Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes?

It turns out drying your dishes could actually be harder for your dishwasher than getting them clean. Dishes and glassware have lots of nooks and crannies that can collect water making it more difficult for it to evaporate, plus as your dishwasher loses heat water droplets form from the humid air.

Dishwashers also employ a number of methods to get your dishes dry. Certain models opt for a heating element to warm the air in the machine and help the water to evaporate, some heat up the water further nearing the end of the cycle, some employ a fan, and certain models have a mix of all of these. There are therefore a number of reasons why your machine might not be drying dishes fully and a variety of options to rectify the situation.

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

If dishes are coming out wet you can enlist the help of a dishwasher repair service or first make use of this troubleshooting guide to help you identify and rectify the problem. Learn about our dishwasher repair service at this link.

Top Reasons Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Crockery and Cutlery

There is nothing more annoying than a home appliance that doesn’t work as it should, regardless of whether its a smartspeaker, air conditioner or dishwasher we expect them to do the job they were made for. If you open the dishwasher to wet plates here are a number of places you can look to help you figure out the problem.

Not all appliances are built to the same spec and some dishwashers perform to a higher standard compared to others. However, if you notice a change in how effectively your dishwasher is working one of these faults may be the problem.

Inspect How Your Machine Has Been Loaded

Sometimes there is nothing actually wrong with the appliance. Before assuming the appliance is broken you should look at how it has been loaded, ensuring it isn’t overloaded. 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 plates and so if you have run out of rinse aid or your rinse aid dispenser is faulty this can result in wet dishes at the end of the cycle.

Visually check the dispenser for damage and ensure that it’s full.

Inspect The Heating Coil

Without enough heat your crockery and cutlery will not dry so a broken heating element could be the explanation your appliance is not working as it should. If your dishes aren’t hot at the end of the cycle this can indicate that the heating element is broken.

To inspect the heating coil first disconnect the dishwasher, then find the heating coil, you could need the instruction manual for this, then check for continuity using a multimeter.

Have a Look at the Thermostat

The thermostat prevents your dishwasher overheating, adjusting the heat of the water and air during drying. However, if it’s faulty this can result in your machine not heating up at all.

If the heating element appears to be in working order but your dishwasher isn’t getting hot, then the thermostat may be the issue. Once again you can test this with the help of a multimeter.

Inspect The Drying Fan and Vent

Many machines will make use of a fan and vent to suck moist air out of the appliance. If either of these elements are faulty then the steam will condense on the crockery and cutlery instead preventing them from drying.

You can use your manual to ascertain if your dishwasher uses a fan and locate it. Don’t forget to ensure the machine is disconnected before attempting to make repairs.

You can look at the fan and vent to see if there is anything lodged that would stop 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 things you can do to increase your dishwashers effectiveness at drying and prevent you needing to dry them by hand as little as possible.

Allow ample space between crockery and cutlery. Overcrowding the machine stops the circulation of air and water making cleaning and drying your dishes harder. Although it’s tempting to try and cram everything in, you will get better results if you leave sufficient space so that crockery and cutlery are not touching.
Employ rinse aid. Some dishwasher tablets include a rinse aid but even so, adding a separate rinse aid to the machine can only improve matters. 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 models do this automatically, but if yours doesn’t, opening the dishwasher at the end of the cycle can help allow the water to evaporate and stop water condensing on the contents as the dishwasher cools down.
Have a look to see if your appliance uses a heat feature and make sure it’s turned on. The higher the heat the better the drying and it could be possible to choose which points in the program you add more heat.
Think about how you unload your dishwasher. This doesn’t affect how effective your machine is, but it prevent and water spilling that has collected in the concave bottoms of cups and glasses.

If you have checked all the above it may be necessary to call in the professionals or perhaps upgrade your dishwasher.