“Why can’t you just put the dishes in the dishwasher?”
“Why do we need a new dishwasher? The old one works fine.”
“Oh, how nice, now we don’t have to wash any dishes!”
Do you ever get these comments from your spouse when you mention that it’s time to replace your dishwasher? Well, my wife and I certainly did. Here are five reasons why I decided that it was time to replace our old dishwasher with a high efficiency front loading washer.
1. My wife and I own our own business and work out of our home office. We have quite a few large family meals around our house every day. We have lots of dishes and pots and pans that needed washing. Our old dishwasher couldn’t hold all of these items at once, so we often had to run it twice or even three times a day! With our new high efficiency front loading washer we can wash the same amount of dishes in about half the time, using about half the water as well! That’s great for our water bill!
2. Our old dishwasher could never get all of the food off of the dishes without first pre-washing them by hand. This meant more work for us, not to
Disclosure: I am a BzzAgent and received a free Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer to try out. I did not receive any monetary compensation and all opinions are my own
When making the decision to replace our dishwasher, we had a few things in mind. Our first priority was finding something that would clean our dishes better than the unit we were replacing. We also wanted something that would be more environmentally friendly, less wasteful of water and energy, and quieter than what we had.
We ended up replacing our dishwasher with a high efficiency front loading washer. In fact, we ended up getting the Whirlpool Duet High Efficiency Front Loading Washer/Dryer combo set in white, which came with a pedestal for each unit.
Why did we go this route? Here are five reasons why you might consider replacing your dishwasher with a high efficiency front loading washer:
1. Energy Savings – My electric bill has gone down by about $10 a month because of the energy efficiency of my washer.
2. Water Savings – Our water bill has also gone down because of the amount of water this washer uses.
3. Cleaner Clothes – If you have ever run a load in a front loading washer, you know that they are much more effective than a top loader at cleaning clothes, especially heavily soiled ones. I am no longer afraid to throw in a load that has paint covered work clothes or other hard to clean items.
4. No More Squeaky Sounds – The old washer needed a new belt and when it ran, it sounded like it was going to take off like a jet plane! The new one is very quiet in comparison.
5. Much Larger Capacity – When we had our old dishwasher, I remember feeling like I was constantly running loads and still not having clean clothes! But with the new one, I can easily do 1-2 weeks worth of laundry and still not fill up the machine!
1. Water consumption
Dishwashers can use up to 12 gallons of water per cycle, depending on the age of the dishwasher and how it was designed. If you do a lot of dishes by hand, you probably use about 20 gallons of water a week. At this level, water consumption is not a major consideration. But if you run your dishwasher every day, which is what most people do today, water consumption becomes a major issue. In this case, a high-efficiency front loading washer will save you a lot of money over the long term. The front loading washer uses only about 2 gallons of water per wash and has proven to be more effective at getting dishes clean than hand washing or traditional dishwashers.
2. Energy Consumption
Dishwashers typically consume 1000 watts per hour (1 kWh) in electrical energy during normal operation. If you operate your dishwasher once per day, that’s 31 kWh per month or 372 kWh per year (assuming an average cost of electricity of 0.11/kWh). Not bad! But if your dishwasher is older than 10 years old and it’s not highly efficient (like the new ENERGY STAR models), it could use several times this amount in electrical energy. In this
1. Front Loading Washers are cheaper to run.
Front loading washers use less water, which is good for the environment, and also means that you will save money on your water bill every month. A typical front loader uses around 20 gallons of water per load, while a top loader uses approximately 35 gallons per load. (A high efficiency top loader uses less than 20 gallons.) The savings in water also means savings in gas/electricity bills because it takes less energy to heat the water.
Front loading washers also use less detergent. I have found that I use about a third of what is recommended on the box for a normal load of laundry. This is probably because there is less water for the detergent to be diluted in.
Front loading washers are much more efficient at spinning out the clothes at the end of the wash cycle, which results in dryer times that are 20% – 40% shorter than with a top loading washer. That’s another energy savings!
2. Front Loading Washers are quieter than top loading washers
3. Front Loading Washers clean better than top loading washers
4. Top Loading Washer dishes leave oily residue on glasses and silverware when dried in dishwasher
5. Top
1. I can wash more dishes.
2. I use less electricity and water.
3. It’s quieter than my old dishwasher.
4. I actually like doing the dishes now.
5. The price is right: $700-$1000 for an HE top-loader and $500-$1200 for a front loader depending on features and manufacturer.$700-$1000 for an HE top-loader and $500-$1200 for a front loader depending on features and manufacturer
I have been a fan of front loading washing machines for about the last 10 years. I purchased a Kenmore front loading washer when I bought my old house, and it worked well for a little over 4 years. Then, I did something silly. I let my mother talk me into buying a new washer from Sears. The sales lady convinced me that the new Kenmore HE (High Efficiency) washer would work better than the one I had previously owned.
I have since come to find out that this was not the case at all. In actuality, the opposite is true. The older Kenmore model could handle more clothes than the new ones which are smaller inside. This is due to a design change in order to make the newer models more energy efficient.
Unfortunately, they are also less water efficient because they use less water per load of laundry! This means that you actually end up using more water with these newer models than you do with an older style machine!