Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes?

It may not be the primary function but getting your crockery and cutlery dry may in actual fact be harder for your machine than cleaning them. Plates and glassware have lots of crevices that could pool water stopping it from drying out, thus as your machine loses heat water condenses from the steam.

Dishwashers also make use of a variety of methods to get your crockery and cutlery dry. Some will have a heating coil to heat up the inside of the dishwasher and assist the water to evaporate, some heat the water further nearing the end of the cycle, others have a fan, and others employ a combination of all three. There are thus a variety of reasons why your machine could not be drying dishes optimally and a variety of things you can do to improve 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 taking note whether the drying issue is related to the material rather than the machine.

If dishes are coming out wet you can enlist the help of a dishwasher repair service or first employ this troubleshooting list to figure out what the issue is and with any luck fix it.

Top Reasons Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Plates

There is nothing more annoying than an appliance that isn’t working properly, regardless of whether its a smartspeaker, washing machine or dishwasher we expect them to do the job they were designed for. If you open your dishwasher to discover wet plates there are a number of places you can look to help you figure out why.

Not all dishwashers are built to the same spec and some appliances perform to a superior standard compared to others. However, if if your dishwasher has always dried your plates in the past one of these issues might be the problem.

Inspect How Your Machine Has Been Loaded

Sometimes there is nothing actually wrong with the appliance. Before assuming the machine 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 are more difficult to dry than metal, glass or ceramics.

Check The Rinse Aid Dispenser

Your dishwasher 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 stop your dishes coming out properly dry.

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

Have a Look at The Heating Coil

Heat is essential for drying your crockery and cutlery so a faulty heating element may be the reason your dishwasher is not working as it should. If your crockery and cutlery aren’t hot at the end of the cycle this can be a good indicator that the heating coil is broken.

To check the heating coil you will need to disconnect the appliance, find the heating coil, you could need the owners manual to do this, then check for continuity using a multimeter.

Inspect the Thermostat

The thermostat stops your appliance getting too hot, determining the heat of the water and air during drying. However, if it’s broken this can mean your appliance doesn’t heat up at all.

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

Have a Look at The Fan and Vent

Many dishwashers will utilize a drying fan and vent to remove the warm moist air from the machine. If the fan isn’t operating as is should or the vent is blocked then the hot air will remain in the dishwasher preventing the crockery and cutlery from drying.

You can make use of your user manual to find out if your dishwasher has a fan and find its location. Again you need to double check the machine is unplugged before trying to access the fan.

You can look at the fan and vent to see if anything is blocking it that might stop it from functioning correctly. If there is nothing obvious you can then test for continuity using a multimeter.

Tips to Boost Drying Ability

There are a variety of methods you can use to increase how well your dishwasher dries your dishes and prevent you needing to dry them by hand as little as possible.

Allow ample space between dishes. Overcrowding the appliance inhibits the flow of both water and air decreasing the effectiveness of your machine when it comes to both washing and drying your dishes. It might be appealing to stuff everything in but your dishwasher will work better if you leave sufficient space so that water and air can circulate freely.
Make use of rinse aid. Some dishwasher tablets already have this but even if the brand you use says it does, adding a separate rinse aid to the machine will do no harm. Rinse aid helps reduce marks and gives your glassware in particular a streak-free shine but it also breaks the bond between water molecules and your dishes helping the water to run off them and thus speeding up drying times.
Open your machine as soon as the program has completed. Some new dishwashers do this automatically, but if yours doesn’t, opening the machine at the end of the program can help allow the water to evaporate thus stopping water condensing on the contents as the machine cools down.
Find out if your machine employs a heat feature and use it. The higher the temperature the better the drying and you might be able to choose which points in the cycle you increase the temperature.
Unload the bottom rack before the top. This doesn’t affect how effective your dishwasher is, but it prevent and water spilling that has collected in the concave bottoms of cups and glasses.

If none of the above solves the problem it may be time to phone an engineer or even upgrade your machine.