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Dishwasher Energy Efficiency |
Another hot button in the world of dishwashers is "energy efficiency." In the 1990s, federal regulations imposed minimum energy-efficiency standards on new dishwashers. As a result, all of today's dishwashers use about half of the electricity needed by dishwashers made back in 1972. They also use less water, which represents a significant portion of the energy a dishwasher requires.
According to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, about 80 percent of the electricity used to wash dishes goes toward heating water. Today's standard-sized dishwashers use an average of 8.11 gallons for a normal cycle. In comparison, this is just over half the average of 16 gallons it takes to hand-wash dishes.
New dishwashers do this by recirculating a relatively small amount of water through fine-mesh filters with high-volume pumps. The filters strain particles from the water to ensure thorough cleaning and the pumps deliver a powerful spray to dishes. The pump in a Frigidaire Gallery dishwasher, for example, recirculates less than 8 gallons of water (for a normal cycle) at a volume of 42 to 50 gallons per minute—up to 2,000 gallons per cycle.
 Another benefit of most new dishwashers is that you don't have to pre-wash dishes before loading them (this boosts overall energy efficiency significantly). They employ voracious solid food disposers and sophisticated spray arms to blast away food. For instance, Maytag's Six-Tier wash system has a total of 52 jets that spray from just about every direction possible.
For comparison shopping, each new dishwasher is posted with a yellow EnergyGuide label. This rates the average annual cost of using a particular model, based upon average usage and a median price for gas or electricity. When you compare a few of these, you'll discover that, annually, most dishwashers cost about $60 to operate in homes with electric-heated water and $40 where water is gas-heated.
Numbers tend to vary only a few dollars per year from one model to the next, and more expensive units are not necessarily more efficient. Most differences are so minimal they're insignificant unless you compare a truly high-efficiency model such as the GE Profile, which is rated at $44 per year for electric and $24 for gas-heated water.
More about buying a new dishwasher:
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