Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes?

It turns out getting your dishes dry could really be harder for your dishwasher than removing the dirt. Crockery and cutlery and glassware have lots of crevices that may trap water making it more difficult for it to evaporate, plus as your appliance cools water condenses from the steam.

Different machines also utilize a variety of different approaches to get your plates dry. Some will have a heating coil to warm the air in the machine and help with evaporation, some warm the water more approaching the end of the cycle, certain models make use of a fan, and others use a mix of all three. There are thus a variety of reasons why your machine could not be drying crockery and cutlery fully and a variety of things you can do to improve the situation.

Plastic is more difficult to dry than other materials as it cools down more quickly hindering 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 make use of this troubleshooting guide to figure out what the issue is and with any luck fix it.

Top Explanations Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Crockery and Cutlery

There is nothing more frustrating than an appliance that doesn’t work as it’s meant to, whether that’s a smartphone that really isn’t being that smart, a washing machine that’s churning out dirty clothes, or a dishwasher that is either not removing the dirt from or drying your plates. If you open your dishwasher to discover wet plates here are a few troubleshooting tips to help you figure out the issue.

Not all appliances are created equal and you will find that some appliances perform to a better standard compared to others. But if you notice a change in how well your dishwasher is working one of these issues may be the problem.

Check the Placement of Your Plates

Sometimes there is nothing actually wrong with the machine. Before assuming the dishwasher is faulty you should look at how it has been stacked, ensuring it isn’t too full. Also be aware that plastics are more difficult to dry than metal, glass or ceramics.

Have a Look at The Rinse Aid Dispenser

Your dishwasher needs rinse aid to properly dry your dishes thus, if you’ve forgotten to top up or the rinse aid dispenser is broken this can stop your crockery and cutlery coming out properly dry.

Visually inspect the rinse aid dispenser for cracks and check that it’s full.

Have a Look at The Heating Element

Heat is essential for drying your plates so a faulty heating element could be the reason your appliance is not drying crockery and cutlery. If your crockery and cutlery aren’t hot at the end of the cycle this can be a good indicator that the heating coil is broken.

To inspect the heating coil first unplug the appliance, then find the heating coil, you might need the instruction manual for this, then check for continuity using a multimeter.

Inspect the Thermostat

The thermostat ensures your machine doesn’t overheat, determining the heat of the water and air during drying. Therefore, if it’s broken this can result in your machine not heating up at all.

If the heating coil seems to be in working order but there’s still no heat, then the thermostat may be the problem. Once again you can make sure with the help of a multimeter.

Have a Look at The Fan and Vent

Many machines will use a drying fan and vent to suck moist air from the dishwasher. If the fan isn’t operating as is should or the vent is blocked then the water vapor will condense on the crockery and cutlery instead preventing them from drying.

You can make use of your manual to ascertain if your machine uses a fan and find its location. Don’t forget to double check the dishwasher is unplugged before trying to make repairs.

First look at the fan and vent to check if anything is blocking it that might prevent it from working as it should. If there is nothing obvious you can then test for continuity using a multimeter.

Ideas to Increase Drying Ability

There are a variety of things you can do to boost how well your dishwasher dries your dishes and ensure you need to get the drying up cloth out as infrequently as possible.

Don’t cram the dishwasher. Overloading the machine stops the flow of air and water making cleaning and drying your dishes more difficult. Although it’s appealing to try and cram everything in, your machine will be more effective if you leave sufficient space so that water and air can circulate freely.
Make use of 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 will do no harm. Rinse aid helps reduce marks and gives your glasses a streak-free finish but it also breaks the bond between water molecules and your plates helping the water to run off them and thus speeding up drying times.
Open the door at the end of the program. Some new models have this as an automatic function, but if yours doesn’t, opening the door when the program completes can help allow the water to evaporate thus preventing water condensing on the contents as the dishwasher cools down.
Find out if your dishwasher uses a heat feature and make use of it. Setting a higher heat will result in improved drying times and it could be possible to choose which points in the program you increase the temperature.
Think about how you unload your dishwasher. This doesn’t affect how well your dishwasher works, but it stop and water spilling that has collected in the concave bottoms of cups and glasses.

If you have checked all the above it might be necessary to call in the professionals or perhaps buy a new dishwasher.