Do you rinse your dishes in hot or cold water?

United States
January 13, 2007 3:04pm CST
My grandma always told me that if you rinse it in cold it makes sure all the soap is off. My old man says you should rinse in hot because it will get all the germs off. I think that the hot water you wash them in will do that. What do you think? Which do you use when rinsing yours? I've always rinsed mine in cold since I was a little girl. Noone has ever gotten sick from it, so why waste the hot water, right?
19 people like this
105 responses
@kesfylstra (1868)
• United States
13 Jan 07
I never really thought about it. I usually do hot because I use it to wash the dish in the first place. But I don't really think about it, that's just the direction my hand turns the nozzle!
4 people like this
• India
13 Jan 07
here is winter ,so i can not just think myself washing plates with cold water ..?so for me warm water now.well dishes can be cleaned frm running water on tap.to make it clean,use cloth for drying.have a good day.
3 people like this
• United States
13 Jan 07
2nd response....already RE-explaining myself, ugh. I didn't say WASH them in cold water, I said RINSE them.
2 people like this
• United States
20 Jan 07
Annie44, I didn't know about the vinegar thing thanks for the post. As far as the topic goes I rinse in cold water. It does get the soap off better. If you wash in hot water you don't have to worry about the germs.
3 people like this
@Kscott (634)
• United States
14 Jan 07
I use cold to wash/rinse sometimes, depends on actually how cold it is outside, I'll use those little rubber gloves so my hands can stay warmer. I think warm/hot water actually cleans the dishes better, and would rinse soap off better than cold...thats my experience. No one has ever gotten sick from me washing or rinsing in cold water, but then I wash em pretty good, and I dont like to waste the hot water at anytime because we have a propane tank and it's quite costly, more than natural gas, so we try to conserve on it. I think as far as getting sick from that, it's a myth, you can get sick from the sponges you use or whatever you use to actually wash your dishes and I have heard the drying with towel thing too causes germs as well....sponges harbor a lot of bacteria.....I do know that hot water kills germs though. But if no one gets sick, and your dishes are clean, and you are happy.....who cares, whatever method you use is good. I think rinsing in hot water gets the soap off quicker than cold.
@patootie (3592)
14 Jan 07
If you use a tea towel it should be a fresh clean towel every time you wash up .. reusing a teatowel transfers the bacteria that have grown in the damp teatowel onto your clean plates .. and some bacteria are only killed by washing in hot water so washing your food plates in cold water is really a good idea ..
1 person likes this
• Canada
13 Jan 07
My grandmother and mother both said what yours did, Stephanie -- rinse in cold to "cut" the soap residue (and also to rinse your hair in cold water after washing for the same reason... to "get rid" of the shampoo residue). I don't know if that's true or not but I figure, if you have already washed your dishes in hot, soapy water, they are clean by the time you get to the rinse stage. You shouldn't still be rinsing off germs. I rinse in cold because I figure it's more of an energy savings. I also don't run rinse water constantly from the tap which members of my ex's family always used to do. I found that so wasteful!
2 people like this
• United States
14 Jan 07
I wash and rinse my dishes in hot water. My reasoning is that hot water is more sanitary. (You boil water to kill any germs that might be in the water, plus treated water isn't always treated properly - that's why sometimes you'll see water warnings). So why wash your dishe in hot water & kill germs, only to rinse them in cold water that MIGHT be filled with germs? Also, leave the water constantly running like your daughter, that way I'll constantly have clean water. Having a sinkful of water that is re-used is kinda gross to me - I see it as washing with what came off the previous dish you washed.
2 people like this
• United States
14 Jan 07
That's exactly how I do it. My 19 year old daughter will constantly run the hot water right down the drain the WHOLE time she does the dishes and it drives me MAD!!! It's so wasteful. And so annoying, lol.
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Jan 07
I just run the water after I get a sink full. I don't leave it running the WHOLE time I'm doing the dishes like she does. I don't see the point in it.
1 person likes this
@SarahEC (545)
• United States
13 Jan 07
Well, I guess I never thought of it like that. lol. It is a good idea to save hot water. But, I don't like my hands getting cold while I do dishes, so I rinse mine in warm water. I'm sure either way works just as well, though. :)
@rsmith512 (1561)
• United States
20 Jan 07
I have never really thought about it either. It is always good to conserve energy, but I think that if you are taking the time to do it...you should be as comfortable as possible.
2 people like this
7 Nov 07
If you look at dishwashing from a scientific perspective, cold water is best for rinsing. Heat speeds up molecules while cold slows them down. Cold water will deactivate the soap and allow you to rinse them better and faster. As far as germs go, washing the dishes well in hot water will do the trick.
@cipher2004 (1183)
• United States
14 Jan 07
Rinse in hot water only.If there is any grease left on the dishes it will rinse it off.Thus preventing germs
2 people like this
• United States
14 Jan 07
Well, but if you wash them correctly, there shouldn't be anything but soap left on them. If there is grease on them, you'd better rewash all together, lol!! Thank you for your response.
1 person likes this
@annieroos (1845)
• United States
14 Jan 07
i like washing and rinsing my dishes in hot water, well as hot as i can stand it.. I don't know if its a health thing.. but for me its just because when i rinse in the hot water it just seems to be cleaner and also it dries alot faster.. I like the way it feels
• Ireland
13 Jan 07
Being so lazy I usually use the dishwasher, but when I am in the house on my own, I wash my dishes in hot soapy water. I then the rinse the suds off under the hot tap - by keeping the water running. I should really use the cold water to rinse, then I wouldn't have such enormous fuel bills. When I was young, one of us would wash the dishes and another dried them. We never bothered to wash the soap off them, and it never did any of us any harm.
• United States
14 Jan 07
We have a dishwasher. BUT when I didn't have a dishwasher I washed in hot water and rinsed in hot water ( for germs) then finished with a cool rinse ( for soap residue. So in my opinion...everyone is correct!
@susana25 (341)
• Philippines
14 Jan 07
Here in Philippines,We usually wash our dishes in cold water. Using hot water is not common here. But I agree that it's more good to use hot water for washing dishes it's kill more germs and bacteria. But it will make additional expenses for the hot water.
2 people like this
@raijin (10345)
• Philippines
14 Jan 07
It's better if we rinse it on hot water, it easily removes stains and left over dirt. We prefer this on restaurants to make sure that it's clean. But I don't think that you'll get sick if we use cold water, there's still others that do use cold water to rinse their dishes!;)
@adnanmd2 (830)
14 Jan 07
I dont wash them but still i think cold water would be better
2 people like this
• United States
14 Jan 07
I always wash in hot, rinse in cold, ever since I was little. My parents told me that if you rinse in hot the germs will be more attracted to the clean dishes because of the warmth.
2 people like this
@carissa765 (1097)
• United States
13 Feb 07
Call me a smarta** if you want to, but I do not use either.. I think the dishwasher uses hot but I am not sure.. lmfao... But if I do them by hand I use hot water to kill the germs, and I use my hand to get all the soap off...
1 person likes this
• United States
13 Feb 07
sorry about the double post I am an idiot
1 person likes this
@deebomb (15307)
• United States
26 Mar 07
I always rinsed my dishes in hot water. I was taught that hot water killed the germs. Also The dishes dry faster if rinsed in hot water. The hotter the water the faster they dry and can be put away.
@savarina (742)
• Romania
14 Jan 07
I rinse them with cold water but my girlfriend ( we live together ) rinses them with hot water. We always argue upon this matter. Now I will show her this topic and maybe she will understand that it's better to rinse with cold water. Thanks :D
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Jan 07
Lmao! You're very welcome! Glad I could help! Have a great day!
@jarmz31 (97)
• Philippines
15 Jan 07
cold water.. would there be a difference if i use hot or cold water in washing my dishes?
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Jan 07
That's what we are trying to figure out! I don't really think there is, just personal preference.
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
19 Mar 07
I usually wash my dishes in hot and then rinse them in warm because I don't like my hands to freeze as I am doing the dishes.
1 person likes this
@easy888 (10405)
• Australia
19 Mar 07
When I am washing dishes with some oil on it , I will definitely use hot water because the high temperature will make the detergent work better and clean the dishes more effectively. But hot water means water that is abit warmer than running tap water, so i think it cannot kill any germs at that temperature. If the dishes are not oily,for example, if I used a dish for rice,I will only wash it with cold water and detergent.
• Canada
6 Apr 07
try a 1/4 cup of bleach in your dish washing, it will kill any bacteria in the water. rinse with steaming hot water. anything the bleach doesn't get the water will. wear gloves while rinseing