Howdy Y'all,

I was wondering if anybody has tried doing laundry in the dishwasher. It takes a lot of effort to go to the laundromat.

Probably use dishsoap as I heard detergent will flood your house. Likewise probably use a 2x4 to provide support for the top rack as soaked clothes would probably break the rack.

I would expect the dish washer to not be able to dry the clothes effectively. But in any case, I would use the sink or a bathtub to wash clothes rather than concern myself with the potential problems of using a dish washer.

I heard your fine microwaving certain clothes to dry stuff. Although aparently elastics can burst into flames.

How did you find a place that had a dishwasher but no laundry? O_o

Also, I've heard that you shouldn't wash your jeans, but should put them in the freezer.

Washing clothes involves repeatedly soaking and squeezing them, s.th. that dishwashers can't really do. Considering that washing clothes by hand is more work than washing dishes by hand, why do you have a dishwasher but no laundry?

I've definately heard of the jeans freezer thing, although I dont trust it.

I live in a city so space is valuable. And Washer/Dryers are rare.

On an unrelated note, I know you can cook fish in a dishwasher.

This isnt so much for efficiency in one task, but finding a way to kill multiple fish with a single bird.

If in one dishwasher cycle you can clean some dishes, clean some clothes, and cook a fish, its a win in my book.

Or maybe interupt the cycle to flip the clothes like they are on a grill a couple times?

If in one dishwasher cycle you can clean some dishes, clean some clothes, and cook a fish, its a win in my book.

I don't think I'd want to eat that fish, nor wear those clothes.

I've heard of washing baseball caps in a dishwasher all on its own, but never full clothes, nor do I think it'd do a good job cleaning them. I would think hand washing would produce a better result (that's what I do for my ball caps, but that's a fairly infrequent task) though its a lot of work.

I would suggest you find a laundromat, or maybe a friend who's got a washer and dryer they'll let you use. Or, if its a convenience issue rather than cost, maybe find a laundry service.

Or, I've heard of people buying clothes from goodwill-style thrift stores, wearing it, then returning it and possibly buying it again. These places clean the clothes as part of their intake process, so for the cost of buying it back again, you might beat the cost of a laundry service or dry-cleaning. Of course, I don't suggest starting this process with your own clothes if you are overly fond of it, because someone else might buy it out from under you.

I wouldn't.

First, it is the wrong motion as others pointed out. A dishwasher sprays water basically attempting to break off fragments of food from smooth surfaces, where the water splashes on and off. A clothes washer agitates back and forth, causing assorted scrubbing, scraping, grinding, torquing, and other actions. A dishwasher gets things wet, but a clothes washer soaks.

So it won't dissolve stuff on the dirty clothes. It won't agitate or scrub. Really you might as well point a spray nozzle at the clothes for a few minutes and get a similar effect.

Then there is the heat, and that scares me. A dishwasher has a large heating element much like an oven. Ceramic and metal work well on the bottom shelf near the heater, plastic tends to melt. Sometimes it melts on the heating element and catches fire. I can easily imagine clothes catching fire if they are too close.

I don't know where you live, but UK fire statistics show over 600 building fires per year from dishwashers. There are many more where the fire was contained in the dishwasher and discovered as melted plastic, burnt wooden handles, or similar. Do you really want to risk that?

hm. I'm moving out of my apartment in the next few weeks and I hate my apartment owner. I'll try this on Friday and let you know how it goes.

*EDIT* Ninja'd by Frob using his brain. I hate my apartment owner, but not enough to risk a fire.