Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes?

It turns out getting your plates dry might actually be more difficult for your machine than cleaning them. Dishes and glassware have lots of crevices that may trap water preventing it from evaporating, thus as your appliance cools water droplets form from the humid air.

Dishwashers also utilize a number of approaches to get your crockery and cutlery dry. Certain models will employ a heating element to warm the inside of the dishwasher and help with evaporation, some heat up the water further approaching the end of the cycle, others have a fan, and certain models use a mix of all three. There are consequently a variety of explanations why your machine could not be drying plates optimally and a number of options to improve the situation.

Plastic is more difficult to dry than glass or ceramics 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 enlist the help of a dishwasher repair service or first make use of this troubleshooting guide to help you identify and rectify the issue.

Top Explanations Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Dishes

There is nothing more annoying 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 cleaning or drying your plates. If you open your dishwasher to discover wet plates there are a number of places you can look to help you figure out the issue.

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

Check the Placement of Your Dishes

It might be that there is no fault with the appliance. Before assuming the dishwasher 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 plastic items don’t dry as well as metal, glass or ceramics.

Check The Rinse Aid Dispenser

Rinse aid plays a key role in drying your crockery and cutlery thus, if you have run out of rinse aid or your rinse aid dispenser is broken this can result in wet dishes at the end of the cycle.

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

Have a Look at The Heating Coil

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

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

Check the Thermostat

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

If the heating coil seems to be in working order but there’s still no heat, then the thermostat could be the problem. Again you can make sure using a multimeter.

Have a Look at The Drying Fan and Vent

Many dishwashers will make use of a drying fan and vent to suck moist air out of the machine. If either of these elements are broken then the steam will condense on the dishes instead preventing them from drying.

You can employ your manual to check if your dishwasher has a fan and find its location. Don’t forget to ensure the dishwasher is disconnected before trying to access the fan.

First look at the fan and vent to check if there is anything lodged that would stop it from operating as it should. And again testing for continuity using a multimeter.

Tips to Increase Drying Ability

There are a number of methods you can use to increase your machines effectiveness at drying and prevent you needing to dry them by hand as infrequently as possible.

Allow sufficient space between crockery and cutlery. Overcrowding the appliance inhibits the circulation of both water and air making cleaning and drying your plates more difficult. It might be appealing to stuff everything in but you will get better results if you leave enough space so that water and air can circulate freely.
Employ rinse aid. Some dishwasher tablets include a rinse aid but even if the brand you use says it does, adding a separate rinse aid to the machine won’t hurt. 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 dishwashers have this as an automatic option, but many do not, thus, opening the machine when the program completes can help allow the water to escape and prevent water condensing on the contents as the machine cools down.
Find out if your machine uses a heat feature and make sure it’s turned on. The higher the heat the better the drying and you might be able to choose which points in the cycle you add more heat.
Empty the lower level before the top. This doesn’t affect how well your machine works, but it does stop water from cups and glasses falling on dishes below.

If none of the above solves the problem it might be necessary to phone an engineer or even buy a new machine.