Dishwashers perform best with hot water. Hot water combined with a good dishwasher detergent easily melts down the toughest stains and grease and has sanitary effects as well.
One of the greatest attributes of a dishwasher is that it uses hot water to clean the dishes. This is because the amount of cleaning that comes with hot water would be unachievable with cold water.
Cold water, however, will not be able to lift stains as efficiently. You might be experiencing some troubles with your dishwasher in this regard. If your dishwasher has suddenly become unable to use hot water for cleaning, you might wonder if your dishwasher can still work without hot water. Let’s talk about all the possibilities in the article below.
Can you run a dishwasher without hot water?
There is no hard and fast rule that your dishwasher has to use hot water only. It can certainly run without hot water. It is up to your preference, if you want to hook up your dishwasher to cold water, you can do that too.
The majority of the dishwashers have a heating element installed at the bottom of the machine to heat water. This heating element heats up water – be it cold or normal. Usually, it will require your water to be at 120°F and then the machine will automatically heat it to 140°F or 150°F for better cleaning. Modern advanced dishwashers are now able to work with hot and cold water.
What happens if I use cold water in the dishwasher?
Using cold water
The only difference that water temperature makes in a dishwasher is in the cleaning. Washing dishes with cold water will not come out as clean as washing dishes with hot water.
Since hot water has high cleaning abilities, it easily melts any food scrapes off your dishes and has sanitary properties, most dishwashers will ideally work with hot water by default.
You don’t have to fear about any technical issues happening with your dishwasher if you use cold water. Your dishwasher will still work the same.
Using extremely cold water
If you put extremely cold water that is below 120°F in the dishwasher, the machine will try to heat the water by increasing the temperature. This happens by default. This leads to higher electrical consumption and can lead to a higher electricity bill. Moreover, overworking your dishwasher will also decrease its longevity.
Do dishwashers require direct hot water input?
If you are planning on buying a new dishwasher, then you might wonder if they need a direct hot water connection. The good news is that many dishwashers come with a heating element built within the dishwasher. With the advancement of technology, most dishwashers now come with a direct hot water slot.
This means that you can customize it as per your desire. You can connect it to the hot water connection in your house and manually set the temperature as required.
Can I use my dishwasher if my boiler is broken?
Modern dishwashers have an inbuilt heating element, so you won’t have to worry about heating up water for the dishwasher if your boiler is broken. The dishwasher will heat up water automatically to its required temperature. You might also wonder if you can boil water in your dishwasher.
Conclusion
Automatic dishwasher machines are an absolute lifesaver! Hot water has been used over the years by tons of people for cleaning purposes. A dishwasher too makes use of the good cleaning and sanitary abilities of hot water to clean up your dishes. This article is all you need to know about dishwashers and their performance with hot water.