niclonnic
Well-known member
This is a question that has been floating around in my head for quite a while now. I ask this because of potential energy saving concerns.
Personally, I've been an advocate of heated dry for as long as I can remember. It significantly cuts down on the time I need to towel-dry the clean dishes.
At my old house, our first dishwasher, which was a Kenmore (GE), had a drying cycle labeled as "Plate Warmer (Heated Dry)". That DW got the dishes bone-dry, even without rinse aid.
Later on after 10 years, the Kenmore broke down, and we eventually replaced it with a Samsung that had a stainless steel interior. Initially, its heated drying performance was poor, (it left plastic items wet) but after adding rinse aid, it dried the dishes a lot better. As I recall, there was no way to turn off heated dry.
Where I'm at now, I have a Frigidaire, which has three different drying settings: air, heat and "Sahara Dry." Heat works very well, but Sahara Dry makes everything nearly dry, particularly pots, pans and certain plastic items. However, Frigidaire states that the performance of Sahara Dry will be improved by using the hi-temp option (for increased wash performance), or even better, sanitize rinse. This in turn uses more energy, though.
One day, out of curiosity, I turned off heated dry, and ran the DW with a Finish Powerball Quantum tab, along with Jet-Dry rinse aid. When I cracked the door open at the end of the cycle and waited some time, some of the dishes were still wet, particularly some silverware and plastics. So I ended up going back to heated dry.
So, fellow members, do you use heated dry on your dishwasher, or do you do without and let your dishes air dry? Can you tell the difference?
Personally, I've been an advocate of heated dry for as long as I can remember. It significantly cuts down on the time I need to towel-dry the clean dishes.
At my old house, our first dishwasher, which was a Kenmore (GE), had a drying cycle labeled as "Plate Warmer (Heated Dry)". That DW got the dishes bone-dry, even without rinse aid.
Later on after 10 years, the Kenmore broke down, and we eventually replaced it with a Samsung that had a stainless steel interior. Initially, its heated drying performance was poor, (it left plastic items wet) but after adding rinse aid, it dried the dishes a lot better. As I recall, there was no way to turn off heated dry.
Where I'm at now, I have a Frigidaire, which has three different drying settings: air, heat and "Sahara Dry." Heat works very well, but Sahara Dry makes everything nearly dry, particularly pots, pans and certain plastic items. However, Frigidaire states that the performance of Sahara Dry will be improved by using the hi-temp option (for increased wash performance), or even better, sanitize rinse. This in turn uses more energy, though.
One day, out of curiosity, I turned off heated dry, and ran the DW with a Finish Powerball Quantum tab, along with Jet-Dry rinse aid. When I cracked the door open at the end of the cycle and waited some time, some of the dishes were still wet, particularly some silverware and plastics. So I ended up going back to heated dry.
So, fellow members, do you use heated dry on your dishwasher, or do you do without and let your dishes air dry? Can you tell the difference?