They really help conserve water compared to hand-washing. Important with the many relatively dry arid places in the south and west of the US.
Comment on Heat-pump water heaters are a winner for the climate — and your wallet
sunbeam60@lemmy.one 10 months agoOh, you Americans with your hot-water dishwashers! ❤️
Ranvier@sopuli.xyz 10 months ago
sunbeam60@lemmy.one 10 months ago
Oh yeah, I’m with you that dishwashers conserve water. I was making a playful remark that in Europe, the dishwasher takes cold water and heats it up itself, not arguing for or against dishwashers as a concept.
kboy101222@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Wait, are hot water dish washers not a thing outside the US?
Taringano@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I think it’s everywhere but in the US the water comes already hot, in Europe the dishwasher heats it up from the regular cold water.
Squizzy@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Yeah the hot water way seems better.
Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It’s because our dishwashers are massively more efficient and environmentally friendly.
They use very little water, which they heat up themselves to save energy
The only drawback is they take longer to clean the dishes, up to three hours
But nobody would be so selfish as to demand their dishes be done quickly over preserving our environment, would they?
sunbeam60@lemmy.one 10 months ago
It depends. Spraying your dishes with water that is prone to legionella doesn’t seem super safe to me. But even assuming that, I have dishwasher programs than run at 70C, which is above what my hot water tank produces.
Besides, isn’t there a heating element in a US dishwasher regardless? Otherwise, it feels like it has got to continually add more hot water to keep the temperature up…
Taringano@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I believe it’s mostly due to not having always hot water hookups available where laundry would be or not consistently having hot water always available. (as in on demand, from a large boiler that wouldn’t impact the remain of the hot water uses)
Zron@lemmy.world 10 months ago
That seems way less efficient and more prone to issue than just having a central appliance that’s responsible for making hot water.
Mamertine@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It is, but the dishwasher has to have a water heater in it. It has to heat water to a temp that you shouldn’t keep you got water tank at and heats throughout the cycle.
Your clothes washer (generally) also has a built in water heater.
Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Dump a kettle of boiling water in the dishwasher before you start the cycle.
burrito@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
That wouldn’t work with every dishwasher I’ve ever had. They all start the cycle by draining any liquid in the dishwasher before they fill to run the first pre-wash cycle.
Fluid@aussie.zone 10 months ago
This is crazy to me. How do the dishwashers in US heat the water up hot enough to clean effectively? Our dishwashers heat the water up past scolding, really helps cleaning.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Every dishwasher I’ve used in the United States has a built-in heating element. Mine has a steam sanitize function and gets quite hot.
However, it is conventional here to plumb the dishwasher to the hot water line, and it is my understanding that the dishwasher is designed to assume the water is hot and doesn’t try to heat it from cold during the first rinse.
I’ve found that running some water from my kitchen sink to prime the hot line with hot water makes the dishwasher more effective. I use that water for plants, or I keep it in a jug and pour it into a load of laundry in the winter.
Fluid@aussie.zone 10 months ago
Interesting, thanks for info!
S_204@lemmy.world 10 months ago
There’s a heating coil in the bottom of the unit. Water floods in and sits for a short while while reaching temperature.