What is more efficient: washing the dishes by hand or using a dishwasher?
CHORES SIMPLIFIED
24.3.2017
Washing the dishes by hand or using a dishwasher? The answers tend to vary. Someone who has to take care of ten or more place settings worth of dishes every day cannot imagine life without a reliable dishwasher, while someone who only uses a few dishes a day may think owning a dishwasher is pointless.
Long before the dishwasher was invented, hand washing was the only way to do the dishes.
But today the dishwasher is considered a standard kitchen appliance – as important to some as a refrigerator or an oven.
If you have a family, the dishwasher will make your life easier. Moreover, a dishwasher can save up to 10 days of your time per year, which you can spend relaxing with your family.
Here are five useful facts about the savings you can enjoy if you let your dishwasher do your dishes.
- Save money: Washing dishes in a dishwasher rather than by hand can cut your utility bills.
- Save time: Loading and starting a dishwasher takes less time than hand washing.
- Save water: Dishwashers only use 1/6 of the water used when doing the dishes by hand.
- Protect yourself form germs: Dishwashers clean the dishes at high water temperatures that cannot be reached when washing by hand (medical treatment of people infected with bacteria can become complicated, leading to longer hospital stays and increased health care costs).
- Save the environment: By reducing water consumption, dishwashers also help protect our lakes and oceans.
Smart statistics: hand-washing vs dishwasher
As consumers are hot on facts and figures, here is some interesting information that paints a wider picture of all the benefits of doing your dishes with a dishwasher.
The statistics show that you can lower your utility bills by €50 and save over ten days of your time per year. The dishwasher uses only 1/6 of the water used during hand-washing, and the average bacteria count on hand-washed dishes is approximately 390 per plate (dishwasher: one bacteria per plate).
We also compared water and energy consumption when doing a full dishwasher load, equivalent to twelve place settings worth of dishes, by hand and with a dishwasher. The results showed that both water and power consumption were much higher in case of manual dishwashing.
We are proud to have the most effective dishwasher.
A dishwasher test conducted by several European consumers’ associations, members of the independent International Consumer Research and Testing Ltd. (ICRT), tackled this very question: is manual dishwashing more efficient than using a dishwasher, or is it the other way around?
They tested 155 dishwashers of renowned brands and compared them in categories relevant to the overall excellence of user experience and simplicity of use. The most important testing category was washing effectiveness. In addition to substantial amounts of clean dishes, the result of the test was the finding that among all 155 tested models, the Gorenje SmartFlex dishwasher, made in EU, was the most effective dishwasher.
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