Dishwashing is famed as being the most energy efficient way to clean your crockery. But can hand washing ever compare?
Can hand washing be as efficient as dishwashing?
In short: maybe. First, let's consider water usage. The average tap flows at a rate that means if you can wash and rinse eight place settings – that’s eight plates, eight bowls, eight forks, eight knives, eight spoons, eight glasses, etc. – without running the tap for more than two minutes in total, then, you probably use less water by hand-washing.
Impact of heating the water
If you use warm water for washing and rinsing – made up of 50% hot water and 50% cold water, heating two gallons of water will use about 960 BTUs. You can compare that with the stated energy efficiency of your dishwasher per load to compare the costs.
Which is better – a dishwasher or hand-washing?
When you crunch the numbers, they do indicate that it is technically possible to be more energy efficient by hand-washing, but it's actually very tough in the real world. Do you think you could successfully wash and rinse off a soiled dinner plate using a cupful of water? If the answer is yes, and you can keep your water use low you'll use less energy. In real life, doing an entire load of dishes with half a bowl of water is very, very hard indeed! So if you’re worried about your green credentials, you are probably safe to continue to use your automatic dishwasher.
S&D Ireland: Domestic Appliance Repairs
At S&D Ireland, our local network of fully qualified repair technicians turn up ready to work with many of the most common replacement parts they might need. We always attempt to fix your domestic appliance on our first visit. Call us on one of our numbers below to find out more about our domestic appliance repair services, or to arrange for your visit from a repair service engineer.
Dishwasher Repairs Southport Call 01704 779 123
Dishwasher Repairs Maghull Call 0151 601 7150
Dishwasher Repairs Formby Call 01704 779 123
Dishwasher Repairs Kirkby Call 0151 601 7150
Dishwasher Repairs Bootle Call 0151 601 7150
Dishwasher Repairs Crosby Call 0151 601 7150