Comment

Comment on

Yes, hot water cleans better, and results in dryer dishes due to condensation drying.

The heating element in a dishwasher is weak. It can’t heat water up that well since it’s limited to 120v and probably not even 20A. The first rinse cycle will effectively be cold water.

Your tank water heater is 240v and has a dedicated circuit, probably 30A. It can heat a lot of water, fast.

If you’re concerned about wasting water you can get a small tank or tankless hot water heater under the sink. Your water will then be hot nearly always.

Some wash cycles will both purge more water and heat it up longer to compensate.

source

Sort:hotnew top

NaibofTabr@infosec.pub ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
The water heater tank is also insulated better than your dishwasher because it doesn’t have a big door on it. Even if the heating elements were the same, the water heater would be more efficient at heating water and keeping it hot due to less energy loss.

source
- Brkdncr@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  They are both 100% efficient, although 240v has less loss over the same amount of length.
  
  Insulation doesn’t matter too much if you’re just dumping the water down the drain.
  
  But you’re right a dishwasher doesn’t have nearly as much insulating properties. The heat element in one is basically there to counter act the heat loss.
  
  source
shads@leminal.space ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Different country and all, but both are 240v in my neck of the woods, and since I live on tank water with mains water supply as a back up. Coupled with what I believe may be the most circuitous route from hot water cylinder to kitchen tap on earth (3 meters point to point yet seeming out to the local post office and back based on how long it takes to get hot water out of the tap) we use the Dishwasher to heat our water.

Which is all a very verbose way of saying “It depends on your circumstance…”

source
- Brkdncr@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  US doesn’t get 240v at most outlets unfortunately. My hot water to the kitchen is 50-60 ft as it goes up to the 2nd floor attic, across maybe 45 ft, then back down.
  
  source
  - shads@leminal.space ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Takes a couple of litres of water before we get hot water. I have filled the kettle twice before the water was too hot to hold my hand under before. That’s roughly 3.5 litres of water just to get to the hot stuff. Luckily boiling water was a key consideration in our voltage level (actually that’s something I made up on the spot 😜) but more power equals good so… Its weird that this is a field that the US apparently just decided to let a large portion of the world be more “powerful” almost expect that if there were parts of the world settling on 240v the US would arbitarily decide they needed 500v.
    
    source
    Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe ⁨31⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
    Are you going to pay to change the entire electrical grid, rewire every house, replace every appliance, etc.
    
    It would be an unimaginably massive undertaking for very little gain.
    
    The US electrical system was well-established when Europe had to rebuild post-WWII.
    
    source