I often leave dirty dishes soaking in the sink: a bit of creative procrastination that allows the gunk to slough off, making the eventual dishwashing job easier, when the water temperature has cooled to somewhat below "molten".
But occasionally (usually) procrastination wins out over short-term memory and I'm faced with a sinkful of still-dirty dishes in cold water. Ick.
So.
The Idea is an electric heater (or closed hot-water loop), that reheats the sink, thus the contents. It's installed between the sink and the insulative sink-liner. Flip the switch and it heats until the water is at <x> degrees.-- FlyingToaster, Jan 29 2013 Sonication probe http://sjialab.en.a...font_sonicator.html [bs0u0155, Jan 30 2013] Dry a drum heater: an electric heater in the form of a wide plastic band that wraps around a drum of fluid to keep it warm in the winter. The come in 5, 10, 25, and 55 gal. drum sizes (& probably others). Figure out the right size and wrap it around the outside of the sink basin underneath the counter.-- Alterother, Jan 29 2013 You can buy an "Immersion Water Heater" for your coffee cup or even for a water bucket. It's a coil on a handle.
I'd prefer a sink drain that opened from a handle, not from a plug under all the dishes. That way you could drain the cold, gunky, water and refill with hot.-- baconbrain, Jan 29 2013 Not really a good idea because it will heat up all the gunk that's already in the sink. Being one of those procrasinators myself, I drain off the cold water and then add hot again.-- xandram, Jan 29 2013 Also, if you look under many modern kitchen sinks, you will see some gunk on them that was deliberately put there by the manufacturer. The gunk has two purposes, one of which is to reduce the rate of heat loss through the metal to the air under the sink, and the other is to absorb some sound waves, so that stuff clanging about inside the sink doesn't do it quite so loudly.
That gunk will interfere with adding a heating system....-- Vernon, Jan 29 2013 Being a rather more advanced procrastinator I sometimes only fill the sink half-way first time 'round. That way you got a second shot by later continuing to fill with hot water, for a lukewarm dishwashing session.-- FlyingToaster, Jan 29 2013 Just add generous amounts of granulated sodium metal to the cold water.
The energy released heats the water and melts the grease; better, the sodium hydroxide formed will convert the grease to soap.
Kills all known bacteria, viruses, plants and animal life, often simultaneously. Entirely safe as long as kept in a sealed contailer fullt of inert oil in a fume cupboard.
Not suitable for aluminium cookware, most common plastics, natural and synthetic fabrics, wood, or silver plate. Avoid contact with eyes, skin, lungs, etc. Do not use indoors, under cover, or in populated areas. Not suitable for those under or over the age of 25. Not suitable if you live more than a block from the fire station. Not suitable for use.-- 8th of 7, Jan 29 2013 You could potentially enclose the heated water and dirty dishes into a unit under the counter which then does all the washing for you as well.-- mitxela, Jan 29 2013 Ah, [Flying], I'm with you on the procrastination. And [xandram], that's usually my approach as well.
But if we're going to do this, can we use microwaves?-- normzone, Jan 29 2013 add a ludicrously powerful sonication probe, these chaps do a 2kW version, <link> which is ok, as a light-duty domestic model, I suppose. simply turn on the probe before you leave the sink and it will dump 2kW of power into the water as you recline. You could easily combine this with any chemical means you may prefer.... such as the aforementioned NaOH system. One additional benefit, is that you may do the washing up with the sonication probe on. Nothing clears up skin complaints faster than a boiling, saturated NaOH solution with a few kW of sonication going on.-- bs0u0155, Jan 30 2013 Two serious suggestions to alleviate this problem:
1) Obtain a plastic dish pan. Soak the dishes in that. If you need to replace the water, just tip the manky cold water out.
2) Without closing the drain, set dishes in the sink and fill them right up to edge with water. Dump small items inside the largest thing you're washing.-- gisho, Jan 30 2013 Dump dirty dishes and flatware in recycling bin.
Replace with paper plates and plastic flatware.
After you get sick and tired of eating from paper plates with plastic forks, buy real dishes and stainless flatware.
And clean them when they get dirty.-- whlanteigne, Jan 31 2013 *puts on serious hat* In one of my first jobs, I was a dishwasher in a commercial kitchen. I worked on a large 3 bay sink. The first sink was used to wash everything in hot water. The water quickly became luke warm and gross. I often pondered ways to fix the problem of having to refill the sink with fresh hot water so that I could work faster. What I always wanted was a second drain that would lead to a filter. The filter container would have a pump at its bottom and a heater element to heat the filtered water. The pump would return the cleaned, heated water to the sink via a second faucet. Complicated, yes. But it would save water and time wasted filling the sink.
Now as to a simple way to keep a sink at home warm, a drum heater sounds good, but as already mentioned there is some insulating gunk on the outside of metal sinks. Just figure out how many gallons of water your sink holds, and buy a fishtank heater rated to heat that amount of water and set it on the highest temperature it can produce. Just remember to remove it before doing the dishes to avoid breaking the glass and electrocuting yourself-- evilpenguin, Jan 31 2013 Surely a heat exchanger on the drain would be easier than a filter? (assuming you weren't located in a desert)-- pocmloc, Jan 31 2013 random, halfbakery