Dishwashers are an absolute lifesaver for people who spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but it’s no secret that the dishes can take a while to dry afterward. According to the experts, following viral trends to try and dry the dishes faster is likely to do more harm than good.

A dishwasher hack for drying dishes has been gathering popularity on social media in recent years. The hack involves using a dry tea towel and placing it on the inside of the dishwasher door just after a cycle and then closing the dishwasher.

The tea towel is ostensibly meant to absorb the steam and remaining moisture inside the dishwasher. However, the problem with the hack is that it doesn’t work.

Corey McMullan from McMullan Appliances & Mattress explained why the hack is more likely to ruin your dishwasher in a recent TikTok video where he reacted to another TikTok that features the hack.

@mcmullanappliance #stitch with @Jess | Neurodivergent Momtok #appliances #dishwasher #hack #junkbin #dry #drying #dishes ♬ original sound – McMullan Appliance & Mattress

In the video, McMullan can be seen denouncing the hack as “ridiculous” and stating that people only believe the hack works due to “confirmation bias”.

“If you’re putting a towel on your dishwasher door to dry your dishes faster that’s ridiculous and the towel isn’t doing anything,” McMullan says in the video.

“As a matter of fact you’re risking damaging the door latch, the door or the hinges on your dishwasher.”

The rubber seals of a dishwasher are comparatively fragile and any objects placed between the seals on the door and the machine are likely to damage the seal.

McMullan slams the hack as “completely ineffective” and “meaningless”. He also says that the poster of the original video @adhdandapplesauce should not be spreading misinformation that could cause other people to damage their own appliances.

McMullan then compares the hack to expecting a towel inside a bathroom to absorb all of the moisture in the room after a steamy shower. The comments section of the video agreed with McMullan’s assessment of the hack.

Many people questioned why the original poster did not simply open the dishwasher after the cycle was finished in order to let all the steam and moisture escape. Others pointed out that the towel would be better used to manually dry the dishes instead.

The original poster later created a video in which she told people to listen to McMullan instead.