Drying dishes in a dishwasher

Sorry, you have this exactly backwards...:)

Not correct. Run my test.

It doesn't get trapped.

Ignore my posts if your dish washer doesn't have an air dry option. :)

Exactly, the KA book has that info and it works. When the blower motor on my old DW died, I never replaced it. If you were nearby when the cycle finished, opening the door was a great way to dry the dishes very well.

Not exactly. At the end of the wash/rinse cycles the air inside the dishwasher is pretty much saturated with water (and cooling unless there's a heated dry cycle). Evaporation into water-saturated (and cooling) air just doesn't work very well. You gotta get some of the moisture out of there.

There may be some merit to opening the door (while the dishes are still hot) allowing a lot of moisture to escape and then quickly reclosing the door to retain as much heat as possible.

In other words, trapped heat will help the evaporation and trapped moisture will hinder it. At the end of the day, you've got to get the water out of the dishwasher if you want dry dishes. I still maintain that an open door approach will aid that process.

The heat accelerates the drying process, but the steam may inhibit it. So the most efficient solution may be to open the door immediately after the wash cycle completes to allow the steam to escape, then close it to to have the heat help dry the dishes.

As others have stated, conduct some experiments and post the results.

I will just use the spatula wet if I need it before tomorrow. :)

I do like the tip to go ahead and use the dry cycle in the winter though.

Yes, but in the winter you would be adding heat and moisture to the living space ;-)

I really think we should discuss the merits and otherwise of wet spatulas before you commit to any rash actions like that!

These things are rarely as simple as they might first appear ;-)

The first sentence in the previous post dealt with the heat of the water warming the room. Of course the hot water will warm the room, but it will do that whether the dishwasher door is shut or open. Just more slowly if it is shut, but the AC doesn't care if the heat is added slowly or quickly. It has to work just as hard to remove the heat.

So in sum total during that time you'll be heating the kitchen, but the evaporation of the water lessens the increase in temperature. Same for a hot shower.

(I know the water vapor is not trapped in the dishwasher but a) even IF for the sake of argument it were trapped, it would still heat the room the same amount as it cooled off, and b) if the door is shut, the water vapor's escape is slowed.)

innews: snipped-for-privacy@s48g2000cws.googlegroups.com:

not the moisture goes in the house. It

Whether you use a dry cycle or not the moisture goes in the house. It may disappear into thin air but it comes out someplace be it out the door, under the dishwasher, under the counter, etc. The rate at which it comes out would be what varies.

And your point?

By the end of the rinse cycle, the vast majority of the hot water has been flushed down the waste line. The remaining heat is stored mainly in the dishwasher lining and the dishes. That really isn't very much heat in the grand scheme of things. And whether the door is open or closed, most of that heat will disperse into the kitchen as you say. However, the impact on the HVAC isn't going to be terribly significant; there simply isn't very much energy involved.

Heat recovery from the waste water might become an interesting proposition at some point in the future.

snipped-for-privacy@malch.com Gary Player. |

"Terry"

In any event, the original question was about which method would dry the dishes faster (not cheaper).

good catch! everyone (including me) is discussing cheaper!

just use the spatula wet if I need it before tomorrow. :)

I do like the tip to go ahead and use the dry cycle in the winter though.

USing the the dry cycle in the winter only makes economic sense if electric heat is cheaper than furnace heat.

cheers Bob

just use the spatula wet if I need it before tomorrow. :)

I think a lot of this depends on where you live. I live in a very dry area so extra humidity is welcome in the winter but it also means my dishes dry very fast without heat.

Garbage. It vents into the room anyway. The only difference is between a little bit at a time, and all at once.

I guess I did not make it clear. I was referring to using the dry cycle where the dishwasher turns on additional heat to speed the drying. Of course the residual heat in the washer would always end up in the kitchen. I assume some or all dishwashers do add additional heat during the dry cycle as mine did many years ago.

I agree.