You should know that there are many problems that can and should be avoided by doing some very simple and easy regular maintenance on your dishwasher. Nine out of ten times these three common problems can be fixed or avoided by doing some simple and easy dishwasher repairs that will save you money in the San Joaquin County or anywhere you need a dishwasher. These repairs will work on many models of dishwashers like; Maytag, Whirlpool, Samsung, Lg, Frigidaire, Bosch etc…
The common problems that you can avoid by do- it -yourself dishwasher repairs and maintenance yourself are when your dishwasher won’t get the dishes clean, if it won’t start or if it leaks.
The labor will take you an Hour or less on these repairs and or maintenance, and the complexity is at the beginner level of repair skills. These repairs will only cost you 20 dollars U.S.$ That could change beacsuse of inflation though! It is a really good idea to save some money on repair costs these days as the price of everything seems to have mushroomed overnight. Bargain Appliance repairs in Lodi California wants you to save the 70 $ cost of a routine service call if you want to do it yourself.
What can I do to diagnose the problem?
The first thing you can do to fix it yourself is know how a dishwasher works. The dishwasher works as 2 or three gallons of water flood the basin of the dishwasher where the water is mixed with the detergent and rinse aids. This mixture is then pumped through the carousel that rotates and sprays the solution on the dishes. There is usually two of these carousels with one beneath each dish rack. After the dishes have been sprayed by cleaning solution, they are then run the clean water rinse cycle to wash off all the detergent. This cycle is often repeated many times. There is a heating element at the bottom of the water reservoir that keeps the water hot according to the temperature settings. The heating element helps dry the dishes when the dry cycle kicks in after all the wash rinse cycling.
Removing the carousel sprayer
On this model and many others, you will have to remove the spray arm of the carousel. Some models will just pop out of a clip others you will have to remove a cap by twisting it off, clockwise usually.
Diagnose the basic operation of the dishwasher
· Your dishes might not get clean if you are overloading the dishwasher. You can check the manufactures specification for max loading capacity by going to their website or the instruction manual (if you still have it).
· Make sure both carousels are free to spin, commonly silverware will fall through the cracks in the wash racks and cause an obstruction to the movement of the spray arm kind of like throwing a wrench in the spokes of a bicycle wheel when it’s trying to turn.
· Many times, our dishes won’t get clean because we don’t use the right kind of detergent. Check what kind your model requires.
· Are you rinsing your dishes before putting them in the washer? While the washer can handle little bits of food, too much on your dishes gets clogged in the food catch and can cause the dishes to not get clean.
· If your water is “hard” with a high total dissolved salt content then you will have spotting on your dishes. You can get a rinse aid to help with getting the spots off the dishes, Jett Dry is an example.
If you don’t have a water softening system, you might consider installing one because it will help get your dishwasher to clean better.
· Is the dishwasher getting the water hot enough? Many dishwashers will be able to heat the water with their heating element but there are many models that rely on the house hot water heater. Check dishwasher manufacturer’s specification for hot water heater temperature setting to ensure the water is hot enough to clean the dishes well during a wash cycle. If your water temp is not hot enough then you may have to raise the thermostat on the water heater, we don’t recommend that it goes higher than 120 deg f. If you have to go higher than that to get the dishes clean you might need to replace the dishwasher with a better heating element so that you won’t risk scolding hot water temperatures from the water heater.
Cleaning the Sprayers
To clean the water spray carousel, twist the cap clockwise usually, that is to the right if you are looking down on the cap. Sometimes debris will get caught in the carousel, could be plastic or rubber or food stuck in there. You might need some needle nose pliers to pull the stuff out of there. The pump picks this stuff up and pumps it to the carousel where it gets clogged causing the sprayer not to work. If you ever hear the loud noise with a grinding sound during operation you probably got some broken glass stuck in the pump. If you, do you will need to unscrew the pump cover to remove the glass or whatever debris is stuck in the pump.
Cleaning the float switch
In the case that your dishwasher’s water level is not rising high enough to reach the heating element then the float switch is not working correctly. You will want to open it up and check to see if needs to be cleaned. If there is gunk stuck in there it will make the float get stuck and prevent the dishwasher from filling with enough water. You should be able to find the float switch in lower front of the machine. Clean the float so that it can slide up and down freely.
Clean the dishwasher valve screen
The Last thing that you can check if you’re dishwasher is having problems getting the dishes clean is if the water intake valve screen has become clogged. The most common indication that the screen needs cleaning is if the water level is not right. Since you already checked the float switch is working, you will now know that you need to check this intake screen and clean it, as the float could cause the water level problem also.
You will want to check the water level of the dishwasher, to do this you will want to shut the door on the dishwasher and turn it on. Let the machine run until it is done filling on the second cycle. Now open the door and check to see if the water level has submersed the heating element. If it does not it is too low, you will need to proceed to clean the intake screen.
To be safe when cleaning the screen you will need to cut the power to the machine because you will be UN hooking some wires. You will also need to turn off the water supply to the dishwasher. The shut off valve is located near or under the sink at the hot water supply. The intake valve (screen) should be located on the underneath the dishwasher near the front
You will have to remove the panels to get to the valve to disconnect it and clean the screen. If you have an old machine then you should just replace the valve with a new one. This is a very inexpensive part so why not? This is standard procedure for most appliance repair men. So disconnect all the wires mark what wire go where with tape or white out so you know where all the wires go back together. Now you can disassemble the valve and clean the screen or maybe just simply replace the old valve with the new one. Last thing to is flush the supply tube by putting the end of the tube in a pot filled with water and turn on the pump and have sediment and debris flushed out before putting everything back together.
Now you can run a load of dishes and test to see how clean they get. Nine out of ten times this should fix the problem. In the 1 time out of ten that this does not fix the problem you will need to consult a professional repairman Bargain Appliance Repairs for an estimate on fixing this machine.
