My latest dishwasher is 'energy star'. What that means is, every year they have to use 10% less energy and water. After the last 10 years, the dishwasher uses almost no enery nor water. And it doesn't get the dishes clean. And there's no way to override it.
My water comes from a well. Its plentiful and free. Its pointless to save a gallon, and make me hand-wash half the dishes.
</rant>
It seems to me, you just bought a crappy appliance. Go buy a better one. That will solve your problem; inaccurate ranting about energy efficiency efforts will not.
I couldn't find anything to back up the claim that the appliances have to use 10% less energy and water each year.
Do you have any documentation to back that up? You'd think this would show up in product reviews after a while?
Doesn't you dishwasher have any adjustment to set the temperature or length of the cycle? What model do you have?
My appliances are all "A" rated (EU energy label), but to get that rating for the dishwasher I have to use the "eco program", and I'd think there was something similar in the US?
YEah, that is not a supportable claim. Probably the appliance dealer was speaking colloquially. In any case the federal standard changes pretty regularly, resulting in an erratic dropping of electric consumption requirements.
There are plenty of buttons on the washer (which is a user-interface nightmare of its own). Two help a little: 'Heavy Duty' and 'Extra Rinse'. Selecting both leaves the clothes smelling slightly less of sweat and dirt. And of course when the cycle completes, it turns off to save (miniscule) power. Turning it on results in the default settings again!
Googling it, I see no hack to defeat the settings. Just a lot of talk about strange error codes and how to reset them. Sigh.
OK, I'm curious what kind of model you have. Is it a top or front loaded?
Mine (front loaded) has a pre-wash (2 hour program) or "soaking" mode for extra dirty clothes (4h), and I can select temperatures from 0-90 degrees celsius, but most clothes get clean at 40 degrees.
I had to do an obscure button trick described in the user manual to have it remember the previous settings after a completed cycle, though.
Not in the laundry room right now, but its from Sears, top-loaded (cramped laundry room doesn't permit front-loading), all electronic, has no agitator(!) and is a piece of junk.
Maybe I can find a trick in the manual; thanks for that idea.
OK. I think the lack of an agitator might be the reason for the poor performance, rather than energy or water conservation (unless your washing machine is a top-loaded rotating drum type, since they work the same way as front loaders).
My water comes from a well. Its plentiful and free. Its pointless to save a gallon, and make me hand-wash half the dishes. </rant>