Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes?

It may not be the primary function but getting your dishes dry might actually be more arduous for your dishwasher than removing the dirt. Crockery and cutlery and glassware have lots of nooks and crannies that may trap dishwater stopping it from drying out, and as your appliance loses heat water droplets form from the humid air.

Different machines also employ a variety of different means to dry your plates. Certain models will use a heating element to heat up the air in the dishwasher and assist with evaporation, some heat the water further approaching the end of the cycle, certain models employ a fan, and some make use of a combination of all of these. There are therefore a variety of explanations why your machine may not be drying dishes optimally and a number of things you can do to improve the situation.

Plastic items are 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 seeing whether the items that aren’t drying are predominantly plastic items.

If dishes are coming out wet 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 Explanations Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Plates

Few things are more annoying than an appliance that doesn’t work 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 cleaning or drying your plates. If you open the dishwasher to wet plates here are a number of places you can look to help you figure out the issue.

Not all appliances are created equal and you will find that some dishwashers do a better job of drying your dishes than others. But if you notice a change in how effectively your dishwasher is working one of these faults might be the cause.

Check How Your Dishwasher Has Been Loaded

It might be that there is no fault with the appliance. Before assuming the machine is faulty you should first check that you haven’t overloaded it or accidentally stacked items one inside the other. 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

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

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

Check The Heating Coil

Heat is essential for drying your plates so a faulty heating coil could be the reason your dishwasher is not working as it should. If your plates aren’t hot at the end of the cycle this can indicate that the heating element is faulty.

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

Check the Thermostat

The thermostat prevents your machine overheating, determining the temperature of the water and the drying part of the cycle. However, if it’s broken this can result in your dishwasher not heating up at all.

If the heating element appears to be working as it should but there’s still no heat, then the thermostat might be at fault. Again you can check this with the help of a multimeter.

Check The Fan and Vent

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

You can utilize your instruction manual to find out if your machine uses a fan and locate it. Don’t forget to make sure the appliance is unplugged before attempting to make repairs.

First visually inspect the fan and vent to ascertain if anything is blocking it that would prevent it from operating as it is supposed to. If there is nothing obvious you can then test for continuity using a multimeter.

Ideas to Boost Drying Capability

There are a number of things you can do to boost your machines drying ability and prevent you needing to dry them by hand as little as possible.

Allow sufficient space between crockery and cutlery. Overloading the appliance limits the circulation of air and water making removing the dirt from and drying your dishes harder. It could be appealing to stuff in as much as possible but you will get better results if you leave sufficient space so that plates are not touching.
Utilize rinse aid. Some dishwasher tablets include a rinse aid but even if the brand you use says it does, adding a little extra to the appliance won’t hurt. Rinse aid works by breaking the bond between water molecules and your crockery and cutlery, 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 models have this as an automatic function, but if yours doesn’t, opening the door at the end of the program allows warm air to escape and prevent water droplets forming as the machine cools down.
Check if your machine has a heat feature and make sure it’s turned on. Setting a higher heat will result in better drying times and it may be possible to choose which points in the program you increase the temperature.
Empty the lower level first. This doesn’t affect how effective your dishwasher is, but it does prevent water from cups and glasses falling on dishes below.

If this trouble shooting guide hasn’t worked it could be necessary to call in the professionals or perhaps upgrade your dishwasher.