Dishwasher and icemaker suddenly not working
December 16, 2024 4:30 PM   Subscribe

My dishwasher and icemaker suddenly stopped working. It reminds me of an earlier issue when water was accidentally turned off and just required a simple fix. I’d rather not wait for my landlord to if it is a little fix like turning a valve. This is what it looks like. Any suggestions?
posted by mermaidcafe to Home & Garden (16 answers total)
 
Is it possible there's a pipe that's frozen somewhere?
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:48 PM on December 16, 2024 [2 favorites]


cowbell's suggestion is good. If it's below freezing outside and you don't heat the house much, you might try turning the temperature up to 80 degrees for 24 hours and see if that thaws a pipe in the wall. Rentals in cold places often stipulate the house should be kept at some minimum temperature, and this is why.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 5:32 PM on December 16, 2024


Response by poster: Thanks but it’s 50 today.
posted by mermaidcafe at 6:10 PM on December 16, 2024


do your dishwasher and icemaker have power?

Is your dishwasher plumbed in next to your sink?

Do you have water (hot and cold) working in that room? Elsewhere in your house?
posted by unreasonable at 6:11 PM on December 16, 2024


Is there a circuit breaker panel? Check to see if a breaker was flipped.
posted by theora55 at 6:30 PM on December 16, 2024 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Everything has power and sinks and bath have water.

The dishwasher runs but doesn’t clean the dishes, which is what it did when the water was off. The ice maker tries but no ice.
posted by mermaidcafe at 7:15 PM on December 16, 2024


If you start a dishwasher cycle and then open the dishwasher 5 or so minutes later, is there water inside? That should tell you if the dishwasher has water pretty definitively (it could also be a bad fill valve, which is part of the dishwasher).

In your photo, there is one valve in the centre of the image, at the end of the red pipe, that appears to be open. It looks like there is another valve below that attached to another braided hose, but I can't tell if that one is open. You should be able to figure out which hose goes where (the dishwasher will be a braided metal one, the icemaker probably a smaller plastic one) and then follow those hoses backwards to check if any valves are closed.
posted by ssg at 8:10 PM on December 16, 2024 [2 favorites]


What's odd is that icemakers are plumbed to cold water and dishwashers almost always to hot water (I think sometimes not in Europe or with Euro brand dishwashers), so for both to be not getting water due to one valve being closed, that valve would have to be before the hot water tank, in which case it would cut off water to every hot water outlet. Since that doesn't seem to be the case as you have hit water at the sink, it seems unlikely this is a problem with a single valve.
posted by ssg at 8:15 PM on December 16, 2024


Just to clarify - you've had a similar problem in this apartment / house? Looking at the photos, the valve we can clearly see looks closed to me (the red hot water line) - it looks like a 1/4 turn and should be open (meaning water can flow) when the handle of the valve is lined up with the water pipe it's attached to, which it looks to me.

I assume there's a similar valve somewhere on the blue (cold) water line and it must be open too if you have both cold and hot water to the sink. What I can't see clearly is the braided water line that's down behind the hot water line, near the drain. That looks like it might be the water source for your dishwasher (since it looks like the dishwasher drains comes in from that side of the cabinet). I'd take a look at that water line and see if there's a valve that's been tweaked closed in some way. If your fridge and icemaker are further along in the same direction as the dishwasher they could easily be tied into the same water line and both be controlled by the same valve.

If you find the valve and it's somehow loose enough that it's getting closed by taking things in and out of the cupboard, you might want to try to use something like painters tape or even scotch tape to hold the valve in place / keep it from snagging things. Or something like that. I wouldn't zip tie it or anything that would prevent you from easily turning it off if you needed too but some kind of protective layer might prevent this from being a recurring problem!

Good luck!
posted by macfly at 8:16 PM on December 16, 2024 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: When i moved in back in September the water to dishwasher was off (accidentally, iirc). These dishes look the same after “washing “ as those did then. My landlord just turned a valve under the sink then , which is what made me think of it now.
posted by mermaidcafe at 8:30 PM on December 16, 2024


Has there been a recent nearby lightning? I had a bunch of small appliances die after a big thunderstorm. My house wasn't struck or anywhere super close by, but there must have been electrical surge that fried the things. And it was kind of random: vacuum cleaner dead, blender fine, microwave dead, dishwasher fine.
posted by Mournful Bagel Song at 4:32 AM on December 17, 2024


Best answer: I would start with the ice maker which I suspect has a single cold water line run to it. Can you trace that water line back to where you have a known good water line, maybe under the sink?
posted by unreasonable at 6:23 AM on December 17, 2024


Best answer: I think the lower valve, behind the mop head and between the red supply and the drain, is closed. The pointy part of the handle should align with the braided hose, like the red line to braided silver one above it does. Also - those valves can get stuck as they can fill up with debris, especially if there is plumbing work upstream, or just calcify. Try opening and closing them.
posted by zenon at 7:17 AM on December 17, 2024


To check a fridge water supply, just pull your fridge away from the wall, and there should be a valve box (or a water line you can follow back to the valve) and then if you want, you can disconnect the water line, and it should just spray out water. Be sure to check the valve is easy to turn before you disconnect it.

A diswasher often (but not always) has a dedicated shut off valve below your sink and attached to one of the water lines. These two appliances should not be on the same exact valve.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:19 AM on December 17, 2024


If your icemaker is part of your fridge/freezer, it may have a separate problem from your dishwasher. When the icemaker in a freezer has a frozen line in the freezer, this will stop ice making. There are a few tricks for this, but in my particular GE model, I have to bang the ice maker a bit to break up any ice in the line, then it will start up again. If you find your model online, there may be a youtube video that will show you how to work on that.

As for the dishwasher, If this has happened before and your landlord did something simple to fix it, call and ask if they can talk you through checking the lines and valves. That way they may not have to make the trip out to you.
posted by drossdragon at 11:33 AM on December 17, 2024


My microwave, stove and washer have all had their electronics panels go bad, likely due to a power surge. It's a horrid nuisance replacing them.
posted by theora55 at 5:12 PM on December 17, 2024


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