Any of y'all know of a good, dependable, reasonably-priced dishwasher repair person here in Houston? Mine is on the fritz and I need to get it fixed. Thanks!
In the first two years of living in our home in Katy, our dishwasher wasn't clearing all its water properly from the bottom of the tray and we had only used it a few times (yes, usually I will take turns with Mrs. SwoLy doing that)... we called the repair company of the home builders and they changed some hoses. After that, the guy recommended SEARS repair center.
Most appliances these days (read, those made more cheaply) are not practically designed for repair. i.e. if it's something beyond what you could fix yourself, especially on a washer/dryer/dishwasher it is often going to cost you 50%-75% of a new one (better yet, scratch and dent, unless you're uptight about such things) to get someone to take the time to come to your house, diagnose, purchase parts if needed, and actually repair your appliance.... especially if it is already a few years old. The average repairperson just can't charge enough to make much money , if any, coming out to repair most of the less expensive appliances. If you're generally handy and have more time than money, it's worth at least diagnosing the problem yourself to see if it is worth the effort to either try and fix it or have someone come to fix it. I would also look at a comparable new model to see where the ceiling is on what you are willing to pay for potential repairs.
What Dave said. Buy a new one or do it yourself. Also, this is a good reason to keep a home warranty.
Mine has a leak at the bottom. I think I've isolated it to the inlet valve where the water supply line comes in. It wasn't the connection but the actual valve seems to be slow dripping from somewhere. Undid the dishwasher and examined the inlet valve. Couldn't tell from looking at it what the problem is. Tried blowing in it and seemed airtight. Hook diswasher back up (after it dried out). As soon as I opened the valve for water, it starts dripping again (not from water line connection but above at the valve...albeit hard to see exactly where when hooked up). Given that, I'm pretty sure I need a new inlet valve. The valve is closed normally unless dishwasher is filling/requesting water in which case valve opens and feeds dishwasher through black tube. Found part online for about $30 so will do myself to see if I can fix it. Sears wants $220 for an "any problem fixed" repair. Are you freaking kidding me? That's almost half the price of the dishwasher. Repair jobs are nothing more than highway robbery. Plumbers are even worse.
Seems like the motor is screwed. When I turn it on, all it does is hum...no water ever gets pumped, and then it does nothing.
If no water gets pumped and the dishwasher is requesting water, then you may have an inlet valve issue as well. The command to open the valve may not be opening the valve. Granted, it could be something else but valve don't open on command...you won't get water in the tub. Not sure what motor has to do with filling the tub with water? Valve should receive an electrical command to open valve to fill water to tub for wash...and you should hear water flow and see water in tub. I also read those valve inlets can clog with debris and cause issues. Not sure, though. Seems strange to me it would be motor if your tub isn't even getting water. It certainly could be electrical-related, though.
Well, since I am completely mechanically inept, it looks like I'm going dishwasher shopping this week......
This might help you, it worked for me. Fast forward to the 2:40 mark. <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/L3i4wkcU7aQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
YES! this is why I was asking if his dishwasher was made by GE. This was the problem with my GE dishwasher. I paid a repairman about 50 bucks to come out to my house and he showed me exactly what is in this video. If I don't use the dishwasher for 5 or 6 days it tends to lock up. Sometimes I can just give it a kick and it will start up, but sometimes I have to use the screw driver to loosen up the fan blade thing in the video.
My dishwasher is a Maytag, but when I get home tonight, I will check out the video and give it a shot. My mechanical aptitude is zilch, however...all I pretty much know how to do is change a lightbulb and my air conditioner filter. But I do have a screwdriver...hopefully I won't break something else!
I think the issue shown in the video only applies to GE models, at least that's what I remember the repairman telling me when he came to repair my dishwasher.
You may be having a problem with your control mechanism. This is the mechanism which signals to the various parts what to do when, controls the timing of each function, etc. . I still think it is possible you have an issue with the inlet valve if that part is worn out. Based on what other people are saying, I guess the motor could be an issue as well...albeit your dishwasher needs to fill with water first before the motor comes into play I do believe. But, the dishwasher likely has fail-safe checks and maybe is trying to verify the motor is working as a pre-step and, if it isn't, then it won't fill the tub with water obviously. I don't think dishwashers are overly complicated pieces of machinery. Those repair guys are good at knowing what is wrong where and what to check. I bet they could be in and out of most places in five minutes if they didn't doodle for a work rate. They typically just replace the faulty part...which most of us can replace a part and hook up some wires. It would be nice if you could do some searches on your model. Chances are someone else had the same symptoms/problem and were able to fix. Or, if you had the dishwasher schematic that shows the individual parts, then you could at least price some of these parts on the Internet to see if it is worth trying to replace some of the suspect parts. You still might fix be able to fix it on your own just by replacing suspect parts. But, that's obviously not a good way to go if you don't have confidence in your abilities to fix it. But, the bottom line is there are not a lot of parts on a dishwasher so there is a small limit to what can be wrong. And, your not dealing with a leak at this point...so rule out water lines, water connections, gasket seals, etc. . One person's trash is another person's new dishwasher with a minor fix probably. Did you try kicking the crap out of it? :grin:
<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/j3A33w-P0js" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> :grin:
