Yes, I have that exact DW and it does of course dry your dishes or noone would buy it. The condensation drying works in fact amazingly well.

If you will really mind having a few drops occasionlly remain in the rim of your plastics then don't get it. That's a small tradeoff for never having to wash your plastics by hand for fear that your heated dry DW will warp them.

I like not having a hot air blower heat the place up in summer, using unnecessary energy.

I just installed a SHE68E15UC Bosch DW in place of a conventional American style dw with bottom heating element. My plastic ware doesn't melt in the bottom rack now, but the plastic ware doesn't get dry either. Metal and ceramic items we've washed seem to dry pretty well.

This is all without supplemental rinse-aid which I understand will assist in the drying process. I have been unable to find separate rinse aid at my local Wal-Mart. I have used the Electrasol tabs with rinse-aid built it and also the Electrasol tabs with the powerball.

I programmed the DW to utilize the intensive drying feature.. whatever that is.

I am not displeased thus far but am interested to see if the rinse-aid will improve plastic ware drying.

I'm using auto wash and sanitize options which have a 3+ hour runtime.

We are amazed that this DW is so much quieter than the old one.

Where would be a Wal-Mart that doesn't carry dishwasher rinse aid? The store here carries two or three kinds (Cascade and JetDry).

If a dishwasher has a drying feature (such as the turbo fan drying system by Asko), can one run a load with plastics without activating that feature? If one could decide when to use a drying system, I think this would be the best of both worlds.

In lieu of Jet-Dry, I'm gonna try some distilled white vinegar for a rinse aid.

Where did you hear that vinegar could be used as a rinse aid in Bosch DW's? I'm anxious to hear your results; that would be good to know.

Rinse aid seems to be available in most every market, drug, hardware, discount store I've seen - and my plastics are mostly dry every time, even with the hard water I have. Glasses, dishes etc are truly sparkling clean.

I do find that cracking open the door at the end of the cycle works best for me but it's not a requirement.

I found the reference here:
http://www.enviromom.com/2007/10/use-white-vineg.html

But my results were unsatisfactory. Plastic was still very wet after about 6 hours from the beginning of the autowash cycle.

I thought at first I'd forgotten to program the rinse aid thinking the factory default was off (R:00). But when I checked the programming, it was set at R:05 (heavy).

There was no vinegar smell at all but plastic ware was still very wet.

I tested our water with the test strip which accompanied the new DW. It tested out with 1 red dot... so no salt is needed. I have no idea what setting for the rinse aid should be used... light, medium, or heavy. There's little guidance in the OM.

I use normal wash or quick wash, never have used auto. Setting for the Jet Dry is 3.5 and that has worked fine from day one, even with our hard city water. I crack the door open when it beeps if I am around.

"I programmed the DW to utilize the intensive drying feature.. whatever that is."

The intensive drying feature raises the final rinse temperature so the dishes get hotter and thus dry better. On the European models, it raises the final rinse from 149°F to 158°F.

Vinegar will really only help to reduce spotting related to lime - it does not improve drying. That's what rinse aid is for: is causes the water to form a thin film of water on the dishes, rather than droplets, which dries faster and without spots. Vinegar can't do this.

You'll have to experiment with the rinse aid setting. When I use the rather thick Electrasol/Finish Turbo Dry rinse aid, seting no. 1 is enough to dry the dishes. Before that, I used rather thin, watery rinse aid and I had to set the dispenser to 2 or 3.

On the ASKO: the fan cannot be disabled. What it does is gradually suck warm, moist air out of the tub during the drying cycle. The fan cannot be disabled. However, ASKO's drying system does not involve an extra heater - only the fan - so it won't wrap plastic items (just like the Bosch's condensation system).

Thanks for that info whirlpool trainee. The OM could be a bit more informative. ;-)

Well the vinegar was an experiment. My local Wal-Mart is out of Jet-Dry... or any other kind of rinse aid... which is why I couldn't find it there initially. I need to check some other places and will try a dedicated rinse aid when I get the notification the vinegar is out. Or is there some way to flush it out of the system without waiting for it to be used up? Just program it for the heaviest setting?

Plastic remains wet, but all other dishes and glassware is dry at the end of the cycle. However, the stainless steel tub is soaking wet. Certain things (like pans) have water spots. I just got my Bosch a few days ago, and this is what I am noticing so far.

Barbara Mazzocca,

Are you using rinse aid? It's required for proper drying performance. The condensation drying method (no direct heating element for drying) will typically have the machine's tank wet at immediate end of the cycle. Opening the door and leaving it ajar will promote evaporation of the residual moisture.