Why is my dishwasher not drying the dishes?

Condensation drying, which is what most machines use, works by heating the final rinse so the dishes come out hot, then letting that heat evaporate the water, which condenses on the cooler stainless steel walls and runs to the sump. It has no fan and no heater in the drying phase. That mechanism explains every symptom: it needs hot dishes, water that runs off rather than sits, a closed door and a bit of patience.

Step by step

1. Check and refill the rinse aid.It reduces surface tension so water sheets off the item during the final rinse instead of beading. Without it, every droplet stays put and evaporates in place. This is the first thing to check and it fixes most cases.
2. Turn the rinse aid dose up a step if it is already full.There is a dial under the cap, usually 1 to 6. If drying is poor but glasses are not streaky, move it up one. If glasses go streaky or feel slippery, you have gone too far.
3. Check whether an all-in-one tablet is being relied on.The rinse aid component of a tablet is weaker than liquid rinse aid and is released with the detergent rather than at the rinse. In a hard water area, add liquid rinse aid as well and set the machine to expect it.
4. Check the programme actually has a drying phase.Quick, one-hour and rinse programmes usually cut it entirely. Eco has a long, low-temperature drying phase that depends on residual heat. If you have switched programmes recently, that is your change.
5. Leave the door shut for 20-30 minutes after the cycle ends.Condensation drying continues well after the beep. Opening the door immediately lets the warm moist air out and stops the process at the moment it is doing most of its work.
6. Then open the door ajar and leave it for another ten minutes.Once the load has stopped steaming, cracking the door lets the remaining moisture out rather than letting it settle back on the crockery. Machines with auto-open doors do exactly this.
7. Accept that plastics will stay wet.Condensation drying relies on items holding heat. Ceramic and glass hold heat well; plastic has almost no thermal mass and cools instantly, so water condenses back onto it. This is physics, not a fault. Hand-dry plastics or put them on the top rack where they get least water.
8. Check the loading for water traps.Mugs and bowls with a recessed base collect a pool of water that then pours over everything as you unload. Angle them, or use the tilt clips in the upper basket.
9. Unload the bottom basket first.Anything pooled in the upper basket drains onto the lower basket when you lift it out. Bottom first, every time.
10. Check the machine is heating at all.If the load is cold at the end of the cycle rather than warm, the machine is not heating and the problem is not drying at all. That is a heating element or thermostat fault, and it is an engineer's job.

Common mistakes

• Emptying the machine the second it beeps — The drying phase on a condensation machine is largely passive and continues for half an hour after the cycle ends. Opening it immediately throws away the part of the process that does the work.
• Assuming poor drying means a broken heater — If the crockery is hot when you open it, the heater is fine and the fault is in the rinse aid, the loading or the timing. A cold load is the only symptom that points at the heater.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask