My Broken Dishwasher -- Week 5

Welcome to week 5 of my 52 ways to go green!

An unplanned flooding of my dishwasher (at 2 am...grrrr) has me going without the convenience of one for now.  I have a family of 5 and the glasses alone are enough to make dish washing a part-time job!

My first house didn’t have a dishwasher (no kids yet, just me and Dave) and people would ask “don’t you have a dishwasher?” Dave would reply, “yeah, you’re looking at her!”  Ha, Ha, Ha...the joke’s not so funny now.

The old me, the me before my 52 week journey, would have dug out the paper plates, plastic cups and utensils without giving it a second thought.  But the green guilt crept in and I decided we could spare the landfill my family’s laziness and step up to the sink.

But how quickly should I get a repair man out here?  Am I saving money, water and energy, (definitely NOT time) washing by hand? Since I didn’t know the answer, I did a little research and here is what I found:

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“Many modern dishwashers use only half as much water as you would washing by hand, according to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. That can add up to thousands of gallons over the appliance lifespan -- about 11 years for most dishwashers. And the automatic part also saves you about four hours a week of boring and repetitive cleanup.
As to overall efficiency, products made by U.S. manufacturers generally lag behind the imports. While about 80 percent of dishwasher sales are for well-known brands (General Electric, Kenmore, KitchenAid, Maytag, and Whirlpool), the most efficient models are not exactly household names. AHAM reports that Asko, Bosch, Haier, Ultraline, and Fisher & Paykel offer models that use at least 80 percent less energy than required under federal law -- and cost under $26 a year to run. At the top end, some Asko and Bosch models cost only $19 a year to operate. That's based on an electric rate of 10 cents per kilowatt hour, the average national price in 2006, and includes the electricity used to heat the water and the electricity used directly by the dishwasher.” (Chicago Tribune)

After discovering that it’s less wasteful to run my dishwasher (and apparently my Bosch was a good choice) than hand wash, I have promptly scheduled an appointment to get it fixed.

So what exactly did I do that was green this week?

• I refrained from using disposable dinnerware.
•  I was very conscious of the water I used to wash my dishes, plugging the sink and filling up the bottom, washing and rinsing as the sink filled.
• I washed in an efficient manner to make the water go further – washing glasses first and saving the dirtiest pots for last.
• This experience has made my family more mindful of the amount of dishes they use each day.  We have been more careful to use less of them (you use it you wash it rule applied this week).
• I educated myself on the realities of dishwashing vs. hand washing and am sharing it with you!