LCEC – Lee County Electric Cooperative

The dish on dish washing

March 26, 2019 – There are a multitude of reasons to use your dishwasher instead of hand washing dishes. First and foremost, dishwashers cut down on your electric usage. According to ENERGY STAR, using a dishwasher can save you more than $40 a year verses washing dishes by hand. Other reasons to use a dishwasher include:

Time savings:
If you’ve ever washed and dried a load of dishes you know it takes a good amount of time. In fact, ENERGY STAR estimates that you could be spending nearly 230 hours (almost 10 days) of personal time handwashing dishes in just one year!

Clean as a whistle:
Dishwashers these days have all sorts of bells and whistles to sanitize and beyond making your dishes clean as a whistle!

Water savings:
Using a dishwasher can save nearly 5,000 gallons a water per year verses hand washing!

Below are some tips from LCEC’s energy experts on how to use your dishwasher in the most efficient way possible:

• Use the energy-saving cycles whenever possible.
• If your dishwasher has a booster heater, turn your water heater thermostat down to 120 degrees. Most dishwashers have built-in heaters to boost the water temp up to 140-145 degrees.
• Resist the temptation to pre-rinse dishes. Dishwashers today do a thorough job of cleaning. Just scrape off the excess food and let the dishwasher do the rest. Dishwashers use between 8 to 14 gallons of water per load so save water and electricity by not pre-rinsing.
• Wash only full loads and refrain from hand washing dishes throughout the day. It’s cheaper to put the dishes in the dishwasher and wash them all at once.
• Load the dishwasher according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Remember to fill the racks to maximize energy and water use, but make sure you leave enough room for the water to circulate.

For more ways to save on your electric usage, visit lcec.net!