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My question is what do you gain by amping up the temperature? Most
people
almost always temper the hot water with cold water in order to use it. I
dropped my HW temp way back and I haven't noticed any serious problems.
So
it seems to me raising the temperature of the water is wasteful because
you're going to temper it anyway to be able to use it.


Back in the 70s when we were first told that 140-160 hot water setting
was wasting energy, health officials were saying if you had a dish
washer, the hotter water was important to sanitize your dishes. That
idea went by the wayside in the mean time.

That makes sense that dishes should be cooked at the same temperature as
meat to kill microbes. I would hope those germs never got to the dish in
the first place, but I did a stint as a dishwasher at IHOP many, MANY moons
ago and there's no telling what people put on their plates. (-:

I wondered why they didn't heat the water in dishwashers but I have
not heard of one that actually did it. It would be pretty easy since
there is already a 1kw heating element in there but it may be a
problem because a 15a circuit might not handle the heating element and
the motor at the same time.

That's probably the reason because if it really is necessary to raise the
temp to 160F, then someone would have done it by now just as a selling
point. I wonder, though, since most dish/flat ware is non-porous if it is
actually just as good to thoroughly strip the surfaces of any particles. I
sent a lot of dishes back through that had dried egg on them, one of the
most mucilaginous substances in the world.

The "economy" setting disables the heater anyway. Dishes air dry or
just stay wet in a humid climate.

And moldy if you leave them in the dark long enough. (0:

--
Bobby G.