Some days ago I have aquired a dishwasher and I am not sure if it is energetically and/or ecologically convenient to use it instead of washing the dishes by hand. What do you know about that incredibly interesting issue?
Thank you very much and don't hesitate to answer me.
Usually it is said that a dishwashing machine uses less water than washing dishes by hand.
Of course I guess it is not the case if you would only fill up 2 small sinks for washing but with that you wouldn't wash the same quantity as in a washing machine (otherwise it wouldn't be well washed).
And also many people will let the water run out of the tap the whole time they will wash.
So on that point it is I think ecological.
I also think that you probably don't use more detergent / soap with a washing machine compare to the manual way.
Only you will use more electricity.
So globally shouldn't be so bad.
Well for me, washing them by hand is much better. I'm extremely conservative about my resources, so I've learned to washed dishes with very little water. Like fx-trading-education said, many people let the water run which is a huge waste (so that's probably less efficient. I used to work at a restaurant and most people would do that. I had a contest with some people one time to show them how much water they used. We captured all of the drainage water so that we could measure how much we used. I used, on average (this was done several times) 15x (it was around there) less water than everyone else.
What do you want to get out of the process, or more importantly what do not want to get. A dishwasher will make sure the dishes are stirilised, and that any bacterier have been bumped off. Therefore the use of the dishwasher on health and safety grounds is the best option. With hand washing do you also use a tea towel to dry the dishes, if you do then you greatly increase the chance of bacterial build up and cross contamination.
Looking from a "green" perspective then there is less energy used in hand washing (ignoring muscle energy of course), so the green foot print is smaller than for a dish washer. WQhen we fisrt got our washer we had of course to increase the amount of crockery we had as the turn over from diry to clean has a much longer lead time using the washer. However the amount of energy and chemicals used can be limited if you but a washer of the correct size, and nit just get a "standard" size washer of 12 places (ours is 8 and goes on once a day as we do a fair amount of cooking)
if you do not like to take the time and hassle to do them by hand (like most americans) then obvioulsy dishwasher is the way to go, it saves a bunch of time. But if you would rather have cleaner dishes and not have to but them in the washer twice sometimes...just do it the old fashion way
I think that it depends heavily in the amount of dishes you put in the machine, If you only put two forks it of course will be a big waste of water an electric energy. But if you fill it to the top with your dirty dishes is maybe a little more convenient than washing them at hand. Also, it depends on how do you use to wash at hand. I use to leave the water runing all the time while I wash them, but if you close the faucet from time to time maybe it is more convenient to make it at hand. Also you have to take into account the amount of water and energy used to make the dish washer, that can be a lot.
I think it depand a lot in the way you use it.
At home, I always taught my parents were stupid to make us wach the dishes before putting it in the dishwasher. The reason is because we are four kids, and if we always wait for the dishwasher to be full before starting it, we won't have enough dishes. So we clean it, put it in the dishwasher. We may use it later, and wash it quickly after to put it back in it. When its full, we start it....
I think this weird way to do thing, developed the preference to simply wash it by hand every time.
I really think my parents are the most special users of a dishwashing machine in America hahah
I've almost always washed dishes by hand. Mostly, I had to because I didn't have a dishwasher. However, there were two or three times that I did have a dishwasher available in an apartment I had rented. What I found was that the dishwasher did only a fair to poor job of actually cleaning the dishes, not to even mention pots and pans. More times than not, I would end up having to wash everything over by hand anyway so I just stopped trying to use a dishwasher.
I guess it's possible that the machines I had access to were old, or needed adjustment or repair or something. I don't know. But nothing ever came out clean, in my opinion, so for me it was a waste of water, detergent, time, electricity and effort. It was just easier and quicker to do them by hand and then I KNEW they were clean.
My 2 cents
Chad
Wolf1918: Yes, probably the dishwashers you had acces to were old or needed repair or the detergent you used was not good. In my dishwasher I usually obtain good results, In particular with the glasses, they come out shiner than I had ever achieved by washing by hand. With pots and pans it is necesarry to use a temperature above 80 degrees celsius to obtain resonable results and also to take the hardest spots out before putting the into the dishwasher.
| nisibdv wrote: |
| Wolf1918: Yes, probably the dishwashers you had acces to were old or needed repair or the detergent you used was not good. In my dishwasher I usually obtain good results, In particular with the glasses, they come out shiner than I had ever achieved by washing by hand. With pots and pans it is necesarry to use a temperature above 80 degrees celsius to obtain resonable results and also to take the hardest spots out before putting the into the dishwasher. |
Agreed. Dishwashers that are properly used really do fantastic jobs, and they clean dishes the best . For example do people regularly change the sponges they use to handwash their dishes, as well as sterilize the areas around the basins?
I do wash my dishes by hand as there is too little space in the kitchen for a dishwasher, and I only have the minimum of dishes. But I have seen a friend of mine with few dishes, stacking his dishwasher for about four meals before he runs it, with incredible results. Especially the glassware turns out fantastic.
