Beko DW686 - Fan Drying - Condensation of Floor - Normal?

[leccyblue]

Hi All,

Our dishwasher packed up recently so we bought the Which recommended Beko DW686 to replace the old one.

I installed it on Saturday morning, and ran it for the first time. After the cycle had finished, I noticed that the floor to the right of the unit, underneath the kitchen cabinet felt wet to the touch.

I pulled the dishwasher out and inspected all the connections etc and could see no signs of leaks.

So I ran the unit again and kept a close eye on it. The floor stayed dry the whole time through, until the 'turbo fan' kicked in during the drying cycle. I noticed then, that there is an exhaust outlet at the rear of the dishwasher, at the bottom on the right hand side. This was kicking out hot, damp air - which was condensing on the cold floor and the cold pipes.

Now, before I phone Beko I was wondering if this is considered normal? Obviously if a fan runs I'd expect there to be an outlet somewhere - but shouldn't this be filtered somehow to remove the moisture?

At the moment I still have all the plinths off and the corner post (dishwasher is next to a corner unit) so air can circulate and the floor dries within 20 mins or so - but concerned that once all of this is back on it will stay wet and get mouldy etc

Any thoughts appreciated!

Thanks
Andy.

 

[leccyblue]

Anyone any thoughts on this please before I contact the manufacturer?
Thanks

 

[Graeme Macdonald]

Hi Andy - having exactly the same condensation issue you described with a newly installed Beko DIN28R22 - I was wondering if you ever got your problem resolved?

Thanks,

Graeme

 

[leccyblue]

Hi Graeme,

Beko sent an engineer, who took the sides off and concluded there was no fault. He was surprised at the design, and said he would speak to Beko. Beko said that this was the intended design?! I said I wasn't happy and they authorised me to return to AO for a refund. I then bought the next model down, which is the same but without the turbo fan drying feature. It has performed brilliantly.

It amazes me that they are still designing them like this?! There must be some horrendous mould and damp under people's kitchen cupboards who own these!

 

[Graeme Macdonald]

Hi Andy,

Thanks so much for replying and saving me having to go through the same process with Beko.

As you say, incredible that the steam is designed to vent out the back of machine - would never have bought it if I'd known.

Odd that the manual doesn't mention it at all. It does mention the door automatically opening during the drying phase to vent steam, but it appears that doesn't apply to my model as it doesn't have the "door opening shafts".

I now face the decision of whether to try and live with it and perhaps direct the steam elsewhere, or do as you did and return (also to AO.com) - neither option very satisfactory and both a huge hassle.

Also strange that in all my google searches yours is the only mention of the issue that I could find - as you say, there must be thousands of these machines installed blowing steam into the back of kitchen cabinets. Maybe everyone else is blissfully unaware - I only discovered the problem with mine by chance when trying to work out why the red light shining on the floor was obscured!

Cheers,

Graeme

 

[leccyblue]

Yeah, terrible design! I personally found the drying phase a bit of a gimmick anyway to be honest. It sounded good on paper, but our pots are dry anyway if you leave the door shut for a couple of hours after running and use rinse aid. The only way this would be useful would be if you wanted to be able to empty the dishwasher sooner, but in that case you could just open the door. I personally prefer the steam to stay inside the machine to condense and drain away. What they need to do is incorporate a heat pump instead to speed up the drying process. We have a Beko tumble dryer that does this and it's awesome.

 

[MJN]

I wouldn't normally bump such an old thread but, well, Graeme did it first, and besides this really does seem to be the only thread on the subject on the entire Internet!

Our Blomberg ('posh' Beko) LDV42244 also has this drying fan which exhausts to the rear and I happened to notice it was causing condensation under the cupboards recently. I've never previously noticed it, but then it does require the right (cold) conditions and we've been without kickboards for over a year so it was probably dispersing before. There wasn't much - certainly not quite at the level of dripping - but over enough time it might become an issue. It seems like a bit of a poor design given that under/behind the cupboards will be cooler for many installations given them being somewhat sheltered from the heated parts of the room, and I note that some other makes have the fan in the door and it vents out of the front/bottom which I think wouldn't be so much of an issue.

I'm not all that convinced the drying fan adds all that much benefit and so I've opted to disconnect it (quite easy to get at from the front access panel so no need to remove the machine) and will just leave it to dry from the residual heat as per previous machines we've had. The added benefit is avoidance of the 30mins of fan noise which in our open plan room was a slight annoyance to what is otherwise a really quiet and well performing machine.