UV Dishwasher

I was brushing my teeth when I was reminded of those UV toothbrush cleaners.

Basically they bathe toothbrushes in UV radiation to kill bacteria.

That got me to thinking, why not have dishwashers do the same thing.

Of course you would still want it to go through the traditional wash cycles. Soap and water would still be needed to remove caked on crud. However after the standard cycle is done it could go through a ten minute UV bath. You would know that not only have your dishes been cleaned, they have also been irradiated.

It's not necessary to get a clean dish, but then again it isn't necessary to get a clean tooth brush either. However, it would increase the level of cleanliness.

It would likely require a redesign of the rack layout in order to make sure all of the dishes could be adequately exposed. A design preventing people from placing dishes too close together could likely do the trick. But this would not be a bad idea anyway as it would improve the efficiency of the general wash cycle as well. Certainly the capacity is being reduced, but it simply means people will get into the habit of running loads slightly more frequently.

This also seems like an easily marketable idea.

Not everyone would care about such a design, but there are probably enough people who would to make it worth while.