Umbra dishes on dishwashers vs washing by hand 7

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1. 

   enakffej Posted 10:19 am
   28 Apr 2009

   thanks, and i don't necessarily doubt the conclusion, but 5 gallons/minute to wash dishes by hand does not hold water.  i don't think most folks' sinks have 5 gal/min water pressure even at full blast.

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2. 

   aFry09 Posted 8:30 pm
   28 Apr 2009

   i usually wash with my hands and i did it with just a liter water, and i think it is not much, i used to wash 5 to 6 dish.

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3. 

   Schrmin Posted 1:26 pm
   29 Apr 2009

   An easy and cheap way to dramatically reduce the amount of water used at your kitchen and bathroom sinks is to replace the faucet aerators with low flow versions.  Typical aerators use approximately 2.5 gallons per minute, but I found that 0.5 gpm aerators work great...even in the kitchen (and that's 1/5th the water usage...or 1/10th the amount of Umbra's example!)  Universal-fit low flow aerators cost only a few dollars (and make great eco gifts for family and friends).  You can find them at some hardware stores, or you can buy them online:http://www.nrgsavers.com/prodwater.htmhttp://usalandlord.stores.yahoo.net/05gpmprcospn.htmlhttp://www.conservationmart.com/p-293-whedon-05-gpm-ultra-saveraerator-ua1c.aspx

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4. 

   racje Posted 2:21 pm
   29 Apr 2009

   I don't own a dishwasher; there is no room for one in my kitchen. I also don't leave the water running while I'm washing dishes. I use a wash pan and a rinse pan, each with about one and a half gallons of water. I scrape the dishes, pre-rinse them if necessary, replace the pre-rinse water with clean rinse water, wash in soapy water, rinse, and air dry. This (4.5 gallons total) is enough for a day's worth of dishes. The statistics Umbra cites come from a dishwasher manufacturer. They are biased. I don't think most people just leave the water running while they are doing the dishes. I wish Umbra would be more careful with her sources.

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5. 

   dolfen Posted 8:54 pm
   30 Apr 2009

   I use the dishwasher but always assure its packed to the hilt. I've seen several studies that indicate you save more water and energy doing so. I also found that using about 1/3 the dishwashing powder, I use Seventh Generation, works better than using the full amount. Usually no residue is left on the glasses.

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6. 

   mwildfire Posted 3:30 pm
   05 May 2009

   Not having had running water until recently, I can be pretty precise about how much water we use to wash dishes--typically two days' worth for two people, which overloads my rack. It takes about 2 1/2 gallons for the (heated) wash water, and one gallon of rinse water. No way would I have a mechanical dishwasher wasting space and electricity--but then my mate and I are both perverts who actually like washing dishes.

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7. 

   katakanadian Posted 10:13 am
   08 May 2009

   I'm tired of seeing this myth propagated. Umbra, you need to issue a
   clarification. Yes, there are idiots out there who use more water to
   hand wash than a machine would use but that is quite unnecessary and
   most people would save more water by learning the proper way to do
   dishes than by running out to by another big piece of machinery with a
   hunk of embedded enrgy that entrenches the rush-rush-rush
   let-technology-be-the-answer-for-everything mindset.I just
   checked our kitchen sink and it took 33 seconds at full blast to fill a
   4 liter pail (just over 1 US gallon). I don't think we have any special
   low flow devices attached so that makes it <8 liters/minute (~2
   USgal/minute). Less than half that claimed in the video. When I wash
   with a dishpan I use less than 8 liters of hot water plus an
   intermittent trickle of cold for rinsing (<2 liters). We usually do
   dishes 2x/day so thats <20 liters/day (<5 USgal/day).Instead of promoting a fallacy designed to increase appliance industry sales, you should be instructing people on the correct way to wash dishes. I am deeply disappointed by the lack of research and critical thinking displayed in this post.

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