Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes?

It may not be the primary function but drying your dishes could in actual fact be harder for your dishwasher than getting them clean. Dishes and glasses have multiple nooks and crannies that could collect water making it more difficult for it to evaporate, thus as your machine loses heat water condenses from the humid air.

Dishwashers also employ a number of different means to dry your crockery and cutlery. Some will use a heating coil to warm the air in the machine and help with evaporation, some heat the water more near the final rinse, some employ a fan, and others have a mix of all of these. There are therefore a variety of explanations why your dishwasher could not be drying dishes optimally and a number of things you can do 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 noting whether the items that aren’t drying are predominantly plastic items.

If your dishwasher isn’t drying properly you can call a dishwasher repair service or first employ this troubleshooting guide to figure out what the problem is and with any luck fix it.

Top Reasons Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Plates

Few things are more annoying than a home appliance that doesn’t work as it should, regardless of whether its a smartspeaker, tumble dryer or dishwasher we expect them to do the job they were made for. If you open your dishwasher to discover wet plates here are a number of troubleshooting tips to help you figure out the problem.

Not all makes and models are created equal and you will find that some makes and models perform to a higher standard compared to others. However, if you notice a change in how well your machine is working one of these issues may be the problem.

Have a Look at the Placement of Your Plates

It might be that there is no fault with the appliance. Before assuming the appliance is not working you should look at how it has been stacked, ensuring it isn’t overloaded. It’s also worth noting that plastics are more difficult to dry than metal, glass or ceramics.

Inspect The Rinse Aid Dispenser

Your machine needs rinse aid to properly dry your dishes and so if you’ve forgotten to top up or your rinse aid dispenser is not working this can result in wet dishes at the end of the cycle.

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

Inspect The Heating Element

Without enough heat your dishes will not dry so a broken heating coil might be the reason your dishwasher is not working as it should. If your dishes don’t feel hot to touch when they come out of the machine this can indicate that the heating coil isn’t working as it should.

To inspect the heating coil you will need to unplug the appliance, locate the heating element, you may need the owners manual to do this, and use a multimeter to check it’s working.

Inspect the Thermostat

The thermostat stops your dishwasher getting too hot, adjusting the heat of the water and air during drying. Therefore, if it’s broken this can result in your appliance not reaching a high enough temperature.

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

Have a Look at The Fan and Vent

Many appliances will utilize a fan and vent to suck moist air from the appliance. If the fan isn’t operating as is should or the vent is blocked then the steam will remain in the dishwasher preventing the dishes from drying.

You can make use of your instruction manual to ascertain if your machine has a fan and find its location. Again you need to make sure the appliance is disconnected before trying to access the fan.

You can look at the fan and vent to check if anything is blocking it that would stop it from working as it is supposed to. If there is nothing obvious you can then test for continuity using a multimeter.

Tips to Increase Drying Power

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

Allow ample space between crockery and cutlery. Overfilling the appliance limits the flow of air and water decreasing the effectiveness of your dishwasher when it comes to both washing and finishing your dishes. Although it’s appealing to try and cram everything in, your appliance will work better if you leave sufficient space so that plates are not touching.
Employ rinse aid. Some detergents already have this but even so, adding a little extra to the appliance will do no harm. Rinse aid works by breaking the bond between water molecules and your plates, helping water run off quickly, speeding up drying time and giving a spot and streak free finish.
Open your appliance as soon as the cycle has ended. Some newer models have this as an automatic option, but many do not, thus, opening the door when the cycle completes can help allow the water to escape thus stopping water condensing on the plates as the machine cools down.
Find out if your dishwasher uses a heat feature and make sure it’s turned on. The higher the temperature the better the drying and it might be possible to choose which points in the cycle you increase the temperature.
Think about how you unload your machine. 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 could be time to phone an engineer or even buy a new machine.