Most of you say the dishwasher should be connected to the hot water line. In actuality, it’s not like one had a choice (without modifying the plumbing). While I will double-check the line, it is what it is. I’m not about to re-plumb the line. In support of this, we had one dishwasher before this that did fine. The only reason we had to replace it was because the builder* did not close off the far end of a deep cabinet that abutted the dishwasher. We kept shoving in soft items like those soft-sided insulated lunch bags/carriers, koosies, and such odds and ends not knowing they were strangling the dishwasher motor**…until the day the dishwasher was replaced. What a shame. That was a good dishwasher - including, drying. Now, I am gun-shy doubting if we can get back to where we were.
*The house is about 28 years old, many owners. And, you just can’t know these things.
** Material jammed in, around, and under the motor either blocking some moving part, like the tip of a shaft or it caused the motor to overheat (since one would expect the motor to be completely enclosed).
Well, if your previous dishwasher did fine then, I seriously doubt it’s your cold water line that was accidentally tapped into. Still wouldn’t hurt to check though, it takes about a minute to find out. Simply locate the flexible hose coming from your dishwasher and should be up under your sink. See if it taps into the cold or hot water line. It’s actually not that big of a deal to fix if this was the case. You wouldn’t even have to pull the dishwasher, the work would be done under the kitchen sink.
I re-read your posts, and your initial hunch may have been right all along; I’m thinking now it’s your heating element, but not necessary that it is bad (don’t rule it out though). My guess, is that if it never heated up properly from the get-go, there is a good chance they simply forgot or didn’t want to bother to wire it up at the dishwasher. You’d need to pull it out to find out. Basics first. Locate the circuit breaker to at least make sure they turned it back on there too, most dishwashers I believe have their own circuit breaker. Naturally have it off when you’re doing the wiring.
Dual water models may first pre-charge the hot water line by pumping water in that line into the cold water line till it is hot. They sell something like that specifically for faucets also, so the hot water line gets hot without wasting water. It may also be for a cold water rinse and hold.
In general the DW’s in the US that I know of are plumbed to the hot water line, the heat element brings the water temp up further.
If you are not getting the steam cloud, and especially if the dishes are not getting clean, something appears wrong, either the heat element is not working or the thermostat that controls it is not working. Or perhaps you have it set wrong, or maybe plumbed to the wrong line and the heating element can not get the water hot enough in the short time, thus everything is cool, and thus the drying does not work right, as normally the drying cycle depends on hot wet dishes, not cold wet dishes.
First, hot water doesn’t “bake” food on. If anything, it removes it more effectively. Anyone who’s hand-washed dishes knows that, and dishwasher manuals explicitly point out that they raise the temperature on the heavy soil cycles to better remove crud from dishes.
Dishwasher manuals also specify that 120 is the MINIMUM temp for effective cleaning, not the max. My manual makes a point in the troubleshooting section to make sure that the incoming water temp is at least 120, especially for hard-to-remove soils.
And as far as drying is concerned, the big things are to make sure that your water temp is high enough, make sure you use rinse aid (it lets water spread out and not bead up, thereby increasing surface area and decreasing drying time), and not expecting plastic items to actually be dry, regardless of what other methods you may employ.
The way that dishwashers typically dry stuff is to get them pretty hot and let the water evaporate off the surface. Plastic items don’t hold as much heat as metal or ceramic items, so they don’t stay hot enough for items to actually dry, and they’re more prone to condensation as temps cool off as well.
I don’t know if it’s so much that they don’t hold heat as it is that water adheres to plastic better. I have a friend in the bottling business and when I took a tour of his plant he showed me the bottle washer and then had an explanation for why they don’t wash the plastic bottles that had something to with the water not dripping back off like it does on glass.
Those American SDopers that said the dishwasher should be plumbed-up to the hot water supply are correct per various install manuals. And, rechecking my own, it is plumbed correctly! (My friend who said otherwise is just plumb crazy!)
