Is Your Dishwasher Not Drying Dishes? | Richmond Appliance Repair

It may not be the primary function but drying your crockery and cutlery might in actual fact be harder for your dishwasher than removing the dirt. Plates and glasses have lots of nooks and crannies that could collect water making it more difficult for it to evaporate, and as your dishwasher cools down water condenses out of the steam.

Dishwashers also employ a number of means to get your plates dry. Some opt for a heating coil to warm the inside of the machine and assist with evaporation, some heat up the water to a higher temperature near the end of the cycle, some make use of a fan, and certain models have a combination of all of these. There are thus a number of reasons why your machine might not be drying plates fully and a number of options 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 seeing whether the items that aren’t drying are predominantly plastic items.

If your dishwasher isn’t drying properly you can hire a dishwasher repair service or first use this troubleshooting list to help you identify and rectify the problem.

Top Reasons Your Dishwasher Isn’t Drying Plates

Few things are more irritating than a home appliance that doesn’t work as it’s meant to, regardless of whether its a tv, air conditioner or dishwasher we expect them to do the job they were designed for. If you open the dishwasher to wet plates there are a number of troubleshooting tips to help you figure out the issue.

Not all makes and models are built to the same spec and you will find that some dishwashers perform to a better standard compared to others. However, if you notice a change in how effectively your machine is working one of these faults could be the cause.

Have a Look at the Placement of Your Plates

It might be that there is no fault with the machine. Before assuming the dishwasher 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 don’t dry as well as metal, glass or ceramics.

Have a Look at The Rinse Aid Dispenser

Your machine needs rinse aid to properly dry your dishes thus, if you’ve forgotten to top up or your rinse aid dispenser is broken this can mean wet crockery and cutlery at the end of the cycle.

The best thing to do is inspect the rinse aid dispenser for damage and ensure that it’s full.

Have a Look at The Heating Element

Heat is essential for drying your crockery and cutlery so a faulty heating coil could be the explanation your machine is not drying plates. If your dishes don’t feel hot when they come out of the machine this can be a good indicator that the heating element is faulty.

To check the heating coil first unplug the machine, then locate the heating element, you could need the manual to do this, then use a multimeter to check it’s working.

Have a Look at the Thermostat

The thermostat prevents your machine overheating, regulating the heat of the water and air during drying. Therefore, if it’s faulty this can mean your machine doesn’t heat up at all.

If the heating element appears to be in working order but there’s still no heat, then the thermostat may be at fault. Once again you can make sure with the help of a multimeter.

Inspect The Fan and Vent

Many dishwashers will make use of a drying fan and vent to suck moist air from the machine. If the fan isn’t operating as is should or the vent is blocked then the water vapor will condense on the dishes instead leaving them wet.

You can utilize your user manual to check if your dishwasher has a fan and locate it. Again you need to make sure the appliance is unplugged before trying to access the fan.

You can visually inspect the fan and vent to ascertain if anything is blocking it that might prevent it from working as it should. If there is nothing obvious you can then test for continuity using a multimeter.

Ideas to Increase Drying Capability

There are a variety of things you can do to increase how well your appliance dries your dishes and ensure you need to get the drying up cloth out as little as possible.

Allow sufficient space between crockery and cutlery. Overloading the machine stops the flow of both water and air making removing the dirt from and drying your plates more difficult. It may be tempting to cram everything in but you will get better results if you leave enough space so that crockery and cutlery are not touching.
Utilize 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 will do no harm. Rinse aid helps reduce spotting and gives your glassware in particular a streak-free finish but it also breaks the bond between water molecules and your crockery and cutlery helping the water to run off them and consequently speeding up drying times.
Open the door at the end of the program. Some new machines have this as an automatic function, but if yours doesn’t, opening the door when the cycle finishes allows warm air to evaporate thus stopping water condensing on the plates as the machine cools down.
Have a look to see if your dishwasher uses a heat feature and make use of it. Setting a higher temperature will lead to better drying times and it might be possible to add more heat at different points in the program.
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 necessary to phone an engineer or even buy a new dishwasher.