zlacker

Dishwashers aren't very solar-friendly if you don't have net-metering.

They typically have a very powerful 2.5 kilowatt heater they run in bursts - for like 5 mins when prewashing, for like 10 mins when starting the main wash, and like 10 mins again when drying.

In between those times, the machine uses only ~60 watts for pumps.

I have often pondered what a world of machines designed to meet solar output looked like - and for a dishwasher it would involve the heater being modulated to match the solar output (and knowing that sometimes the wash cycle would take longer if a cloud was overhead so heating was delayed by a half hour).

>>london+(OP)
I guess you could also use a small battery to help smooth things out.

>>nicobu+N1
The money efficiency isn't great - if you had control of the design of the dishwasher, simply having a hot block of concrete inside that you heated when there was spare energy would work out far cheaper.

Concrete costs far fewer $$$'s than batteries do, per kwh of heat stored, it also doesn't require inverters, balancing or safety systems, ad lasts millions of cycles rather than thousands.

>>london+(OP)
Just have more dishwashers, and use them as storage cabinets: pick from a clean cabinet if you need tableware, deposit in a dirty cabinet when you are done and if you have at least three of them the transition is free to take a lot of time.

>>london+k2
How expensive would it be, transportation included, compared to an insulated water container of comparable heat capacity?

>>london+k2
Or maybe store hot water and heat it up at the best time...?

>>goodpo+7e
The water is too hot to store safely.

You can still slowly heat it up to 70 or 80°C and just add some extra heat on use, but that will still leave a lot of immediate power to deal with.

>>nicobu+N1
I can't imagine a scenario where you've got a large enough solar system that you'd want to be running a dishwasher off it, and you don't already have some battery storage elsewhere in that system.

>>london+(OP)
That sort of thing seems solvable with batteries used as a a capacitor, rather than trying to reprogram the dishwasher logic

>>notato+NE1
Waves from Australia

However, since my array is currently 4.4kw at 3 in the afternoon, a 2.5kw burst isn't a problem.