Last Tuesday I dumped half a bottle of Finish into my Bosch after ignoring the little line (you know, the fill line) and now I'm wondering how many paper towels I wasted chasing a phantom leak when it was just my poor pouring skills - has anyone else blown through a roll of shop towels for something this dumb?
So yesterday I was trying to unstick a spin arm on my old GE unit and dropped a butter knife straight into the bottom. I panicked, fished it out, and somehow the whole thing started running quiet for the first time in 6 months. Turns out the knife might have knocked loose a chunk of debris in the drain pump. Has anyone else fixed something by pure clumsy accident like that?
I was ready to drop $500 on a new machine because my dishwasher was leaking all over the floor. Turned out it was just the door gasket that had a small crack in it. I found a replacement online for $12 and swapped it out in 20 minutes. The leak stopped completely and now it runs like new. Has anyone else fixed a major problem with a cheap part like this?
I got a fancy replacement gasket from Amazon back in July. Felt nice, fit tight. Now there's a flap peeling off on the bottom left corner. Water is puddling under the machine again. Anyone had better luck with the OEM parts instead of the cheap knockoffs?
So I'm over at my buddy's place last Sunday helping him figure out why his Whirlpool smells like a dead mouse. He'd been ignoring it for like 2 months. I pop the bottom spray arm off and pull the filter grate and there's this thick layer of grey sludge and food bits packed in there. Like a solid quarter inch of gunk. I scraped it all out with an old toothbrush and soaked the parts in vinegar for 20 minutes. After that the smell was gone and the dishes came out actually clean. I went home and checked mine that night and sure enough same nasty situation. Has anyone else found horror show stuff under their filter after years of not touching it?
I had been fighting with my dishwasher leaving standing water for months. My neighbor saw me pulling it out for the 4th time and just said 'you know that hose needs to loop up right?' I had it running straight into the disposal with no high loop at all. After 3 tries with different drain pumps I finally fixed it with zero parts cost. The water just flows back in from the sink without that loop. Has anyone else dealt with a simple fix that made you feel silly afterwards?
My neighbor Rick came over last week while I was wrestling my Bosch panel off for the 3rd time this summer. He said “you know those self-cleaning filters are a scam right” and laughed at me. I got defensive but he showed me his 12 year old KitchenAid with a manual filter that he cleans once a month. Looked brand new inside. Now I’m wondering if I should ditch this “self cleaning” garbage and get an old school model instead. Anyone else feel like the new tech is just more headaches?
I stopped using the sanitize cycle 6 months ago after my energy bill hit $150, and guess what, my glasses still don't have spots and my plates still come out clean, so why are we all pretending 150 degree water is necessary when 120 works fine?
I used to scrub every plate clean before putting them in, but after my GE started leaving gunk in the filter anyway I just scrape and load now. Anyone else stop pre-rinsing and see better results?
I thought it was just a marketing gimmick for months, but after three cycles with hard water stains on every wine glass, I finally caved. My plates come out crystal clear now, anyone else skip this stuff and regret it?
I just had to toss a $40 chef's knife because the handle split after three washes and I'm seeing this same mistake in every kitchen I visit, how many of you have ruined a good knife this way?
Last Tuesday around 8 PM, I heard a grinding noise from the kitchen. Opened the door and found a pool of gray water with bits of food floating in it. That machine came with the house when we bought it back in 2012, so it had a good run. I think the pump just died after all these years of hard water and heavy loads. Now I'm stuck hand-washing for a week while I save up for a replacement. Has anyone else had a long-time machine quit at the worst possible moment?
Woke up to water seeping under the door Monday morning. Turns out the float switch was stuck because of some gunk built up from the last 3 months. I popped the bottom panel off, cleaned the switch with a toothbrush and vinegar, and it started working perfect again. Has anyone else had this issue with the float getting jammed by debris?
Ngl, I opened it up to help her figure out why nothing was getting clean and there was mold and a tiny sprout of something growing out of the filter area. Has anyone else dealt with a dishwasher that basically became a planter?
Bought a 3-pack of those little nylon bristle brushes from Harbor Freight for $12. Been using them to scrape gunk off the bottom filter and around the spray arm holes. The $40 "official" brush I got from the appliance parts store was way too stiff and scratched the plastic. Has anyone else found a cheap tool that does a better job than the name brand stuff?
A Bosch, a KitchenAid, and a Samsung all came in with the latch assembly stuck in the closed position. All three had a little piece of plastic snapped off inside the mechanism. Anybody else seeing a pattern with these newer models?
I bought one of those inline water softener things for my dishwasher last month, thinking it would stop the white film on my glasses. Spent 80 bucks on it and two weeks later my dishes looked exactly the same, maybe worse. Found out later that my local water here in Phoenix is just too hard for those little cartridge things to handle. Anyone else get burned by a cheap fix that didn't do anything?
I always thought pouring vinegar in the bottom was just an old wives tale, not real maintenance. Did it on a whim last week after my filter got crusty and the water actually cleared up for the first time in months. Has anyone else been surprised by a fix they thought was fake?
So I do some side work fixing appliances for neighbors, nothing official. Last week a woman in her 70s calls me over because her dishwasher won't drain. I pop the kickplate off, find a bottle cap jammed in the drain pump impeller, clear it out in maybe 4 minutes. She's standing there recording the whole thing on her phone, no warning, no asking. I turn around and she goes "I need proof you didn't steal anything from under my sink." I just stood there with a wet bottle cap in my hand. Didn't charge her, just packed up and left. Anyone else dealt with customers treating you like a criminal for a 20 dollar fix?
I always thought pouring vinegar in a dishwasher was some cheap hack that would mess up the seals. Then last month I got tired of scrubbing hard water spots off every single glass. Tried a cup of white vinegar in a top rack bowl on a hot rinse. After 4 cycles the buildup on the heating element actually flaked off. Still skeptical about the long term but my glasses finally look clean. Anybody else do this long term without issues?
I used to pour Jet-Dry into every load without thinking about it, but after my buddy at the auto shop showed me how the chemicals ate through his gaskets I stopped cold turkey six months ago. Now my dishes come out with water spots and I am honestly not sure which is worse, the potential damage or the cloudy glasses. Has anyone else ditched rinse aid totally and found a decent alternative?
I keep seeing people online say you have to rinse every plate before loading, but my buddy who does warranty work in Denver told me most detergent needs some food particles to activate properly. On the flip side, I left a bowl with baked-on cheese in my Whirlpool last month and it clogged the spray arm after 3 cycles. So which is it? Are you team scrape-only or team pre-rinse, and have you actually tested both ways on your own machine?
I was at my neighbor's place last Saturday helping him fix his flooding kitchen floor. Turns out his dishwasher was dumping water everywhere because the filter was completely caked with food sludge. Like, it looked like a science experiment gone wrong. He told me he never even knew it had a filter, let alone that you're supposed to clean it every month or so. I went home and checked mine and it was pretty gross too, just not that bad. I spent 20 minutes scrubbing it with a toothbrush and hot water. Now the dishes come out way cleaner and it drains a lot faster. Has anyone else had a close call because of a neglected filter?
I used to just set my dishwasher for the longest cycle and hope for the best, then my machine started throwing error code 7-2. After spending 3 hours on YouTube and talking to a repair guy in Cedar Rapids, I learned to actually measure water temp before each cycle. Now I check the inlet water hits 120 degrees using a cheap kitchen thermometer, and I haven't had a single code pop up in 5 months. Anyone else find that one little change made a big difference?