Dishwasher Wanted? – Boundary Waters Blog

I grew up in a house that didn’t have a dishwasher. I was the dishwasher and my sister was the dryer. I’ve had an automatic dishwasher since moving out of my house but the process tends to drive me crazy. Everyone has their own way of doing things and our summer staff helps out in the kitchen. Some people practically wash the dishes before they put them into the dishwasher wasting twice as much water. Other people leave so much food on the dishes it clogs the drain and hurts our fragile septic system. I’m sure there’s a happy medium somewhere but I haven’t been able to find it. I’ve been without a dishwasher for two summers now and I can’t say that I miss it at all. I never realized I was saving electricity so now I have another reason to keep washing dishes by hand and letting them air dry.

Is your cash (not to mention electricity) evaporating every time you wash the dishes?

The Bite
Not if you turn off your dishwasher’s drying cycle. Just flip a switch and watch energy savings come ’round, again and again.

The Benefits

Soaking up cash savings. Expect to bank $25 per year on your electricity bill.

Putting a damp-er on power use. You’ll reduce the energy your dishwasher uses by 15%-50%.

More slowly but surely, your dishes will still dry. Promise.

If 10,000 Biters air-dry their dishes, in a year it’ll have the same CO2-reducing effect as planting 3,343 trees.

Personally Speaking
Heather used to have one of those old dishwashers that plugged into the sink, ran for two hours, and didn’t have a no-dry option. She couldn’t imagine how long it would take if she had to wait for the drying cycle as well, so she just opened the door to shut it down before the dryer started.

Wanna Try?

If there’s no off switch for your dishwasher’s drying cycle, just open the door when the cycle starts.

Josephine Cochrane invented the modern dishwasher in 1886 because she was fed up with servants who chipped her fine china. (This is exactly why we like our dishwashers too.)