Dishwashers are designed to clean and sanitize dishes. In order to do so, they need hot water to operate. Different dishwashers will work in a variety of ways. Some of them heat the water to intense heat and many of them have several cycles that they operate through when they run.
When you wash dishes in the sink, you use hot water for pretty much the same reasons. You want to clean and sanitize the dishes you are washing. Hot water simply does that best! Of course, there are times when you just might not have working hot water but still need to run the dishwasher.
Can you run a dishwasher without hot water? Most dishwashers will actually heat the water even more than the hot water faucet. If you don’t have hot water, it may not get as hot as usual but it will heat. This might depend on your dishwasher specifically.
If you don’t have hot water in your home for some reason, you still might be able to use the dishwasher. In this guide, we will cover this question in more detail so you know whether or not it might work for you.
How Does the Dishwasher Work?
Your dishwasher is designed to clean and sanitize the dishes inside of it. When you use a dishwasher installed, it gets connected to the water lines. In most cases, they are connected to the hot water lines.
Even when your hot water is not working for some reason, you typically can still run water through those lines. The downside is the water isn’t heated coming through the lines so it simply isn’t hot.
When you use a portable dishwasher, it’s much the same. You hook it up directly to your faucet and then turn on the faucet for the water to run through the lines.
Do dishwashers use hot water or heat their own?
Most modern dishwashers are actually designed to heat the water for you. The catch is that the water won’t get as hot as it normally would since it has to be heated from a cold state.
Will Cold Water Hurt My Dishwasher?
Coldwater will not hurt your dishes or your dishwasher. The hot water that is so important when doing dishes is mostly used for sanitation purposes.
This is pretty important when it comes to cleaning dishes. After all, you are going to be eating off of those dishes. Keep in mind, though, that most dishwashers have a heating cycle or heating element inside of them that is designed to heat up the water.
No hot water line or faucet is actually going to get your water as hot as it really needs to be to disinfect those dishes. This is why dishwashers heat the water even further. It’s superheated.
Most hot water lines run water that is 120 degrees or even warmer when they get fully heated. This is what dishwashers are designed to start with. So when your water is below that temperate and cold by definition, it makes the dishwasher work a little harder.
We don’t recommend just always using cold water to run your dishwasher. This is going to be really hard on the dishwasher over time because it has to work extra hard to get the water warm enough to sanitize and clean the dishes inside.
Most dishwashers heat the water to somewhere between 150 and 175 degrees.
If your dishwasher works properly and heats up the water, you may notice a difference in your electric bill but the dishes and the dishwasher really should be just fine.
How Hot Should My Water Be?
In order to thoroughly disinfect your dishes, you really need the water to be somewhere around 140 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. This is why so many dishwashers will heat just slightly above that.
Your hot water line, when working, still will not typically reach that specific temperature on its own. This is why so many dishwashers have heating elements inside to help heat the water even more and get it right.
Most modern dishwashers are designed not only to help get the water hot enough but also to keep the water as hot as it is supposed to be when washing the dishes. This means that during a dishwashing cycle, your appliance is continually heating the water and keeping it warm for the entirety of the cycle.
Possible Side Effects of Not Using Hot Water
There are some things that could happen if you do use water that isn’t hot enough. Your dishwasher simply might not be able to get the water quite hot enough. However, it’s also possible that your dishwasher isn’t heating well enough and your hot water isn’t the actual problem.
In most cases, as long as you have water, it’s perfectly ok for it to be cold water because your dishwasher can save the day. However, there are times when your dishwasher won’t really deliver in the same way.
You could possibly experience some of these things.
- Stuck on food left on dishes is usually either because of water pressure or because the water didn’t get hot enough to dissolve the food away.
- Leftover residue from detergent is because it needs extra hot water to rinse away or you don’t have enough water pressure.
These are the most common signs that something simply isn’t right with the dishwasher.
Related Questions
How Hot is Water from the Water Line?
Most hot water lines heat water to about 120 degrees. Most dishwashers are made to heat it from that temperature.
How Hot Does the Dishwasher Get?
The dishwasher is designed to get your water up to around 150 degrees Fahrenheit and really needs it to be at least 140 degrees.
Conclusion
If you don’t have hot water, you should still be ok to use the dishwasher. We don’t recommend running it without hot water all of the time but it won’t hurt anything if you’re in a pinch. Your dishwasher will heat the water but most likely won’t be able to heat it as high as it really needs to be.
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