We just had our gas Dryer and dishwasher serviced from Mario at Northern Appliance Parts & Service.  Call him by the way at 905-476-1314 - he's trustworthy and fair and we've used him before.  It wasn't heating up properly.  Mario took off the front cover (which by the way the Sears guy did not do).  Much to my surprise the enormous amount of lint that was in there had signs of being on fire!  There were charred pieces of lint evident - that was a bit of a shocker!  I mean I had heard that fires are caused by dryers but you don't really think of it.  His recommendation - clean it every fall just before the heavy winter use starts.  And don't forget to go out and clean off the exhaust vent.  We're going to let him come back and clean it properly. 

As far as the dishwasher goes, his tip was to run the hot water at the sink first, sort of a primer to get the hot water closer to the dishwasher, then start it.  He thought that would improve performance.

We're off to Lowes's to get a new dishwasher and don't forget to give Mario a call if you need appliance service.