A question about dishwashers.

Rambosmum

There are clearly a lot of people who use the 'beat the kettle' method of dishwasher unloading!

marleyboy

There's no contest really, I guess it depends how much water you use to fill up the kettle. .

enthusiasticsaver

We managed without a dishwasher in our first two houses then when we moved into our present house in the late 80s my Dad bought a dishwasher as a house warming present. Initially we wondered whether we would mind taking out a cupboard to install the thing but we would not be without it now. Have since replaced the first one we got and the ones they have now are really economical.

seven-day-weekend

We bought a dishwasher for the tenants in our house when we were living in Spain. When we moved back in I used it and when it died I replaced it. When we renovated our bungalow we had an integrated one put in. Wouldn't be without it now.

mumps

We redid the kitchen in our last house in 1992 and had a dishwasher then moved in 1997 and had no space for one. Eventually we redid the kitchen but I didn't bother having a dishwasher. When my kids were younger my 15 minutes washing up and listening to the Archers was my sanity saving part of the evening. Now there are just the two of us and washing up isn't a big deal.

GwylimT

We have a dishwasher, pots get a quick rinse before being put in, we turn it on every five days normally, we are a family of four.

We recently moved to a bigger flat in our building, the dishwasher broke after three weeks, it took two months to get a new one as I kept forgetting to report it (still under guarantee). Our water meter has showed much higher usage during this period. Our dishwasher uses 10l every five days, when washing by hand you need rinse water, at least two bowls of hot washing up liquid water, then dishes need rinsing again under a running tap to remove any washing up liquid as it will be holding dirt.

As I'm rather sad I just checked our sinc, it holds 12l before it hits the over the flow, so 24l to wash and a similar amount for the rinse before and after. Thats a huge difference!

Potternerd

Mojisola wrote: »

I heard a man interviewed on the radio who redid his kitchen with two dishwashers - that way, he never had to unload them.

The one with the clean stuff in acted as a cupboard while the other was filled up prior to being washed.

You can get an expensive but fantastic type of dishwasher from a NZ company called Fisher and Paykel which is 2 separate drawers so one can be going, but the other can be loaded or unloaded so always just a small amount. Wich we had space for one but our space only for a slimline.

summerspring

peachyprice wrote: »

A modern dishwasher uses an average of 10 litres per eco cycle, you put a whole days washing up in one go. You can't wash up a whole days dishes by hand in the same amount of water. Common sense really, and something most people are aware of.

They can use as little as 20 litres

http://www.home-water-works.org/indoor-use/dishwasher

but with that small amount of water it wouldn't rinse properly and would probably need an extra rinse cycle anyway..

Mojisola

summerspring wrote: »

They can use as little as 20 litres

http://www.home-water-works.org/indoor-use/dishwasher

but with that small amount of water it wouldn't rinse properly and would probably need an extra rinse cycle anyway..

That's an American site.

http://www.which.co.uk/energy/creating-an-energy-saving-home/reviews-ns/water-saving-products/water-efficient-dishwashers/

summerspring

Mojisola wrote: »

That's an American site.

A dishwasher's a dishwasher.

But if the modern ones are using so little water that would explain why you can still taste the dishwasher fluid on the dishes and pans, I suppose. They're not rinsing the dishes properly. Not good for your health, ingesting all those chemicals with your food.

I notice it in cafes too. Costa and Nero, their cups always taste of dishwasher fluid!

It's a common thing with modern machines in general, even washing machines. I always run an extra rinse cycle, because even the better quality machines don't rinse properly.