Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes?

It turns out drying your crockery and cutlery may in actual fact be more arduous for your dishwasher than removing the dirt. Dishes and cups have multiple crevices that can pool water making it more difficult for it to dry out, thus as your machine loses heat water condenses from the humid air.

Dishwashers also employ a variety of different approaches to dry your dishes. Certain models will have a heating coil to warm the air in the dishwasher and assist with evaporation, some warm the water more approaching the end of the cycle, others use a fan, and some employ a mix of all three. There are consequently a number of explanations why your dishwasher might not be drying crockery and cutlery fully and a variety of options to rectify the situation.

Plastic is more difficult to dry than glass or ceramics as it doesn’t retain heat in the same way which helps with the drying process, so it’s worth seeing whether the items that aren’t drying are predominantly plastic items.

If dishes are coming out wet you can hire a dishwasher repair service or first use this troubleshooting list to help you identify and rectify the issue.

Top Explanations Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Crockery and Cutlery

There is nothing more irritating than a home appliance that doesn’t work as it should, regardless of whether its a smartspeaker, washing machine or dishwasher we expect them to do the job they were designed for. If you open your dishwasher to discover wet plates here are a number of troubleshooting tips to help you figure out the issue.

Not all makes and models are created equal and you will find that some appliances do a better job of drying your crockery and cutlery than others. However, if if your dishwasher has always dried your plates in the past one of these faults may be the problem.

Inspect How Your Dishwasher Has Been Loaded

It might be that there is no fault with the dishwasher. Before assuming the machine is not working you should first check that you haven’t overloaded it or accidentally stacked items one inside the other. It’s also worth noting that plastics are more difficult to dry than metal, glass or ceramics.

Check The Rinse Aid Dispenser

Rinse aid plays a key role in drying your dishes and so if you have run out of rinse aid or your rinse aid dispenser is faulty this can stop your crockery and cutlery coming out properly dry.

The best thing to do is check the dispenser for cracks and check that it’s full.

Have a Look at The Heating Coil

Heat is essential for drying your plates so a broken heating coil may be the reason your dishwasher is not working as it should. If your plates aren’t hot to touch when they come out of the machine this can indicate that the heating element is broken.

To inspect the heating coil you will need to disconnect the appliance, find the heating coil, you may need the owners manual for this, and check for continuity using a multimeter.

Check the Thermostat

The thermostat ensures your dishwasher doesn’t get too hot, determining the heat of the water and air during drying. Therefore, if it’s not working this can result in your appliance not heating up at all.

If the heating coil seems to be working as it should but there’s still no heat, then the thermostat could be the issue. Once again you can check this with the help of a multimeter.

Inspect The Drying Fan and Vent

Many appliances will make use of a drying fan and vent to remove the warm moist air out of the appliance. If either of these elements are faulty then the hot air will remain in the dishwasher preventing the dishes from drying.

You can use your user manual to ascertain if your dishwasher has a fan and find its location. Again you need to make sure the appliance is unplugged before trying to make repairs.

First look at the fan and vent to see if there is anything lodged that could stop it from working correctly. If there is nothing obvious you can then test for continuity using a multimeter.

Ideas to Increase Drying Power

There are a variety of things you can do to boost your machines drying ability and ensure you need to get the drying up cloth out as infrequently as possible.

Allow sufficient space between crockery and cutlery. Overloading the dishwasher stops the circulation of both water and air decreasing the effectiveness of your machine when it comes to both cleaning and finishing your dishes. Although it’s tempting to try and cram everything in, you will get better results if you leave sufficient space so that plates are not touching.
Utilize rinse aid. Some detergents include a rinse aid but even if the brand you use says it does, adding a separate rinse aid to the appliance won’t hurt. Rinse aid works by breaking the bond between water molecules and your crockery and cutlery, helping water run off quickly, speeding up drying time and giving a spot and streak free finish.
Open the door at the end of the program. Some new dishwashers do this automatically, but if yours doesn’t, opening the machine at the end of the cycle allows warm air to escape and prevent water condensing on the dishes as the appliance cools down.
Find out if your machine uses a heat feature and make use of it. Setting a higher heat will lead to better drying times and you could be able to choose which points in the program you increase the temperature.
Empty the bottom rack before the top. This is simply because cups and glasses that are upside down on the top shelf often have a concave bottom where water can pool. Emptying the bottom rack first stops you spilling this water onto the crockery and cutlery below.

If you have checked all the above it might be time to call in the professionals or even buy a new machine.