gee, I've never really thought about it. But I rinse in hot
water. I don't use hot hot water to wash with, never
thought of rinsing with cold.

Always hot water.
When you use hot water they air dry almost immediately on the rack. By the time I finish the last glass, the first items are ready to put away.

Always hot water. I feel it's more important to get the sanitation effect at the end. Tap cold is water in the danger zone for bacteria growth. Remember the 40°-140° rule. Now people will argue with me and go ahead, but I use the hottest water to soak the dishes in soapy water, generally it cools so I can handle them, then rinse in hot water, which I also think cuts soap residue better too, and the hot dishes will then dry faster so less moisture on them at the danger temp zone. No science to back this up, just my feeling. Maybe it's a quirk of mine. And I always air dry on a rack. And using very hot water cuts grease and crusty stuff far better than cold. Soak it, use Dawn or Joy and then just a swish with the brush or dishcloth and they're clean.

One other caveat: If I'm working with raw chicken, turkey or something, I add bleach, then bleach the sink. The above was for normal everyday cooking and dish use.

You really don't use that much water rinsing dishes as long as you don't leave the water running. Often I'll fill one sink with hot rinse water, well actually I'll plug the sink and let it run while I rinse them and rinse more items in there. Started doing that after camping. Might toss a little vinegar or bleach in there too. The net cost of rinsing in hot vs cold would be very little IMO and for me, I'll spend it for the peace of mind from the previously mentioned feelings. I'd venture a guess that a couple of CFL swaps would easily cover the cost of it, and probably even more.

FWIW, even though I have a gas water heater my hot water is at 140°-143° generally, and if you have an electric water heater that's what your heater should be running to prevent Legionella bacteria growth in the tank. I like the higher temp for laundry.

And yes, I *would* like an automatic dishwasher!

Families with children shouldn't have their water temps as high as 140, temps as high as 125 burn..

Anyway I rinse with warm water and then air dry.

Hot water. Gets the soap residue off more effectively (for me). Perhaps it is because we have hard water.

I fill the sink with HOTHOT water and let the dishes sit until the water has cooled down enough to put my hands in it! Then, I rinse with cold water!

Knew a lady years ago that did NOT rinse her dishes..she said the soap wasn't dirty! (yuck)

Hand wash dishes!?!?!? Oh NOnononono that is what the sweet DH is for!

LOL
LIL

I don't often hand wash but rinsing them in hot helps them dry faster and even makes towel drying faster.

I handwash almost always cause it is just me, and only use the dishwasher when I have company.

This comes in quite handy for drying the dishes. LOVE IT

dish drying mat from Bed Bath and Beyond

only $4.99

{{!gwi}}

Dish Drying Mat

Dish drying mat cushions your delicate dishes and stemware. Holding four times its weight in water, mat is extremely absorbent. Folds and stores easily. Measures 16" W x 18" L. Machine wash.

If I have to wash something by hand, I wash it under hot running water and rinse immediately. With this method, switching to cold would be impractical.

I do all my laundry in cold water, though.

I hand wash in hot water and rinse in hot water. Then I let the dishes air dry. I don't have a dishwasher and my kitchen is way too small to fit one.

Hot wash, hot rinse for me too. :o)

Glenda:

I bought that dish drying mat after you posted about it several months ago! My darling daughter works part time at Bed, Bath & Beyond (she's a college student) and she knew exactly what I was talking about. I'll tell ya...she is 21 and working at BBB is perfect at her age. She is learning so much about different products she is educating me!!! If and when it comes time for her bridal registry, she's going to know exactly what to do!

The well that feeds the house is too close to the former barnyard (five years ago - I have my second garden there, now) and when they sold the farm back then, the water didn't pass for E-Coli (really bad) or coliforms. When I spent some time there after Uncle's death to make the place look lived-in, his relative suggested that I not drink the water - it smelled, especially when hot.

It still does.

So I haul all of the water that I use for drinking and most of the cooking.

I run the hot water hot enough that I can put my hands into it and wash the dishes using detergent.

I have a wash basin that I put the washed dishes into, then rinse them with boiling water from the electric kettle. I reheat that rinse water in the microwave, from time to time as I continue washing and it cools.

When the dishwater cools, sometimes I reheat it in the microwave, as well.

Would one say that a person taking a shower or a tub bath was more prone to getting into hot water ... (if one could make a claim to a person taking a shower being in any way "prone")?

ole joyfilled

I love my dish drying mat. Gave one to friend and she loves hers as well.

I do have a dishwasher, a very good one...but with two people, I prefer to hand wash. I think it's better, anyway.

I also wash with hot water, and of course rinse, too.

Hand washing dishes in real hot water is good for my arthritic hands.

I was taught that you should rinse in cold -- the cold water rinses off the soap better whereas the hot can reactivate and make the soap sud up again... (Kind of reminds me of doing a cold water rinse on your hair to seal the cuticle and help make your hair shinier).

I don't know if the cold water rinse is really better for rinsing dishes, but I doubt hot water has any real benefit.

I rinse in hot water. In addition to the reasons posted above, changing from hot water to a cold water rinse can crack the dishes.

I rinse in hot water as well, because the water evaporates almost instantly that way.

I use hot water always have never gave it a thought

Another one who never thought of rinsing with cold water, here. I guess my thought about it is, rinsing with hot, they dry faster. Theres no way I'm going to wipe dishes. Air drying only! Dottie

Wash dishes in hot, rinse in hot, then the dishes air dry in my rack.

I heard that the dishwasher uses less water than hand washing them. It's just me and I run my dishwasher ever other day or so when it gets full. Some times I wash pots by hand. I have eczema and try not to get my hands wet except when I am washing them. I have always rinsed dishes in hot water which is what I learned from my mom. I think that before detergent was invented and soap was used for dishes that hot water rinse was necessary.

I believe I save water using my dishwasher less and washing by hand. I only use dishwasher when I have a full load, which is seldom.

This is how I wash my dishes.Turn on the hot water,wet a scrubbie sponge and squirt on some antibacterial dish soap,scrub clean then rinse.I know,people will say it's a waste of water but I can do a whole sink full of dishes,including pots and pans in about 10 minutes.I clean up as I go so there's usually not much left after we finish eating.Someone criticized me one time for letting the water run through the whole washing/rinsing process so just to prove a point I stopped up the sink and washed the dishes as I usually did.The sink filled 1 and 1/2 times,so I don't think I am wasting water.
My mother use to keep a sink full of soapy water all day and would wash dishes as they were used,in that same water!Of course it got cold and back then there was no such thing as anti bacterial soap and even if there had been she wouldn't have spent the extra money on it.LOL The other sink was full of rinse water,also cold.After I got older it sort of grossed me out and I guess that is why I wash mine under hot running water now.Guess it didn't hurt anyone.We were never sick much and we lived!LOL

I always use hot water because the dishes dry faster on their own and I find that a cold water rinse doesn't get all the soap off especially from plastic glasses.

Anne

"Families with children shouldn't have their water temps as high as 140, temps as high as 125 burn.."
That's why families with children (and vulnerable adults) should have anti-scald valves. 140° is the minimum recommended especially for electric water heaters, 120°-125° (better to go at least 130°-135° for gas because gas will heat the water hotter overall. Gas heaters heat from the bottom whereas electric water heaters heat from the middle. Do a search on Legionella bacteria growth in electric water heaters sometime.

People don't think about the heat loss in pipes. Keeping your water heater at a dangerously low temp to start with isn't an advantage considering you lose temperature through the pipes to the destination (sink, tub, etc).

FWIW, it is estimated that in the United States there are between 10,000 and 50,000 cases of Legionnaires' disease each year. Of course these aren't pandemic numbers but nothing to sneeze at either. You should also regularly maintain your water heater, especially if you don't use a lot of hot water and definitely if you don't heat it enough.

Washing clothes in cold water continually contributes to mold and mildew buildup in washers. And few people understand that "cold", "warm" and "hot" are ambiguous terms. In laundry, 75° is considered a "cold water" wash temperatures but anyone who lives in a northern climate will have water temperatures well below that in the wintertime so in order to have a laundry "cold" wash you need to use the "warm" setting to mix the water to bring up the temperature. Detergents lose their effectiveness below this temperature. 60° is the basic required temperature to properly dissolve detergent anyway. There's many myths about cold water washing. I used to use tap cold until I started learning the differences.

Here is a link that might be useful: Legionnaires' disease bacteria

I don't put my pots and pans in the dishwasher and I rinse them with hot water. I clean up as I go too, and do it just like lilliepad does.

Oh yes, pots and pans are always washed by hand...put in to soak as I empty them, and wash ASAP.

The only things I hand wash are one or two pots used in cooking. Our Dishdrawer is the perfect size for one whole day's dishes for Two. (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.) If we have more dishes, I use both Dishdrawers.

Curious about the water heater temps. We have a circulator pump and get hot water in seconds at every faucet in the house. Is there any problem with THAT -- germ-wise?

And Glenda, thank you for your tip on those mats! I own two and haven given a half dozen to friends who have seen mine!

Legionnaires disease??

Evidence shows contracting it from smaller in-home systems is unlikely. It's generally linked with larger systems...like hotels, hospitals and cruise ships. I think you'd have a better chance of dying from stabbing yourself accidentally with a knife while doing the dishes or slipping on water on the floor.

Plus, I believe legionellosis needs to be at/over 140 for over a half hour to kill it off. So, you'd have to start with ultra hot or some how keep your water that high for over a half an hour to kill it.

I can remember boiling water for minutes to disinfect baby bottles. Simply washing in luke warm/hot water that is not a scalding temp. is probably not going sanitize most things. You need really, really hot water (or solutions) to properly santitize things.

If you're really worried about legionnaires for whatever reason, I probably wouldn't hand wash to begin with, or I would soak/rinse the dishes in boiling water.

Hot wash, hot rinse. We don't have a dishwasher. I 'feel' like it's more sanitary, but I'm not really sure that it is. I think water has to be boiling to sanitize and then the item being sanitized has to be in that boiling water for a certain number of minutes.

I use clorox in the water too, when washing up pans and dishes that held raw chicken.

I'm surprised at the number who don't towel-dry the dishes.
I cook, and hubby washes up. He air-dries the dishes, except for those that have to be hand-dried to make room. They are often there in the morning when I get up.

When I wash I like to towel-dry and put them right away.

The apartments here have double-sinks and I keep the dish rack in the second sink. So the dishes get a quick rinse before they go in the rack. I've never put rinse water in the second sink, then dishes onto a rack on the counter.

Hot water rinse - better, faster drying.

Hot water. They dry faster.

jasdip said
I'm surprised at the number who don't towel-dry the dishes.

The health inspector will write us up if he sees anyone towel drying a dish..They must all be air dried.

I rinse with hot water, with gloves I use really hot water, if I'm bare-haded just warm.

I only hand-wash a couple of things, everything else goes in the dishwasher.

I like the extra-hot water used in the dishwasher, which is hotter than my hands could take if I did them by hand. DW does a great job.

Around here the health inspectors have no problem with clean towels being used properly, but nobody in that situation would do that anyway. Everyone I know and in all my experiences we used paper towels. You cannot however reuse a towel for handwashing of course. But a situation where the health inspector would be involved wouldn't allow a normal kitchen sink anyway. It must be a 3 compartment stainless steel sink (wash/rinse/sanitize). And we weren't even allowed to use a FOUR compartment sink! The four compartment had to be replaced with a 3 compartment sink. However part of this I believe was simply the inspector had issues. I tried to get by telling her the 4th compartment was a handwash sink but she was one of these broads with the female version of "short man's syndrome"! LOL

Cynic,
I am fully aware of the 3 part kitchen sink. I work in a school cafeteria. My comment towards the air drying and health inspector was based on the dishes coming out of the dishwasher.
But since you brought up the 3 part sink, we use one cloth towel to wash and even then they air dry. The only time a paper towel gets used is when we dry our hands. I dont know if it is a state requirement or what but I do know our health inspector will write us up if we are seen drying dishes with a towel. They must all be air dried.