I have always dreamed of owning a dishwasher. when i moved into the tiny house in 2019 i looked into what it would take to put a dish washer in there and it quickly became apparent that this was not an appliance that would be possible to put on this property. There was just enough space for the sink and the oven in between the windows and the front door. Even if i had gotten a plumber and an electrician on board with the idea the dishwasher would have had to go in the back of the house next to the bathroom. It just didnt seem sanitary. Also, if i had done this i wouldnt have had room for the book shelf or the rocking chair.
The sink is small and always full of dead moths that are attracted to the lights and come in at night. I figured i would put the metal bathtub in the yard, clean it, and wash dishes in there. It worked for about a month. The bees my neighbor has at the moment are very docile. You can walk right up to them and they wont sting you. I walk through a swarm of them to give them water. With the creeks dry they are getting their water from one of the dog bowls in the dog run (why i had to buy them 2 more). However, back then his bees were some of the most aggressive chasey chasey bees ive ever met. They were really attracted to the rainforest scent dawn dish soap and the moment you popped the cap off the bottle there were 5 or 6 of them harassing you. They would chase you about the yard until you squeezed a little pile of soap out and then continued running to the house. They would stay behind and investigate the interesting smelling soap pile. So washing dishes outside ended for bee related reasons. I tried to just hand wash one cup, one bowl, one plate, one spoon, and one fork in the sink daily but this became tedious and eventually i went the **** all route and just bought disposable paper plates, plastic cups, and plastic utensils.
I dont remember what it was i was looking at when amazon suggested i might like to see portable countertop dishwashers. I sat up in bed and read the description again: “portable countertop dishwasher”. I was suddenly wide awake with interest. After some amount of research and watching product reviews on youtube i realized someone had invented a 40 lb dishwasher that you could load water into with a pitcher and only required soap and to be plugged in. It was meant to drain into the sink but mine would have to be used on the porch with the outdoor outlet so i would no doubt drain mine into a home depot bucket. As soon as i knew which brand i wanted and was sure i wouldnt need an electrician to make a special outlet i bought one. I eagerly anticipated its arrival and began making a little line of dishes i wanted to wash first on the kitchen floor.
Everyone at the post office was very excited for me! Its not every day a homestead gets a dishwasher. The man behind me in line offered to carry it to my car and put it in the trunk for me. Riddled with arthritis i took him up on it. I could have lifted it myself and i would just as soon as i got it home but i sensed people were just genuinely excited to share in the moment and he didnt seem to want anything from me. He was married. He was just being nice and i was tired after work and driving and not opposed to having somebody do half the lifting. Everyone at the post office congratulated me on my new appliance and the man carried it out to the trunk while i held the door.
When i got it home i was feeling a bit out of my element. I didnt know the first thing about assembling a dishwasher. I hoped it came mostly intact.
Once i had liberated the dishwasher from the box i could see that it was indeed mostly assembled. I took it out of the bag, placed it on the porch, and began reading the instructions. This is where it all went south and led to about 50 minutes of frustration and me questioning my perception of reality.
The printed instructions included few words…mostly pictures. It gave vague instructions such as “connect hose” or “assemble”. There were two hoses: a drainage hose to dispose of the soapy water after a cycle and a source hose for use only if you intended to hook the dishwasher to the kitchen sink faucet and use that water instead of the pitcher the appliance came with. Now, the picture had the hook ups for these two hoses depicted in the opposite locations than they were in real life. Obviously the hook ups were completely different and the hose didnt fit the fastener because it was the wrong one because the picture instruction was backwards from how it was in real life. I finally gave up and youtubed how to assemble the dishwasher. Youtube was enlightening. It showed me the manufacturer instructions were backwards with where it thought the tube hookups were located. As soon as i got this detail i switched where i was trying to hook my tube to and suddenly the fastener piece became relevant. It seemed like everything was on a better track at this point until i realized i did not have the correct size of Phillips head screw driver. I had to use a flat head screwdriver and just jam it in there and hold it tight to turn the screw until it was tight and holding the drainage tube in place.
I did have to take a brief pause to go to the shed and cannibalize a prior project in order to find something to set the dishwasher on. I noticed that with it lying flat on the porch the drainage tube and extension cord were being squished. I would need to remedy this by giving the dishwasher some height so they could dangle.
As soon as i got the drainage tube attached to the dishwasher things were going much smoother. That was the main obstacle at hand because the water exiting the dishwasher was meant to be scalding hot. It was very important that it be draining as it was supposed to in the designated area at the designated time.
Now that the drainage tube was attached to the dishwasher and the dishwasher was propped up to give it some height i turned my attention to the bucket i planned to route the drain into. I wanted to be able to easily disassemble the arrangement because i had to be able to put the dishwasher in the house or the shed when not in use to protect it against rain. However, i also needed to make sure the tube wouldnt slip out of the bucket while spewing scalding soapy water. So, i fashioned a zip tie loop around the bucket handle and then temporarily threaded the drainage tube through the zip tie as a holder for it.
It seemed to work pretty well when i tested it out. Then i hurried to the dollar general to purchase some dish soap. When i got back i loaded my new dishwasher, added three pitchers of water to the top compartment, added the soap to the little indentation, closed the door, selected the cycle, pushed start, and watched the thing go. It conducted a 90 minute cycle in which it rinsed, washed, rinsed, and dried the dishes. Both a ceiling and a floor spinner sprayed water in a rotating pattern as the water heated up and quietly washed the dishes. There was a blue light on all throughout the cycle so you could see what was going on inside the dishwasher. It was the coolest thing!! This is definitely my favorite possession.
I have a dishwasher.