Eco mode in a Bosch dishwasher

We live in an age of frugal consumption, where everyone strives to use the planet's resources wisely, so it's no surprise that home appliance manufacturers are trying to keep up. The Eco mode in a Bosch dishwasher is just one of many ways to help the planet while simultaneously saving on utility bills. A cycle with the Eco mode activated helps reduce not only electricity but also water consumption. Let's take a closer look at this mode and whether it has any drawbacks, in addition to its well-known advantages.

Features of the IVF program

Eco mode has been around in modern dishwashers for a while now. It's most often found under the name "Economy BIO Program," and importantly, users are satisfied with the cleaning performance of this cycle, noting reduced resource consumption without sacrificing cleaning quality.

The key to this mode is that when activated, the "home assistant" not only heats water to 50 degrees Celsius but also uses less liquid for operation. This significantly reduces tap water consumption, as well as the energy used to heat the liquid. Automatic dishwashing in dishwashers was already more economical than hand washing, and with Eco mode, it becomes even more cost-effective.

The exact washing time should be found in the instructions for the specific dishwasher model.

Increased savings in water and electricity is why the program is called not economical, but environmentally friendly. It helps save 20 to 35% of water compared to conventional working cycles.

Dishwasher manufacturers recommend selecting this mode when cleaning lightly soiled dishes that have just been used, such as during dinner. This cycle isn't suitable for cleaning heavy soiling, such as stubborn grease or dried-on food residue, so it shouldn't be used for pans, pots, or baking sheets. However, it can be used for cleaning plates, glasses, and cutlery.

Does technology help you save money?

Despite the high-sounding claims, saving resources doesn't always translate into savings on the family budget. As an example, let's look at the full-size Bosch SBH4HCX48E dishwasher, which is designed to wash 14 place settings at a time, or approximately 63 different pieces of dishware, such as forks, spoons, knives, plates, glasses, cutting boards, and more. Let's give an example.

• When selecting the Eco mode, the dishwasher will run for approximately 4 hours non-stop, which is the longest program on a Bosch dishwasher. Water consumption during this program is approximately 10.5 liters.
• On average, a housewife spends about 20 minutes washing dishes by hand, during which time she can clean half the amount of laundry that a dishwasher can handle. During this time, she uses warm water and wastes approximately 43 liters of liquid.

This means the machine runs much longer, but during the cycle, the dishwasher uses almost 4 times less water, so the savings are obvious. Now let's look at other important factors.

• Machine washing requires special detergents, dishwasher salt, and rinse aid. All of these are significantly more expensive than standard hand-wash detergent.
• The dishwasher also uses electricity that isn't used for hand washing—approximately 1.36 kilowatts over 4 hours. If you use the dishwasher every day, the monthly consumption will be almost 41 kilowatts.

All data is taken specifically for the Bosch SBH4HCX48E model, so the calculations are relevant only for it.

This is why the user will definitely see savings in water consumption, but this won't be noticeable in the family budget, as they'll have to pay more for electricity and household chemicals. On the other hand, if a housewife has already decided to stop washing dishes by hand, for example, because of an expensive manicure, then the Eco mode will save resources and money compared to traditional cycles.

It's also important to remember that many cutlery items are very difficult to clean by hand, which significantly impacts cleaning time. Therefore, this program may not be as beneficial to the planet's resources and family budget, but it does save the user time and effort.

   

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