Our dishwasher stopped working, rather suddenly. It seems like not enough water is entering it to power the blades, or even to dissolve the detergent.
Maybe it can be fixed?
Any advice on fixing it would be greatly appreciated.
Barring that, I’m also looking for advice on new dishwashers. I suspect I’m out of luck, as the thing that bothers me most about my last two dishwashers is how freaking long the cycle is, and i think that’s gotten even worse. But i guess “does a good job cleaning, easy to load dishes into, not too noisy” are all features I’d value. Also, a dishwasher that doesn’t have a filter I need to clean by hand. I think some have a built in disposal? Anyway, i really hate reaching into the bowels of the dishwasher to remove nasty gunk, but I also don’t want my dishwasher to stink.
They consistently get the highest ratings, they’re very quiet, even the cheapest and “loudest,” and they’re easy to use. We’ve now owned two (in two different houses), and have had no problems.
The cycle length is more a function of the newer detergents (no phosphates, plenty of enzymes) and energy-saving reasons. ALL of them seem to have absurdly long cycles nowadays, and the “fast” cycle doesn’t do a very good job I find. So you may be out of luck in that regard.
Our KitchenAid (KDPE334GPS) that we got in early 2019 has been fantastic however. Better than our old Maytag was for sure.
Yeah, we’ve had a few Bosch dishwashers in a couple of homes, and they’ve all been fantastic. SUPER-quiet and no troubles with them at all.
So quiet, in fact, that they have a small red LED light that projects down onto the floor so that you can tell when it’s running. Almost impossible to tell otherwise.
Another vote for Bosch. Ours has a 30 minute cycle option and the guy who installed ours said most people never have need for one of the longer cycles. We haven’t either. I hated the GE dishwasher that came with our house mostly because it was so noisy; it’s really true that you can’t tell the Bosch is running by the sound. Ours counts down the minutes from 30 and that’s the only way to tell. Don’t mess with repairs is my advice; it’s always expensive and temporary. Buy a Bosch!
Our Bosch does an excellent job and is quiet as a mouse. It does take a long time, but we run it overnight.
We only use it maybe once every three weeks, and only then because my gf insists we run it. I prefer just washing dishes by hand (I’m likely in the minority, but I don’t mind doing dishes).
Another vote for Bosch.
Ours was in the house when we moved in 15 years ago and is still going strong*.
(although we only use it occasionally - eg about once a month)
correct. No error code, no indication of any error, in fact. Except it doesn’t make much noise and when it says the cycle is done, everything is still dry and dirty
These two videos by one of my favorite YouTubers touch on a bunch of important points about how dishwashers work, how best to use them, what not to do, etc.
If you don’t care to spend about 80 minutes in the subject, here is my TL;DW:
The normal cycle on most dishwashers includes a prewash, and for best results you should put some detergent in the prewash cup. If your DW doesn’t have one (cough, cough, Bosch), just pour a little extra detergent on the door before you close it.
Don’t use detergent pods! Use gel detergent, or better, powder. (Yes, they’re getting harder to find because of the dominance of pods.)
Your don’t need to fill the main wash cup with detergent. Vary according to the load.
There are some other points, but I hit reply by accident, and I’m in the edit window, so I’ll add them later, as I remember them.
I also love my Bosch. It does have a filter you need to clean, but it’s easily accessible.
As far as problems with the current dishwasher, I was able to get an old dishwasher working again by clearing the mineral deposits from the blades. We have very hard water here.
A common problem with dishwashers (and clothes washers, too) is that the fill valve gets plugged. They are fairly easy to replace.
I would start your dishwasher, and open the door after 2 minutes or so, and see if there is any water in the bottom, and if the spray arms are spraying water. If not, pour a some water in the bottom, close the door, and see if water is spraying around.
If it is the fill valve, post the model # and I’ll look up the fill valve part #.
We got a Miele when we remodeled over 20 years ago, and it’s still going strong. We wanted a quiet one, because our kitchen, while not exactly open to the living room, only has archways – no closable doors. Our old dishwasher was horribly noisy. Really annoying. The only noise we notice with the Miele is when the water is draining, and the sound comes up from the disposal. I guess if we put a cover on it that might help.
