On Fri, 15 May 2009 14:47:16 GMT, "brooklyn1"
> wrote:

>
>"Dave Garland" > wrote in message
...
>> Lou wrote:
>>
>>> The point is that air drying the
>>> dishes isn't necessarily cost free either. Neither is using a towel to
>>> dry
>>> them - the water is absorbed by the towel, which becomes damp. You hang
>>> the
>>> towel up when you're done, and that water evaporates.
>>
>> True.
>>
>> And again, it takes a
>>> certain amount of heat to evaporate a given quantity of water, and if
>>> it's
>>> during the heating season, that heat is coming from the furnace. If you
>>> live in a climate where you don't need to run the furnace, then that's
>>> not a
>>> consideration. I don't know how much water has to be evaporated to dry a
>>> load of dishes, but it doesn't look like it would be much, and the amount
>>> of
>>> electricity used is correspondingly small - I doubt if anyone would
>>> notice a
>>> change in their electricity bill one way or the other.
>>
>> But that's assuming that all the energy used goes into evaporating
>> water. In the case of air drying that's true. In the case of heated
>> drying, it's hard to believe. The heat leaks into the environment
>> (not a total loss, of course, as the furnace runs less, but not a wash
>> either, since resistance heating is usually much more costly than the
>> furnace's heat). I don't have any figures for the percentage of total
>> heat used that evaporates water, but would guess it's a small
>> percentage. The rest goes into making the dishwasher warm, leaving
>> the plates warm.
>>
>> (It's all theoretical to me, I've never had a dishwasher.)
>>
>> Dave
>
>Ahahahahaha. . . .
>
>Folks, it's a dishwasher... a marvel of modern *convenience*, something no
>one actually *needs*, but a major part of the convenience is the dry
>feature... if you open the unit right after it shuts off the dishes will be
>so hot that they will fully air dry in minutes... but if opened hours after
>it's fully cooled down (like in the morning) condensation will have formed
>inside the machine. I typically start my dishwasher last thing before
>retiring for the night, then I set the heated dry feature because I hate
>opening the dishwasher and finding many of the dishes covered with
>droplets.... the heated dry doesn't need to be used all the time, that's why
>there is a button that gives you a choice to exercise your brain. Never
>using the dry feature is like folks who install central AC but never use it
>unless it's like 100 degrees (and then they set it at 90), like buying a
>Porsche but being ascared to drive over 45 mph, like installing a fancy
>schmancy hydro jet tub but never using it other than something to dust and
>show off because it uses too much hot water, like buying nice living room
>furniture covered with silk brocade but covering it with clear plastic slip
>covers in hopes it won't ever wear, like roping off the living room so no
>one walks on your horrid dago robin's egg blue plush carpeting. The heated
>dry feature on a dishwasher uses so little energy compared to the total
>energy it consumes that it's negligible... I bet yoose types are so cheap
>yoose haven't bought a new toothbrush in like twenty years... yoose are all
>just a buncha mental masturbators over silly minutia.
>
>In fact I just got off the phone with the Maytag help desk, they varified
>that choosing the heated dry feature only slightly extends the heated dry
>that comes on anyway as part of the standard clean cycle... that the energy
>cost savings by not choosing the heated dry feature is miniscule and
>insignificant compared with the total energy consumed in using a dishwasher
>(naturally they couldn't give me an actual dollar amount as electric rates
>differ). Think about it, how many times a week does someone use their
>dishwasher... tops I use mine twice, that's 100 times a year... by not using
>the heated dry feature I'd save like 10¢, that's a whole $10/yr... and I'd
>lose the convenience of not having to wait with the door open for the dishes
>to fully dry or having to wipe... I don't know about the slobs but I don't
>like to stack my dishes in the cabinet with water droplets... then moisture
>gets trapped between stacked dishes, very unsanitary... wiping by hand is
>also unsanitary, negates the main purpose of an Auto dishwasher, minimally
>handled dishes. And dishwashers do indeed contain a blower, that's what
>circulates the heated air at the end in order to dry the dishes, choosing
>the heated dry feature merely lets the blower circulate the heated air a few
>minutes longer. If I listen carefully I can hear the blower running
>(because nothing else is running at the end) and I can see the vapor blowing
>out the front vent, it's a very small blower and a very small heater, but it
>works in that very small space. There is also a water heater, that uses
>much more energy than the dry heater. There is a definite savings in energy
>and the dishwasher will operate better if the water at the kitchen sink is
>run till it runs hot before turning on the dishwasher... my Maytag manual
>explains that and even says to test the water at the sink by runing it into
>cup and checking with a thermometer, optimally it should read 140ºF, or the
>dishwasher's water heater will have to make up the difference and that
>heater will cost a lot more to run than the drying heater, it's also cheaper
>to let your domestic hot water heater do the work... initially running with
>water not hot enough will negatively affect the performance of the
>dishwashing compounds... everyone's plumbing is different but typically a
>gallon of cold water comes out the hot water tap before it turns hot...
>filling the dishwasher with cold water wastes more energy than the heated
>dry feature uses. I just read my owner's manual again, a lot of good stuff
>in there I missed/forgotten since I read it 5 years ago, the machine has
>features I didn't know about.
>
>Not using your modern dishwasher's heated dry feature saves less energy than
>not using your modern frost free refrigerator freezer to make ice, and makes
>as much sense... just don't fill the ice cube trays, you'll save enough to
>take an around the world cruise... maybe in about forty life times. I
>wonder how many of yoose imbeciles believe you have to change the air in
>your car tires every 6,000 miles.
>
You should write a book. "My Dishwasher and Me: A Personal Journey."

--Vic