Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes?

It may not be the primary function but getting your plates dry might actually be more difficult for your machine than cleaning them. Plates and glassware have multiple crevices that may collect dishwater making it more difficult for it to dry out, plus as your appliance cools down water droplets form from the steam.

Different machines also employ a variety of means to dry your crockery and cutlery. Some opt for a heating coil to warm the inside of the dishwasher and help with evaporation, some warm the water further approaching the end of the cycle, certain models employ a fan, and certain models use a mix of all of these. There are thus a variety of explanations why your machine may not be drying dishes fully and a variety of things you can do to rectify 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 taking note whether the items that aren’t drying are predominantly plastic items.

If dishes are coming out wet you can hire a dishwasher repair service or first utilize this troubleshooting list to help you identify and rectify the problem.

Top Explanations Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Dishes

There is nothing more irritating than a home 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 troubleshooting tips to help you figure out the issue.

Not all appliances are created equal and some dishwashers perform to a superior standard compared to others. But if if your dishwasher has always dried your crockery and cutlery in the past one of these areas might be the cause.

Have a Look at How Your Dishwasher Has Been Loaded

It might be that there is no fault with the machine. Before assuming the dishwasher is broken you should first check that you haven’t overfilled it or accidentally stacked items one inside the other. Also be aware that plastic items don’t dry as well as metal, glass or ceramics.

Inspect The Rinse Aid Dispenser

Your appliance needs rinse aid to properly dry your plates therefore, if you’ve forgotten to top up or your rinse aid dispenser is broken this can stop your crockery and cutlery coming out properly dry.

Visually check the rinse aid dispenser for cracks and ensure that there is rinse aid inside.

Check The Heating Coil

Without enough heat your dishes will not dry so a broken heating coil may be the explanation your dishwasher is not working as it should. If your plates aren’t hot to touch at the end of the cycle this can indicate that the heating coil is broken.

To check the heating coil you will need to disconnect the dishwasher, find the heating element, you could need the owners manual to do this, then use a multimeter to check it’s working.

Check the Thermostat

The thermostat ensures your dishwasher doesn’t overheat, adjusting the temperature of the water and the drying part of the cycle. Therefore, if it’s broken this can result in your machine not reaching a high enough temperature.

If you check the heating coil and do not uncover an fault but your machine isn’t getting hot, then the thermostat may be at fault. Once again you can test this using a multimeter.

Have a Look at The Drying Fan and Vent

Many machines will make use of a fan and vent to suck moist air out of the dishwasher. If either of these elements are faulty then the water vapor will remain in the appliance preventing the dishes from drying.

You can use your manual to ascertain if your dishwasher has a fan and find its location. Don’t forget to double check the appliance is unplugged before attempting to make repairs.

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

Ways to Boost Drying Power

There are a variety of things you can do to boost your machines effectiveness at drying and make sure you need to get the drying up cloth out as infrequently as possible.

Allow sufficient space between plates. Overfilling the dishwasher limits the flow of both water and air making removing the dirt from and drying your plates more difficult. Although it’s appealing to try and stuff everything in, you will get better results if you leave sufficient space so that water and air can circulate freely.
Make use of rinse aid. Some detergents already have this but even if the brand you use says it does, adding a separate rinse aid to the appliance 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 crockery and cutlery helping the water to run off them and thus making them dry more quickly and evenly.
Open the door at the end of the cycle. Some newer machines do this automatically, but many do not, thus, opening the dishwasher at the end of the cycle can help allow the water to evaporate thus stopping water droplets forming as the appliance cools down.
Check if your appliance has a heat feature and make sure it’s turned on. Setting a higher heat will result in improved drying times and it may be possible to choose which points in the cycle you increase the temperature.
Unload the lower level before the top. This is simply because cups and glasses that are upside down on the top shelf often have a concave bottom where water can pool. Emptying the bottom rack first stops you spilling this water onto the crockery and cutlery below.

If you have checked all the above it might be necessary to phone an engineer or perhaps upgrade your machine.