Save Water and Time. Use Your Dishwasher.
January 13, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under Uncategorized
I’ve learned that there are people that wash their dishes by hand because they believe they’re saving energy. Actually, doing less work can save you money and also help the environment.
According to Consumer Reports, an efficient dishwasher can use less water than washing dishes by hand, no matter how frugal you are at the faucet.
Here are some other tips to lower your bill while using your dishwasher:
1. Only run your dishwasher when it is full.
2. Turn it on the energy saver cycle.
3. Don’t prerinse your load.
4. Use an enzyme based detergent to get your dishes completely clean.
5. If your dishwasher has a booster heater, turn it down. Most booster heaters can raise the water temperature 20 F.
6. Turn off the heated drying option. If you don’t have this option on your dishwasher, then after the cycle finishes, open the door and allow it to air dry. (I try to run my dishwasher at night after the kids are in bed. When the dishes are clean, I sometimes open the door to allow them to air dry.)
7. Use the shortest cycle that will get your dishes clean.
Do you use your dishwasher?
There was actually a study that showed that the dishwasher DOES get dishes cleaner than washing by hand!
It definitely sanitizes them better! When my kids were babies I would put all their chew toys in the dishwasher too. I did use the heat dry when they were babies, just for the extra sanitization of the bottles and such.