Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes?

It may not be the primary function but drying your crockery and cutlery may actually be harder for your dishwasher than getting them clean. Crockery and cutlery and glassware have lots of crevices that could trap dishwater preventing it from drying out, thus as your appliance loses heat water droplets form from the humid air.

Dishwashers also employ a number of approaches to dry your dishes. Certain models opt for a heating coil to warm the air in the dishwasher and assist the water to evaporate, some heat up the water to a higher temperature nearing the end of the cycle, certain models make use of a fan, and some have a mix of all three. There are therefore a number of explanations why your dishwasher could not be drying crockery and cutlery fully and a variety of things you can do to improve the situation.

Plastic items are less likely to dry fully 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 call a dishwasher repair service or first make use of this troubleshooting list 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 irritating than an appliance that doesn’t work as it should, 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 dishes. If you open your dishwasher to discover wet plates there are a few places you can look to help you figure out why.

Not all dishwashers are built to the same spec and you will find that some appliances do a better job of drying your plates than others. However, if if your dishwasher has always dried your plates in the past one of these faults might be the cause.

Inspect How Your Dishwasher Has Been Loaded

Sometimes there is nothing actually wrong with the machine. Before assuming the machine is faulty you should first check that you haven’t overloaded it or accidentally stacked items one inside the other. Also be aware that plastic items are more difficult to dry than metal, glass or ceramics.

Have a Look at The Rinse Aid Dispenser

Rinse aid plays a key role in drying your plates and so if you’ve forgotten to top up or the rinse aid dispenser is not working this can mean wet plates at the end of the cycle.

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

Inspect The Heating Element

Without enough heat your crockery and cutlery will not dry so a not working heating element might be the reason your dishwasher is not working as it should. If your plates don’t feel hot at the end of the cycle this can indicate that the heating element isn’t working as it should.

To inspect the heating element you will need to unplug the machine, locate the heating element, you might need the manual for this, and use a multimeter to check it’s working.

Inspect 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 mean your dishwasher doesn’t heat up at all.

If you check the heating element and do not discover an issue but there’s still no heat, then the thermostat may be the issue. Once again you can test this with the help of a multimeter.

Check The Fan and Vent

Many machines will utilize a drying fan and vent to remove the warm moist air from the dishwasher. If either of these elements are faulty then the steam will form droplets on the crockery and cutlery instead leaving them wet.

You can utilize your user manual to ascertain if your machine has a fan and locate it. Don’t forget to double check the appliance is unplugged before trying to make repairs.

You can visually inspect the fan and vent to check if anything is blocking it that could stop it from operating as it is supposed to. And again testing for continuity using a multimeter.

Ideas to Boost Drying Ability

There are a variety of things you can do to boost your dishwashers drying ability and prevent you needing to dry them by hand as infrequently as possible.

Allow sufficient space between dishes. Overfilling the machine limits the circulation of both water and air decreasing the effectiveness of your appliance when it comes to both cleaning and finishing your dishes. Although it’s tempting to try and stuff everything in, your appliance will work better if you leave sufficient space so that plates are not touching.
Employ rinse aid. Some detergents include a rinse aid but even so, adding a little extra to the dishwasher 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 therefore allowing them to dry faster.
Open the door at the end of the program. Some new dishwashers do this automatically, but if yours doesn’t, opening the dishwasher when the cycle completes can help allow the water to evaporate and prevent water condensing on the contents as the appliance cools down.
Check if your machine employs a heat feature and utilize it. The higher the temperature the better the drying and it may be possible to add more heat at different points in the cycle.
Unload the bottom rack before the top. This doesn’t affect how effective your machine is, but it stop and water spilling that has collected in the concave bottoms of cups and glasses.

If none of the above solves the problem it could be time to phone the professionals or even buy a new dishwasher.