I no longer have the installation instructions for my Kenmore dishwasher. I do have the operating instructions and step 6 is “Run hot water faucet nearest dishwasher until water is hot. Turn water off.” The explanation below says the reason to do that is to avoid having a delay due to the dishwasher having to warm the water. So at least my dishwasher is designed to be connected to the hot water line.
LOL
After 123 responses to your poll, you aren’t one of the rare types, you are the rare type.
Mostly I use a dishwasher, but anything I do by hand is done in hot. I don’t see how you could even get the job done with cold.
No shit… :smack: :eek: I had no idea I’d be the only one out of a hundred some odd people who used cold water. Shocking, to say the least.
The main reason for me picking up the habit from a young age was that I always hated hot water on my hands, and it was just more comfortable washing with cold water.
I suppose I can switch to hot water only then, seeing as I’d be a total lunatic, or be seen as one. to continue in my ways.
I don’t use really hot water, I use water that’s warm to semi hot. Though when it comes to pots and such I will let the water get very hot and soak it for a bit.
Turn the hot water on and soak pots, pans, smeary plates - silverware goes in a pot or large mug. Return later, rinse out glasses with a drop of Coke or water, rinse out bowls that held a few chips or cookies, rinse off salad plates that held vegetables or crackers. Put on drainboard. Wash silverware with a sponge with a drop of dishwashing liquid on it, under running warm water. Wash plates the same. Wash pots and pans with sponge after scraping out with fingernails or a pot scraper, or even an old credit card. Dry everything and put away. Rinse out sponge well, put in microwave 20-30 seconds to ‘disinfect’.
Hot water + dish gloves. My dishwasher is old and nearly useless. I use it mainly to rinse and dry.
Hot water. Not even a contest. My hands are always cold anyway; why would I want to make them colder?
Also, one of the prior exhibits I worked in had a component that gave a guide on how not to waste water. According to it, not pre-rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher or washing them by hand saves water. But fuck that…you can take my pre-rinsing when you pry it from my cold dead fingers.
I voted other. I don’t have a water heater in my kitchen but the water from the tap is pretty warm - I live in Bangkok.
Yeah, I’ve had to wash dishes for about 30 people where there was no hot water available. Most of the plates and utensils weren’t too bad, but greasy skillets and such took forever.
These days, with all the comforts of home? Hot water.
Hot - ideally wearing rubber gloves so the water can be hotter than I could normally put my hand in. Far superior cleaning power with less detergent.
Hot.
I picked the “Other-Will explain” option; Like legalsnugs, I wash my dishes (when washed by hand) in water as hot as I can stand it. Then I rinse them with much cooler water. Not cold enough to be uncomfortable flowing over my hands, but seriously barely-warm.
Once the dirt/grease/gunk is off, you don’t need to waste hot water rinsing them.
I use hot water to wash the dishes.
However, I use cold water in the washing machine, which washes the gunk off my clothes just fine. Now that must include bits of food that I’ve managed to drop onto my tops.
So what’s different about dish washing liquid and washing machine washing powder that makes the difference?
Depends what you’re rinsing off, I guess, or else why bother rinsing at all?
I mostly use the dishwasher- which uses water hot enough to actually kill things and sanitizes nicely- but when washing by hand I have always used water as hot as I can stand it (which for me is pretty hot; I have fiddled with the water heater to override the “safe” settings).
This has led to (not real) arguments with my husband who is trained in public health and medical stuffs (he did much public health sort of things while in the military, but is now primarily medical) who claims that dishes should be washed in water that is comfortable for the user. Period. But why? Don’t you want heat to kill the bacteria and germs?
His response is this: hot water will make it easier to soak off grease and such, so go for it for that reason. However, water that you can stick your hands into without getting serious burns (even if it is uncomfortably hot) is not going to kill the bacteria- for that you need very hot water (I think he said at least in the 140-150 degree range); but that is okay because you are using soap/detergent to wash those germs right off and rinse them down the drain, so your dishes will not be sterilized (far from it) but will be clean enough (free from bacteria) to not pose a health risk.
The moral of this story is this: wash dishes in water water you are comfortable with. If very hot water makes it easier for you or pleases your inner neuroses, then use it, but don’t kid yourself into thinking the dishes are any cleaner than if you used warm or even cold water (providing of course that the dishes have been thoroughly scrubbed/washed with a clean sponge, etc.). If you prefer cold water, that’s fine too, just remember you might have to scrub a little harder/longer on gunky or greasy dishes.
Hot all the way. Or at least quite warm. I’m on a well and even in the summer my cold water is cold. I don’t have a dishwasher and have no desire to torture myself with water that cold (it’s so cold I have problems drinking it, I can’t stand icy cold drinks) on my hands. Brrrrrrr.
Soap, dude. I rinse off the soap that I just washed the dishes with/in.
We don’t have a water heater, but I’ve never had a problem getting things clean with our cool water.
When I was at the uni, I moved in with a bunch of foreign students, new to Canada. They were all from tropical countries and, as I was the resident Canadian, I took heaps of abuse, having to answer for the collective shortcomings of my fellow citizens. Trying to explain our foolish ways, as it were. They largely found western culture overly indulgent and extravagant in many ways.
They actually found it somewhat shocking and indulgent that we used hot water to wash our dishes. They assured me hot water was, in fact, entirely unnecessary to get the dishware clean. I was pretty resistant to that idea, at the time. I was surprised to learn that none of them even had hot water at the kitchen sink in their own homes.
A couple of days after we’d had this heated discussion, as they were about to wash dishes, I dared them to do so, entirely in cold water. They all did their dishes under the running tap instead of in a sink as I had been taught. They set the tap at a trickle. But even at a trickle, in December, in Ontario the water coming out of the tap is freaking cold. Bone chilling cold. They gave up pretty quick and never brought it up again!
But they were right, and many restaurants today use a cold water washing system for dishes.