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The rising cost of water throughout the U.S. has many of us thinking about conservation—and dishwashing is a good place to start. As a daily chore, dishwashing can use up quite a bit of water, so doing it right consistently can have an impact on your bill. Surprisingly, using the dishwasher more and handwashing less is frequently a good way to conserve.
The myth of dishwasher waste
Pre-1994 dishwashers weren’t subject to any regulations on the amount of water they could use per load. Once, however, the Energy Star program and other incentives were put in place to control the amount of water a dishwasher uses per load, the amount of water they consumed dropped by at least 10 gallons per load. Newer dishwashers that were built in the last 10 years or so use even less water, consuming no more than five gallons of water per load. The idea that dishwashers were wildly inefficient machines stuck around, even though you’d have to be using a 30-year-old dishwasher for that to be true.
Hand washing vs machine washing
According to EnergyStar.gov, a dishwasher that has an Energy Star label costs only about $50 per year to run. A newer dishwasher uses fewer than five gallons of water per load and can reduce the amount of energy you use to heat the water for dishwashing, as they have internal, on-demand water heaters. Comparatively, washing a sink full of dishes uses about 27 gallons of water per load. That means that over the course of a year, a dishwasher can save you over 8,000 gallons of water if you run it once a day as compared to handwashing one sinkful of dishes per day.
How to make your dishwasher even more efficient
If you choose to go with a dishwasher instead of handwashing, you can save more water by scraping instead of rinsing your dishes before loading the machine. Running the water from the tap to rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher can use up to 2.5 gallons of water per minute; scraping dishes uses no water at all. Running the rinse cycle on your dishwasher uses about a half gallon of water and can be helpful when there’s extra-sticky food to remove. Running your dishwasher when it’s full instead of doing partial loads can save water as well.
Choose a smaller dishwasher
While even a full-sized Energy Star dishwasher uses fewer than five gallons of water per load, a compact dishwasher uses even less, around two gallons per load. If you don’t have a lot of dishes, a countertop dishwasher can save you even more water. Compact dishwashers are also simpler to install.
How to make handwashing dishes more efficient
Rather than running the water over dishes the entire time you’re scrubbing, try filling a large pot or basin with soapy water, and washing all your dishes in there first before rinsing. This will reduce the amount of time you spend running the water, thus cutting down on the amount of water you need for a sinkful of dishes. You can also opt to soak dishes with burnt or stuck-on food before washing to avoid running the water while cleaning. Soaking utensils like wooden spoons that shouldn’t go in the dishwasher can make scrubbing and rinsing them faster, and will save water as well. In general, whenever you don’t need to be running your tap, you should turn it off.
