A dishwasher is an important electrical appliance for most houses. Washing dishes and keeping your hands clean while having plenty of time for more important chors has become a breeze with modern dishwashers.
One (seemingly) downside is the dishwasher power consumption, and the energy costs every month. So, knowing how much electricity does a dishwasher use per month, is a crucial thing before getting or using one.
With all the unprecedented benefits, the energy consumption of a standard 12-plate dishwasher is only 0.67 kWh per load. If you use the dishwasher once every day, that’s around 20 kWh of electricity each month. For the water usage, it’s only 7 liters per load, costing you no more than $9 a month!
Seems overwhelming? Why not go through the facts in detail and help you forecast your monthly energy costs per month with a dishwasher?
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How Much Electricity Does A Dishwasher Use Per Month?
As mentioned, the amount of electricity consumed by a dishwasher can be estimated at 20 kWh monthly. That’s almost 6 times less water usage compared to handwashing and 4 times less than the energy bills! Let alone the fact that you’ve saved a huge amount of time, energy, and headache of doing the dishes!
However, it depends on the machine’s energy efficiency, capacity, and local electricity rates.
Point to note, you already have a lot of high energy usage appliances such as air conditioners, freezers, pressing irons. Along the line, we tend to forget about other appliances like dishwashers; although small, these machines do consume a decent amount of power.
It takes a reasonable amount of energy to heat up the water used in dishwashers, all these accounts for the electricity usage of the appliance. The estimates below shouldn’t be taken literally because power usage will vary according to the model and make of your dishwasher.
For instance, if you’re using an energy efficient machine, the cost of electricity will be significantly lower. And these good dishwashers are not too expensive either! You can easily find affordable dishwashers under $300 with even Energy Star ratings!
Also, let’s not overlook, the rate of your local cost per kWh that affects this calculation. So how much electricity does a dishwasher use?
Daily electricity consumption of a dishwasher:
Let’s assume you use a 1200-watt dishwasher, and you wash your dishes for 2 hours every day. A 1200 watt dishwasher will use 2.4 kilowatts every 2 hours (kWh); let’s also assume it costs 15 cents for 1kwh on your electricity plan. A day’s usage will amount to 30 cents.
Monthly Electricity Consumption Of A Dishwasher:
To get the monthly cost, 2.4 kWh (30 cents) used daily x 30 days in a month = 30 kWh per month (costing you $9.24).
How Do Dishwashers Work?
The internal operations of the dishwashers are partly responsible for their electricity consumption as many of those processes require power to function. When you turn on a dishwasher:
- Fresh water is added to the basin found at the bottom of the dishwasher.
- The pre-wash process starts; this is made possible using spray arms that rotate inside the dishwasher. They spray water at high speeds to remove the first layer of grime.
- An internal heater prepares the water; the temperature differs depending on your selected program.
- A timer releases the detergent when the time is right.
- The spray arms spray a mixture of hot water and detergent in the dishwasher. They clean off any leftover grime and dirt.
- When the washing process is done, the waste water is drained away.
- The next thing the dishwasher does is it rinses the dishes; fresh water is added for this process.
- When the rinse process is done, the water used is drained away.
- The dishes are dried with the excess heat used to prepare the water.
- Some dishwashers have a dry cycle. If this is the case, the dishwasher generates heat to dry the plate.
How To Estimate Your Dishwasher Electricity Cost?
Before we can accurately calculate the electricity cost of a dishwasher, we need the following information;
- Total amount of hours used in a day.
- The energy rating of the dishwasher can be found in the manufacturer’s manual.
- The average cost of 1kWh in your location.
The table below explains this properly. Let’s assume you use the dishwasher for 2 hours every day, and the energy rating is 1200kWh; let’s also assume the cost of 1kWh in your location is 50 cents (the average in the US is 10.66 cents though).
Daily Usage Of A Dishwasher:
| Dishwasher’s hourly usage | 1.2 kWh |
| Total hours used in a day | 2 |
| Cost of 1kWh | 15 cents |
| Cost of dishwasher’s daily usage | 33 cents or 2.4kWh |
Weekly Usage Of A Dishwasher:
| Dishwasher’s daily usage | 2.4kWh or 33 cents |
| Total days in a week | 7 days |
| Cost of dishwasher’s weekly usage | 16.8 kWh or $2.31 |
Monthly Usage Of A Dishwasher:
| Dishwasher’s weekly usage | 16.8kWh or $2.31 |
| Total weeks in a month | 4 weeks |
| Cost of dishwasher’s monthly usage | 67.2kWh or $9.24 |
Yearly Usage Of A Dishwasher:
| Dishwasher’s monthly usage | 67.2kWh or $9.24 |
| Total months in a year | 12 months |
| Cost of dishwasher’s yearly usage | 806.4kWh or $110.88 |
You can see how easy it is to find how much electricity per month a dishwasher uses and the average price to run it.
Simple Tips To Reduce The Cost Of Running Your Dishwasher
We can take certain steps to reduce the operating cost of running your dishwasher; use the tips below to do this.
- First, pick the dishwasher size wisely, keeping your family size in mind. There’s no need for a larger machine than you need.
- Don’t wash dirty dishes after each meal; make sure you have a full load of dishes to reduce the number of wash cycles you have in a week.
- Buy a dishwasher with good energy-saving ratings. Although they’re more expensive, they save you a lot more in the future.
- Use the dishwasher at night at off-peak hours when the energy bills tend to be less than average.
- Unless you need to use your dishes urgently, turn off the dishwasher before the dry cycle begins and open the door. This would reduce the run time and reduce the dishwasher cost.
- Skip the pre-rinse mode and remove larger bits of food manually in the sink. This reduces the run time of the appliance, thereby reducing operating costs.
Take Care Of Your Dishwasher
Increase the lifespan of your dishwasher with proper care; you can do this by:
- Clean this appliance at least once a month; this removes any food debris and grime leftover from previous loads.
- Remove the filter (if your model has one) and clean it. Food and grime often get trapped there and can cause the appliance to smell.
- There are seals on the door and around the machine to prevent water from leaking. Clean these regularly to prevent grime and dirt from building up.
- Load your dishes properly in the allocated slots during use. This enhances the cleaning ability of the dishwasher.
- The dishwasher has a spray arm that shoots water at high pressure when it’s running. Clean this regularly to prevent blockages; this can be done every 6 months.
- Run your dishwasher without any load at least once a week. This helps keep the channels clean and free of debris. Use vinegar when doing this to help make it more sanitary.
- There is a drain located at the bottom of your dishwasher; this is where the most build-up of debris and dirt occurs. If you don’t address this regularly, the machine can become clogged, reducing efficiency.
- If you have a mold or mildew problem, run one cycle using a bleach solution. Do not do this if you have a stainless steel door or interior.
Clean Your Dishwasher’s Drain:
- Remove the dishwasher from the power supply.
- Flip the appliance over and remove the screws holding the cover in place. Remove the cover.
- Using your hand, take out the larger pieces of debris.
- You can use a brush or cloth to remove any small deposit left behind.
- Reassemble the appliance by reversing the order of these steps.
Conclusion
Now you know how much electricity does a dishwasher use in a month. In general, dishwashers are not high energy-consuming appliances, typically averaging about $9 per month in electricity cost. This price is affected by different factors though.
You can further reduce this cost by changing your habits of doing the dishes. Also, when you take care of your dishwasher, it operates efficiently and wouldn’t consume more electricity due to malfunctioning parts.
