Dishwashers
There are around 800,000 dishwashers in use in New Zealand. If each of these were ENERGY STAR® qualified, we would save over $6 million annually on New Zealand's national electricity bill. Choosing an efficient dishwasher and using it properly will save you money.
Choosing a dishwasher
- Choose the right-sized dishwasher to suit your household
- Most dishwashers are designed to handle the equivalent of 12 place settings
- If you have a small number of people in your household or a small amount of dirty dishes, slim-line and single drawer models hold around seven place settings
- Models with an ‘eco', ‘half load' or ‘fast' wash setting can help save water and energy.
Choosing by labels
All dishwashers have energy rating labels so you can see roughly how much electricity they use in a year. Make sure you're comparing similar sizes of dishwasher and look for the one with the lowest annual energy consumption (kWh).
The most efficient models carry the ENERGY STAR mark and use, on average, a third less electricity than non-qualified models.
Check out:
Hints and tips
- Rinse dishes under the cold tap - or scrape plates properly - before loading
- Regularly clean your dishwasher's filter
- Only run the dishwasher when it is fully loaded
- Use the machine's eco-cycle or select the cycle with the lowest temperature and minimum time to get the job done
- If your machine allows it, open the door after the final rinse cycle is completed to help with air drying while the load is still hot.
