My dishwasher drain keeps getting stopped up. The pump gets gunked up, and won’t pump out previous cycles’ water.
I’ve cleaned it manually (no small feat), and am now sure deeper cleaning is needed to keep the pump pumping.
But knowing how caustic drain cleaners are, and that I have a simple plastic accordian hose draining, I’m loathe to just pour Drano in and have it melt my drain line.
But there gotta be something, as I’m sure we’re not the only people to have this problem.
do you have an air gap at your sink that the DW drain hose goes to? If so disassemble it first. I once had the exact same problem and it wasn’t the drain hose but rather the air gap was plugged. Also not all air gaps are created equal. The home depot model didn’t have a big enough hole and would not pass the water fast enough. I went to a plumbing supply store and now all is well.
I’m not sure about the air gap; my father-in-law installed the unit. I’ll take a look in the AM to see. Thanx.
An air gap is usually a little knob like thing that sticks above the sink. Might make a gurgling sound when the DW drains.
If you don’t see anything that looks like this on the back of your sink, look under the sink and see how the drain line is hooked in. Does it go straight from the DW to the disposal, or does it go up to the back of the sink first? If it goes straight to the disposal, no air gap. If it goes via the sink, you have an air gap.
Good Luck
I have used CLR successfully in my dishwasher, although that was more a case of heavy calcium deposits (Calgary has notoriously hard water), by running it through a full cycle.