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German industrial giant Bosch has been rapped by the UK advertising watchdog for exaggerating how much water its dishwashers save.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that a television advert claiming dishwashing by hand uses three times more water than a dishwasher should not be shown again.

The offending advert, which showed a woman doing the dishes by hand in a sink, was accompanied with a voiceover that said: "Did you know that washing up by hand uses up to three times more water than if you used a fully loaded Bosch dishwasher?

"You could be saving up to 75 per cent of your water. That's more than a shower every day."

The complainant said that's Bosch's claim could only hold true if someone left the tap running while washing dishes by hand.

In its defence, the Gerlingen-headquartered firm said the advert had deliberately compared a fully-loaded dishwasher and washing dishes by hand.

It cited University of Bonn research that upon replication in the UK showed that the average Briton used 63 litres of water to wash 140 items (12 place settings), compared to 12 litres used by an AAA-rated Bosch dishwasher.

But the ASA said the company's comparison was too dependent upon the efficiency of individual machines and hand washing techniques applied.

"We also noted the comments of the author of the Bonn report, who said the study contained a relatively low number of participants, which meant it was not possible to draw conclusions regarding hand washing techniques based on nationality."