What's cheaper- dishwasher or washing up?

[Squeegle]

Our dishwasher has packed up, so we're feeling all virtuous doing the washing up- saving money and energy. But are we misleading ourselves? With all the hot water, do we use just as much energy? Can you advise?

IMO washing up by hand is a lot cheaper.

I have heard the statement that a dw is more water-efficient than washing up by hand a lot, but i don't believe it. I can believe that it's not THAT different but it really depends how often you change your washing up water/whether you use a bowl, and the great thing about washing up by hand is that the frequency of changing is up to you.

Despite all this, we have a dw and I would replace it like a shot if (God forbid) it broke. If I had the money, which I don't.

It's difficult to say because different people use different amounts of water but... dishwashers are far more efficient in energy and water use than most people think. The most efficient dishwashers will use only 9l of water.

Yes, a bit of a pain that it's broken, was consoling myself that water and electricity bills will be lower- will just have to see how long we can stick it out for! Am torturing the children with a new chore for them....

dishwasher is efficient use of my energy

the amount of water and energy used by a dishwasher is amazingly small

And it will probably do a day's worth in one go, instead of multiple sinks' worth.

I just looked up a typical modern one. It uses 13litres of water per cycle, including the cold pre-wash and the rinse, that's about three gallons, a bucket and a half. And 1.15kWh/cycle of electricity, that's about 15p worth.

Obviously it is far more hygenic as well.

Lovely- I think that's the answer I am looking for

Yes - dishwasher cheaper. A lot of hot water can go down the drain with washing up & many bowls of water needed to wash what you can fit in one dishwasher. Just buy tablets when on offer, Wilkos always have them, and Tesco value supposed to be good. My sister always uses half a tablet & it all comes out clean. I dishwash everything. If its not dishwasher proof then it doesn't survive the cycle so goes in the bin Darwinian theory for kitchen stuff.

the 6 months that my dishwasher was out of action (and ex-H had just left, so one less adult in the home - both in terms of washing up, and clothes washing, and person washing) my water bill was around £270 rather than between £190 and £197 that it has been for every other 6 month period.

Dishwasher is cheaper!

I guess it depends on how good your dw is. Ours was rubbish but it was old and inherited with the house. The previous one was brand new though and still rubbish. We'd have to wash everything again after the dw had sprayed what looked like dilute vomit all over the dishes and then dried i on!

The argument goes that it didn't work because we put too much in it but in that case the thing would have had to have done about 3 washes a day on a good day which is hardly water or power efficient. So when ours died we didn't replace it. Haven't missed it. At the end it was just a convenient place to store dirty washing up.

And yes we tried every detergent and rinse aid under the sun and spent more time cleaning it out than we do washing up tbh. Also bending to fill and empty the stupid thing wasn't doing my back any good. Someone find me a superefficient, 100% effective dw that will fit on the counter top and do all the day's dishes in one go and I will welcome it with open arms.

Meie are fantastic but expensive, Bosch are very good too. Are you using lots of salt even if you use the 3 in 1 tablets? Salt is very important.

Yes to salt and rinse aid and 3in1 tabs.

When comparing energy usage you also need to factor in washing and drying tea towels! If you change them nice and frequently you could easily be doing an extra load or two of washing a week.

I think in general it is more energy efficient to use a dishwasher, especially if you run it on full and on the economy setting.

Mine only uses 9ltrs of water in a eco wash. I'm trying to persuade PIL to get one, their water bill is £45 per MONTH. For two people.

Fluffy, what kind do you have?

It's a Bosch slimline logixx, the other Bosch lines aren't made in Germany but logixx is.

They are more expensive than clasixx but the running costs are cheaper and utility bills are only going up.

It only uses 0.8kw of electric per Eco cycle which on my tariff (expensive electric only "you live in the country and we have you over a barrel because there's no mains gas") works out at 8p.

When I was researching them the big logixx one in john lewis had 14 place settings but said it only used 9ltrs too. It used more electric but mines only 10 place settings.

[sob] still waiting for dishwasher to be plumbed in after THREE WEEKS. V V fed up of washing up by hand - total waste of my time, the kitchen always looks messy, my hands are reacting to the washing up liquid and the stuff is never really clean,

And FWIW we've already broken 2 glasses, a mug and 2 jugs. The dishwasher is so much cheaper.

Couldn't you have a go at plumming it in BloooCow? It's quite straightforward.

If you're looking at the environmental impact, you also have to look at the enormous amount of water used in the building of the dishwasher - making machine parts consumes a huge amount, and there are water uses implicated in transport etc. the environmental impact of manufacturing, transporting, storing, and shipping your electronic goods has huge water and fuel implications, and of course you have to factor in both water and electric costs of running a dishwasher (not that generating hot water doesn't have its own costs).

But it's up to you of course, OP. I'm afraid I don't know the actual stats for energy consumption.

"you also need to factor in washing and drying tea towels!"

I just leave my dishes in the drainer to air dry because I am lazy because it is more hygienic than using a teatowel.

So do I I just assumed that people who wash everything up must have better housekeeping skills than I do

We got a new one in oct after moving house and it's fab. Its an energy efficient one afaik and washes everything in 30mins. Is brill and saves me aggges washing up!