Just as it is with almost every piece of equipment today, there is the bright side and downside of having a dishwasher. So, you may want to ask, what are the pros and cons of having a dishwasher in a home? Is it worth spending on a dishwasher?
Well, a dishwasher, on its bright side, will help you save time, energy, and resources. Conversely, looking at the downside of having this machine at home, it consumes power, occupies space, and is generally costly.
Despite all these, having a dishwasher at home will surely, be worth it.
If you wish to go deeper for analyzing or comparing the goods and bads of a dishwasher, then you’re going to get it in a second. We’ll help you discover the working process of this machine, how to maintain it, and more.
Contents
How Does A Dishwasher Work?
First, a dishwasher works by spraying the dishes with normal water, heating the internal water, and releasing the detergent. Furthermore, the rotating arms spray the detergent and hot water to remove debris and dirt, and the rinsing process follows.
This explanation might be a bit puzzling to comprehend. If you ever wondered how a dishwasher works, here is a step by step explanation:
- First, water is added into a basin at the base of the machine.
- The spray arms that spin inside the machine do a pre-wash by spraying the dishes.
- There is an internal heater inside that heats the water to the selected temperature.
- The timer then releases the detergent into the machine.
- Now, the spinning spray arms spray the water and detergent throughout the dishwasher to remove dirt and debris.
- The machine drains away from the dirty water.
- Finally, clean water is poured for rinsing.
- The appliance drains the rinse water and dries the dishes through the residual heat in the machine.
How The Water Is Heated – The heating component in the appliance heats the cold water that is pumped into it. The machine then heats the water according to the selected temperature.
How It Dries – Hot air is left in the appliance when the washing cycle is complete. This is what dries the glassware and crockery in the machine.
What Are The Pros And Cons Of A Dishwasher?
Using a dishwasher for kitchen wares and utensils gives an efficient, time-saving, and cost-saving means of washing. However, besides its numerous benefits, a dishwasher has down parts that may deter some individuals from buying or even using it.
Pros of Having a Dishwasher
Time-Saving
Time efficiency stands as one of the major benefits of using a dishwasher. In most homes, people could spend over an hour hand washing plates and other kitchen wares daily, especially where are the family size is very large. But with a dishwasher, you will completely remove the task from yourself as it saves more time which you could direct to other activities.
High Temperature Dishwashing
A dishwasher will heat up the water that is used for washing the dishes to a higher temperature of about 90 to 100 degrees Celsius. This helps to treat the utensils – leaving them in a hygienic condition as the temperature can kill bacteria, acting as a disinfectant.
Saves water
Using a dishwasher offer great saving in water consumption. Research by the International Journal of Consumer Studies revealed that families with dishwashers could save up to 50% on their water bills. The machine can wash over 60 kitchen wares with less than 50 liters of water. Such an equivalent task with handwashing will take over 100 liters of water.
Noiseless
Modern dishwashers are designed to produce little or no noise upon operation. With a dishwasher, you can do your dishes at any time, whether during the day or night, with no thoughts of creating a noisy environment.
Drying Performance
Drying the washed dishes other kitchen utensils is one of the features of a dishwasher. This removes the stress of manually washing and hand drying all the plates one after the other. So, your machine will remove such a frustrating process from you, saving your time and energy.
Cleaning Capacity
Most people doubt the cleaning capacity of dishwashers, resulting in their interest in getting one. But such conception and thoughts are wrong.
A dishwasher offers several mode functions, of which soaking is one. So, it can soak your dishes for some time which helps to soften any burnt and sticky food particles. Also, with strong spins and splashes of water, the machine provides super cleaning capacity that leaves your dishes perfectly neat and clean.
Easy Operation
There are no complexities associated with the operation process of a dishwasher. Just as it is with a washing machine, a dishwasher features two outputs. The first is the water supply inlet, while the other is the outlet of dirty water to the sewer.
Cons of Having a Dishwasher
Here are some disadvantages of a dishwasher.
Cost of Machine
A dishwasher can cut deep into your pockets, given its size and capacity. In addition, the average cost of a dishwasher is about $500 – making it a big investment for most people. So, you will have to create a planned budget for getting one. You can do this through vendors that offer some discounts or allow installments for a payment plan.
Large size
The size of dishwashers is quite large that they could use up more spaces in your home. This could be a great challenge for too narrow apartments and have space constraints. Marking out a perfect position for the installation of the machine could be quite difficult in such a situation.
Alternatively, you can opt for models with smaller sizes that could fit in small kitchens. Though they may not be highly efficient as the bigger ones, you will still get the major benefits of using the dishwasher.
Needs Human Assistance
A dishwasher is not a robot or possesses some sort of AI feature. This means that the machine still depends on you for its operation.
Also, you cannot load just 2 or 3 dishes into the dishwasher. You will have to wait for more used plates and utensils before placing them into the machine for a wash. This leads to having a pile-up of dirty dishes.
Power Consumption
A dishwasher is an electrical device that requires an electric current for its operation. Though it may converse water, its use will invariably increase your electrical bills. This means that you can use your saved water bill to offset the higher energy bill.
Alternatively, some modern designs and brands of dishwashers are rated as being more energy-efficient as they consume minimal energy in their operation. The value is below 1 kW/h. Although their prices may be a little higher than the normal ones, the saved energy bills over time will be profitable.
Do I Really Need a Dishwasher?
You will need a dishwasher to carry out some kitchen chores more conveniently. Although a dishwasher is expendable when you talk about the major kitchen appliances, it provides a sense of ease of work.
In using a dishwasher machine, you will observe that there are several benefits it offers, and convenience is the one word to sum it all up. Even a dishwasher machine under 700 will do great, even beyond just washing your dishes.
- Maintenance of Dishwasher: The way you maintain your dishwasher is similar to how you maintain your car when you change the oil and regularly keep it clean. Think of your dishwasher the same way, and maintain it in that manner. Simply go through our guidelines for maintaining a dishwasher to know how to keep your dishwasher in its perfect state. The following are some important tips for maintaining your dishwashing machine.
- Keep the Filter Clean: Most times, food particles can get trapped in the filter. If your dishwasher is such that it has a filter, simply remove the filter and clear every particle from it.
- Keep the Seals and Door Clean: All dishwasher machines come with a sealed door to prevent water from coming out upon operation. Regularly wipe off the grime and soil around the seal rubber with a damp cloth to prevent them from building up.
- Clean the Spray Arm: Use a damp cloth to clean the spray arm. You will need to bring it out to remove every blockage using a toothpick. For more instructions on how to clean the spray arm, check the owner’s manual.
- Do This Every Month: Performing this cleaning process every month helps to keep out germs and sustain the dishwasher’s efficiency.
- Keep It Working: Do not leave your dishwasher idle for too long. Always keep it running; at least once every week will sustain the proper operation of the motor seals.
Frequently Asked Questions
How expensive are Dishwashers?
A dishwasher, at its high price, is about $3,500 with every feature you might be wanting from your machine. A low-price dishwasher is around $250 where you won’t have the high-tech features. However, the average price of this machine ranges from $500 to $970 and contains just the middle ground, covering most household necessities.
Where should I keep my dishwasher?
The ideal place to keep your dishwasher is anywhere close to the sink in the kitchen. However, this is entirely up to you as the user because it allows free movements. The best practice would be somewhere you can easily route the inlet and outlet hoses.
Should I buy a new or refurbished dishwasher?
Considering the cost, getting a refurbished dishwasher will be preferable, especially if you’re running short on budgets lately. But you should ensure that it works as smoothly as new since you can’t expect an old machine to perform like a new one.
What about the warranty and maintenance?
Most dishwashers come with a 1-year warranty which may differ from one manufacturer to another. But as you already know, with good maintenance comes longer durability to keep you on the go for years to come.
Conclusion
If you wish to purchase a dishwasher, knowing what are the pros and cons of having a dishwasher is might be the first thing to consider. As you can see in our discussion above, a dishwasher provides users with a whole bunch of benefits. However, there are some caveats to this machine.
Some of the benefits of a dishwasher you may find helpful include cleaning efficiency, easy installation, time and energy saving, and more. Conversely, the downside of this appliance may include the cost, the size, and its power consumption.
