No Power Drying in a KDS 18

[tomturbomatic]

The Washington area has had a string of days with temps in the high 90s and even a day that reached 101. I have not wanted to add heat to the kitchen by running any dishwasher. Yesterday, we had some heat breaking rain and with almost an entire flatware service for twelve in the basket and the rest of the KDS18 packed full, I decided to chance using it. I set it for the Sani-Cycle, but hit the Cancle-Drain button after the 3rd rinse because I certainly did not want heated dry and did not want the fan blowing on Energy Saver to pump all of the steam into the kitchen. John told me that the WP machines dry just fine without any heat if you just leave them unopened for several hours, so I tried it with the KA. After several hours, I opened it and the Polyethelene type plastics were the only things that were not dry and they never are in that machine. So I guess I can save a few pennies from now on by not bothering with the dry cycle after the Sani Cycle's 150 degree final rinse which only requires from 3 to 5 minutes of water heating at 1400 watts. Funny, I've been using KDS 18 machines for over 30 years and I'm still finding out new things they can do.

 

[frigilux]

Tom, I was surprised that my Maytag didn't vent out the front, as did every other dw I've ever owned. It dries without a fan, using residual heat in the tub. I almost always 'flash-dry' (open the door at the beginning of the dry cycle) to save time, but that does let a big cloud of steam out into the kitchen.

 

[gadgetgary]

Heated Dry

It is my understanding that the 'dry' portion of the cycle is miminal in cost. I think years ago, they stated that you could save $$$ by not using a heated dry. I also believe the savings were about $10-$12 per year based on average use.
I always use a heated dry in my KA(fan assist dry) and GE(2800).

 

[tomturbomatic]

Maytag plastic tub DWs have three little vent holes at the top of the control panel. The stainless steel tub uses "condensation drying" which is not new. Waste King's first dishwasher in 1957 used condensation drying and cycled the pump on twice during DRY to pump out condensate that rolled down the relatively cooler uninsulated tank walls into the sump. The porcelain tanks of my KitchenAid dishwashers are super-heavily insulated, but the steam went somewhere and with the vent and evaporation strip at the bottom of the door, I don't think the steam convected out into the room.

What amazed me was how much better the drying was just letting the dw sit with the door closed as opposed to turning off the heat and just running the fan during dry. Probably the Sani Rinse is the big factor.