Dishwasher: Water usage and disposer

[Steve Mcdonald]

Hi and Happy Holidays!

I have 3 family unit in Queens. 2 floors have 2 bathrooms and 1 floor has 1 bathroom. I am looking to add dishwasher for all 3 floors.

I am looking at 2 models

GE GSD2100VBB which has a built in hard food disposer.

Frigidaire fbd2400ks which has a self cleaning filter. I think it uses a mesh with water to break down the food. It does not need hotwater as it heats up the water and uses that.

My question is. For tenants will either disposer work.

Second if all 3 apartments have dishwasher would I face issues if all 3 go on at once as I am afraid of getting complaints of not enough hot water.

Does anyone also have any experiences with these model or close to these?

I currently have top level ao smith 75 gallon tank.

Thanks for your help

[Frank Chin]

@Steve Mcdonald

I owned 3 families in Queens for many years. I'm told the rule of thumb for adequate hot water depends on the number of tenants. A 75 gallon tank should be adequate for 8 people total, and 50 gallons for 5. The rule is 10 gallons per person. In my case, I used 50 gallon tanks for 3 units and had complaints when several people shower in the morning at the same time. Normally I got 2 dishwashers in a 3 family, and rent out the 1 BR units without it.

As to dishwasher with disposers, I was told a while back by my plumber it's not allowed in NYC, so you may want to check with DEP. Regulations for this is stricter for commercial establishments where discharge of food waste and grease can back up the sewers. Whether the disposer break down the food or not, if it does, it would be when it's new. When it gets old, malfunctions, then you're in with a world plumbing issues. I own rental properties in NYC and Nassau county, and my plumber tells in legally there's no issue in Nassau County, but plumbing issues are the ones to worry about. 

As to water usage, as a life long dishwasher user, it saves water. I sometimes hand wash a few dishes and my wife yells at me "you spend 50 gallons already washing a few dishes". Nowadays you can also schedule dishwashers to start at a later time, so tenants can schedule it to wash in the middle of the night if necessary to avoid conficts.