There are many appliances in your home that are designed to make your chores go quickly and to be completed more efficiently. For instance, your washing machine is designed to leverage your plumbing and your electrical system to wash your laundry in a matter of minutes.

Your dishwasher is another terrific appliance that helps you to get your chores done. A dishwasher will wash, rinse, and sanitize your dirty dishes in under 30 minutes and does so using the least amount of water necessary.

If you had to wash these dishes by hand it could take an hour or more, and you would use significantly more water and electricity – most would be wasted. Here are some dishwasher dos and don’ts to keep your dishwasher working efficiently:

• If your dishwasher has an energy-saving cycle, make sure to use that whenever possible. Sometimes the dishes you are washing are from a special dinner party and the soil and debris on them is hefty. But, for every day cups, cereal bowls, and silverware an energy-saving setting can make a big impact on your monthly utility bill
• Make sure to keep the heater temperature of your dishwasher set to 120 degrees. The heat-dry setting of your dishwasher is meant to use a built-in heater to dry the water droplets off of your dishwasher. This heater should be kept at 120 degrees to do its job, with the least amount of power necessary
• Make sure to always wash a full load of dishes. It might be tempting to run the dishwasher for just the morning dishes so that it’s empty for the dinner dishes, however, running a load for just a few dishes is very wasteful and you will notice the different on your monthly power bill
• Check the manufacturer’s instructions for how to load the dishwasher. These instructions are designed to make optimum use of all of the space in the dishwasher and therefore to allow you to wash as much as possible.

Keep your dishwasher as efficient and helpful as possible by follow these steps for minimizing the impact on your power bill and optimizing the output.