Frugal Friday #5: Use Your Dishwasher
April 27, 2007 by Karen Weideman
Filed under frugal friday, frugal living, money saving idea, time saving
I’ve talked to several people lately that wash their dishes by hand because they believe they’re saving energy. Actually, doing less work can save you more money and it also helps 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. See Frugal Friday #2 for more information.
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.
Your post is right on. tips for greater energy efficiency are turn down the heat boost and heated dry. Those 2 cycles use most of the energy in a dishwasher.
We write a blog about appliances and energy efficiency
Well, this won’t save energy, but you can save money by only filling your detergent trays halfway – plus then there’s never any detergent stuck to the dishes.