What does it cost to run the dishwasher

[Honest Abe]

I need a punch in the face. Give it to me.

[grantmeaname]

A whole hell of a lot less than the value of my time. That's what.

[Nords]

Well, ours uses water heated by our solar water panels and runs on electricity from our photovoltaic panels.  Both systems have already paid for themselves.  We even have a year's supply of dishwasher detergent passed on by a neighbor who was moving out of her house.

So... for us it's just the cost of a few gallons of water.

I've read that dishwashers can get the job done on less water.  In our case, two adults who don't use many plates or bowls at home, we only run a couple loads a month.  I think we'd use a lot more water doing a few dishes in the sink at a time.

[iamlindoro]

Well, ours uses water heated by our solar water panels and runs on electricity from our photovoltaic panels.  Both systems have already paid for themselves.  We even have a year's supply of dishwasher detergent passed on by a neighbor who was moving out of her house.

So... for us it's just the cost of a few gallons of water.

I've read that dishwashers can get the job done on less water.  In our case, two adults who don't use many plates or bowls at home, we only run a couple loads a month.  I think we'd use a lot more water doing a few dishes in the sink at a time.

I've got to get something like this set up when we move on from my current condo!  I'm very stingy with the electricity here (always on my GF to turn out the lights when she leaves a room, unplugging plug in air fresheners when she leaves, etc) so I notice a big crank upwards in my daily power data on days where I have to run the dishwasher once or twice.

[bogart]

I need a punch in the face. Give it to me.

Um, OK.  Quit spending time worrying about silly things that there's not much evidence save either energy or money, then:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eatingwell/hand-washing-dishes-vs-dishwasher_b_1542991.html
http://www.treehugger.com/kitchen-design/built-in-dishwashers-vs-hand-washing-which-is-greener.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Simple-Dollar/2011/1110/Dishwashers-vs.-hand-washing-Which-is-cheaper

(In fairness, you didn't ask about the environmental impact, but since I already had my fist clenched ...)
(And don't use the heated dry option, for both cost and environmental reasons)

[/punch]

If you're considering whether you should buy and install a dishwasher, likely not.  If you live alone and are debating whether it's worth running the dishwasher since you don't own enough dishes to fill it up, then hand wash.  Otherwise, use the dishwasher and spend the time you'd have spent hand-washing researching low-cost mutual funds or rental properties in your area, and call it a day.

[jrhampt]

A whole hell of a lot less than the value of my time. That's what.

Seconded.  Also, we do a lot of cooking at home and save money doing that.  I would be a lot less motivated to cook at home if I had to do my dishes by hand afterward.

[chucklesmcgee]

Basically nothing. Handwashing is almost certainly more:

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product.showProductGroup&pgw_code=DW

Now I this assumes you're running full loads with things that stack nicely into a dishwasher. It probably also assumes something about your personal dish cleaning abilities and that you're handwashing with hot water. And I guess, looking at the chart, if you cleaned with entirely cold water v. hot water with the dishwasher (I think most dishwashers have their own heater so it doesn't really matter what your water temp is at), you could barely scrape out some savings. But it doesn't look like it would be more than about $20 over 10 years., unless you've also developed some incredibly efficient dish washing mechanism.

And heck, even if you developed some magical hand cleaning system that let you scrub with buckets of collected rainwater the $27 a year premium to dishwash would still be worth it. Pretty sure that's well above the value of anyone's  estimated 240 hours saved annually or even 10 hours.

So long as you're running full loads and not using stupid features like steam drying or plate warming, it's really  not bad at all.

[madage]

No face punch needed. Use it and love it. I've replaced the dishwasher in every home we've lived in (three so far). We consider the Bosch in our current home one of our best purchases ever. Extremely efficient, extremely quiet, extremely good at cleaning dishes.

[Norman Johnson]

A whole hell of a lot less than the value of my time. That's what.

This. Also, less than the divorce from fighting about the dishes. ;)

Bonus: It became extra space in my small, single sink kitchen to store dishes. Yay counter space!

[Honest Abe]

Ok, I feel better!

[chicagomeg]

Agree that the dishwasher is cheap, but I did see a $10 decrease in my electric bill when I stopped using the heat dry.
I didn't grow up w/a dishwasher, so they're still a fairly new thing to me. I learned my lesson. No face punch needed.