×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Compared to what?

Compared to what?

Compared to what?

(OP)
Published in my town's recent news letter:

"Running a full dishwasher saves 37% more water than washing dishes by hand."

So if I wash by hand I am saving some water.  If I wash in the dishwasher I save 37% more. What is the baseline?

RE: Compared to what?

I just love the weird understanding of relative quantities (%ages, etc) exhibited by the popular press!

Have you tried washing them by hand inside the dishwasher?  That might achieve some greater savings.  It may also cause your spouse to call in some nice friendly men who want you to wear a nice white sleeveless jacket.

Bung
Life is non-linear...

RE: Compared to what?

Running a dishwasher and washing by hand both *use* water. Neither saves it.

Paper plates might be a good compromise, except that water is used in the production of paper.

The only solution is to stand in front of the open refigerator and eat directly from the containers, like I do...

RE: Compared to what?

But then one would probably need more beer (=water) to wash the ingested food down the digestive system, which again misses the target of wastewater minimization.

RE: Compared to what?

25362

I do not see that beer consumption leads to wastewater. Remeber that most of the water is brought back into circulation in a very natural manner.  

RE: Compared to what?

sewage treatment is hardly natural

TTFN

RE: Compared to what?

I think it's just marketing. Someone came up with a number for how long it took to wash dishes by hand (the amount of dishes to fill a dishwasher) and the amount of water used, vs a "standard" dishwasher time/water used. Take that with amount of houses in a given area, and....your %.
Just a marketing gimmick.

RE: Compared to what?

(OP)
Wait, I've got it.

If I fist wash by hand, then use the dishwasher, I can save 137% of the water used by washing by hand alone!

Now, if use all of that water I'm saving to run a turbine....

RE: Compared to what?

MintJulep
Did your newsletter say this:
"Running a full dishwasher saves 37% more water than washing dishes by hand."
or this
"Running a full dishwasher saves 37% more water than washing the same quantity of dishes by hand."
Would you agree that the second statement could be true.

pennpoint

RE: Compared to what?

Neither would correct.  It should be:

"...dishwasher uses only 63% of the water used when washing by hand"

TTFN

RE: Compared to what?

And how about partially filled dishwashers?  

Patricia Lougheed

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of the Eng-Tips Forums.

RE: Compared to what?

(OP)
Penpoint,

The quote in my original post is verbatim.

IRStuff,

Or, "...dishwasher uses 37% less water than used to wash the same quantity of dishes by hand."

RE: Compared to what?

skogsgurra said:

"I do not see that beer consumption leads to wastewater. Remember that most of the water is brought back into circulation in a very natural manner."

You don't buy beer, you only rent it!

RE: Compared to what?

BUT,

If you only "rent beer", what kind of return policy would they have?
You know, like "be kind, rewind".

Would you refill the bottle?

You guys are a hoot!
A room full would accomplish no work what so ever...but it sure be fun!

Rerig

RE: Compared to what?

Leading to the time-honoured pub sign
"All beer sold on these premises is passed by the management"

RE: Compared to what?

Unless you make your own, then it's passed by you the first time.

Mmmm, homebrew.

RE: Compared to what?

Aaaaah, yes ....

I think that I shall never hear
a poem as lovely as a beer.
That good ol' brew tastes best on tap
with its golden base and snowy cap.
That lovely stuff I drink all day
until my memory melts away.
Poems are made by fools I fear,
but only BECKS can make a beer.

RE: Compared to what?

How about the difference between folks who, when washing dishes by hand, turn the water off between rinsing the dishes and those who let the rinse water run constantly?  I think (just roughly estimating from my own experience) the former method may use between 6 and 8 gallons per washing session, and the latter would use at least four times that much.  How much water does a dishwashing machine use for an average load?  It's all relative to how the washing is being done, which renders the percentage statement meaningless.

(Isn't it great how we can ignore something gramatically meaningless that is made to sound important in order to focus on the subject of the meaningless grammar?  Like the earlier post in this thread about getting a roomful of us together - no work, but a lot of fun!)

RE: Compared to what?

One possible alternative would be; to drink the beer first then use the water produced to wash the dishes.

Or, wash the dishes in beer first then drink it.

Obviously you could only do the dishes by hand in either case, which is much 'greener' as no electric is used :)

RE: Compared to what?

Some times I just use a wet cloth, but I like to wash dishes in a swimming pool, or lake on occasion.  Maybe I should try one of them there dishwasher things....  I s'pose I could just put less water in the pool, .....but I'd hit the bottom.

A child's book when I was young told the story of a guy who didn't like washing dishes and eventually ended up with a pickup truck full of dishes and other dish-like opjects that were washed by the rain.  I think that he wouln't have had as good of results with 37% less rain.

remember: An opinion is only as good as the one who gives it!

RE: Compared to what?

I think you've already hit the bottom

TTFN

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources