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I've never used the dishwasher in any home I've owned. My last home I purchased new and sold after 15 years, present home I've lived in for 12 years, never turned the DW on in either home. I just replaced the DW in daughter's home because she is selling the home and I want the DW to work, she has never turned hers on in 12 years.
To clarify, there are only two of us in my home, so not a lot of dishes. At one time I attempted to use the DW, but after waiting a few days to get it full enough to turn on, I needed some dished from the washer, so I removed them and washed them by hand.
That was the final straw, not worth the trouble, I enjoy washing dishes, gives me time to think. I don't use much water, I don't fill the sink, I fill a bowl, often just a small bowl like a cereal bowl, whatever in the the sink at the time, with soap and water, and wash from that, I pour from one dish to the next, using the same water. I then put in fresh soap and water and rewash to make them perfect, that method uses very little water.
Those that use the argument that your dishes are more sanitary when washed with extra hot water in the DW, that would only be true is you lived in a germ free environment. Once those super sanitary dished are placed into your cupboard, they are as exposed to germs and the hand washed dishes.
Would I expect the average home owner to use my method, especially a homeowner with a family? Certainly not, very few would follow my lead on doing dishes, but you asked... Now you know the world is filled with strange people.
"Those that use the argument that your dishes are more sanitary when washed with extra hot water in the DW, that would only be true is you lived in a germ free environment. "
Our water comes from a creek. A few hundred yards up there are often cattle. We purify our drinking water but not the general house water, which may or may not get a dose of chlorine. Want to eat off our hand washed dishes?
I've never used the dishwasher in any home I've owned. My last home I purchased new and sold after 15 years, present home I've lived in for 12 years, never turned the DW on in either home. I just replaced the DW in daughter's home because she is selling the home and I want the DW to work, she has never turned hers on in 12 years.
To clarify, there are only two of us in my home, so not a lot of dishes. At one time I attempted to use the DW, but after waiting a few days to get it full enough to turn on, I needed some dished from the washer, so I removed them and washed them by hand.
That was the final straw, not worth the trouble, I enjoy washing dishes, gives me time to think. I don't use much water, I don't fill the sink, I fill a bowl, often just a small bowl like a cereal bowl, whatever in the the sink at the time, with soap and water, and wash from that, I pour from one dish to the next, using the same water. I then put in fresh soap and water and rewash to make them perfect, that method uses very little water.
Those that use the argument that your dishes are more sanitary when washed with extra hot water in the DW, that would only be true is you lived in a germ free environment. Once those super sanitary dished are placed into your cupboard, they are as exposed to germs and the hand washed dishes.
Would I expect the average home owner to use my method, especially a homeowner with a family? Certainly not, very few would follow my lead on doing dishes, but you asked... Now you know the world is filled with strange people.
"Those that use the argument that your dishes are more sanitary when washed with extra hot water in the DW, that would only be true is you lived in a germ free environment. "
Our water comes from a creek. A few hundred yards up there are often cattle. We purify our drinking water but not the general house water, which may or may not get a dose of chlorine. Want to eat off our hand washed dishes?
The three dishwashers that I've owned have all sucked as far as cleaning silverware. When I wasn't working I hand washed everyday and was very happy with that method. We hardly ever had company so I wasn't concerned with the germ spreading part of it. Now that I'm working FT I do a load every night and curse the DW every morning. The temp may boil off the germs but visually the dishes don't look very clean along with the etching and water spots.
As far as water usage. I would fill both sinks one with soap the other with water for rinsing. The question is how much water was used preparing your dishes for the DW? So I prefer to handwash vs DW.
Last edited by MAXIALE02; 11-11-2015 at 11:28 AM..
My Bosch DW has a 'quick cycle' feature that cleans the dishes just as well as the full cycle ( yet only runs maybe 15min tops )
Yes I rinse / wash off excess food into the sink before placing items into the DW
The water bill in the kitchen is the least of my worries. During a hot summer I run a water hose at full on for over half an hour to water various plants / shrubs a couple times a week.
Another thought is the costs of your dishwasher. Do you recoup the costs in the dishwashers lifetime? I've had my GE just under 2 years and already two repair bills. FYI: don't buy GE Dishwashers.
Last edited by MAXIALE02; 11-11-2015 at 11:26 AM..
In regards to the scraping, some new dishwashers include a macerator that deals with larger food scraps. If you have that, there's little need to scrape. With only 2 in our house, the dishwasher runs every 2-3 days. I usually rinse the heavier deposits if it's not full and ready to run.
We save quite a bit of water because it takes my wife and I about 8-12 days to fill up dishwasher (or run out of utensils). I would hand wash our dishes every other day, which took about 30 minutes of my time and 3-5 gallons of water. Now I'm spending 30 minutes per week loading the washer and hand washing our knives/crystal, and other items that ought to be hand washed and about 1.5 gallons of water. My guess is that my dishwasher uses no more than 3 gallons of water per load. So 4.5 gallons compared to 24 gallons over 10 days is quite a bit of savings. My dishwasher uses about 1.8kW per load…about $.25 at my rate.
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