How You Can Save Energy With Your Dishwasher

Dishwashers are a great time saver. Instead of standing at your sink washing each dish, utensil and pan by hand, you can load them into your dishwasher instead, add soap, press a button, and then go do something better with your time. But is your dishwasher stealing money from your pockets by using too much electricity?

Actually, dishwashers by themselves don’t use a lot of energy. Where the problem lies is with the hot water that they use. Dishwashers work because they spray lots of really hot water repeatedly over your dishes. So is there really anything that you can do about this?

If your dishwasher is relatively new and is not the most basic model of its brand, then it may have a heating element inside. The idea behind this is you can lower your water heater temperature to a more energy-efficient level, and then the dishwasher will finish heating it up to a sanitizing temperature. Unfortunately, either you have this option or you don’t. You can’t really add it to an existing dishwasher. However, if your current dishwasher is getting old and you decide to replace it, then you should look for this internal heating element in your next dishwasher.

Don’t you hate feeling like you must wash the dishes before the dishwasher starts on them? I’m talking about standing at the sink with the water running, rinsing things off before loading them. Well, that’s another excellent way to waste energy! Instead of rinsing, just scrape things off so there aren’t big chunks of food. Your dishwasher can take things from there, and you’ll save on water and energy.

Have you turned off the drying system in your dishwasher yet? You should. Your dishes can air dry just fine. If your model doesn’t have a button for a non-heated drying cycle, then just turn your dishwasher off when the rinse cycle is complete. You can prop the door open if you want them to dry faster.

Finally, don’t run your dishwasher for just a few dishes. Assuming you still have clean ones in your cabinet, wait until your dishwasher is full. Fewer dishwasher runs means more water saved and less gas or electricity used.