Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes?

It turns out drying your crockery and cutlery might actually be more arduous for your machine than getting them clean. Dishes and cups have multiple crevices that may collect dishwater preventing it from evaporating, thus as your machine loses heat water droplets form from the steam.

Dishwashers also make use of a number of different methods to get your crockery and cutlery dry. Certain models will employ a heating coil to warm the air in the dishwasher and help the water to evaporate, some heat the water further near the end of the cycle, certain models use a fan, and some use a mix of all of these. There are thus a variety of reasons why your dishwasher may not be drying plates fully and a variety of options to improve the situation.

Plastic items are more difficult to dry than other materials as it doesn’t retain heat in the same way which helps with the drying process, so it’s worth seeing whether the drying issue is related to the material rather than the machine.

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

Top Reasons Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Crockery and Cutlery

There is nothing more frustrating than a home appliance that doesn’t work as it’s meant to, regardless of whether its a smartspeaker, tumble dryer or dishwasher we expect them to do the job they were designed for. If you open the dishwasher to wet plates here are a number of places you can look to help you figure out the issue.

Not all appliances are built to the same spec and you will find that some makes and models perform to a higher standard compared to others. However, if if your dishwasher has always dried your dishes in the past one of these issues might be the problem.

Inspect the Placement of Your Dishes

Sometimes there is nothing actually wrong with the appliance. Before assuming the dishwasher is broken you should first check that you haven’t overfilled 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

Your machine needs rinse aid to properly dry your crockery and cutlery thus, if you have run out of rinse aid or your rinse aid dispenser is faulty this can result in wet plates at the end of the cycle.

The best thing to do is check the rinse aid dispenser for cracks and ensure that there is rinse aid inside.

Have a Look at The Heating Element

Without enough heat your plates will not dry so a not working heating coil could be the explanation your dishwasher is not working as it should. If your dishes aren’t hot when they come out of the machine this can be a good indicator that the heating coil isn’t working as it should.

To inspect the heating coil you will need to disconnect the dishwasher, locate the heating element, you could need the owners manual for this, and check for continuity using a multimeter.

Have a Look at the Thermostat

The thermostat prevents your dishwasher getting too hot, regulating the temperature of the water and the drying part of the cycle. However, if it’s faulty this can result in your appliance not heating up at all.

If the heating element appears to be in working order but your appliance isn’t getting hot, then the thermostat could be the issue. Again you can make sure using a multimeter.

Have a Look at The Fan and Vent

Many machines will make use of a fan and vent to remove the warm moist air from the appliance. If either of these elements are faulty then the water vapor will form droplets on the dishes instead preventing them from drying.

You can employ your instruction manual to find out if your dishwasher uses a fan and locate it. Don’t forget to double check the dishwasher is disconnected before attempting to access the fan.

You can look at the fan and vent to check if anything is blocking it that could prevent it from operating as it is supposed to. If there is nothing obvious you can then test for continuity using a multimeter.

Tips to Boost Drying Capability

There are a variety of methods you can use to increase your dishwashers effectiveness at drying and make sure you have to hand dry as infrequently as possible.

Don’t overload the machine. Overloading the machine limits the flow of both water and air making cleaning and drying your dishes harder. It may be tempting to cram in as much as possible but your dishwasher will be more effective if you leave enough space so that dishes are not touching.
Employ rinse aid. Some dishwasher tablets already have this but even so, adding a separate rinse aid to the dishwasher will do no harm. Rinse aid works by breaking the bond between water molecules and your dishes, 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 models do this automatically, but if yours doesn’t, opening the door when the program finishes allows warm air to escape thus preventing water condensing on the plates as the appliance cools down.
Find out if your dishwasher has a heat feature and make sure it’s turned on. The higher the temperature the better the drying and it might be possible to add more heat at different points in the program.
Empty the lower level first. This doesn’t affect how effective your dishwasher is, but it does prevent water from cups and glasses falling on dishes below.

If this trouble shooting guide hasn’t worked it could be necessary to phone an engineer or perhaps buy a new dishwasher.