I did a detailed analysis (yes, I am sad) comparing handwashing twice a day with the dishwasher, conducted over a fortnight. I can't find my notes now, but hand washing was streets ahead in terms of energy, water and detergent used.
Of course, we do have solar hot water and the built-in dishwasher that came with the house doesn't have a hot water inlet, so if it had taken hot water from the tank it might have used less energy. But it still used a lot more water and that was the clincher for us, having run out of water two years back.
The dishwasher is now a sort of memorial to consumerism. RIP!
hurrah, I've sold my dishwasher!
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Millymollymandy
- A selfsufficientish Regular
- Posts: 17637
- Joined: Tue May 10, 2005 6:09 am
- Location: Brittany, France
I could not live without a dishwasher. Period!
Everything goes in ours, saucepans, roasting pans, the lot. Only occasionally does a pan need a bit of extra scouring.
We can't easily wash up because of the very bad design of our kitchen. A sink with draining board which is the wrong way round and a wall right next to it. We only have the one small sink too so rinsing is a problem, requiring running the tap over the bowl of soapy water...... meaning you have to keep refilling the bowl with soapy water
On top of all that the sink (at standard height) is too low for me and gives me a backache - I'm 5'9" ......... and my husband is 6'4" so it must be a complete nightmare for him!
So the dishwasher for us is both better economically and ergonomically.
Everything goes in ours, saucepans, roasting pans, the lot. Only occasionally does a pan need a bit of extra scouring.
We can't easily wash up because of the very bad design of our kitchen. A sink with draining board which is the wrong way round and a wall right next to it. We only have the one small sink too so rinsing is a problem, requiring running the tap over the bowl of soapy water...... meaning you have to keep refilling the bowl with soapy water
On top of all that the sink (at standard height) is too low for me and gives me a backache - I'm 5'9" ......... and my husband is 6'4" so it must be a complete nightmare for him!
So the dishwasher for us is both better economically and ergonomically.
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Stonehead
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One of the first things we did when we moved in was to rip out the trendy new stainless sink (looked nice but was very shallow) and replace it with a commercial sink that's deep enough to take a 10-litre bucket.
We don't overfill the sink when washing up, but having such a vast sink makes it much easier to wash big pans, the big chopping board, and even children when they are small! It's also useful for filling buckets, too.
We don't overfill the sink when washing up, but having such a vast sink makes it much easier to wash big pans, the big chopping board, and even children when they are small! It's also useful for filling buckets, too.
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Millymollymandy
- A selfsufficientish Regular
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- Joined: Tue May 10, 2005 6:09 am
- Location: Brittany, France
Ah! I have a giant ceramic sink in my cellar/mud room/laundry room which is used for large things/buckets/dirty boots and all other things big or mucky. It just is not practical for the day to day washing up as you have to go down 5 steps to get to it, and the room is unheated. So in and out with the washing up would let out all the warmth from the kitchen! I do do the oven shelves in there though!
Actually it wouldn't be practical at all now I come to think of it because the hot water for that room comes from a separate tank than the kitchen, and that one doesn't get put on very often.
Actually it wouldn't be practical at all now I come to think of it because the hot water for that room comes from a separate tank than the kitchen, and that one doesn't get put on very often.
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wulf
- A selfsufficientish Regular
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- Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2005 8:41 am
- Location: Oxford, UK
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I'm another "by hand" fan. Actually, fan is probably a bit too strong - it is far from my favourite job, but loading and unloading a dishwasher (I've had to do it at work sometimes) isn't a barrel of laughs either.
My ideal system is to do a draining rack full of washing for one bowl of water. I start with the cleanest stuff and, as the rack gets full up and the water gets grubby I switch to giving dirtier items an initial rinse. Next time I come back to the kitchen I can clear the stuff in the rack (which will have largely dried), wash what is almost clean and, if necessary, repeat the cycle.
As long as not too much is allowed to pile up the system works well with a minimal expenditure of resources (energy, water, detergent and my precious time!). To be fair, there are just two of us in the house; when I was a child, my brothers and I used to have to take turns helping with the tidying up. We didn't particularly enjoy it but it was some more time building the familial bonds.
Wulf
My ideal system is to do a draining rack full of washing for one bowl of water. I start with the cleanest stuff and, as the rack gets full up and the water gets grubby I switch to giving dirtier items an initial rinse. Next time I come back to the kitchen I can clear the stuff in the rack (which will have largely dried), wash what is almost clean and, if necessary, repeat the cycle.
As long as not too much is allowed to pile up the system works well with a minimal expenditure of resources (energy, water, detergent and my precious time!). To be fair, there are just two of us in the house; when I was a child, my brothers and I used to have to take turns helping with the tidying up. We didn't particularly enjoy it but it was some more time building the familial bonds.
Wulf
Read my 
I think if we had hot running water (from solar and back boiler) I would wash alot more by hand.
Our dishwasher gets put on every evening when we are going to bed and emptying it is the first chore of the day (unless I have to fetch firewood)
Our dishwasher gets put on every evening when we are going to bed and emptying it is the first chore of the day (unless I have to fetch firewood)
Ann Pan
"Some days you're the dog,
some days you're the lamp-post"
My blog
My Tea Cosy Shop
Some photos
My eBay
"Some days you're the dog,
some days you're the lamp-post"
My blog
My Tea Cosy Shop
Some photos
My eBay
I don`t like dishwashers - I haven`t got one but there was one in a holiday cottage last year. I was dead excited at first - new toy! but I couldn`t get on with it at all. When I`m cooking a meal or baking etc I automatically wash up as I go along and I get harassed if I have to store it all up. By the time I`d scraped and stacked and fiddled I could have done it by hand.
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Brij
- Living the good life
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I love my dishwasher... though I'd rather have an oven and make some nut-roasts! (living in a small flat, I get a small sink, tiny draining board, two hobs, a dishwasher and a microwave, that's it!)
I've a sort of half-sized job (it's about 1'6"x2') which can take about a meal-for-2-people's amount of mess, and I bought vegetable-based tablets for it that are designed to be appropriately dosed to the load you are doing, the idea is that you use up to 3 tablets for a heavily-soiled load in a full-sized dishwasher. Needless to say, I use just 1 tablet.
Is that still less eco-friendly than washing up by hand (with my "green" washing-up liquid - I love Monoprix!), do you think?
I've a sort of half-sized job (it's about 1'6"x2') which can take about a meal-for-2-people's amount of mess, and I bought vegetable-based tablets for it that are designed to be appropriately dosed to the load you are doing, the idea is that you use up to 3 tablets for a heavily-soiled load in a full-sized dishwasher. Needless to say, I use just 1 tablet.
Is that still less eco-friendly than washing up by hand (with my "green" washing-up liquid - I love Monoprix!), do you think?
Last edited by Brij on Sat Apr 05, 2008 10:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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dh ver1.0
- margo - newbie
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- Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2007 9:52 am
- Location: At circlecross's behest
I'm afraid rumours of the demise of circlecross's dishwasher were a little premature. We advertised it on ebay, had an email about it yesterday morning, agreed to sell off-ebay. 2 hours later, money did indeed change hands, and I bid a teary wave as the dishwasher disappeared into the back of the purchaser's Land Rover.
Last night the purchaser phoned to say that on one of the cycles it wasn't draining properly (we've never had so much as a misplaced wheeze out of it). He agreed to persevere, but phoned again this morning to say it wouldn't drain on any of the cycles now. I offered his money back provided he carted the dishwasher back to us, so now it's sat in the conservatory
I wasn't relishing re-plumbing it just to see if it worked, and was considering its suitability, on its back, as a planter / mini raised-bed when I got another call from the ex-potential purchaser to say that it turned out it was his drainage that was at fault, not our dishwasher, but he didn't want it now anyway! Nice of him to let us know, but....GRRRRR
Technically, I feel that I have come good on my promise to sell the dishwasher. Not entirely sure that Circlecross concurs... The fact that we are no richer than yesterday and have no less dishwashers is neither here nor there.
Last night the purchaser phoned to say that on one of the cycles it wasn't draining properly (we've never had so much as a misplaced wheeze out of it). He agreed to persevere, but phoned again this morning to say it wouldn't drain on any of the cycles now. I offered his money back provided he carted the dishwasher back to us, so now it's sat in the conservatory
I wasn't relishing re-plumbing it just to see if it worked, and was considering its suitability, on its back, as a planter / mini raised-bed when I got another call from the ex-potential purchaser to say that it turned out it was his drainage that was at fault, not our dishwasher, but he didn't want it now anyway! Nice of him to let us know, but....GRRRRR
Technically, I feel that I have come good on my promise to sell the dishwasher. Not entirely sure that Circlecross concurs... The fact that we are no richer than yesterday and have no less dishwashers is neither here nor there.