Dishwasher doesn't dry properly

My DW, approx 2 years old, is a Whirlpool. Not high end. Invoice read: WH-WDFS1DPAYW, whatever the hell THAT means. (Bottom of invoice said don't rely on number!) If it helps, DW with tax & installation, was $608.

It has NEVER dried dishes properly; particularly cutlery in door basket is always wet.

When DW was installed, I studied the manual and set my preferences as follows:

NORMAL HIGH TEMP SANI-RINSE HEAT DRY.

I just re-consulted manual. It advises using rinse aid to get dishes dry. (I did that at first when using package of powdered detergent.)

But manual also advises using the little "pillows" or packets of detergent. I switched to packets from Costco long ago; box says packets *contain rinse aid.*

Whatthehell??!!

All I want is dry damn dishes & cutlery.

Any advice?

TIA

HB

Reply to
Higgs Boson
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my whirpool dishwasher is less than a year old, so far the main control panel faied and was replaced, then it quit drying dishes.....

the load i just removed was still wet. I just loaded the machine again but will call for more warranty service if they arent dry.....

frankly I think whirpool dishwashers are junk, I am going to stop at lowes tomorrow and talk with the store manager about having them replace the unit..

everyone is making everything so on the cheap its sad......

Reply to
bob haller

I never use the dry setting. When it's done, I just crack open the door 6 inches or more and let the hot steam out. A lot of the water goes out and I leave the door open until it dries out, several hours or overnight, etc.

I wouldn't be surprised that the issue with the heated dry option is that they are trying to meet govt mandates for energy efficiency. Heated dry is going to hurt energy efficiency, so they probably minimize it, where years ago they ran it long enough to make sure they were dry.

Reply to
trader_4

Higgs,

Check the heating element.

Dave M.

Reply to
David Martel

[...]

my whirpool dishwasher is less than a year old, so far the main control panel faied and was replaced, then it quit drying dishes.....

YOU ARE SO RIGHT!

The dishwasher before this one was a KitchenAid. A tank! Ran for 13 years with never a sneeze. Then hot water wouldn't go in. I FOOLISHLY thought it would be too expensive to pay for repairs ??? so for the next 4 years I handwashed.

Then circumstances dictated that I get a new DW, so I had the old one taken out. Guess why hot water wasn't going in? A ****ing MOUSE had chewed holes in the ****ing hot water hose!!!! Easily replaced for small bux!!!

I am still banging my head against the wall for sacrificing that great old KitchenAid for this plastic POS. KA would have run forever; was well made!!! With 20-20 hindsight....!!!

HB

Reply to
Higgs Boson
[...]

What does that mean? "A lot..." has it drained?

and I leave the door open until

Hmmm...verry interesting. Where can I check further into your suggestion?

HB

Reply to
Higgs Boson

Your method works if you are there to open the door when the cycle is done.

Our new Kitchen Aid has heat as an option, but we use it all the time. It has a Pro Wash and Pro Dry setting and does it all automatic. With Cascade Platinum, dishes come out perfect and sparkling. But I also paid 3X what the OP paid so it damned well better do a good job.

Oh, the new machines are energy saving, but take longer. Cycle is about

4 hours.
Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

my non working heat dry also prevents the water from heating to clean during the wash cycle. the heater and thermistor have both been replaced once

Reply to
bob haller

Of course it's drained. But it's still hot and when you open the door a lot of the remaining water comes out as moist hot air. You get all that hot wet air out and it gets replaced by normal air, helping to dry the dishes out while they are still hot. When they are hot, any water on them is going to evaporate faster. Then you just leave it open for a few hours or overnight and they are dry. No dry cycle needed.

Check more? Just try it.

Reply to
trader_4

Hi, Our Whirlpool DW lasted 20 years and was still running well when replaced. Only thing in 20 years it needed new motor/pump assembly I paid 40.00 at eBay. Now new one is Bosch which is dead quiet when running. We just use normal wash cycle and cleans, drys very well. We did not want cutlery basket on the door tho.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Funny thing. We've always had KAs in our previous house. But, each one kept lasting fewer and fewer years. The 1st one lasted 23 years. The last one, actually the 3rd, less than 5 years. It would have cost more to fix it myself, than to replace it. KA actually gave me a $100 voucher to buy another KA. I did that and actually had to fix it a few times before we moved. Now it's someone else's problem. In my new house, now almost 5 years old, I have a WP, not top of the line. It is the best dishwasher we've ever had, as far as cleaning. The only major complaint is the silverware basket on the door. Because the new DWs have a larger capacity, the door hinge is mounted much lower to the floor, thus you almost have to sit on the floor to remove silverware. If I had realized this, I would have had the cabinet maker mount it higher, although you do loose some counter top space. I recommended this to my niece, as she was building after me, and now likes the raised DW. I realize that the basket is removable, with some difficulty, but in either case, it's not ideal. So, I tie wrapped the basket to the lower rack, and that seemed to fix some of the basket problems. I also have an old KA basket which I use on the top rack for smaller stuff. BTW, with the wonderful WP designed basket, you cannot put long items in the left side of the basket because they will prevent the soap door from opening! Nice going WP. As for drying, everything pretty much dries with the exception of plastic. I wonder if rinse agent will help that?

Reply to
Art Todesco

Too ****ing long! I NEED those dishes.

I didn't either! POS; always falling out & getting in the way.

Anybody think that door cutlery basket not getting dry is because of position???

HB

Reply to
Higgs Boson

  1. Use rinse agent.

BUT

  1. Costco little packets say they *contain* rinse agent.

Who's on first?

Guess I'll just have to buy (expensive) bottles of rinse agent to see if it helps. But ISTR that wet cutlery problem dates from installation of new DW when I WAS using rinse agent. OK, launching experiment.

BTW, any chemistry folks around who know just whatthehell is in "rinse agent"???

HB

Reply to
Higgs Boson

A silverware basket in the door sounds like just about the stupidest place for it; I'm sure there are reasons, but having everything clatter around and fall as you open the door would be annoying, and it can't possibly get them as clean as on the rack.

To second another suggestion; I'm pretty happy with our 12-year-old Frigidaire Gallery dishwasher -- it's a higher end model with a display showing the time remaining, which is GREAT, a feature I'd never live without again.

I've never known a dishwasher that gets everything bone dry before it's opened -- perhaps we just never had a good one when I was growing up (we did have LOUD ones!), or perhaps it's the type of dishes (dishes/cups with concave recesses when they're on the rack, and plasticware are the most likely to have water in them). I don't bother with the "power dry" at all; when I'm around I just pop the door all the way open right after the last rinse (this is where the time remaining is a huge benefit), pull out the racks and shake out the things that have standing water. If the dishes are hot when I do that, 15-30 minutes later everything's dry enough to put away. If I do it the next day when it's cold, it can take hours for them to dry.

There are other philosophies (leave it closed, open it shake and re-close, etc), but for me opening it all the way up and letting the hot dishes evaporate into the relatively dry house works best.

This dishwasher takes ~90 minutes, and is reasonably quiet (can tell that it's running in the same room, but not in the next). I wouldn't trade it for those rumored 2-4 hour cycles some of the new ones take. I don't need "pin-drop silent". So glad we've moved beyond the 1980s Maytag "Rhuga Rhuga Rhuga" era that made us turn the TV up 2 rooms away...

Josh

Reply to
Josh

HB, As for drying, my WP pretty much dries everything, with the exception of the plastic, including the inside of the door, which is plastic. Of course, anything with a dimple on the bottom, now on the top, will hold water ... but I don't think anything can solve that except for buying flat bottom cups and glasses. When we used to make our kids unload the dw (we're empty nesters now), they used to complain about the bottoms holding water. In some cases, they actually drilled drain holes in some of the plastic stuff, where it wouldn't compromise the container. I remember my daughter drilled small holes in the food processor bowl that would drain through the side. When the cycle finishes, we usually open the door and pull out the plastic stuff and leave the door open to evaporate water on the inside of the door and anything that got splashed when removing the plastic. We too, use the all in one detergent + rinse agent (a commercial brand). We're definitely going to try the liquid to see what happens with the plastic.

Reply to
Art Todesco

Looks like you won't have a choice next time around. I'm not sure why it would have to take so long to save energy.

99% of the time it does not matter. We usually start it after dinner or before going to bed so it has many hours to do the job.
Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

I think Ed is correct. Quality has gone pretty much right down the toilet.

We we redid our kitchen last summer we purchased a Kitchen Aide and again, like Ed mentioned, it works great. Lots better than the Kenmore Elite that it replaced. But I had to pay 3+ times what the others cost. But it was most likely the last kitchen upgrade I'll ever do.

Good luck.

Reply to
BobMCT

Thanks to all for opening door/evaporation option. Will try it & report.

[mucho snippage]

As for drying, everything pretty much dries with the exception of plastic. I wonder if rinse agent will help that?

TIA

HB

Reply to
Higgs Boson

Higgs Boson posted for all of us...

And I know how to SNIP

I suppose you never complained when new. I would replace her with a newer one and life will be better.

Reply to
Tekkie®

Hi, New DW we got is like at 47db sound level when running. Only thing it is running is indicated by light marked "active" The amount of water it uses is so little it's hard to believe it does the job. Is that Frigidaire DW energy star qualified one?

Reply to
Tony Hwang

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