Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dishwasher

What does the "H" button do on our dishwasher?

hAndrew — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:49:34 -0800

We don't have the manual available for the dishwasher in our rented apartment, and it has two mysterious buttons (in addition to other controls that make sense to me). One is labelled "H", the other is labelled 45 (degrees) C. What do they do? I can guess that 45 (degrees) C refers to a lower temperature of some part of the process, though I don't know which. I have no compelling ideas about the "H". I tried searching for the manual online, unsuccessfully.

A hard water rain's gonna fall in my dishwasher.

mecran01 — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:27:46 -0800

We have hard water and I've had to pull apart our dishwasher to clean out water deposits and gunk. Is there any way to limit accumulations without buying a water softener? I keep seeing references, in the UK, to special baskets that fit in the dishwasher and hold water softening salt. Is something like this available in the US and would it work to reduce deposits in my dishwasher?

New dishwasher?

RandlePatrickMcMurphy — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:04:06 -0800

Should I replace my dishwasher? I have a 3-year-old Kenmore dishwasher. Cost about $400. It used to do an adequate - but not remarkable - job of cleaning the dishes. Then about 3 months ago, it stopped working. A couple of frustrating phone calls convinced me that getting service would cost a couple of hundred bucks and involve a day of waiting for a technician. Google suggested that the fuse was blown; I got the fuse for $10, opened the whole thing up, replaced the fuse, and it worked again.

Then the little door for powder stopped opening; throwing a couple of the dishwashing pellets into the machine on their own seemed to do the trick. Now its stopped working again. I'm guessing its the fuse. Again.

So three questions - first, the objective one: could there be something in my electrical system that is causing the fuse to go out? Short circuit somewhere that is connecting somewhere?

Second, the subjective one: should I just scrap this dishwasher and get a new one? Or get another fuse and fix it again. Maybe try to figure out the trick behind the timing of the soap door. (Anyone?)

Third, the comparative one: if so, what should I get? The low-end Bosch ones go for about $600 at Lowes and sound pretty cool.

Thanks

Would a US dishwasher work on 220v with a transformer?

shimon — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:03:31 -0800

Bringing a US Dishwasher to a 220V-powered country, providing I have a well rated transformer will there be any issues? Bonus points for FUD-less answers :) So assuming I have a sufficiently-well rated transformer, know about the 50/60hz difference and adaptor I need due to the plumbing using different sized pipes...

Will there be any issues? Do US dishwasher manufacturers make assumptions about how hard/soft water is? Does anyone know if modern dishwashers would be affected by the frequency difference?

Has anyone tried to use a US dishwasher with a transformer and ran into issues or lack thereof?

* Pointing at manufacturer's recommendations isn't too helpful - KitchenAid specifically state that their 110V mixers don't work with 220V transformers, yet I've used one with a transformer for years with no ill effect.
** I've checked prices and even with the cost of shipping it makes sound financial sense to import one from the US.

Dishwasher rust repair?

themel — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:59:04 -0800

My decade-old dishwasher's racks have started to rust through some blemishes in their protective coating. Can/should I fix this? I could of course throw out the entire thing, but it feels a bit wasteful to get rid of an entire dishwasher because of a couple of tiny (but, of course, growing) defects. On the other hand, having to clean the rust off my cutlery after every run isn't fun either.

I was thinking of some kind of protective paint, but given the corrosive environment and proximity to my food chain, I feel a bit out of my depth here. Has anyone done this without poisoning their family? What am I looking for?

What is killing our appliances?

missuswayne — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:26:21 -0800

Our appliances are dropping like flies. Is this because of hard water, or is it something more sinister? In the last year we've had to replace the heating element on our recently-installed hot water heater, as well as the heating element in our 3 1/2 year old dishwasher. As of this week, said dishwasher is also facing another repair which will cost $275 (we're just going to buy a new one). All of these problems were caused by deposits from our hard water, according to the repair people we've consulted.

The strange thing is, as far as I know my neighbors aren't having this problem (even though all our water comes from the same sources). Is there something else that could be causing the mineral buildup in our dishwasher and hot water heater?

We're strongly considering buying a water softener (salt or reverse osmosis? I have no idea...) when we get the new dishwasher, but before we do that I'm trying to rule out other possibilities.

Should we bother with a dishwasher and a portable stove?

tavegyl — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:35:23 -0800

Should we look into compact dishwashers and portable gas stoves for our newly rented flat? We're soon to move to a lovely new flat which has one glaring flaw: an electric stove. I can't abide them, but the flat isn't hooked up for gas. Is it practical to have a small countertop propane or other kind of compressed gas stove for wok cooking? Would our landlord object? (We don't want to scare him off by asking but I suppose there might be insurance issues). We don't have a balcony or outside space, just large windows some distance from the open plan kitchen. Any recommendations would be gratefully accepted.

As a reward for finding this lovely place we're also thinking of buying ourselves a slimline or compact dishwasher. I've read through the earlier posts, but -- any recent recommendations or contra-recommendations from the UK? We're skint, and would prefer something inexpensive but which doesn't leak all over our solid wood floors. Our usual dishwashing load: 2-3 each of dinner plates, quarter plates, mugs and bowls plus cutlery and cooking implements. Should we bother? Should we risk Gumtree?

Clinging melted plastic must go!

EatTheWeak — Sun, 03 May 2009 08:38:43 -0800

How do you remove plastic that has melted onto a heating element? A couple weeks ago, a tupperware lid fell from the upper rack in my dishwasher and onto the heating element below. By the time I discovered this, the the lid was split in two, melted where it touched the heating element.

Now, there's a thin layer of plastic clinging to the heating element that smokes when I try to run the washer. I was hoping AskMe might have some advice to offer on how I might remove this plastic from the heating element. I had a notion to run the dishwasher to heat the plastic up and make it soft, but that fume-scented smoke sure makes me nervous. That, and I'm not sure if re-melting it just winds up bonding it tighter.

The reason I haven't dealt with this sooner is that I'm in a cast at the moment, making it quite difficult to get down on the ground and d what must be done. This cast shall be removed soon, and I'll be keen to have my dishwasher back soon after.

Any advice is most appreciated. I cannot afford any professional repair services.

Dishwasher repairman or new one for a 9 year old appliance?

dublin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:01:30 -0800

How do I know whether it makes more sense to get a service call for a dishwasher or bite the bullet and buy a new one? Our 9 year old Whirlpool dishwasher takes 5+ hours to wash (no dry) when it works at all. Sometimes it won't even start. A service repair visit is $75 just for visit besides any fixes, and pricing a comparable dishwasher is about $290. Is it worth it to have a service guy come out? Is this the average life and is this planned obsolescence?

Buying your own appliances is the hot new thing for renters?

ignignokt — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:00:38 -0800

As a tenant, how feasible is buying your own major appliances for a place you're renting? I've been hunting for apartments in Boston, and when I ask whether or not a building has a washer and dryer, I sometimes get the answer, "No, but it does have a hookup for a washer and dryer so you can get your own." They say the same thing about dishwashers sometimes.

This isn't a response I've heard from property managers in Chicago.

So, I guess some tenants actually do this? The thing is, washers and dryers appear to cost at least $300 a piece, then on top of that, there's delivery and installation. And when your lease is up, are you really going to deinstall it and take it with you?

What am I missing? Please shed some light on this mystery. I'll probably ask the next property manager I talk to about it, but they also tell me things like "oil heating than gas heating is better because it's much cleaner burning" so I figure it's good to hear it from people with a less vested interest.

My dishwasher is flippant.

sio42 — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:04:51 -0800

DishwasherFilter: How do I keep plastic containers from flipping over in the dishwasher? I'm afraid of wedging them in there because I've had a dishwasher mold/melt/reshape containers due to the heat. But I'm tired of opening the dishwasher to find that half of the containers have flipped over and are filled with gucky dishwasher water.

There doesn't seem to be a particular area that gets flipped over (bottom or top, one side or the other, edges or middle). It's just pretty much a bunch of them get flipped over.

Ideas?

(i did try searching but only came up with questions about dishwashers the equipment or dishwasher safe. please point in the right direction if previous threads exist.) thanks mefi!

Is my dishwasher on its last legs?

proj — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 18:38:06 -0800

Is my dishwasher's motor toast? My dishwasher makes a terrible intermittent noise through all cycles of the wash that varies in length and intensity. It seems to be coming from the lower-left part of the dishwasher (underneath the dish compartment) and only stops when it has completed all cycles (except drying, which I don't use). It's an older "Hotpoint" dishwasher with no model number written on the front. There doesn't appear to be anything stuck in there. It's been doing this for almost 3 months now and it's SO LOUD.

MOV of sound, ~3.1 MB. Sorry about sendspace.

Is the motor cooked? If so, why has it not gotten any worse over the past three months? If not, what is it?! I live in an apartment and sometimes maintenance is pretty slow so I'd like to fix this myself if possible.

Why ya gotta (phosp)hate

tdischino — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:41:17 -0800

How to counter the effects of phosphate free dishwasher detergent when we have hard water? We recently tried a phosphate free automatic dishwasher detergent. The problem is that the effects of hard water (I'm pretty sure here in the SoCal, we have the hardest water in the nation) are fairly annoying (white-ish film/residue on plastics, spots on glass). We don't have a water softening system, and we don't have issues with the hard water otherwise. Using normal detergent doesn't have this effect. We also use a rinse agent, but it does not seem to help. Is this pointless (trying to be a little more green), or is there a solution?

Commiserations, or suggestions to counter this?

Out, damn spots... I want spotless dishes.

Corky — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:31:09 -0800

Can the white spots on my dishes be removed? My old dishwasher stopped rinsing properly some weeks ago. It started leaving ugly whitish spots and streaks on my dishes. (Sango Nova Blue - two-toned blue dishes that I really like a lot)

Vinegar doesn't remove them. A small test with Soft Scrub shows limited promise, but only limited, and it would take much scrubbing to see any satisfying results. My best efforts still left a ghost mark.

The bottoms of my glasses are cloudy where water sat.

I am the proud owner of a new dishwasher that promises to behave better, but I'd really like to get rid of the unsightly spots on my plates and bowls and glasses.

Give me hope, AskMefites. I don't want to think they are permanently etched.

What can I do about a stuck dishwasher main soap dispenser lid?

criticman — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:44:43 -0800

What can I do about a stuck dishwasher main soap dispenser lid? The main soap dispenser that you fill with your dish washing detergent of preference and close the lid on is stuck closed. I can manually open it, but it fails to open during any of the various wash cycle options. I have instead just been filling it and leaving it open but I know this likely loses the soap in the pre-clean phase (which the un-enclosed dish is intended to be used for). My dishes, however, come out fairly clean.

I was wondering if anyone knows the likely cause OR if any of the pre-packaged dish washer detergent balls/cubes can just be tossed in at the start and successfully make it past the initial pre-clean phase all the way to the primary wash cycle. They all say to put them in the main dispenser and close lid (yet they all say "contain pre-wash cycle cleansers") so I am hoping someone can speak from experience.

It is a Kenmore dishwasher if that matters. If no one has any input, I will just have to call the home warranty company and shell out $65 for them to come fix it (not so worried about the money but arranging to be home from work is an issue).

why are the sippy cups wet?

shothotbot — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:14:56 -0800

Why do the thin, plastic things (ie, ziploc containers) in my dishwasher still wet after the drying cycle when the stainless steal and porcelain things are dry?

Strange sink/dishwasher drainage issues

gwint — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 07:38:11 -0800

Why does my sink only drain when the dishwasher is running? The sink drains fine for half the day, but then slowly but surely begins to clog. But-- if we run the dishwasher, some time in the middle of the cycle the sink will drain and start working properly. Also, occasionally we'll wake up in the morning and there will be about half an inch of brown water in the sink (no bad smell though, so it's not raw sewage) We're on the 5th floor of a 10 story building. I've already dumped a container of Drano down to no effect. Any idea what's going on?

My "current" problem...

mezzanayne — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:19:58 -0800

So I'm installing a new dishwasher. I've yanked the power cable from the old one (not paying a bit of attention as to how it was connected, of course), and now I haven't a clue as to how to attach it to the new one. The cord is a standard 3-prong, part #4317824. There are tons of pictures of it online, but no instructions that I've been able to find so far. Any help?

P.S. This previous post wasn't much help.

We're lazy, I admit it.

TheNewWazoo — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:17:09 -0800

We're contemplating moving into a house with no built-in dishwasher... without which we cannot live! What are your impressions of portables? What are good some good brands, and are there any caveats to hooking them up that we should be aware of?

Compact dishwashers: any good?

wsg — Fri, 23 May 2008 08:01:42 -0800

Compact dishwashers: are they any good? Which one is best. We are remodeling a house. There are only two of us. We want a built-in dishwasher, but we don't need a full-sized one. A full-sized dishwasher will take us a week to fill up between washes. I recently discovered compact dishwashers. There are several to choose from in my price range.

Haier

Avanti

GE

Danby

Frigidaire

She wants one with deep racks for wine glasses.

Does anybody have experience with any of these? Do they suck? Which is best? Thanks!

Kitchen repair dominoes.

iamabot — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:53:37 -0800

Why is my 6-10 yr old Kenmore Dishwasher not draining? The long dreamed of installation of a garbage disposal in our kitchen was declared Mission Accomplished this morning when I completed the unplanned/unbudgeted stub projects that (de)evolved over the last 24 hours consisting of a new sink, new water supply/stop valves, new drains and new faucet projects that piled on to the initial "oh I can do this in 2 hours" disposal install that I began yesterday afternoon. I am a fool, and I admit it without reservation. However it's all installed, nothing leaks, looks acceptable/etc, and I am likely to survive the night and return to the good graces of my wife, cats and dog when they regain use of the kitchen.

There's one tiny problem. The dishwasher is not draining. The final test phase of the new kitchen set up was to test the dishwasher. I opened the dishwasher, and it's full of water after it's cycle.

The normal procedure for diagnosing these types of problems appears to be make sure the drain tube is not kinked and that it's running to the proper spot.

Here's the set up:

Double sink, drains from sink A goes in to drain pipe that runs to a T joint that is attached to the outlet of the disposal. The dishwasher drain is attached to the appropriate pot on the disposal. The bottom of the T join connects to your standard P trap which in turn connects to the sewer/drain outlet emerging from the wall. All appears to be right in the world, and I may be flattering myself but it's a clean install with no wackiness in the plumbing from that angle.

So any thoughts, kinked hoses aside, as to where the problem is? The device sounds like it's pumping at the appropriate time in it's cycle. What are the check points for a busted washer of dishes.

I am thinking it's unlikely, but completely inline with my luck on this project, that the dishwasher decided to go for a walk. Short of calling Sears to come out and give it a look over what can I do to investigate?

Portable, sink-hookup dishwashers for use in Europe?

sdis — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 03:12:01 -0800

Looking for sink hookup dishwasher for use in Europe! I'm on the lookout for a portable dishwasher in Austria, but starting to realize that I really don't want to install splitter valves and drill holes in cabinetry in an apartment that I'm going to leave in 3-6 months (that, and I dont even know if I *could* do the plumbing without access to the main shutoff valve). It seems that most of the portable dishwashers out here require plumbing. Can you find me any that I can just attach to my sink?

(Side note: I saw this thingy: http://www.carocelle.com/ ), which looks pretty info-mercial-y, but if it works, I'm interested. Anyone encountered one of these in real life? Also, for 4 place-settings, it seems to use 10 gallons of hot water per go, but no electricity. Is this environmentally brutal, or not so bad, given the no-electricity part (of course, energy to pump and heat water counts)?)

I don't want to wash my dishes after I wash my dishes, either...

odi.et.amo — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:05:45 -0800

How can I get rid of my dishwasher's funk? There is some form of foul smelling beast living in the drain of my dishwasher and it has started to impart its scent on my dishes. Tap and filtered water both smell almost fishy if I don't first fill the glass with water and pour it out to get rid of the odor. Likewise for other food and baked goods that are on or were made in things washed in my dishwasher.

How can I get rid of the funk? So far, I've tried bleach and copious amounts of baking soda + vinegar. It helped reduce the general funk, but it always reappears when I run the dishwasher and stays on the dishes.

Looking for a small dishwasher.

thewalrusispaul — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:14:27 -0800

My wife and I are looking for a small capacity dishwasher, the greener the better. It's just the two of us and it takes a week or more to fill a portable and I'm pretty sure we use less water doing them by hand then in a large machine. I've found a couple countertop models online but I'm looking for personal recommendations. My wife really likes the double drawer models ($$$) if they came in a single drawer less than 18" wide.

Factory Testing of Dishwashers Leaves Water?

kajj — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:30:41 -0800

Is it normal to a brand new dishwasher (Kenmore), still in its box, to have water leak? Does Kenmore run some type of factory test that leaves water in the dishwasher before they send it out? We bought a dishwasher from Sears (Kenmore) a couple of days ago and I just brought it home myself. It fit into the back of our station wagon, but only when turned on its side. After unloading the dishwasher and getting it up some stairs to the kitchen, I noticed a small tear on one of the bottom corners from which there was a steady flow of water coming out.

I called and the lady said that that didn't sound normal. I loaded it back into the car and returned to Sears. Apparently the lady I spoke to was the only person unaware of the fact that it was normal. Multiple sales reps as well as the guys who do the loading/unloading told me it was due to testing at the factory before shipment. All the washers go through it and there's always some water left inside (two cups to be exact).

The problem is that nobody could show me this documented in any form. Is this something posted somewhere? Is there a Kenmore training manual here that states it? Is it in the actual appliance manual? No, no and no.

I did bring the dishwasher back home because I believe them, but am still a little bothered by it. Does anyone here know if what I was told is true? Does Kenmore perform factory testing that leaves water in the dishwashers before delivering them to Sears? If so, how do you know?