Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes?

It may not be the primary function but getting your crockery and cutlery dry could really be more arduous for your dishwasher than removing the dirt. Crockery and cutlery and glasses have lots of crevices that could pool water making it more difficult for it to dry out, and as your dishwasher cools water condenses from the humid air.

Different machines also make use of a number of different approaches to dry your plates. Certain models opt for a heating coil to heat up the air in the dishwasher and help with evaporation, some heat up the water more nearing the final rinse, certain models employ a fan, and others use a combination of all three. There are consequently a number of explanations why your dishwasher may not be drying plates fully and a number of options to rectify the situation.

Plastic items are less likely to dry fully than other materials as it cools down more quickly hindering 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 employ this troubleshooting list to figure out what the problem is and with any luck fix it.

Top Explanations Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Dishes

There is nothing more irritating than an appliance that isn’t working properly, 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 dishes. 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 dishwashers are built to the same spec and you will find that some dishwashers perform to a better standard compared to others. But if if your dishwasher has always dried your crockery and cutlery in the past one of these issues could be the problem.

Inspect How Your Machine Has Been Loaded

It might be that there is no fault with the dishwasher. Before assuming the appliance is broken you should look at how it has been loaded, ensuring it isn’t too full. 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 and so if you’ve forgotten to top up or your rinse aid dispenser is broken this can stop your dishes coming out properly dry.

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

Check The Heating Coil

Heat is essential for drying your dishes so a faulty heating coil might be the reason your appliance is not drying crockery and cutlery. If your plates aren’t hot to touch at the end of the cycle this can indicate that the heating coil is broken.

To inspect the heating coil you will need to unplug the dishwasher, find the heating element, you may need the owners manual for this, then check for continuity using a multimeter.

Have a Look at the Thermostat

The thermostat stops your machine overheating, adjusting 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 appears to be in working order but your dishwasher isn’t getting hot, then the thermostat may be the problem. Again you can check this with the help of a multimeter.

Have a Look at The Fan and Vent

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

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

You can look at the fan and vent to ascertain if anything is blocking it that might stop it from operating correctly. And again testing for continuity using a multimeter.

Ways to Boost Drying Power

There are a variety of methods you can use to improve your dishwashers effectiveness at drying and ensure you need to get the drying up cloth out as little as possible.

Allow sufficient space between plates. Overfilling the dishwasher stops the flow of both water and air making cleaning and drying your crockery and cutlery more difficult. It might be tempting to stuff in as much as possible but you will get better results if you leave enough space so that water and air can circulate freely.
Employ rinse aid. Some detergents include a rinse aid but even so, adding a little extra to the appliance can only improve matters. Rinse aid helps reduce marks and gives your glasses a streak-free finish but it also breaks the bond between water molecules and your dishes helping the water to run off them and therefore speeding up drying times.
Open your machine as soon as the program has ended. Some new machines have this as an automatic function, but if yours doesn’t, opening the dishwasher when the cycle finishes can help allow the water to evaporate and prevent water condensing on the contents as the machine cools down.
Check if your dishwasher has a heat feature and make sure it’s turned on. Setting a higher heat will mean better drying times and you could be able to choose which points in the program you increase the temperature.
Think about how you empty your machine. This doesn’t affect how well your machine works, but it does prevent water from cups and glasses falling on dishes below.

If this trouble shooting guide hasn’t worked it might be necessary to call in the professionals or even buy a new machine.