here, here, John!
I don't thin the average consumer knows any better. Consumer reports doesn't help as they don't test dishwashers as they used to. Remember when they gave separate ratings for cleanliness for dishes, glassware and flatware? And as I aforementioned they used to expect a machine to wash off and rid itself of normal solid food waste.
Their ratings now don't even mention solid food wastes, they give an overall "washing ability" score, with very little variance between machines and include energy use in the overall performace score and rankings.
How is the consumer to know that one machines will gobble up food waste while another leaves putrifying garbbage in a filter that needs, as you say John, three gallons of water to wash it out.
They mention that some machines are filtered and some have disposers, but they don't expound upon it or even remotely use this information to affect ratings.
Consumer Reports, I feel, is just a shadow of what it once was and no longer gives the purchaser true performance ratings in a meaningful way.
How is it a machine that washes and rinses dishes in putrifying garbage filtered water and leaves a chemical residue, and cannot even take dried oatmeal off of bowls, be given a higher rating than a machine with a true food waste disposer that thoroughly cleans thoroughly cleans dried on food, rinses completely, and doesn't leave a pile of bacterial infested garbage in the bottom of the machine?
The overall score rating for a competent machine (the few that are still out there), and by competent, I mean one that actually washes dirt off dishes and disposes of it, should not be lowered because it uses a little more energy.
Because in reality it doesn't. The overall energy use for a non-disposered, garbage collecting filtred machine with an anemic kids toy motor actually is using a lot more energy because of the pre-rinsing of dishes, and washing of the filter and the 3 hours use of electricity.
So the consumer has no real source of information to rely on other than salespeople. When they buy a newer non-disposered tall tub machine they really don't know what it's capabilities (or lack of are) until they get it home and start using it. In short order they will be frustrated with three hours to wash only one load, dried on starchy foods on the dishes and having bacteria breeding garbage laying in the bottom of the machines and having the machine eventually develop odors and molds because it can't even clean itself over time.