Kitchen Appliances

Three At-home Repairs on Your Dishwasher
Several dishwasher repairs can be done without calling a professional. These self-repair jobs can save you a great deal of
money in service calls and mark up prices on parts. Depending on the specific problem, you could have your dishwasher fixed
in a few minutes rather than waiting for days for a repair technician to fit you into his/her schedule. Here are a few
general guidelines to fixing three common dishwasher problems.
1. Draining To fix a dishwasher that is not draining well due to a faulty drain hose, you will need to straighten or replace the drain
hose. For safety, first turn off the power supply to the dishwasher. Even though you are not working with electrical parts,
you could still be shocked accidentally. Then, turn off the water supply. To get to the pump and drain hose connection, you
will take off the lower panel. Use something to catch water from the drain hose as you remove the clamp to take the drain
hose off the pump. With that end off, go back under the sink and disconnect the other end from the garbage disposal or drain
pipe. Working in reverse, clamp the new hose into place on both ends. To test it, turn the water and power back on and run
the dishwasher while checking for proper draining and/or leaks in the new drain hose.
2. Leaking Door
If the dishwasher door is leaking, you have two things to check: the door gasket and the door catch.
door catch enough to allow you to reposition the catch and tighten them back when you are done.

dishwasher at a service center or online. Once you have the right door gasket, turn off the power supply to the dishwasher to
prevent accidental shock while you are working. Opening the door, take out the bottom dish rack. If the gasket is held in
place with screw tabs, loosen those to pry out the old, damaged door gasket. While you are doing this, have the new gasket
soaking in warm soapy water to make it easier to work with. After you get the old gasket out completely, start putting the
new door gasket in its track from the center of the door working towards the ends. Retighten the screw tabs and you go.
3. Filling Problems For a dishwasher with filling problems, you will need to inspect the water inlet valve solenoid and the screen. Of course,
turn of the power supply before beginning any work on the dishwasher and then turn off the water supply. Take off the access
panel and find the water connection. First, test the solenoid by removing the wires from the valve and connecting it to a
continuity tester. If the solenoid does no make the tester glow, it is bad and needs to be replaced. If it shows up as
working, you probably need to replace the inlet valve screen. To do this, you need to put a catch pan under the valve to
collect any water that may be trapped, take of the fill tube, and disconnect the water supply hose. Unscrew and remove the
valve so that you can pry out the screen with a screwdriver. Put the new screen in and reconnect the valve, hoses, and panel.
You can then test the dishwasher by turning on the power and water and running a full cycle.
4. Beyond Repair or Updating
If the old dishwasher is beyond repairing or you are ready to update to a newer model of dishwasher, you will need to
carefully remove the old dishwasher. Before replacing a dishwasher with a newer model, check that your plumbing and
electrical wiring have been updated to service a newer model dishwasher. Once that is established you should turn the power
off at the main and turn the water supply off before beginning the removal of the old dishwasher. All lines and wires must
first be disconnected. Take the drain hose off the garbage disposal or drain pipe under the sink. If the dishwasher has a
power cord, you need to unplug it. If the dishwasher is hardwired, you have to open the access panel and electrical junction
box. Remove the wire nuts and disconnect the black and white wires. Also remove the ground screw to disconnect the green
ground wire. Use a catch pan while disconnecting the water supply line. Once all of these lines and wires have been
disconnected, you can take out the screws and brackets that hold the dishwasher in its place and carefully pull out the old
dishwasher.
Following these general guidelines, you can determine if the problem is something that you can fix on your own. You will need
to refer to your dishwasher’s repair manual to make sure that you follow all necessary steps for your particular brand. Be
sure to use safety precautions of turning off the power supply every time that you work on your dishwasher, or any other
appliance. If at any time you feel that the repair task is beyond your skill level, it is best to call a professional. Of
course, if the dishwasher is still under warranty, you are required to use an authorized repair technician to keep from
voiding the warranty.

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