The short answer
Because most modern machines dry with residual heat rather than with a separate element, poor drying is frequently a rinse-aid and loading issue while genuinely cold washing is a heater issue. The ranking below keeps those apart. On a Aviva dishwasher the order below is what makes this page worth reading — the causes are ranked for this kind of machine, not listed alphabetically.
What this looks like from the front
- Dishes are greasy and the interior is cold at the end — That is a wash-heat fault. Grease needs temperature, and its absence is the clearest indicator.
- Dishes are clean but soaking wet — A drying fault, which on most machines is rinse aid and airflow rather than a heater.
- Plastics are wet while china is dry — Entirely normal on a condensation-drying machine — plastic does not hold the heat that evaporates the water.
- The cycle runs much longer than it used to — The machine is waiting to reach a temperature it cannot reach.
- NEAR MISS — the machine does not fill at all — Then heating is not the issue; the fill is, and that is a different page.
Ranked causes on this platform
- Rinse aid empty or set too low — First for the drying complaint, and it is the one people dismiss. Rinse aid changes how water sheets off the surface; without it the film stays put no matter how hot the machine got.
- Loading blocking heat and airflow — Second. Cups that trap water, items shielding others and an over-packed lower basket all defeat drying on a machine that dries by residual heat.
- Flow-through heater or element failure — Third, and this is the genuine hardware cause: the heater simply stops working, the machine keeps running, and everything comes out cold and greasy.
- Thermostat or sensor misreading — Fourth. A sensor reporting water as already hot prevents the heater ever being energised, so the machine behaves perfectly and washes cold.
The diagnostic order
- Open the door immediately at the end of a cycle — Steam and hot dishes mean the wash heated and the fault is drying. A cold, damp interior means the water never got hot.
- Check the rinse-aid reservoir and its setting — Free, thirty seconds, and it fixes a large share of drying complaints on its own.
- Look at whether plastics alone are wet — If only plastics are wet, nothing is wrong with the machine and no repair is needed.
Step by step, within the safe boundary
- Fill the rinse-aid reservoir and raise the dosing setting — Use the dial inside the reservoir cap. Give it a few cycles before judging the result.
About 10 min
- Reload with drying in mind — Angle cups and bowls so water runs off, keep items apart, and do not stack the lower basket above the spray path.
About 10 min
- Run the hottest programme with the machine empty — Feel the interior straight after. This separates a heating fault from a loading habit conclusively.
About 90 min
- Clean the filter and the spray arms — Poor water circulation reduces heat transfer as well as cleaning, so this matters for both symptoms.
Tools: soft brushAbout 25 min
- Open the door slightly at the end of the cycle — On a condensation-drying machine this is the manufacturer-intended way to finish drying, not a workaround.
About 5 min
- STOP before testing the heater or the thermostat — Both are mains-side components in a wet cabinet.
Before you open anything
Safety
Disconnect the power at the breaker and close the inlet tap before you open anything. Expect standing water in the sump and put towels down first; a wet floor around a powered machine is the real hazard here, not the repair itself. The door lock stays connected exactly as the factory wired it.
The line between a fix and a call
Book a visit when the interior is genuinely cold at the end of a hot programme with the filter and spray arms clean — that is the heater or its control, and both need the machine opened up. Say whether the dishes are greasy or merely wet: greasy means the wash never got hot, wet means the wash was fine and the drying is the issue, and those two send a technician to different parts of the machine.
Other faults on this appliance
Generalized information
This page is generalized across the Aviva dishwasher line: it covers the appliance class rather than one family or one model line. Where a family- or model-specific page exists for your unit it is the better answer and it is linked from this page — check the model label before you rely on anything here. What is deliberately not on this page: wiring colours, board part numbers, torque figures and teardown order, all of which differ by family and belong on the page for that family.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
