Handwashing or Dishwasher: Which to choose to save money?

Do you let the water run while you wash dishes? Do you fill your dishwasher to the maximum? Do you rinse plates before placing them in the dishwasher? Look at your habits closely before considering either option as the best.

Water Consumption

The latest dishwashers are extremely efficient and use very little water. For a load of 12 place settings, new generation dishwashers consume ten litres of water. A similar amount of water is used when you let the tap run for a minute. However, you can also clean the same amount of by hand in very a short time.

Depending on your habits and the composition of your household, water expenditure will vary. A single person can wash up without risking a surge in consumption. Conversely, a large family would be well advised to forget the manual solution and run the dishwasher.

Electricity Consumption

In order to work, the dishwasher uses both water and electricity. Indeed, the dishwasher consumes 1 kWh of electricity per cycle, reports the media Tf1 info. According to ADEME (the French Environment and Energy Management Agency), energy use is around 171 kWh/year. This represents about 2.3% of a home's total annual energy consumption.

Is washing up more eco-friendly? If you’re washing dishes by hand and using hot water, you should know that you’ll also be using electricity. To heat the water, it takes 2.5 kWh of energy... This is equivalent to running a hairdryer for two and a half hours, notes Tf1 info.

Some Useful Tips

• prefer the eco cycle of your dishwasher;
• avoid hot water for handwashing;
• use ecological products for both cleaning solutions.

(MH with Raphaël Liset - Source: Tf1 info - Illustration: ©Unsplash)