near hot enough water for rinsing, you waste gallon upon gallon of water from the hot water heater to the tap, not to mention the water wasted down the sink between rinses.
Wow: two dishwashers? What does the rest of your kitchen look like?deanbrew wrote:Wow. When we were first married, my wife and I rented a house that had no dishwasher. Somehow we overlooked that when we looked at the house. We made sure to never make that mistake again. When we renovated our current house, we installed two dishwashers and regularly use both. Having two is beneficial nearly all of the time, but is absolutely wonderful after a family gathering or party. Both my wife and I regularly comment that installing two DW was one of the smartest things we did when designing the kitchen.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
black jack wrote:Wow: two dishwashers? What does the rest of your kitchen look like?
The Dilbert site for the comic strip did an Engineering contest a couple years back. In the winning design, there were two dishwashers. The logic was that fancy dishes for party would be in a fancier cabinet away from the main shelves, and you could not "waste" space store regular-use dishes and cups. Instead, you simply alternate which dishwasher is "clean" and which is "dirty".
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Dishwashers usually operate at 140 degrees Fahrenheit to increase the detergent efficacy. This is not a tolerable temperature for hand-washing. The better the detergent works, the less bacteria remains on the dishes. Thus, the elevated temperature does play a role in sanitizing dishes.black jack wrote:Think about it: water that is hot enough to make a difference in terms of killing bacteria on your dishes would peel the skin off your hands. It is the soap, washing the grease off the dishes and carrying the bacteria away with it, that does the cleaning, not the water temperature. Same as washing your hands.
Water heaters are usually set at 120 degrees to reduce scalding risk and reduce standby losses. This is also why most dishwashers have an electric heating element -- they are designed to accept water that is colder than their desired operating temperature.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Or upgrade your lifestyle and use dishes instead of eating directly out of the microwaveable containersRainier wrote: If you are single and can't fill the dishwasher....get more dishes. Or run it half full, or 1/4 full. Still way better than by hand.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
We have a fairly new Kitchenaid and have had no problems. We do scrape most chucks off or just wipe plates off into garbage with the used napkin.tadamsmar wrote:Is that a Kitchenaid? We had that or a similar problem with our fairly new dishwasher. Our previous dishwasher was a lot more robust.
I need to learn how to unclog it if it happens again. I am now careful about scraping the food off with the new one. The technician advised us not to clean the dishes too much because the detergent needed some dirt to work on. Not sure what he meant, but pre-cleaned dishes may contribute to glass etching. Also some dishwasher manuals recommend that you fill the cups only 1/3 full if you have soft water to prevent glass etching.
Due to our refusal to wash dishes before putting them in, our old dishwasher had to run on pots and pans all the time, to avoid having stuff redeposit. With the new one we can use normal cycle most of the time with no pre-rinsing, but it is supposed to automatically adjust the cycle times and water use based on how dirty the dishes are. For some items with cooked on food, we sometime just let them in the sink to soak for a while or over night before putting them in. But sometimes we just put them in as is and are often amazed at how well the dishwasher (and Finish Powerball detergent) does.
If the detergent has nothing else to attack you may get more glass etching as it attacks the minerals in the glass instead.
We had always used less detergent, due to having water softener. But now the only things that work well are things like Finish Powerball, so there is no ability to vary the amount. However, it may be that the glass etching issue was mainly related to phosphates.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Pre-rinsing dishes before washing them will result in real clean dishes, no food baked on, no germs leftover from sick guests. This is similar to washing clothes, where we (using soap to the lowest mark) rinse the clothing out one additional time to get out any soap smell and any left-over germs.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
I use to use the dishwasher and it ran ~once/week. But recently have gotten onto the kick of hand washing dishes before going to bed. It's 5-10 minutes of quiet time to listen to the radio (music, weather forecast), check grocery list, plan tomorrow,... and clean the kitchen before turning the lights out. It's as domesticated as I'll ever become.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
1. Redeposit of food on dishes is often a sign of lack of rinse agent.
2. I only rinse starchy items before loading my Kitchenaid, otherwise everything just goes in after scraping into the trash.
3. I fill both cups half full of Cascade powder. My water has a hardness of 5.2 grains.
2. I only rinse starchy items before loading my Kitchenaid, otherwise everything just goes in after scraping into the trash.
3. I fill both cups half full of Cascade powder. My water has a hardness of 5.2 grains.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
It takes minimal water to wash by hand if I do it promptly after using it before food gets stuck on. I believe this is more water efficient.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
I never use a rinse agent. I forgot there was such a thing until I read this. Food isn't redeposited by my dishwasher.stevep001 wrote:1. Redeposit of food on dishes is often a sign of lack of rinse agent.
2. I only rinse starchy items before loading my Kitchenaid, otherwise everything just goes in after scraping into the trash.
3. I fill both cups half full of Cascade powder. My water has a hardness of 5.2 grains.
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
I researched this a while ago online and was surprised to learn that an efficient dishwasher, for most people, uses less water and has a lower "carbon footprint" than handwashing. I think where this breaks down is when people so thoroughly rinse their dishes before putting them in the dishwasher that they are esentially doing both....a good dishwasher should not require pre-rinsing most items these days. Do a google search to confirm this.pablolo wrote:Hi . Other than convenience, does using a dishwasher use less water than doing dishes by hand?
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Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
I know somebody who has very little kitchen cabinet space and uses two dishwashers, alternating the "clean" one for storage and the "dirty" one for washing with each load. It's sort of ingenious. I have a feeling this might be a New York City thing.black jack wrote: Wow: two dishwashers? What does the rest of your kitchen look like?
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
sscritic:sscritic wrote:For Toons, it depends on how far he is from the crick in them hills he lives in. If he wants to save a trip, he takes his clothes and washboard along with his dishes.
First I was glad you're back on the forum for the taxes you've taught me so much about. Now I'm glad your back for the humor.
Fallible
P.S. Have I mentioned I'm glad you're back? Am I OT? Yep.
"Yes, investing is simple. But it is not easy, for it requires discipline, patience, steadfastness, and that most uncommon of all gifts, common sense." ~Jack Bogle
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
I just installed an aerator that is 1 gpm so in 4 minutes I'll use 4 gallons not 12. Understood that unless I finish washing by hand in three minutes I'll still use more than the dishwasher, but not as much as I used to.nordlead wrote:Not only does the dishwasher use less water compared to me washing by hand (dishwasher uses ~12 gallons of water at the most which is roughly 4 minutes of the water running), it saves me tons of time. Even if using the dishwasher used the same amount of water the time savings would be worth it for me.
I rarely use our dishwasher. I know I should have ran it periodically which I used to do but since I stopped that I wonder if it even works anymore.
I keep telling my wife we should use it but I like to do the dishes by hand. Our water bill is already pretty low and since our dish usage is minimal I doubt we would save that much. As others mentioned I don't like the idea of it being filled with dirty dishes for four or five days before its used. Maybe I'll try it for a month and see if we do save anything.
As for bacteria, I'm pretty sure any bacteria remaining after hand washing has never caused us any issues. Isn't that how you build up immunity?
Re: dishwasher vs manual dish washing
Our kitchen is eight years old and pretty nice, but not anything you'd see on TV or in home magazines. We put one DW next to the main sink and the other in the island. It really is very convenient, as we don't need to hurry and unload the clean one before loading dirty dishes. And dishes don't stack up in the sink waiting for a spot in the DW. We do unload them, however, and don't move dishes from one to the other.protagonist wrote:I know somebody who has very little kitchen cabinet space and uses two dishwashers, alternating the "clean" one for storage and the "dirty" one for washing with each load. It's sort of ingenious. I have a feeling this might be a New York City thing.black jack wrote: Wow: two dishwashers? What does the rest of your kitchen look like?
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