Agreed! A lot of people simply don't think about this sort of thing though. They just want clean dishes and don't pay attention to water use. Water has never been unavailable or too expensive, so other than if they are made aware of water use issues, they simply won't think about these sort of things.
Dude, he checked when he needed the water running and when he didn't. It took 17 gallons to run the entire time, but he only used 9 gallons when only using the water when running over a dish. Filling the sink with water and using that took 6 gallons. Modern dishwashers only use 4. You will not use less water than a modern dishwasher.
I was taught, many years ago, that you filled the sink with hot soapy water and washed items in order of how soiled the dishes were. Start with glassware, then cutlery, plates and pots and pans last. I seldom wash dishes with running water. Actually, I love my dishwasher.
I actually just moved into a new home that came with a mostly new dishwasher. My old one didn't work so great and I had to pre-rinse (and sometime wash certain dishes again), which was a waste of water. This new dishwasher is great. Just to test it out I didn't rinse any dish and ran a full load. Everything came out perfectly clean! I now love my dishwasher too 😂
I don't understand why you are running the tap to wash dishes fill the sink wash dishes in less dirty to dirtiest order and if the water gets too dirty empty and fill the sink again.
@@GAZMAN2002 did you watch the entire video? Check out around the 3:00 mark. I talk about a similar method that you mentioned. I did it this way to show people that rinsing with the water running uses a lot of water and simply by shutting the tap while not scrubbing or rinsing could save a lot of water.
@@kavithasanjay6372 I'm really not sure which "the best" one is, but the house I moved into recently has a Bosch dishwasher and its great. Is Bosch available in India?
You should make a graph showing how many dishes you need to wash for the dishwasher to be more energy efficient and water saving. For example starting your dishwasher with 1 dish is obviously more wasteful than just washing the single dish by hand. I think this point is important because a smaller family doesn't use that many dishes everyday.
@@GoGreenPost I actually was thinking about what is more efficient and cheaper - cook on electric heater or with gas stove, and the long baking in over - gas based oven or electric? What is the question which is very interesting but most people not even realize and lazy to check. You make pretty educational videos.
Thank you! I try to make sure a topic is covered in a way that is useful. If there are ever any other topics you’d like to learn more about, I’d be happy to consider making a video about them!
@ゅ There are a couple of new dishwashers that other viewers seem to be happy with. But I have an older dishwasher and it doesn't do the best job, but it does seem to save me water!
I only have one tub. My method is just to get the sponge wet with some soap, turn the water off, and then wash all the dishes with the sponge. then turn the water on to rinse them off. Not sure if this is more efficient, but seems like it would use less water.
Same. We use a large salad bowl filled up about halfway to scrub in and only run the water (at a slight trickle) to rinse off our dishes. We use about 2-3 gallons using this method. 🌎✌️
That sounds pretty efficient. You'd be surprised though how much water you use when rinsing. It adds up fast! If you'd like to let me know what country you live in I can add it to the map!
Drives me nuts when my husband washes the dishes with running water and not using it. I ask, what is the water doing? If it's not actively doing a job, turn it off.
@@bulletproofh2t idk if its dumb but i definitely do this in the shower. turn it on to get wet, turn it off when putting on soap, turn it back on to rinse. i feel like it saves me some money but in the winter i leave the water running for sure 😂
I tested this out once. I used less water and electricity(from my monthly bill) by hand washing then by using the dishwasher. Using about 60% water flow. However comparing water usage it was about at most $2.00 savings. Electric wise it was about $8-$10. This was not using pre soak or electirc drying - lowest settings possible. And keeping the same conditions between the tests as best as possible. I have even tried the whole do not pre rinse or scrub dishes in the dish washer and I always have to do a second wash. The first wasn't good enough and still had food on the dishes. I know how to load a disheasher correctly.
I Love this video. Thank you for such a detailed analysis. A few key elements missing in this are w 1. this is with fully loaded dishwasher (many people don't max out or sometime overstuff their dishwasher), 2. not prewashing any dishes for the dishwasher (some people also prewash particularly gnarly dishes), and 3. dishwashers which failed to clean every little bit. ***Now let's put in the added impact of production of dishwasher (from mining materials, shipping, manufacturing, shipping again and distribution), extra repairs, usable space (larger kitchen), and disposal of a dishwasher. Considering the average lifespan of a dishwasher is about 10 years we can start to see another angle on what it takes to truly think and be green. As a collective we should be taking this across the board when we are considering being a consumer for more things to making our life a little "easier" or more "green." Such as the new electric car. Reuse may be a greatly overlooked asset when it truly comes to going green.
Great scientific methodology. And great comparative study. Given many lack common sense it's good to bring out the features. What is missed from video in the green credentials that buying and fitting dishwasher (it's obsolescence), electric power used are Not green. Plus the health factor. Using a bit of elbow grease is not a bad thing. My mum taught me most housework without me even noticing I am being taught. I soak my dishes almost always. Even for 20 mins. Then I scrub (rubba dub dub) them while enjoying listening to a lecture on my phone. It's not that bad really. Little jobs like that keep us sane.
I completely agree with being active keeps us sane. But why invest time in washing dishes when you can do anything else, like meditating, learning a language or exercise if letting your dishwasher take care of it for you, all the while using less water (assuming one actually fills the machine with plenty dishes).
Manual hand wash is better for me because i ain't gonna leave a lot of dirty dishes to just lay around and finally get enough to put it in a dishwasher. I have no dishwasher for that very reason.
Sometimes it’s easier to put dishes in the dishwasher and clean them all at once. Sometimes it’s easier to just get them done. Everyone has different preferences. Would love to know what other videos you’d like to see!
@@GoGreenPost it depends especially if you don't have much dish and for it to effective work the dishwasher method to work is having tons of dishes going smelly for days on the sink before putting in the dishwasher
@@GoGreenPost how much dishes do you use in one sitting that you end up having to put in this dishwasher right away , because in family of 3 and all w. Need is rice bowl, soup bowl and cup and fork and spoon for each
I handwash but I also put a bucket in the sink to capture the water that I use when washing and rinsing. When this bucket fills up I use it to water plants in the garden. Yes this means more time washing dishes and you could install a gray water system that allows you to recapture water from your dishwasher and redirect it back to your gardening but that is much more expensive than the bucket in the sink method of recapturing water from washing dishes. If you factor in how much water you save in watering your plants in the garden with this method I'm not sure a dishwasher beats handwashing in terms of total water consumption.
@@atziriramireznegrin2596 So far it hasn't been. It may depend on what type of soap you are using and what plants you are growing but for my garden it hasnt been a problem.
This was Efficient Dishwasher vs Wasteful Hand Washing comparison. Best thing you can do is just wash the dishes when you put them in the sink. Letting things dry out means more work, soap and water. Also reducing the amount of oil and greasy food is not only healthy for you but also saves on soap and keeps soapy water cleaner and functional for longer.
No, addresses all of the comparisons, and in the test: mindful use of each was roughly similar in terms of water use, mindless use of the dishwasher or sink came out in favor of the dishwasher.
My modern dishwasher from Miele only uses 10 liters of water. That’s 2,64 gallons. Also, a machine uses a stronger detergent and water that’s way more hot. My machine even has a sterilizing setting that’s heats the water up for a short amount of time to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
There are many things people do in the United States that aren’t sustainable. I know sometimes it can seem like we are wasteful and thoughtless, but for many people sustainability is simply something they were never taught. I have seen many people wash dishes under running water, but the moment you point out they can save water by shutting the tap while washing, they are very receptive. That’s partly why I created this channel. So many people could make small changes to their daily habits, things they never had to think about before, while still living a similar lifestyle. I know it can often seem like arrogance, but I see it more as unfortunate ignorance. The youth in the US have embraced these concepts very well even at a young age and I believe we will see this shift in Americans over the coming years and decades. Anyways, thank you for watching and starting this important discussion. Would love to know if you have any thoughts on this or if there are other topics you’d like to learn more about/think others should learn about.
Also, I made a map that shows how the world washes videos (according to comments on this video). If you'd like to share how you wash dishes in your home and the country you like in, I'll add it to the map: www.datawrapper.de/_/Qn5PC/
I am a machine dependent for everything but not using dishwasher at home being we are just three and we believe in simplicity. Everyone wash their plate and glass themselves. But I am sure I will switch on it if any visitors come in and have enough load to machine.
2 sink method with one sink: fill plastic dishing washing bowl with hot soapy water, wash dishes, stack or place into another empty dishwashing bowl, when that bowl is full, lift soapy bowl out of sink, place clean soapy dishes, or bowl with clean soapy dishes into sink, rinse with minimal stream of water. If there are a lot of dishes to wash, this rinse water can be recycled as washing water. this saves water and time because you are not rinsing each dish individually.
I know this video is mostly about water savings, but I'd just like to add that you might need a special "dishwasher soap" for your specific brand as well as the amount of electricity needed for the heating element that dries the dishes after the wash. Both of which are added cost to using a dishwasher.
You don't need brand specific dishwasher detergent in any mass market dishwasher. Get the powdered stuff, and put an amount of it in the prewash and main wash compartments that gets your dishes clean without residue. The chemicals in powdered dishwashing detergent are standardized, they work in almost all machines, and powder works better than gel or packs. Cascade powder and Great Value (Walmart store brand) powder have essentially the same ingredients, and are about as effective as each other.
Also, I made a map that shows how the world washes videos (according to comments on this video). If you'd like to share how you wash dishes in your home and the country you like in, I'll add it to the map: www.datawrapper.de/_/Qn5PC/
Thank you so much! This is exactly the motivation I’ve been needing. If there are ever topics you’d like to see in future videos please let me know! It would also be great if you could help spread the word about this channel! Hoping you enjoy some of my other vids 😎😎😎
I see everyone saying that handwashing is better, I have 2 things to say: 1. Either dishwashers improved this much by a year or so, that our dishwasher cleans everything perfectly (no pre rinsing or scrubbing, even more: the manual says not to do so) with the use of 7 - 14 liters of water and around 3 kW of energy, which costs around $0,3 where I live compared to the one shown in the video using 7.2 gallons of water which is around 27 liters. 2. Time is money: Let's say you are progessivly loading your dishwasher as how your dirty dishes are collecting: it takes around 10 seconds to put 1 plate into the dishwasher when you ate your food. Say the most: it takes around 5 minutes (I mean the time it takes to put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher) to load your dishwasher keeping in mind that once you finished for example launch, you put your plate into it. When it's ready, our dishwasher leaves us with completly dried dishes, and you can straight away put the dishes where it belongs, so maybe an another 5 minutes. That counts as 10 minutes which you "spent" with "washing the dishes". The manual handwashing which is at 2:20 in the video, if you calculate the total time, it took almost 27 minutes.
Leaving the water tap on is already a waste of water, which is a completely wrong use of water, and here I prefer using the tap in a logical way on the dishwasher.
Dishwasher can save more resources and energy for a larger load especially for a big family. Hand washing your dishes is good for 1-3 people depending on your method. I usually lightly wet all my dishes and wet sponge with soap to clean them then rinse with water. If you can get a faucet that can switch to shower it rinses dishes throughly and use less water.
This sounds like a good strategy! In the next version of this video I’ll try to work out “a number of people” or a number of dishes where it’s better to use a dishwasher over hand washing or visa versa.
How best to stack many dishes stacked together? It gets the washer crowded and the water doesn't spray to the dirty dishes to clean. I end up doing several batches for Thanksgiving dinner, in the past, which takes about 2 days to clean them. I then went with the less formal paper plates and plastic cups route and got my life back. :)
I think the duel sink method is gross because you end up with soapy dishes after a while and you have to change out the water so I still think you waste a lot of water. The way I used to use the duel sink method was to have one sink with soapy water and the other sink empty and rinse those with some running water
I fill a bin with hot water and add soap to it...after scrubbing dirty dishes in the sink using that water in the bin, I rinse the dishes n dry them on the rack...NEVER LET WATER RUNNING....Our Earth is running out of clean water and if we do not take the effort to conserve water, our future generations will suffer... I come from a place that had to carry buckets n pots to bring water from outside source and now enjoy a faucet that opens up with hot and cold running water...a luxury, which I will never take for granted... as good citizens and good people, we have to take all measures possible to do the right thing, always!:)
Ur ignorance is alarming.our earth is running out of clean water?u do know we even recycle sewage and drink it right?water is about the only thing the earth is not in danger of running out of.we can filter even the most polluted water
Dishwasher all the way. A modern equipment is a hell of eficiency and if you conect it to the hot water pipe it will be even reduce the energy needed. The time saved, the amout of detergent, no comparison. Dishwashers rule!!!
If you really need/want to save water: 1. Fill a medium sized bowl with water and add soap. 1/2 liter is usually more than enough. Turn off the water and leave it off until Step 5, below. 2. Apply a small amount of soapy water to any dishes that need to soak. Simply scrape the others. 3. Dip sponge into soapy water and wash dishes. Dip for more water/soap as needed. 4. Stack washed dishes to the side of sink until all have been washed. 5. Rinse at a rate of 1 liter flow per minute. Low flow but enough once you get used to it. 6. Save MUCH more water than a dishwasher. 7. If draining through a strainer, drain into a bucket. Use grey water to flush toilet.
Thank you so much! If there are other videos you’d like to see me cover, let me know! I’d love to know what else you’d like to see! I’ll be sure to give a shoutout to anyone if I make a video based in their suggestion. It’s only from your feedback and input that I’ll be able to get this channel viral one day :).
Time is definitely a factor to consider. Some people enjoy putting in the time to clean by hand, others don't. Some take longer than others to clean. It all depends on your preferences and methods!
Only after 1 year our expensive dishwasher broke and will likely cost the same to buy a new one rather than fix it. All that plastic appliance waste has an environmental cost as well. I really want to just go back to hand washing if I can make it just as efficient. What is the amount of water people use to pre-wash their dishes? Although the dishwasher may use it efficiently, to keep it from breaking and clogging (which, despite us doing that the pump broke anyway) you have to pre-wash and rinse dishes which uses a lot of water. I'd love to see that factored in as well.
I usually just scrape as much off each dish first so putting it right into the dishwasher is fine for me. I’m working on a follow up video that will be ready next year sometime that will factor it in. We are also working on putting out an app where you’ll be able to enter all relevant information to you (number of dishes, if you pre-rinse, etc) to determine which option would use the least water and suggest better alternatives as possible!
I completely get you. my parents have an expensive energy saving dishwasher that you HAVE to prewash all the dishes, or food would be stuck to the dishes and youd have to wash by hand or run again. that and her ceramics will crack and chip off because they cannot handle the high temperature. Imo unless you leave your dishes dirty for weeks, you shouldnt need to literally boil your dishes to sanitize them.
Older dishwasher use more water than dishwashers made today. Many of them even have cycles that use under gallons of water. Both methods can use little water under the right conditions.
a note for fellow europeans, most here heat water with gas furnaces while the dish washer is exclusively electric meaning the energy for the dish washer operation is inherently more ecological than the one used to heat the tap water. unless you live in places where 99% of the power comes from cloal and there aren't many anymore.
I use dishwasher because I don't want to have a rough hands and hand wrinkles at early age. 😂 Plus, dishwasher helps saves time for us to do more other productive works at home
Obvious washing by hand uses less energy. It's also possible to wash lightly soiled plates with cold water, so one doesn't need to pay to heat it. Dishwashers also wreck everything that's put into them over time. There was an installed dishwasher in the kitchen of my house when I moved in. I've never used it.
@@GoGreenPost it's sad there are people that don't realize something as simple as the fact that it's just a waste of water, glad some are willing to change but it shouldn't be that difficult to see
The reason I’m here is to see if the fact that dishwasher using less water is based on American style of washing with the tap on. Of course dishwasher will use less in that case, but where else in the world do people wash with tap on and waste water like that ?
I'm not sure where else people wash dishes like that, but even if you shut the tap and use it only to to wash and rinse, a dishwasher still uses much less water. A dishwasher can fit a lot of dishes in it and use only a little water. If you aren't carful about how much water you use when washing by hand the amount of water used adds up quickly. For example, if you soak dishes in only a gallon of water at the end of each day and then rinse them briefly, you'll end up using about 1.5 gallons for just that days dishes. Based on the research I did for this video, washing this way would result in about 6 gallons of water to wash a full dishwasher of dishes. This means after 4 days or so worth of dishes, at a minimum of 1.5 gallons each day, you would have used about 6 gallons as well. From my experience, and based on the research for this video, I can fit more than 4 days of dishes in the dishwasher (or rather, I find that 1.5 gallons a day for all the dishes I have isn't enough). However, in this video I do show that it is possible to use less when washing by hand if done correctly, although not by much. Since it isn't by much and since it's so easy to use more water by hand if you aren't careful, it seems that using a dishwasher is the safer option to me. But of course, it also depends which dishwasher cycle you use, how many dishes you are washing, the flow rate of your sink, etc. The goal of this video was to show that, while it does seem dishwashers are better, each person should figure out what the best choice is for them. The answer depends on the conditions of your home so its best to figure out which uses less water in your home. Do you know how much water you use when washing dishes by hand? I'd love to know your experience!
I don't know for the rest of the world, but it's a common thing in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine as well (pretty much the entire post-soviet block). It may be less so for the regions with lesser fresh water availability as in Kamchatka and Crimea Peninsulas. Although I know a few people who are being mindful and do turn the tap only to soak the scrubber and to wash off the dish after scrubbing, I'd say the majority here leaves the tap on for the entire by-hand dish washing session.
Very interesting! Thank you for sharing this. It would be interesting to know how people in other countries wash dishes. If anyone else out there is reading this, let us know how you wash dishes and what country you live in! I’ll make a world map and drop the link in the description and comments.
@@DroneTherapy That's a great topic for a video. I've done some research on this previously, and in almost all cases its jet hand dryer, followed by paper, followed by hot air dryers. I'm working on some other videos at the moment, but will definitely make one on hand drying after. I'll let you know when its ready! You can also subscribe to get updates of when we post videos. :)
@Ferenc Dobos thank you for bringing this up, it's an important point to make. If you watch the entire video, you'll see the reason I left the water running was to show people the power of shutting the sink off while washing dishes. I've seen many people washing their dishes with the water running the entire time. If all they did was shut the tap off, the impact would be large. However, as you've pointed out, I also go on to show that there are ways to reduce your water consumption even further to the point where it's possible to use less water than a dishwater. I'd also like to point out that in my experiment I washed much more than just 8 dishes, I washed an entire dishwasher of items. In my experience, 1-2 gallons is a bit low for all of the items I can fit in my dishwasher, but if you've managed to get your consumption that low than that's great!
You did not mention that washing dishes in the dishwasher is much more sanitary than washing dishes by hand. The dishwasher only uses hot water which you can’t do with cleaning them under a faucet. Plus the dishwasher heats the hot water even hotter with the element in the bottom of the dishwasher. I think that that’s a very important fact which was not mentioned.
This is a great point. I believe this is true. I don't think you can wash dishes by hand with water that is hot enough to disinfect without burning yourself (unless you have a good pair of gloves). There also may be issues with sanitation when using the same dirty water to clean dishes, whereas a dishwasher is able to filter the water.
Also, I made a map that shows how the world washes videos (according to comments on this video). If you'd like to share how you wash dishes in your home and the country you like in, I'll add it to the map: www.datawrapper.de/_/Qn5PC/
I suppose if eating meat/eggs/dairy a lot then true sanitary washing of dishes is preferable, but in my opinion people can worry too much about cleanliness in general and as a result may end up more susceptible to illness as a result? Also the manufacturing a dishwasher has to be factored in to overall cost/environmental impact.
50 gallons? I only use 2 gallons by shutting the water off while cleaning and scrubbing the dishes and then rinse them all stacked. Also, I don't put it on blast and let it run like you did.
Yes, full blast wastes a lot of water. That was one of the points I wanted to show in this video. If you don’t mind me asking, how many dishes did you wash with 2 gallons?
@@GoGreenPost 12 plates, 6 cups, 8 bowls, 2 pots and pans each, 2 knives, 2 tongs, and a cutting board. The trick is to stack them in a way so when water drips down where most of it are already rinsed.
The pots and pans do take up a lot of space in the dishwasher so that can contribute to what you are finding. My dishwasher does also hold a bit more than what you mentioned but that’s a really good technique. I’d like to test that out and included it in an updated version of this video one day.
You're blasting the water constantly, that or when rinsing the dishes, which is wasteful. You really only need 5% of your flow rate to completely rinse dishes.
Yes, I did this to see how much water is used in a couple of scenarios: leaving the tap fully open the entire time, leaving the tap fully open only while washing, and reducing the flow rate/opening the tap only when needed. In the video I show what would happen if you lower the flow rate to just 1 gal/min, which is really low. You could try to lower it more, but at such low flow rates there may not be enough pressure to rinse, leading you to wash longer.
Not really very true to real life. Most people who have dishwashers also have a family. The water used by dishwashers or hand washing pales into insignificance when most families Bath their children and water the garden. But the real problem is the energy used by the dishwasher. The hot water used to wash dishes would still need to be heated even if you have a dishwasher. Everyone has a central heating system to heat their water every day, irrespective of whether they have a dishwasher Also, the cost of purchase and manufacture of the machine is not taken into account and the air miles etc. Plus, the cost to the environment with disposal of the machine.
Yes, the amount of water you use for dishes can be much smaller than other sources. But the answer to the question, which uses less water will be the dishwasher in most cases. The water does still need to be heated, but because it uses less water, less heating is needed. It also reuses the water after filtering it and so the water is already hot and doesn't need as much heating. I hadn't yet considered the environmental impact beyond just the use, but that's a good idea! I'm planning on doing a follow up to this video at some point and I'll be sure to cover that in the video!
I will definitely look into this and include it in part 2 of this video when its ready! I'll look into the impact of having to buy and install a new dishwasher, including construction, electrical installation, etc. To be honest though, since a dishwasher will last so many years, my guess would be that the impact overall is lower. But I'd like to know the answer myself!
@@GoGreenPost You're missing the point. The water I used to wash the dishes is already heated from central heating, but even if I had a dishwasher, I would still be heating my water. I have a timer which heats the water for 30 minutes per day. That would still be the same if I had a dishwasher. The environmental impact is huge. There are 27.8 million households in the UK and 49% of them have dishwashers which equales to 13.6 million dishwashers. Even if everyone of them lasted 10 years that would be roughly 1.36 million dishwashers purchased every year in the UK and 1.36 million disposed. Not only this, but people who own dishwashers also wash by hand too. I witness this in every household I have been in. Roasting trays, saucepans, crockery that isn't dishwasher safe. Also they have more than one wash. Many have two washes per day. So Dishwashers aren't really very green at all and certainly not environmentally friendly
@@bens1972 Yes, but if a dishwasher is using less water there will be less new water to be heated. Also, reheating water is more efficient than heating new water. You're water heating bill (if you have a separate one) will go up with higher water consumption with certainty. And while a lot of people do also hand wash items that don't go in the dishwasher, the items that do go in the dishwasher will be cleaned with less water and the overall water consumption is still lower in most cases when using a dishwasher. It's about comparing an equal number of dishes in one vs the other. If you only load your dishwasher with a few items so that you can run it each day, then washing by hand will for sure be the better option. The point that I'm making and wanted to address in the video is that the outcome will change based on different factors. That's why i broke down all of the numbers and different washing scenarios. There are certainly cases where washing by hand will use less water and energy, but in general, dishwashers are hard to beat because they hold so much stuff and reuse water. As for the dishwasher itself, I don't have any data yet, but I'd imagine since you only need one every 10 years or so, the amount of water used to create it is spread out to be small over its lifespan. The data I collected and showed in the video indicates that dishwasher can definitely be environmentally friendly, if used as I showed in the video.
@@GoGreenPost I think we are going to have to agree to disagree. Research has shown that a single dishwasher cycle uses the equivalent of running your hot top for 6- 9 minutes. I run a tap for about 10 seconds! and I use a washing up bowl. Of course there are many websites that will make you believe that dishwashers are more efficient, because that's what people want to hear Now assuming there are 1.36 million dishwashers being bought each year in the UK alone, that's an huge production cost. The amount of raw materials to produce a dishwasher, not to mention the manpower, marketing, the disposal of the machine. By the time you have factored this in, the tiny difference between the water I use to wash dishes and a dishwasher uses, pales in insignificance.
It seems from the comments that people either didn’t focus, understand or watch the video until the end. As a side note, my new Bosch dishwasher uses 10-13 liters (2.6 - 3.4 gallons) of water and 0.85 - 1.60 kWH per program. I checked all available programs and those were the maximum consumption values. I not only save tons of water but also time. It’s not even close to compare. I just wish I got one sooner.
Thank you for sharing these numbers! I plan on redoing the video and giving more of an explanation on the entire video before getting started to avoid this issue again.
Thank you for watching! If there are any other topics you’d like to learn more about, please let me know! I’m finishing up the posting schedule for next year, so your feedback would be great!
Ok but did you count how much water is needed building the factory for producing dishwashers and then how much water is needed producing a dishwasher? Would be interesting! :-)
I didn’t! But I didn’t account for the factory to make sinks or water to make sinks either. Usually, these things are small compared to the use of something. But this would be a great idea for a future video!
I happen to live in a home with a water meter. Using my dishwasher consumes about ten gallons. I wash a load about once every three days. If I wash dishes as I use them, I use about three gallons a day. So..... .... it comes out a wash.
you can fill a single sink half way soak and wash with the soapy water and then rinse into the same sink by turning on the only to rinse. if he sink fills your using too much water to rinse but it can be solved by pulling the drain plug to let the water drop to half, you can add another drop of soap but its not needed, generally 1 tray of dishes will use 1-1.5 sinks worth of water 7
Healthwise, what is the cost? Clean & sanitized are not the same thing. A dishwasher sanitizes with adequate heat, but a sink full of water cools over time. *Sinks have germs like E. Coli, too.* I doubt people kill off those germs fist.
Yes, agreed! That’s one of the points I made I made as well. You’ll see later in the video that I do test turning the water off, lowering the flow rate, etc. and dishwashers are likely still better.
It actually depends how many dishes you use daily, if you have small family and wont fill up dishwasher fast its still better to handwash , the dishwasher method only works if you fill the dishwasher completely full for it to save money, but if you don't have much dishes its actually wasting water using the dishwasher. For small family i recommend using uv dish-racks with lids to prevent dust
Yes, that was part of what I was trying to show in the video. But you don't have to run a dishwasher every night, only when its full. That's how I've done it all my life.
@@GoGreenPost you can get more dishes if you don't have enough to fill a washer. There may be a local FB group where people give away stuff like this for free. I've used those a lot when clearing out my aunts apartment and any time I moved.
I think 1 off day from washing dishes save my energy. it's has been my dream to purchase it since 2001 nvr saw any but only on T.V. since am living in province no big malls/appliances center no chance of seeing it. Now my kids r all grown up and I only wash few plates now....but lately I saw 1 dishwasher on mall 😍😀 now am trying to save money to buy it. I Also check shopping apps but no courier on our area 😭😢
Let me give a quick tip to even save more....use a big bowl to make soapy water(1-2liters max) instead of a sink of soapy water. Also...cold wash your stuff after cooking or eating .Turn off the faucet after u rinse one stuff not after 30mins of washing!...PS u won’t be bothered with germs 🦠 if dirty dishes aren’t piled up for a whole week. Tats just gross 🤮
I’ve never actually seen anybody do that in person. I’ve only seen people run the tap while washing the entire time and people run the tap while washing but shut it when scrubbing. Where are you from? I can add your vote to the map in the description!
Very cool! Thank you for watching. I’ll add you to the map! Please let me know if there are any other topics you’d like to learn more about in future videos!
I could wash all that with < 2 gals. I never leave the tap running or fill the sink while washing. Absolutely hate dishwashers :) Expensive to buy, to repair, and supply with special detergent. Takes more time and effort to load/reload than just washing by hand as needed.
I turn my faucet on and off many times when I'm hand washing. Turn on to rinse. Turn off to scrub. Turn back on to rinse. Or, just save time and rinse everything at the end.
How reliable these dishwashers are? Can this machine remove sticky food that stuck on plates or utensils like rice? Normally in hand washing you'd scrub this using the rough surface of the sponge.
I'd recommend scrubbing off rice first or any other food. The dishwasher could probably clean it, but the food waste can clog the machine and cause it to not work as effectively.
It all depends on how your water is heated! If you have solar electric and your home has electric water heating it can help. But many homes use gas heating for water and don't have the type of panel needed to heat water.
The only use of Dishwashers to me is for sanitizing the dishes with hot water. I would still prefer to wash the dishes by hand coz I can actually scrub the food residues directly and be confident that my plates don't only look clean but they also don't smell like my previous meal. Fck efficiency. My main priority is cleanliness especially when it involves food.
I've never seen a dishwasher reliably clean everything in one cycle. And this doesn't take into account that you still have to rinse off everything before loading anyways.
That’s a good point. My dishwasher is old and often doesn’t do the best job. Overall though, most loads come out fine. If anything there are 1-2 things that need to be cleaned again. As far as scrubbing before, I believe this amount isn’t significant enough to raise the amount of water using a dishwasher by enough that washing by hand will be the better option as far as water use. It’s a great point though and perhaps I’ll need to make a new video to explore this more!
This is where it gets trickier. If you overfill a dishwasher some things may not get cleaned, but in order to get things to be properly cleaned and sanitized they need a higher water temperature. So it can be hard to properly sanitize with a sink, even if dishes look clean, all while using very little water.
🤦🏻♂️ live with an Asian family and u know how to wash stuff more efficient than dishwasher. We soak all the plate then use sponge with soup water and wash everything then we wash off those plate with the water. By that I don’t even need 2 gallon of water to wash everything on the list
Wrong! 1. Rinse and scrub the dishes. 2. Take a sponge, and sud it up. 3. Turn off water. 4. Scrub dishes until all surfaces are sudsy. 5. Rinse your dishes. Done. Takes about 15 secs to kill bacteria. Really, don't understand why you soak your dishes and use up that much water.
There is research which shows washing by hand may not be effective at killing bacteria. Dishwashers are actually pretty hard to beat in terms of water consumption, although its possible.
Nice video. Have you consider the cost of dishwasher becomes unsustainable including the regular cleaning of the washer itself and filters, and the environmental impact to build and dispose the washer itself?
Yes if people aren't soaking and scrubbing the blades, the traps, the nooks and crannies inside of the dishwasher as well as the gaskets on a frequent enough basis they will be running the dishwasher again or be touching up by hand
@@GoGreenPost I close it. I used small basin that fits on our sink and it contains small amount of water and dish soap so I save a lot of water and soap ☺️
You cannot wash 🧼 dishes this way 02:32, you are supposed to close the sink hole so that you use the same water at least for washing, then get a bowl of water and rinse them. If Americans wash dishes this way then you do need dishwashers to save water since washing them yourself is extremely of poor efficiency and just wasteful of water.
A lot of people wash dishes this way, not just Americans (although I do know a bunch of Americans that wash like that). However, if you actually measure the amount of water used, dishwashers use less to wash an equal amount of dishes.
@@GoGreenPost I disagree that this type of dishwashing culture is also practiced outside of USA 🇺🇸… maybe people who grew up in USA and left may be doing dishes this way but “normally” people close the sinkhole. So just like you showed with the two sinks, if you have 1 sink you close the hole 🕳 then get a biggggggg bowl and put in rinsing water. If the water gets greasy and loses most of its soap 🧼 you get newer water. I’m yet to get a dishwasher so I’ll also do more research on water consumption.
not true, fill the sink with 2 gals of hot water and soap. Wash the dishes and put them in a drying rack in a double sink. Rinse the dishes. You might use 4 gals tops!!
For sure! But there are people out there who wash this way, so I wanted to show how it compares to other options. However, its pretty difficult to beat a dishwasher. They really don't use much water.
I wash all the dishes and stack them. Then, rinse them over eachother. I don't leave the sink running the ENTIRE time. That is ludicrous.
Agreed! A lot of people simply don't think about this sort of thing though. They just want clean dishes and don't pay attention to water use. Water has never been unavailable or too expensive, so other than if they are made aware of water use issues, they simply won't think about these sort of things.
My sink takes quite a long time to get warm and if it's too hot it's scolding hot. So I have to use both valves, meaning I can't toggle it.
ua-cam.com/video/_rBO8neWw04/v-deo.html
This is a great video that explains dishwashers in great details. Dishwashers are superior over hand washing.
Dude, he checked when he needed the water running and when he didn't. It took 17 gallons to run the entire time, but he only used 9 gallons when only using the water when running over a dish.
Filling the sink with water and using that took 6 gallons. Modern dishwashers only use 4.
You will not use less water than a modern dishwasher.
It doesn’t clean the soap off properly
I was taught, many years ago, that you filled the sink with hot soapy water and washed items in order of how soiled the dishes were. Start with glassware, then cutlery, plates and pots and pans last. I seldom wash dishes with running water. Actually, I love my dishwasher.
I actually just moved into a new home that came with a mostly new dishwasher. My old one didn't work so great and I had to pre-rinse (and sometime wash certain dishes again), which was a waste of water. This new dishwasher is great. Just to test it out I didn't rinse any dish and ran a full load. Everything came out perfectly clean! I now love my dishwasher too 😂
I don't understand why you are running the tap to wash dishes fill the sink wash dishes in less dirty to dirtiest order and if the water gets too dirty empty and fill the sink again.
@@GAZMAN2002 did you watch the entire video? Check out around the 3:00 mark. I talk about a similar method that you mentioned. I did it this way to show people that rinsing with the water running uses a lot of water and simply by shutting the tap while not scrubbing or rinsing could save a lot of water.
@@GoGreenPost so please suggest me which is the best Brand dishwasher,I am from India
@@kavithasanjay6372 I'm really not sure which "the best" one is, but the house I moved into recently has a Bosch dishwasher and its great. Is Bosch available in India?
You should make a graph showing how many dishes you need to wash for the dishwasher to be more energy efficient and water saving. For example starting your dishwasher with 1 dish is obviously more wasteful than just washing the single dish by hand. I think this point is important because a smaller family doesn't use that many dishes everyday.
That's a great idea. I'm actually working on a follow up video, as well as an app where you will have a tool for this exact thing!
@@GoGreenPost great content. Would interesting to compare results converting in how much money can be saved :)
That’s a good idea! I’ll have to include that when I eventually make an updated version of this video.
@@GoGreenPost I actually was thinking about what is more efficient and cheaper - cook on electric heater or with gas stove, and the long baking in over - gas based oven or electric? What is the question which is very interesting but most people not even realize and lazy to check. You make pretty educational videos.
Thank you! I try to make sure a topic is covered in a way that is useful. If there are ever any other topics you’d like to learn more about, I’d be happy to consider making a video about them!
Whenever I do that I always soak the dishes before I turn the water on to save water
That seems helpful!
@ゅ It could be if done correctly!
@ゅ There are a couple of new dishwashers that other viewers seem to be happy with. But I have an older dishwasher and it doesn't do the best job, but it does seem to save me water!
soak them in what ?
I only have one tub. My method is just to get the sponge wet with some soap, turn the water off, and then wash all the dishes with the sponge. then turn the water on to rinse them off. Not sure if this is more efficient, but seems like it would use less water.
Same. We use a large salad bowl filled up about halfway to scrub in and only run the water (at a slight trickle) to rinse off our dishes. We use about 2-3 gallons using this method. 🌎✌️
That sounds pretty efficient. You'd be surprised though how much water you use when rinsing. It adds up fast! If you'd like to let me know what country you live in I can add it to the map!
@@DeanIsJesus That sounds pretty good too. 2-3 gallons is great! If you'd like to let me know what country you live in I can add it to the map!
Thanks Go Green! We live in America! x3
I do the same. Many people I know wash dishes like this. Thats why i was surprised the way hand washing dishes was shown here.
Drives me nuts when my husband washes the dishes with running water and not using it. I ask, what is the water doing? If it's not actively doing a job, turn it off.
Maybe your husband should check out this video!
@@GoGreenPost earth ismade out of water
Isn't this like taking a shower vs a bath? I don't think you turn off n on the shower repeatedly during a shower
@@bulletproofh2t idk if its dumb but i definitely do this in the shower. turn it on to get wet, turn it off when putting on soap, turn it back on to rinse. i feel like it saves me some money but in the winter i leave the water running for sure 😂
I tested this out once. I used less water and electricity(from my monthly bill) by hand washing then by using the dishwasher. Using about 60% water flow. However comparing water usage it was about at most $2.00 savings. Electric wise it was about $8-$10. This was not using pre soak or electirc drying - lowest settings possible. And keeping the same conditions between the tests as best as possible.
I have even tried the whole do not pre rinse or scrub dishes in the dish washer and I always have to do a second wash. The first wasn't good enough and still had food on the dishes. I know how to load a disheasher correctly.
I never rinse my dishes beforehand and they almost always come out clean
@@OmegaRejectz I never rinse my dishes beforehand and they always come out clean.
Same!@@OmegaRejectz
I’m Indian I’m dishwasher 😂
Whatever works best for you! I added your vote to our map! If you'd like to see, here it is: www.datawrapper.de/_/Qn5PC/
😂
I Love this video. Thank you for such a detailed analysis.
A few key elements missing in this are w 1. this is with fully loaded dishwasher (many people don't max out or sometime overstuff their dishwasher), 2. not prewashing any dishes for the dishwasher (some people also prewash particularly gnarly dishes), and 3. dishwashers which failed to clean every little bit.
***Now let's put in the added impact of production of dishwasher (from mining materials, shipping, manufacturing, shipping again and distribution), extra repairs, usable space (larger kitchen), and disposal of a dishwasher.
Considering the average lifespan of a dishwasher is about 10 years we can start to see another angle on what it takes to truly think and be green.
As a collective we should be taking this across the board when we are considering being a consumer for more things to making our life a little "easier" or more "green." Such as the new electric car. Reuse may be a greatly overlooked asset when it truly comes to going green.
Great scientific methodology.
And great comparative study.
Given many lack common sense it's good to bring out the features.
What is missed from video in the green credentials that buying and fitting dishwasher (it's obsolescence), electric power used are Not green. Plus the health factor. Using a bit of elbow grease is not a bad thing.
My mum taught me most housework without me even noticing I am being taught. I soak my dishes almost always. Even for 20 mins. Then I scrub (rubba dub dub) them while enjoying listening to a lecture on my phone. It's not that bad really. Little jobs like that keep us sane.
I completely agree with being active keeps us sane. But why invest time in washing dishes when you can do anything else, like meditating, learning a language or exercise if letting your dishwasher take care of it for you, all the while using less water (assuming one actually fills the machine with plenty dishes).
Manual hand wash is better for me because i ain't gonna leave a lot of dirty dishes to just lay around and finally get enough to put it in a dishwasher. I have no dishwasher for that very reason.
Sometimes it’s easier to put dishes in the dishwasher and clean them all at once. Sometimes it’s easier to just get them done. Everyone has different preferences. Would love to know what other videos you’d like to see!
You just put them in the dishwasher? And when it's full you go, from the table directly to the dishwasher!!
That’s how we do it in my home! Although some larger items like pots and pans are hand cleaned because my dishwasher isn’t great.
@@GoGreenPost it depends especially if you don't have much dish and for it to effective work the dishwasher method to work is having tons of dishes going smelly for days on the sink before putting in the dishwasher
@@GoGreenPost how much dishes do you use in one sitting that you end up having to put in this dishwasher right away , because in family of 3 and all w. Need is rice bowl, soup bowl and cup and fork and spoon for each
I handwash but I also put a bucket in the sink to capture the water that I use when washing and rinsing. When this bucket fills up I use it to water plants in the garden. Yes this means more time washing dishes and you could install a gray water system that allows you to recapture water from your dishwasher and redirect it back to your gardening but that is much more expensive than the bucket in the sink method of recapturing water from washing dishes. If you factor in how much water you save in watering your plants in the garden with this method I'm not sure a dishwasher beats handwashing in terms of total water consumption.
Would soap be an issue with the plants?
@@atziriramireznegrin2596 So far it hasn't been. It may depend on what type of soap you are using and what plants you are growing but for my garden it hasnt been a problem.
@@RamaSivamanithat is so interesting to hear! Thanks for sharing
This was Efficient Dishwasher vs Wasteful Hand Washing comparison.
Best thing you can do is just wash the dishes when you put them in the sink. Letting things dry out means more work, soap and water.
Also reducing the amount of oil and greasy food is not only healthy for you but also saves on soap and keeps soapy water cleaner and functional for longer.
Agreed!
No, addresses all of the comparisons, and in the test: mindful use of each was roughly similar in terms of water use, mindless use of the dishwasher or sink came out in favor of the dishwasher.
Nope, everybody wash like that in real life, nobody gives a fuck about closing up the water pump, you just let it flow, non stop
My modern dishwasher from Miele only uses 10 liters of water. That’s 2,64 gallons. Also, a machine uses a stronger detergent and water that’s way more hot. My machine even has a sterilizing setting that’s heats the water up for a short amount of time to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
I use hand washing for small items that I'm not waiting 2 hours to use like cups, while I use a dish washer for large plates and bowls.
Only Americans would wash dishes under running water 🙄
There are many things people do in the United States that aren’t sustainable. I know sometimes it can seem like we are wasteful and thoughtless, but for many people sustainability is simply something they were never taught. I have seen many people wash dishes under running water, but the moment you point out they can save water by shutting the tap while washing, they are very receptive. That’s partly why I created this channel. So many people could make small changes to their daily habits, things they never had to think about before, while still living a similar lifestyle. I know it can often seem like arrogance, but I see it more as unfortunate ignorance. The youth in the US have embraced these concepts very well even at a young age and I believe we will see this shift in Americans over the coming years and decades. Anyways, thank you for watching and starting this important discussion. Would love to know if you have any thoughts on this or if there are other topics you’d like to learn more about/think others should learn about.
Also, I made a map that shows how the world washes videos (according to comments on this video). If you'd like to share how you wash dishes in your home and the country you like in, I'll add it to the map: www.datawrapper.de/_/Qn5PC/
well you have to rinse
@@GoGreenPost Thanks man. 🌎🌄
I am a machine dependent for everything but not using dishwasher at home being we are just three and we believe in simplicity. Everyone wash their plate and glass themselves.
But I am sure I will switch on it if any visitors come in and have enough load to machine.
2 sink method with one sink: fill plastic dishing washing bowl with hot soapy water, wash dishes, stack or place into another empty dishwashing bowl, when that bowl is full, lift soapy bowl out of sink, place clean soapy dishes, or bowl with clean soapy dishes into sink, rinse with minimal stream of water. If there are a lot of dishes to wash, this rinse water can be recycled as washing water. this saves water and time because you are not rinsing each dish individually.
Thank you for breaking this down! I’ll test this out in the next version of the video.
I know this video is mostly about water savings, but I'd just like to add that you might need a special "dishwasher soap" for your specific brand as well as the amount of electricity needed for the heating element that dries the dishes after the wash. Both of which are added cost to using a dishwasher.
I think you can pick whichever detergent for whichever device. The producers are just BSing
You don't need brand specific dishwasher detergent in any mass market dishwasher. Get the powdered stuff, and put an amount of it in the prewash and main wash compartments that gets your dishes clean without residue.
The chemicals in powdered dishwashing detergent are standardized, they work in almost all machines, and powder works better than gel or packs.
Cascade powder and Great Value (Walmart store brand) powder have essentially the same ingredients, and are about as effective as each other.
What about washing the dishes everytime I get them dirty, what's the point in starting a cycle for each pair of plates
Your video sounds like you have thousands of subs, you deserver more
Wow! Thank you so much for this complement! I'd love to know what other topics you'd liked to see in my next videos.
Also, I made a map that shows how the world washes videos (according to comments on this video). If you'd like to share how you wash dishes in your home and the country you like in, I'll add it to the map: www.datawrapper.de/_/Qn5PC/
Fun fact:I actually though you had a hundred thousand or millions of subs because of the quality
Thank you so much! This is exactly the motivation I’ve been needing. If there are ever topics you’d like to see in future videos please let me know! It would also be great if you could help spread the word about this channel! Hoping you enjoy some of my other vids 😎😎😎
K🤝
I see everyone saying that handwashing is better, I have 2 things to say:
1. Either dishwashers improved this much by a year or so, that our dishwasher cleans everything perfectly (no pre rinsing or scrubbing, even more: the manual says not to do so) with the use of 7 - 14 liters of water and around 3 kW of energy, which costs around $0,3 where I live compared to the one shown in the video using 7.2 gallons of water which is around 27 liters.
2. Time is money: Let's say you are progessivly loading your dishwasher as how your dirty dishes are collecting: it takes around 10 seconds to put 1 plate into the dishwasher when you ate your food. Say the most: it takes around 5 minutes (I mean the time it takes to put the dirty dishes into the dishwasher) to load your dishwasher keeping in mind that once you finished for example launch, you put your plate into it. When it's ready, our dishwasher leaves us with completly dried dishes, and you can straight away put the dishes where it belongs, so maybe an another 5 minutes. That counts as 10 minutes which you "spent" with "washing the dishes". The manual handwashing which is at 2:20 in the video, if you calculate the total time, it took almost 27 minutes.
Use a used tissue or newpapers to wipe the plates. It remove oil and dirt. It make washing quicker , cleaner, simper and easier.
Leaving the water tap on is already a waste of water, which is a completely wrong use of water, and here I prefer using the tap in a logical way on the dishwasher.
Dishwasher can save more resources and energy for a larger load especially for a big family. Hand washing your dishes is good for 1-3 people depending on your method. I usually lightly wet all my dishes and wet sponge with soap to clean them then rinse with water. If you can get a faucet that can switch to shower it rinses dishes throughly and use less water.
This sounds like a good strategy! In the next version of this video I’ll try to work out “a number of people” or a number of dishes where it’s better to use a dishwasher over hand washing or visa versa.
How best to stack many dishes stacked together? It gets the washer crowded and the water doesn't spray to the dirty dishes to clean. I end up doing several batches for Thanksgiving dinner, in the past, which takes about 2 days to clean them. I then went with the less formal paper plates and plastic cups route and got my life back. :)
@@bellanewler6611 Global warming and pollution thanks you for using plastic dishes 🤦
I think the duel sink method is gross because you end up with soapy dishes after a while and you have to change out the water so I still think you waste a lot of water.
The way I used to use the duel sink method was to have one sink with soapy water and the other sink empty and rinse those with some running water
I fill a bin with hot water and add soap to it...after scrubbing dirty dishes in the sink using that water in the bin, I rinse the dishes n dry them on the rack...NEVER LET WATER RUNNING....Our Earth is running out of clean water and if we do not take the effort to conserve water, our future generations will suffer... I come from a place that had to carry buckets n pots to bring water from outside source and now enjoy a faucet that opens up with hot and cold running water...a luxury, which I will never take for granted...
as good citizens and good people, we have to take all measures possible to do the right thing, always!:)
Thank you for sharing your experience! If you'd like to let me know what country you live in I can add it to our map!
Ur ignorance is alarming.our earth is running out of clean water?u do know we even recycle sewage and drink it right?water is about the only thing the earth is not in danger of running out of.we can filter even the most polluted water
Dishwasher all the way. A modern equipment is a hell of eficiency and if you conect it to the hot water pipe it will be even reduce the energy needed. The time saved, the amout of detergent, no comparison. Dishwashers rule!!!
If you really need/want to save water:
1. Fill a medium sized bowl with water and add soap. 1/2 liter is usually more than enough. Turn off the water and leave it off until Step 5, below.
2. Apply a small amount of soapy water to any dishes that need to soak. Simply scrape the others.
3. Dip sponge into soapy water and wash dishes. Dip for more water/soap as needed.
4. Stack washed dishes to the side of sink until all have been washed.
5. Rinse at a rate of 1 liter flow per minute. Low flow but enough once you get used to it.
6. Save MUCH more water than a dishwasher.
7. If draining through a strainer, drain into a bucket. Use grey water to flush toilet.
What about the negative impacts of factories producing dishwashers and of disposing of broken ones?
When your channel will go viral! (And it will be pretty soon i am sure) I can say i was in top 100 subscribers!
Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much! If there are other videos you’d like to see me cover, let me know! I’d love to know what else you’d like to see! I’ll be sure to give a shoutout to anyone if I make a video based in their suggestion. It’s only from your feedback and input that I’ll be able to get this channel viral one day :).
Spend 1hr a day washing dishes vs 10mins quick rinse and load, over a year big savings... Time wise.
Time is definitely a factor to consider. Some people enjoy putting in the time to clean by hand, others don't. Some take longer than others to clean. It all depends on your preferences and methods!
1hr? People take that long? It takes me at most 10-15 mins and my dishes are always squeaky clean
Only after 1 year our expensive dishwasher broke and will likely cost the same to buy a new one rather than fix it. All that plastic appliance waste has an environmental cost as well. I really want to just go back to hand washing if I can make it just as efficient.
What is the amount of water people use to pre-wash their dishes? Although the dishwasher may use it efficiently, to keep it from breaking and clogging (which, despite us doing that the pump broke anyway) you have to pre-wash and rinse dishes which uses a lot of water. I'd love to see that factored in as well.
I usually just scrape as much off each dish first so putting it right into the dishwasher is fine for me. I’m working on a follow up video that will be ready next year sometime that will factor it in. We are also working on putting out an app where you’ll be able to enter all relevant information to you (number of dishes, if you pre-rinse, etc) to determine which option would use the least water and suggest better alternatives as possible!
I completely get you. my parents have an expensive energy saving dishwasher that you HAVE to prewash all the dishes, or food would be stuck to the dishes and youd have to wash by hand or run again. that and her ceramics will crack and chip off because they cannot handle the high temperature. Imo unless you leave your dishes dirty for weeks, you shouldnt need to literally boil your dishes to sanitize them.
I thought dishwasher takes lots of water 😂
Older dishwasher use more water than dishwashers made today. Many of them even have cycles that use under gallons of water. Both methods can use little water under the right conditions.
They do during manufacturing.
a note for fellow europeans, most here heat water with gas furnaces while the dish washer is exclusively electric meaning the energy for the dish washer operation is inherently more ecological than the one used to heat the tap water. unless you live in places where 99% of the power comes from cloal and there aren't many anymore.
I use dishwasher because I don't want to have a rough hands and hand wrinkles at early age. 😂 Plus, dishwasher helps saves time for us to do more other productive works at home
Obvious washing by hand uses less energy. It's also possible to wash lightly soiled plates with cold water, so one doesn't need to pay to heat it. Dishwashers also wreck everything that's put into them over time.
There was an installed dishwasher in the kitchen of my house when I moved in. I've never used it.
whoever wash like 2:08 is just purely wasting water
It's a learning process! Some people just don't realize and are happy to make changes once they have a better way.
@@GoGreenPost Hahah no worries. Was just surprised that's all. Happy holidays :)
@@jejunegamingtv1359 You as well! Thank you for watching and sharing. Would love to know what other topics you'd like to see in future videos!
@@GoGreenPost it's sad there are people that don't realize something as simple as the fact that it's just a waste of water, glad some are willing to change but it shouldn't be that difficult to see
I think some people just don’t think about it. But maybe it’s a role you could help fill!
The reason I’m here is to see if the fact that dishwasher using less water is based on American style of washing with the tap on. Of course dishwasher will use less in that case, but where else in the world do people wash with tap on and waste water like that ?
I'm not sure where else people wash dishes like that, but even if you shut the tap and use it only to to wash and rinse, a dishwasher still uses much less water. A dishwasher can fit a lot of dishes in it and use only a little water. If you aren't carful about how much water you use when washing by hand the amount of water used adds up quickly. For example, if you soak dishes in only a gallon of water at the end of each day and then rinse them briefly, you'll end up using about 1.5 gallons for just that days dishes. Based on the research I did for this video, washing this way would result in about 6 gallons of water to wash a full dishwasher of dishes. This means after 4 days or so worth of dishes, at a minimum of 1.5 gallons each day, you would have used about 6 gallons as well. From my experience, and based on the research for this video, I can fit more than 4 days of dishes in the dishwasher (or rather, I find that 1.5 gallons a day for all the dishes I have isn't enough). However, in this video I do show that it is possible to use less when washing by hand if done correctly, although not by much. Since it isn't by much and since it's so easy to use more water by hand if you aren't careful, it seems that using a dishwasher is the safer option to me.
But of course, it also depends which dishwasher cycle you use, how many dishes you are washing, the flow rate of your sink, etc. The goal of this video was to show that, while it does seem dishwashers are better, each person should figure out what the best choice is for them. The answer depends on the conditions of your home so its best to figure out which uses less water in your home. Do you know how much water you use when washing dishes by hand? I'd love to know your experience!
I don't know for the rest of the world, but it's a common thing in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine as well (pretty much the entire post-soviet block). It may be less so for the regions with lesser fresh water availability as in Kamchatka and Crimea Peninsulas.
Although I know a few people who are being mindful and do turn the tap only to soak the scrubber and to wash off the dish after scrubbing, I'd say the majority here leaves the tap on for the entire by-hand dish washing session.
Very interesting! Thank you for sharing this. It would be interesting to know how people in other countries wash dishes. If anyone else out there is reading this, let us know how you wash dishes and what country you live in! I’ll make a world map and drop the link in the description and comments.
Liked your analysis. Very practical!
Thank you so much! If there are any other topics you’d like to see us cover, let us know!
@@GoGreenPost how about hand drying comparison between using air dryer and paper.
@@DroneTherapy That's a great topic for a video. I've done some research on this previously, and in almost all cases its jet hand dryer, followed by paper, followed by hot air dryers. I'm working on some other videos at the moment, but will definitely make one on hand drying after. I'll let you know when its ready! You can also subscribe to get updates of when we post videos. :)
@Ferenc Dobos thank you for bringing this up, it's an important point to make. If you watch the entire video, you'll see the reason I left the water running was to show people the power of shutting the sink off while washing dishes. I've seen many people washing their dishes with the water running the entire time. If all they did was shut the tap off, the impact would be large. However, as you've pointed out, I also go on to show that there are ways to reduce your water consumption even further to the point where it's possible to use less water than a dishwater. I'd also like to point out that in my experiment I washed much more than just 8 dishes, I washed an entire dishwasher of items. In my experience, 1-2 gallons is a bit low for all of the items I can fit in my dishwasher, but if you've managed to get your consumption that low than that's great!
You did not mention that washing dishes in the dishwasher is much more sanitary than washing dishes by hand. The dishwasher only uses hot water which you can’t do with cleaning them under a faucet. Plus the dishwasher heats the hot water even hotter with the element in the bottom of the dishwasher. I think that that’s a very important fact which was not mentioned.
This is a great point. I believe this is true. I don't think you can wash dishes by hand with water that is hot enough to disinfect without burning yourself (unless you have a good pair of gloves). There also may be issues with sanitation when using the same dirty water to clean dishes, whereas a dishwasher is able to filter the water.
Also, I made a map that shows how the world washes videos (according to comments on this video). If you'd like to share how you wash dishes in your home and the country you like in, I'll add it to the map: www.datawrapper.de/_/Qn5PC/
I suppose if eating meat/eggs/dairy a lot then true sanitary washing of dishes is preferable, but in my opinion people can worry too much about cleanliness in general and as a result may end up more susceptible to illness as a result? Also the manufacturing a dishwasher has to be factored in to overall cost/environmental impact.
Agreed! I plan on going into more detail on all this in a redo of the video.
50 gallons? I only use 2 gallons by shutting the water off while cleaning and scrubbing the dishes and then rinse them all stacked. Also, I don't put it on blast and let it run like you did.
Yes, full blast wastes a lot of water. That was one of the points I wanted to show in this video. If you don’t mind me asking, how many dishes did you wash with 2 gallons?
@@GoGreenPost 12 plates, 6 cups, 8 bowls, 2 pots and pans each, 2 knives, 2 tongs, and a cutting board. The trick is to stack them in a way so when water drips down where most of it are already rinsed.
The pots and pans do take up a lot of space in the dishwasher so that can contribute to what you are finding. My dishwasher does also hold a bit more than what you mentioned but that’s a really good technique. I’d like to test that out and included it in an updated version of this video one day.
Really great job, keep up the good work. And thanks for spreading this information!
Thank you for watching!
You're blasting the water constantly, that or when rinsing the dishes, which is wasteful. You really only need 5% of your flow rate to completely rinse dishes.
Yes, I did this to see how much water is used in a couple of scenarios: leaving the tap fully open the entire time, leaving the tap fully open only while washing, and reducing the flow rate/opening the tap only when needed. In the video I show what would happen if you lower the flow rate to just 1 gal/min, which is really low. You could try to lower it more, but at such low flow rates there may not be enough pressure to rinse, leading you to wash longer.
Finally I encounter another human being as -cheap- -green- efficient as I like to be
“It isn’t easy being green”
Not really very true to real life. Most people who have dishwashers also have a family. The water used by dishwashers or hand washing pales into insignificance when most families Bath their children and water the garden.
But the real problem is the energy used by the dishwasher. The hot water used to wash dishes would still need to be heated even if you have a dishwasher. Everyone has a central heating system to heat their water every day, irrespective of whether they have a dishwasher
Also, the cost of purchase and manufacture of the machine is not taken into account and the air miles etc. Plus, the cost to the environment with disposal of the machine.
Yes, the amount of water you use for dishes can be much smaller than other sources. But the answer to the question, which uses less water will be the dishwasher in most cases. The water does still need to be heated, but because it uses less water, less heating is needed. It also reuses the water after filtering it and so the water is already hot and doesn't need as much heating.
I hadn't yet considered the environmental impact beyond just the use, but that's a good idea! I'm planning on doing a follow up to this video at some point and I'll be sure to cover that in the video!
I will definitely look into this and include it in part 2 of this video when its ready! I'll look into the impact of having to buy and install a new dishwasher, including construction, electrical installation, etc. To be honest though, since a dishwasher will last so many years, my guess would be that the impact overall is lower. But I'd like to know the answer myself!
@@GoGreenPost You're missing the point. The water I used to wash the dishes is already heated from central heating, but even if I had a dishwasher, I would still be heating my water. I have a timer which heats the water for 30 minutes per day. That would still be the same if I had a dishwasher.
The environmental impact is huge. There are 27.8 million households in the UK and 49% of them have dishwashers which equales to 13.6 million dishwashers. Even if everyone of them lasted 10 years that would be roughly 1.36 million dishwashers purchased every year in the UK and 1.36 million disposed.
Not only this, but people who own dishwashers also wash by hand too. I witness this in every household I have been in. Roasting trays, saucepans, crockery that isn't dishwasher safe. Also they have more than one wash. Many have two washes per day.
So Dishwashers aren't really very green at all and certainly not environmentally friendly
@@bens1972 Yes, but if a dishwasher is using less water there will be less new water to be heated. Also, reheating water is more efficient than heating new water. You're water heating bill (if you have a separate one) will go up with higher water consumption with certainty. And while a lot of people do also hand wash items that don't go in the dishwasher, the items that do go in the dishwasher will be cleaned with less water and the overall water consumption is still lower in most cases when using a dishwasher.
It's about comparing an equal number of dishes in one vs the other. If you only load your dishwasher with a few items so that you can run it each day, then washing by hand will for sure be the better option.
The point that I'm making and wanted to address in the video is that the outcome will change based on different factors. That's why i broke down all of the numbers and different washing scenarios. There are certainly cases where washing by hand will use less water and energy, but in general, dishwashers are hard to beat because they hold so much stuff and reuse water.
As for the dishwasher itself, I don't have any data yet, but I'd imagine since you only need one every 10 years or so, the amount of water used to create it is spread out to be small over its lifespan.
The data I collected and showed in the video indicates that dishwasher can definitely be environmentally friendly, if used as I showed in the video.
@@GoGreenPost I think we are going to have to agree to disagree. Research has shown that a single dishwasher cycle uses the equivalent of running your hot top for 6- 9 minutes. I run a tap for about 10 seconds! and I use a washing up bowl. Of course there are many websites that will make you believe that dishwashers are more efficient, because that's what people want to hear
Now assuming there are 1.36 million dishwashers being bought each year in the UK alone, that's an huge production cost. The amount of raw materials to produce a dishwasher, not to mention the manpower, marketing, the disposal of the machine. By the time you have factored this in, the tiny difference between the water I use to wash dishes and a dishwasher uses, pales in insignificance.
The UK is, on average, yellow (hand washing in basin)! :)
Thank you! I'll update the map.
It seems from the comments that people either didn’t focus, understand or watch the video until the end.
As a side note, my new Bosch dishwasher uses 10-13 liters (2.6 - 3.4 gallons) of water and 0.85 - 1.60 kWH per program. I checked all available programs and those were the maximum consumption values. I not only save tons of water but also time. It’s not even close to compare. I just wish I got one sooner.
Thank you for sharing these numbers! I plan on redoing the video and giving more of an explanation on the entire video before getting started to avoid this issue again.
@@GoGreenPost I look forward to it! Modern machines are so efficient that I feel it’s worth bringing to attention.
Absolutely! I think also pointing out that a dishwasher can fit several days/meals worth of dishes can’t be overlooked.
@@GoGreenPost Agreed!
Simple and clear explanation. Thanks!
Thank you for watching! If there are any other topics you’d like to learn more about, please let me know! I’m finishing up the posting schedule for next year, so your feedback would be great!
Ok but did you count how much water is needed building the factory for producing dishwashers and then how much water is needed producing a dishwasher? Would be interesting! :-)
I didn’t! But I didn’t account for the factory to make sinks or water to make sinks either. Usually, these things are small compared to the use of something. But this would be a great idea for a future video!
also with the two sink method I wonder how much soap is left on the plates
I happen to live in a home with a water meter. Using my dishwasher consumes about ten gallons. I wash a load about once every three days. If I wash dishes as I use them, I use about three gallons a day. So.....
.... it comes out a wash.
you can fill a single sink half way soak and wash with the soapy water and then rinse into the same sink by turning on the only to rinse.
if he sink fills your using too much water to rinse but it can be solved by pulling the drain plug to let the water drop to half, you can add another drop of soap but its not needed,
generally 1 tray of dishes will use 1-1.5 sinks worth of water 7
man i dont care about the water. Are the plates still oily?
Healthwise, what is the cost? Clean & sanitized are not the same thing. A dishwasher sanitizes with adequate heat, but a sink full of water cools over time. *Sinks have germs like E. Coli, too.* I doubt people kill off those germs fist.
Yes, there is research showing you cannot wash with proper heat in the sink because you would get burned.
2:18 dude, if you leave the faucet open obviously you will waste a lot more water than the dishwasher
Yes, agreed! That’s one of the points I made I made as well. You’ll see later in the video that I do test turning the water off, lowering the flow rate, etc. and dishwashers are likely still better.
It actually depends how many dishes you use daily, if you have small family and wont fill up dishwasher fast its still better to handwash , the dishwasher method only works if you fill the dishwasher completely full for it to save money, but if you don't have much dishes its actually wasting water using the dishwasher. For small family i recommend using uv dish-racks with lids to prevent dust
Yes, that was part of what I was trying to show in the video. But you don't have to run a dishwasher every night, only when its full. That's how I've done it all my life.
@@GoGreenPost or just load dishes whan they get dirty and after some days whan the dishwasher is full just turn it on and repeat
@@izawa9211 That sounds good!
@@GoGreenPost you can get more dishes if you don't have enough to fill a washer. There may be a local FB group where people give away stuff like this for free. I've used those a lot when clearing out my aunts apartment and any time I moved.
Really well made video, keep up the good work
Thank you so much!
It would be cool to see if washing a lot of large items in the dishwasher vs by hand was still worth it?
Using a dish washer will always use less water
I think 1 off day from washing dishes save my energy. it's has been my dream to purchase it since 2001 nvr saw any but only on T.V. since am living in province no big malls/appliances center no chance of seeing it. Now my kids r all grown up and I only wash few plates now....but lately I saw 1 dishwasher on mall 😍😀 now am trying to save money to buy it. I Also check shopping apps but no courier on our area 😭😢
Let me give a quick tip to even save more....use a big bowl to make soapy water(1-2liters max) instead of a sink of soapy water. Also...cold wash your stuff after cooking or eating .Turn off the faucet after u rinse one stuff not after 30mins of washing!...PS u won’t be bothered with germs 🦠 if dirty dishes aren’t piled up for a whole week. Tats just gross 🤮
That's what we do. 🙂🌎
Great short video & comparison
Thank you!
Great vid! Thanks for showing the math too
Thank you! Happy you liked it!
don't people just plug the sink, fill it up a bit then wash the dishes and empty the sink? running the tap while you wash is crazy
I’ve never actually seen anybody do that in person. I’ve only seen people run the tap while washing the entire time and people run the tap while washing but shut it when scrubbing. Where are you from? I can add your vote to the map in the description!
@@GoGreenPost Im from australia
Very cool! Thank you for watching. I’ll add you to the map! Please let me know if there are any other topics you’d like to learn more about in future videos!
He's the map if you'd like to see: www.datawrapper.de/_/Qn5PC/
I could wash all that with < 2 gals. I never leave the tap running or fill the sink while washing. Absolutely hate dishwashers :) Expensive to buy, to repair, and supply with special detergent. Takes more time and effort to load/reload than just washing by hand as needed.
All the best to your Channel hopefully your subscribers will keep increasing 🇴🇲
Thank you so much 😁I do as well!
I turn my faucet on and off many times when I'm hand washing. Turn on to rinse. Turn off to scrub. Turn back on to rinse. Or, just save time and rinse everything at the end.
How reliable these dishwashers are? Can this machine remove sticky food that stuck on plates or utensils like rice? Normally in hand washing you'd scrub this using the rough surface of the sponge.
I'd recommend scrubbing off rice first or any other food. The dishwasher could probably clean it, but the food waste can clog the machine and cause it to not work as effectively.
Then in conclusion , Hand Washing is much better than dishwasher.
If you still need to scrub off those hard or sticky food stuck on plates
Dishwashers can.
Not a fair comparison. Your comparing an old dishwasher to handwashing. Compare a new dishwasher and redo. Many people own newer dishwashers now.
This would make dishwashing an even better option!
Dishwasher all the way. Can't sit on my backside at the sink
Buy a bucket, fill in sink, wash in bucket rinse in sink only time water should be running is to fill the bucket or to rinse
Use solar panel.. 😂 let dishwasher do its work ..
It all depends on how your water is heated! If you have solar electric and your home has electric water heating it can help. But many homes use gas heating for water and don't have the type of panel needed to heat water.
@@GoGreenPost so use hands .. let's exercise muscles 😂
Does it count as my daily exercise if I do enough dishes?
@@GoGreenPost obvious
Haha, love you guys. ✌️🌎
The only use of Dishwashers to me is for sanitizing the dishes with hot water. I would still prefer to wash the dishes by hand coz I can actually scrub the food residues directly and be confident that my plates don't only look clean but they also don't smell like my previous meal. Fck efficiency. My main priority is cleanliness especially when it involves food.
Not to mention the time that you save when you use the dishwasher.
I've never seen a dishwasher reliably clean everything in one cycle. And this doesn't take into account that you still have to rinse off everything before loading anyways.
That’s a good point. My dishwasher is old and often doesn’t do the best job. Overall though, most loads come out fine. If anything there are 1-2 things that need to be cleaned again. As far as scrubbing before, I believe this amount isn’t significant enough to raise the amount of water using a dishwasher by enough that washing by hand will be the better option as far as water use. It’s a great point though and perhaps I’ll need to make a new video to explore this more!
Not really, my newer model cleans everything perfectly even when i left the sauce on my plate dry for few days.
@@babyti091385 My older dishwasher isn't great, but I definitely agree that newer dishwashers seem to work much better and use less water.
The one i have in my house is not even new and cleans very well without rinsing before unless some things stick together when you put them together.
I think it also depends on the foods you're eating. Some get really stuck while others rinse off easily
time is also important. if there's any guests, washing those dishes take too much time.
How about what cleans better?
This is where it gets trickier. If you overfill a dishwasher some things may not get cleaned, but in order to get things to be properly cleaned and sanitized they need a higher water temperature. So it can be hard to properly sanitize with a sink, even if dishes look clean, all while using very little water.
I use all disposable stuff.
Ain't no way I'mma go back to washing dishes by hand. No worse chore.
🤦🏻♂️ live with an Asian family and u know how to wash stuff more efficient than dishwasher.
We soak all the plate then use sponge with soup water and wash everything then we wash off those plate with the water. By that I don’t even need 2 gallon of water to wash everything on the list
What country do you live in? I can add you to the map!
Me Asian too and this is true 👌
Very good! Regards from Brazil!
Thank you so much! How do people wash dishes in Brazil? Also, I’d love to know what other videos you’d like to see.
@@GoGreenPost Hi, I'm also from Brazil, dishes here are washed by hand, having a dishwasher it's almost unheard of 😅
@@marianaprokopowiski7027 Thank you for letting me know! I'll add this to the map.
Wrong!
1. Rinse and scrub the dishes.
2. Take a sponge, and sud it up.
3. Turn off water.
4. Scrub dishes until all surfaces are sudsy.
5. Rinse your dishes.
Done.
Takes about 15 secs to kill bacteria.
Really, don't understand why you soak your dishes and use up that much water.
There is research which shows washing by hand may not be effective at killing bacteria. Dishwashers are actually pretty hard to beat in terms of water consumption, although its possible.
Nice video.
Have you consider the cost of dishwasher becomes unsustainable including the regular cleaning of the washer itself and filters, and the environmental impact to build and dispose the washer itself?
Yes if people aren't soaking and scrubbing the blades, the traps, the nooks and crannies inside of the dishwasher as well as the gaskets on a frequent enough basis they will be running the dishwasher again or be touching up by hand
I have used both and HAND WASHING IS CHEAPER AND CLEANER.....ESPECIALLY WATER USAGE !!!!.... Anyone who says different has not added up the real cost.
Rather wash them by hand. Something satisfying about doing some things manually, like driving with a stick shift in a car
Hand wash is the best 😉
If you'd like to let me know what country you live in I can add you to the map for hand wash!
@@GoGreenPost Philippines 🇵🇭😁
@@marctristannipalar9062 Do you leave the tap open while washing or close it?
@@GoGreenPost I close it. I used small basin that fits on our sink and it contains small amount of water and dish soap so I save a lot of water and soap ☺️
@@marctristannipalar9062 Great! I'll add it to the map!
Whoever is hand washing dishes in the video is using/wasting a LOT of water. Also aerator can be used in the tap to save water.
Yes, leaving the tap open wastes a ton of water. The goal of this video is to show people there are better ways!
Who the heck washes dishes without filling the sink? Never thought that was “less wasteful”
When we wash dishes we turn the tap off when it is not in use
That's a great way to save water while washing dishes. What country do you live in? I can add it to the map in description if you'd like.
@@GoGreenPost India 🇮🇳
I our hot water on all plates and bowls and every utensil, then use my sponge and apply dishwash
Then rinse in one go
You cannot wash 🧼 dishes this way 02:32, you are supposed to close the sink hole so that you use the same water at least for washing, then get a bowl of water and rinse them. If Americans wash dishes this way then you do need dishwashers to save water since washing them yourself is extremely of poor efficiency and just wasteful of water.
A lot of people wash dishes this way, not just Americans (although I do know a bunch of Americans that wash like that). However, if you actually measure the amount of water used, dishwashers use less to wash an equal amount of dishes.
@@GoGreenPost I disagree that this type of dishwashing culture is also practiced outside of USA 🇺🇸… maybe people who grew up in USA and left may be doing dishes this way but “normally” people close the sinkhole. So just like you showed with the two sinks, if you have 1 sink you close the hole 🕳 then get a biggggggg bowl and put in rinsing water. If the water gets greasy and loses most of its soap 🧼 you get newer water. I’m yet to get a dishwasher so I’ll also do more research on water consumption.
Only a maniac leaves water running while washing the pots.........I need to take time off work after watching that...
not true, fill the sink with 2 gals of hot water and soap. Wash the dishes and put them in a drying rack in a double sink. Rinse the dishes. You might use 4 gals tops!!
Washing dishes with the tap running is just ridiculous. What a waste of water....
For sure! But there are people out there who wash this way, so I wanted to show how it compares to other options. However, its pretty difficult to beat a dishwasher. They really don't use much water.
Did dish washer only for plate ?
I washed all kinds of things in my dish washer. Plates, bowls, silverware, containers, etc
7.2?!!!! My hand washing is far less!!! This vid must be posted by the dishwasher manufacturers!!!
However, you washed dishes leaving the faucet running
I use no water I just wash my dishes in the Rain........I got alot of dirty dishes since it doesn't rain much in California 🤦🏻♀️🤷🏽♀️😆
That sounds difficult! 😂
Almost 30litres for 8 plates? You basically use 30times more than normal person.