# My dishwasher seems to defy the laws of physics. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 6, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dishwasher-seems-to-defy-the-laws-of-physics/844466 "2019-12-06T15:27:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dishwasher-seems-to-defy-the-laws-of-physics/844466/1 "2019-12-06T15:27:10Z")
I feel like I’ve found a glitch in the matrix. Just to the right of my kitchen faucet, I’ve got one of those things that spits out the water into the sink whenever the dishwasher drains. Well, it’s not spiting out water anymore but the dishwasher still seems to be working just fine. So… back up draining system I guess? Is this anything I need to worry about? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dishwasher-seems-to-defy-the-laws-of-physics/844466/2 "2019-12-06T15:36:53Z")
I’s worry about where my water is going. It’s possible that it’s working properly, and going somewhere you can’t see it, but I’d find out exactly where it’s going. Because if it’s obeying the laws of physics, the water is definitely going somewhere, and you could be in for a nasty surprise one day if it’s going into your woodwork or your foundation. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dishwasher-seems-to-defy-the-laws-of-physics/844466/3 "2019-12-06T16:02:31Z")
Thanks, I can hear the water running through the garbage disposal. So I know the water is going down the drain. I just thought the only way to get there was through that thing to the right of my sink. ---
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dishwasher-seems-to-defy-the-laws-of-physics/844466/4 "2019-12-06T16:09:13Z")
IANAPlumber, but I recently replaced my air gap as part of a sink repair. The air gap is not the main drain for your dishwasher and should not have been spitting water into your sink all the time. There may have been a clog somewhere that was forcing the water through the air gap, which is mainly a backflow preventer. That clog may now be gone and your drain may working correctly. Or you may have had a kink in the drain hose that was restricting flow, causing water to go through the air gap. On the other hand, you may have a leak somewhere. When the dishwasher drains, can you hear/see the water going down the drain? ETA: I see you can verify it’s draining. You are probably okay, but you should look for leaks while the dishwasher is running. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dishwasher-seems-to-defy-the-laws-of-physics/844466/5 "2019-12-06T16:12:35Z")
**Stretch** has it right. [Water Coming Out of the Dishwasher Air Gap | MisterFix-It.com](http://misterfix-it.com/water-coming-out-of-the-dishwasher-air-gap/) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dishwasher-seems-to-defy-the-laws-of-physics/844466/6 "2019-12-06T16:15:38Z")
Another agreement with stretch. That’s an airgap. If water is coming out of it, there’s a problem. One of the main reasons it’s sitting right there on your sink is so if there’s a problem (like a clog between it and the disposal connection) all the water spits into your sink instead of wherever else it’s mounted. The other main reason it’s mounted there is so that it’s higher than the top of your sink. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dishwasher-seems-to-defy-the-laws-of-physics/844466/7 "2019-12-06T16:30:36Z")
Maybe yours _actually_ works the way my wife seems to think ours does: that when you turn the machine on, what happens is a bunch of little gnomes run out and painstakingly hand-scrub everything you’ve put in there, no matter _how_ you’ve put it in there, then they carefully return everything back exactly the way it was loaded. Except if it worked that way, the dishes would all come out clean, and not, bafflingly, only the items that the water could spray. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dishwasher-seems-to-defy-the-laws-of-physics/844466/8 "2019-12-06T16:53:57Z")
Thanks guys. How ironic. This whole time I _should’ve_ been worried and I wasn’t. And now that the problem has fixed itself I worry! ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dishwasher-seems-to-defy-the-laws-of-physics/844466/9 "2019-12-06T18:51:24Z")
In a properly-working world, water will NOT come out of the vents on a dishwasher air gap. I think **stretch** managed to add a “not” by mistake - the dishwasher’s one and only drain runs through the air gap on the way to either the drain pipe or into the side of the disposer, if you have one. At my partner’s house, the air gap had been spitting out water for so long that he or his housemate put some putty on the sink to corral the water and run it into the sink rather than go sideways onto the countertop. I pulled the hose running between it and the disposer off and cleared a bunch of old gunge that had accumulated near the disposer end of the hose. No more squirting.