Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes? | Noblesville Appliance Repair

It turns out drying your crockery and cutlery may in actual fact be more difficult for your machine than cleaning them. Crockery and cutlery and glasses have multiple nooks and crannies that can collect dishwater preventing it from evaporating, and as your machine loses heat water condenses from the humid air.

Dishwashers also make use of a number of means to dry your plates. Certain models opt for a heating element to heat up the air in the machine and assist the water to evaporate, some warm the water further nearing the final rinse, certain models employ a fan, and some employ a combination of all three. There are consequently a variety of explanations why your machine could not be drying crockery and cutlery optimally and a variety of options to improve the situation.

Plastic items are 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 items that aren’t drying are predominantly plastic items.

If your dishwasher isn’t drying effectively you can hire a dishwasher repair service or first employ this troubleshooting guide to figure out what the issue is and with any luck fix it.

Top Reasons Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Crockery and Cutlery

There is nothing more irritating than an appliance that doesn’t work as it’s meant to, 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 your dishwasher to discover wet plates here are a few places you can look to help you figure out the problem.

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

Check How Your Dishwasher Has Been Loaded

It might be that there is no fault with the dishwasher. Before assuming the dishwasher 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 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 plates and so 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.

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

Inspect The Heating Element

Heat is essential for drying your crockery and cutlery so a broken heating coil could be the reason your dishwasher is not drying crockery and cutlery. If your plates don’t feel hot to touch at the end of the cycle this can indicate that the heating element isn’t working as it should.

To inspect the heating coil first disconnect the machine, then find the heating coil, you might need the instruction manual for this, then check for continuity using a multimeter.

Inspect the Thermostat

The thermostat ensures your appliance doesn’t get too hot, regulating the heat of the water and air during drying. Therefore, if it’s faulty this can result in your machine not reaching a high enough temperature.

If you check the heating element and do not find an fault but your appliance isn’t getting hot, then the thermostat may be at fault. Again you can make sure with the help of a multimeter.

Inspect The Fan and Vent

Many appliances will employ a fan and vent to remove the warm moist air out of the appliance. If either of these elements are faulty then the hot air will condense on the crockery and cutlery instead leaving them wet.

You can employ your manual to ascertain if your appliance uses a fan and find its location. Don’t forget to make sure the appliance is disconnected before trying to make repairs.

First look at the fan and vent to see if there is anything lodged that could stop it from operating correctly. And again testing for continuity using a multimeter.

Ideas to Increase Drying Ability

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

Allow sufficient space between plates. Overfilling the appliance stops the flow of air and water decreasing the effectiveness of your machine when it comes to both cleaning and finishing your dishes. Although it’s appealing to try and stuff everything in, you will get better results if you leave sufficient space so that dishes are not touching.
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 dishwasher can only improve matters. Rinse aid helps reduce marks and gives your glassware in particular a streak-free finish but it also breaks the bond between water molecules and your plates helping the water to run off them and thus allowing them to dry faster.
Open the door at the end of the cycle. Some new models do this automatically, but many do not, thus, opening the dishwasher at the end of the cycle can help allow the water to escape thus stopping water condensing on the dishes as the dishwasher cools down.
Have a look to see if your machine employs a heat feature and make sure it’s turned on. Setting a higher heat will lead to improved drying times and it could be possible to add more heat at different points in the cycle.
Empty the bottom rack before the top. This doesn’t affect how well your dishwasher works, but it does stop water from cups and glasses falling on dishes below.

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