If you aren’t one to go without a dishwasher, ten you’ll want to read the following tips. They will tell you how to lower the cost of running your dishwasher while still being able to use this time saving appliance. Frankly, I do like having a dishwasher. Not only does it save me the drudgery of doing all of the numerous dishes by hand (we could a lot), but I like the fact that my dishes can be instantly sanitized.
That said, the dishwasher can cost money if you aren’t careful, or it can actually save money over hand washing dishes, This is because done properly, a dishwasher can actually save you on your hot water cost. Of course, many dishwashers make up for this energy savings by the cost to dry the dishes.
That is why one of the best ways to slash your dishwasher cost is to skip the automatic dry cycle. Our current dishwasher is fitted with a non-heat drying cycle that automatically saves us money. Before we had this feature, I would simply schedule the dishes to be done at nap time or at bedtime. Then when the washing cycle finishes, I could open the door, pull out the racks, and let the dishes dry themselves.
Try to have full loads in your dishwasher before you run it. Hunt the house for all sorts of extra glasses or dishes that didn’t make their way to the dishwasher. Raid the fridge to see if there any more dishes there that can be washed (go ahead and get someone to eat that lone chicken nugget). You’ll do fewer loads in the long run, saving you not only on energy cost to run the dishwasher, but also cost in detergent.
Avoid using the rinse and hold cycle. Dishes can keep for a couple of hours in the dishwasher with the door closed. Or, a quick rinse in the sink will save you gallons of water over using the automatic cycle for rinsing.