[ 2023 ] Dishwasher issue

[WinniWoman]

As a side note - funny thing is my neighbor who recently moved into a resale here- older than my home- said her GE dishwasher that came with the house has been acting up. But in her case the panel lights up but when she hits start it doesn’t start!

So after hearing of our issue she tried flicking the breaker a couple of times and the dishwasher worked!

Another neighbor- older home than mine- his dishwasher stopped working and he bought a new one but when he plugged it in, it too didn’t work and turned out it was the breaker! Supposedly! So he feels he bought a new dishwasher for nothing!

And yet another neighbors GE dishwasher (again and older house than mine) was giving her issues so she called a repairman and he said on the phone it’s probably her control panel so she might as well just buy a new dishwasher ! Which she did! A Bosch this time.

What the?!!

 

[WinniWoman]

It could be a bad outlet. Turn off the breaker and pull the outlet out of the box. Some outlets have a wire push in connection and sometimes the wire isn't pushed in enough.

Bill

Yes. Thanks. He did do that today as well. All good with it.

 

[silentg]

Does your dishwasher have a timer that delays start? Could you have possibly pressed the delay start button? We have one on our dishwasher.

 

[easyrider]

Yes. Thanks. He did do that today as well. All good with it.

Good news maybe. You have a reason to get another dish washer. I hate our GE dish washer because it's energy efficient and doesn't dry the dishes. It works good enough but if it gives us any problem I'm getting a new one that isn't energy efficient and dries the dishes. I've been saying this for 5 years now.

Bill

 

[pedro47]

Try holding the start button for 15 seconds to reset your dishwasher controls.
Do you have a child safety feature button on your dishwasher?. It should be in the off position.
Suggestion only. You need a good appliance technician to diagnose your problem.

 

[WinniWoman]

Good news maybe. You have a reason to get another dish washer. I hate our GE dish washer because it's energy efficient and doesn't dry the dishes. It works good enough but if it gives us any problem I'm getting a new one that isn't energy efficient and dries the dishes. I've been saying this for 5 years now.

Bill

I’m kind of cheap. I feel a dishwasher less than 4 years old hasn’t paid for itself yet. Also- I never use the dry feature. I let them air dry.

 

[WinniWoman]

Try holding the start button for 15 seconds to reset your dishwasher controls.
Do you have a child safety feature button on your dishwasher?. It should be in the off position.
Suggestion only. You need a good appliance technician to diagnose your problem.

Thanks. No child safety button that I can tell.

 

[PigsDad]

And yet another neighbors GE dishwasher (again and older house than mine) was giving her issues so she called a repairman and he said on the phone it’s probably her control panel so she might as well just buy a new dishwasher ! Which she did! A Bosch this time.

What the?!!

A new control panel is an easy fix. We replaced the control panel in our dishwasher last winter and it took all of maybe 20 minutes. The control panel was about $170, so definitely worth it to fix, since the dishwasher was working fine otherwise.

Kurt

 

[PigsDad]

It could be a bad outlet. Turn off the breaker and pull the outlet out of the box. Some outlets have a wire push in connection and sometimes the wire isn't pushed in enough.

If the electrician used the push in connections, he wasn't a very good electrician. It is always better to use the lug connections on the sides of the outlet; those push in connectors often get loose and can arc, which can be a major safety issue especially for an appliance that can pull some decent amps.

Kurt

 

[dioxide45]

A new control panel is an easy fix. We replaced the control panel in our dishwasher last winter and it took all of maybe 20 minutes. The control panel was about $170, so definitely worth it to fix, since the dishwasher was working fine otherwise.

Kurt

It is only repairs by otherp eople where you have to pay for labor that make the repair vs. replace aregument harder. Any time you can fix it yourself, you are way ahead. This is why we need more right to repair laws. Companies like to make their products harder and harder to repair by the general public. Had to take our Macbook Pro in for a battery replacement. $250. No way I could do it since it is glued in and soldered to the logic board. The battery costs less than $100.

 

[easyrider]

If the electrician used the push in connections, he wasn't a very good electrician. It is always better to use the lug connections on the sides of the outlet; those push in connectors often get loose and can arc, which can be a major safety issue especially for an appliance that can pull some decent amps.

Kurt

The old outlets used in the 70's and 80's with the wire holes in back used a thin piece of copper at an angle to grasp the bare copper wire and were not very good, imo.

The outlets I like are 20 amp outlets with wire holes in the back that will fit a 12ga copper wire The wire is secured between plates by turning the nut on the side. It is a very secure and easy connection. The problem is most people doing it themselves use the wrong type of screwdriver, imo. Most diy people and even some electricians will use a standard or philips instead of a #1 square drive. Often times the outlet bolts get striped and as the internals of the outlet can heat up, become loose and like you said arc. With outlets you get what you pay for.

Bill

 

[PigsDad]

The old outlets used in the 70's and 80's with the wire holes in back used a thin piece of copper at an angle to grasp the bare copper wire and were not very good, imo.

The outlets I like are 20 amp outlets with wire holes in the back that will fit a 12ga copper wire The wire is secured between plates by turning the nut on the side. It is a very secure and easy connection. The problem is most people doing it themselves use the wrong type of screwdriver, imo. Most diy people and even some electricians will use a standard or philips instead of a #1 square drive. Often times the outlet bolts get striped and as the internals of the outlet can heat up, become loose and like you said arc. With outlets you get what you pay for.

Bill

Yes, the outlets where the push in wires are then secured by tightening a nut are fine, but many outlets still have the push in connectors that are just held in by friction. The ones I have seen also have the side lugs, so that is what I was talking about.

Kurt

 

[easyrider]

Yes, the outlets where the push in wires are then secured by tightening a nut are fine, but many outlets still have the push in connectors that are just held in by friction. The ones I have seen also have the side lugs, so that is what I was talking about.

Kurt

Now days I only see those used for 14ga wire on light switches. Sometime in the past they must have kyboshed them.

Bill

 

[SusanRN]

Assuming you don't have an extended warranty, of course.

I know they say not to buy the offered warranties on most items that are sold, but I always try to buy 5-year extended warranties on new appliances. Definitely gives me peace of mind.
About 5 years ago I did have a new "smart" refrigerator with a tablet on the door go on the fritz twice in two years [the freezer wouldn't stay cold, as I recall]. In-home service both times was quick, effective, and free. They updated the software on the computer at the same time. In newly-purchased house 2+ years ago we bought a new refrigerator, washer, and dryer. All have been fine so far.

 

[WinniWoman]

Update: so hubby replaced the breaker. Dishwasher worked. Second time: it didn’t. The breaker was still in the on position and her flicked the breaker back and forth and then the dishwasher worked again.

So we figured ok- if it doesn’t work next time we will get the extension chord out and plug it once again into another outlet and see how it goes for a couple of weeks.

Well- lo and behold - we haven’t had to because the dishwasher has been working and we e been using it several times per week.

It’s a mystery..

 

[pedro47]

Update: so hubby replaced the breaker. Dishwasher worked. Second time: it didn’t. The breaker was still in the on position and her flicked the breaker back and forth and then the dishwasher worked again.

So we figured ok- if it doesn’t work next time we will get the extension chord out and plug it once again into another outlet and see how it goes for a couple of weeks.

Well- lo and behold - we haven’t had to because the dishwasher has been working and we e been using it several times per week.

It’s a mystery..

Sounds liked a happy ending finally.

 

[rickandcindy23]

My washer/ dryer combo, Maytag Neptune stacked unit, purchased in 2000, 23 years old, stopped spinning. This was about 3 months ago. Rick repaired our dryer once with new rollers. He also replaced the control panel once because our washer stopped working after about ten years. Rick replaced the control panel himself, of course, but this time he said it was time for a new washer because he didn't want to repair it. I did an online search and unplugged the washer overnight, plugged it back in the next day, and the washer has been working. (Knock on wood.)

We replaced (unnecessarily) a dishwasher, stovetop, built-in oven, and refrigerator to match, all because the refrigerator stopped working. All of those old appliances, except the dishwasher, which we replaced ten years before, were 1997 models and black, Rick repaired everything but the stovetop over the years. I didn't like getting rid of appliances that worked after our refrigerator gave out. It was a tough decision.

 

[mentalbreak]

Neptunes were cutting edge. Love to hear yours are still working.

 

[Talent312]

We just had to replace the compressor on our 4.5 year old refrigerator.
Repair was still under warranty and the local service willing to bill LG.

Our food had been moved to our 20-year old Kenmore in the garage,
It has never caused a problem. Repair guy said: "Old stuff lasts forever.
With new stuff, a lot of it is getting repaired still under the warranty."

 

[ScoopKona]

How old is you kitchen? Do you have a ground fault outlet that's resetable with a button on the outlet? We have a heated bird bath. The cord is usually protected, but if it gets wet it can trip the ground circuit. We found out that all the wall outlets in the kitchen are on the same circuit as the outdoor outlet. If the bird bath trips the ground fault, the toaster won't work. It took us awhile to figure out that one.

Our house in Las Vegas was wired by Mickey Mouse. If the GFCI in the kitchen island tripped, nothing in the laundry room worked.

@WinniWoman -- GFCI outlets fail. The actual plug. You only get so much life out of them and then they need to be swapped out. I still like them because they save lives. But they are not "install and forget." If your dishwasher works on another circuit, and if you have GFCI outlets, this is almost certainly the problem. And anyone who can flip a breaker and replace a plug can fix this in fifteen minutes.

 

[PigsDad]

Our house in Las Vegas was wired by Mickey Mouse. If the GFCI in the kitchen island tripped, nothing in the laundry room worked.

@WinniWoman -- GFCI outlets fail. The actual plug. You only get so much life out of them and then they need to be swapped out. I still like them because they save lives. But they are not "install and forget." If your dishwasher works on another circuit, and if you have GFCI outlets, this is almost certainly the problem. And anyone who can flip a breaker and replace a plug can fix this in fifteen minutes.

This wouldn't be a GFI outlet failure, since as @WinniWoman mentioned, simply flipping the tripped breaker (temporarily) fixed the problem. If it was a GFI outlet tripping, then they would have had to reset the GFI outlet, as simply cutting and resupplying power to a GFI outlet will never reset it if it has tripped.

I made sure our house used GFI circuit breakers instead of having GFI outlets where needed. Much easier when everything is just in the breaker panel, vs. searching for that one tripped GFI outlet that protects the rest of the outlets down the line.

Kurt

 

[Sandy VDH]

Could you be having electrical surges to the house?

I ask because I am having the following issue. If there are surges to the house the AC turns itself completely off. This is in order to protect itself. However, when the power to the house comes back on, the surge protect on the AC controller has already turned itself off. The only way I can get AC turned on is to cycle the breaker off and then back on again. It just happened this summer for the first time. I got a new AC unit last year.

Need to consider switching the wiring that connections to the AC from the breaker or the AC controller. Need to discuss with AC installer.

 

[Icc5]

Appliances are all weird nowadays. With some plugging unplugging resets the system. We have a Kitchenaid oven that everytime we heat up the 2nd oven (double oven) which we only use when we have a crowd says insert probe. Whether we do or not won't let the oven turn off. We Googled it and other people had the same problem. Someone figured out the solution was to heat up that oven to 375,hit probe amount to 160 and let run an added 15 minutes. It will then shut off. We had a tech look at it and he couldn't figure it out or why the Google suggestion worked.
2 suggestions to ck on the dishwasher is there isn't a timer of some kind involved?
Ck your gab isn't clean?
Bart

 

[callwill]

we had a pretty old frigidaire diswasher. One day it wouldnt drain. I called the number in the original info for troubleshooting help. The person i got connected with sold me a 3 year warranty for like 175. They sent a local repairman who diagnosed the problem , fixed it and went on his way. A year later more trouble. They came and fixed it again. I could not believe my luck. My warranty has long since expired but that thing is still working.
We have a very old top freezer fridge. It was the biggest fridge with the biggest top freezer we could find. Bought it at Montgomery Wards. Came with a great warranty. about a year after buying it we came home from a vacation to find it had quit and everything was spoiled. Called for warranty service. The guy came and said the compressor was shot and he would order one. When they tried to fix it the first time they ruined the compressor. This time they took it with them to repair in the shop. This is still our refrigerator today. Got to be 30+ years old. It has never been repaired since...

 

[Talent312]

... The guy came and said the compressor was shot and he would order one. When they tried to fix it the first time they ruined the compressor. This time they took it with them to repair in the shop. This is still our refrigerator today. Got to be 30+ years old. It has never been repaired since...

Maybe our fridge's new compressor will last longer than the original.
I asked the guy if it would.
He shrugged and said, "I dunno. Hard to tell these days."
.