Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes?

It turns out drying your crockery and cutlery could really be more arduous for your dishwasher than getting them clean. Dishes and glasses have lots of crevices that can trap water making it more difficult for it to evaporate, plus as your dishwasher cools down water condenses from the steam.

Dishwashers also employ a variety of different approaches to dry your dishes. Certain models will use a heating element to heat up the air in the dishwasher and help the water to evaporate, some warm the water further nearing the final rinse, some make use of a fan, and some have a mix of all three. There are thus a number of explanations why your machine might not be drying plates fully and a variety of options to rectify the situation.

Plastic is more difficult to dry than other materials as it doesn’t retain heat in the same way which helps with the drying process, so it’s worth noting whether the drying issue is related to the material rather than the machine.

If your dishwasher doesn’t seem to be drying effectively you can call a dishwasher repair service or first employ this troubleshooting guide to help you identify and rectify the issue.

Top Explanations Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Dishes

There is nothing more frustrating than a home appliance that doesn’t work as it should, 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 makes and models do a better job of drying your plates than others. But if you notice a change in how effectively your machine is working one of these faults may be the problem.

Have a Look at How Your Machine Has Been Loaded

Sometimes there is nothing actually wrong with the dishwasher. Before assuming the machine is faulty you should first check that you haven’t overloaded it or accidentally stacked items one inside the other. Also be aware that plastic items are more difficult to dry than metal, glass or ceramics.

Inspect The Rinse Aid Dispenser

Your appliance needs rinse aid to properly dry your plates thus, if you have run out of rinse aid or your rinse aid dispenser is faulty this can mean wet crockery and cutlery at the end of the cycle.

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

Have a Look at The Heating Coil

Heat is essential for drying your plates so a broken heating element could be the reason your appliance is not drying dishes. If your dishes don’t feel hot to touch when they come out of the machine this can mean that the heating element is broken.

To inspect the heating coil first unplug the dishwasher, then find the heating coil, you might need the instruction manual for this, and use a multimeter to check it’s working.

Inspect the Thermostat

The thermostat ensures your dishwasher doesn’t get too hot, regulating the temperature of the water and the drying part of the cycle. Therefore, if it’s faulty this can result in your dishwasher 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 at fault. Again you can test this using a multimeter.

Have a Look at The Fan and Vent

Many dishwashers will employ a drying fan and vent to suck moist air out of the machine. If the fan isn’t operating as is should or the vent is blocked then the hot air will condense on the crockery and cutlery instead leaving them wet.

You can use your instruction manual to check if your dishwasher uses a fan and find its location. Again you need to make sure the dishwasher is unplugged before attempting to access the fan.

First visually inspect the fan and vent to ascertain if there is anything lodged that might stop it from working as it should. And again testing for continuity using a multimeter.

Ways to Increase Drying Power

There are a variety of things you can do to boost your machines effectiveness at drying and ensure you have to hand dry as little as possible.

Don’t overload the dishwasher. Overfilling the dishwasher limits the flow of both water and air making cleaning and drying your crockery and cutlery harder. Although it’s tempting to try and cram everything in, your appliance will work better if you leave enough space so that dishes are not touching.
Utilize rinse aid. Some dishwasher tablets include a rinse aid but even so, adding a little extra to the dishwasher can only improve matters. 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 machines have this as an automatic function, but many do not, thus, opening the dishwasher at the end of the cycle can help allow the water to evaporate thus preventing water condensing on the plates as the appliance cools down.
Have a look to see if your dishwasher has a heat feature and make use of it. Setting a higher temperature will mean improved drying times and it could be possible to choose which points in the cycle you add more heat.
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 none of the above solves the problem it might be a good idea to call in an engineer or perhaps upgrade your machine.