Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes?

It may not be the primary function but drying your plates could really be harder for your dishwasher than getting them clean. Dishes and cups have lots of nooks and crannies that may trap water stopping it from drying out, and as your dishwasher cools water droplets form out of the humid air.

Different machines also employ a number of means to dry your crockery and cutlery. Certain models opt for a heating element to heat up the air in the dishwasher and help with evaporation, some warm the water further nearing the final rinse, others use a fan, and others employ a mix of all three. There are therefore a variety of explanations why your dishwasher may not be drying plates optimally and a variety of options to rectify the situation.

Plastic items are more difficult to dry than glass or ceramics as it doesn’t retain heat in the same way which helps with the drying process, so it’s worth seeing 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 use this troubleshooting list to figure out what the problem is and with any luck fix it.

Top Reasons Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Plates

There is nothing more frustrating than a home appliance that isn’t working as it should, 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 removing the dirt from or drying your plates. If you open your dishwasher to discover wet plates there are a number of troubleshooting tips to help you figure out the problem.

Not all makes and models are created equal and some appliances do a better job of drying your plates than others. However, if if your dishwasher has always dried your plates in the past one of these issues could be the problem.

Inspect the Placement of Your Crockery and Cutlery

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

Have a Look at The Rinse Aid Dispenser

Rinse aid plays a key role in drying your dishes and so if you’ve forgotten to top up or your rinse aid dispenser is faulty this can result in wet crockery and cutlery at the end of the cycle.

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

Check The Heating Coil

Without enough heat your dishes will not dry so a not working heating element might be the reason your machine is not drying dishes. If your plates don’t feel hot to touch when they come out of the machine this can mean that the heating element is faulty.

To inspect the heating element first disconnect the dishwasher, then locate the heating element, you could need the manual for this, then use a multimeter to check it’s working.

Inspect the Thermostat

The thermostat ensures your dishwasher doesn’t get too hot, regulating the heat of the water and air during drying. Therefore, if it’s faulty this can mean your dishwasher doesn’t heat up at all.

If you check the heating coil and do not find an fault but your dishwasher isn’t getting hot, then the thermostat might be the problem. Once again you can make sure with the help of a multimeter.

Have a Look at The Fan and Vent

Many appliances will use a fan and vent to suck moist air out of the machine. If either of these elements are faulty then the steam will form droplets on the dishes instead leaving them wet.

You can employ your user manual to ascertain if your appliance uses a fan and locate it. Again you need to ensure the machine is disconnected before trying to make repairs.

First visually inspect the fan and vent to ascertain if there is anything lodged that could prevent it from operating correctly. And again testing for continuity using a multimeter.

Ways to Increase Drying Power

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

Allow sufficient space between crockery and cutlery. Overfilling the appliance stops the circulation of air and water making removing the dirt from and drying your plates more difficult. It could be tempting to cram everything in but you will get better results if you leave enough space so that dishes are not touching.
Make use of rinse aid. Some detergents already have this but even so, adding a separate rinse aid to the dishwasher won’t hurt. Rinse aid helps reduce marks and gives your glasses a streak-free finish but it also breaks the bond between water molecules and your plates helping the water to run off them and consequently allowing them to dry faster.
Open your dishwasher as soon as the cycle has ended. Some new machines do this automatically, but many do not, thus, opening the machine when the program finishes can help allow the water to escape thus preventing water condensing on the contents as the appliance cools down.
Have a look to see if your machine employs a heat feature and make sure it’s turned on. The higher the heat the better the drying and it might be possible to add more heat at different points in the cycle.
Unload the lower level first. This doesn’t affect how well your machine works, but it stop and water spilling that has collected in the concave bottoms of cups and glasses.

If you have checked all the above it might be time to call in an engineer or perhaps replace your dishwasher.