Dishwasher Repair 101

Does anyone know the first step in dishwasher repair?  Well, after turning off the power, it is removing the water from the drain.  

I should have turned the camera on to film this disaster, but I truly underestimated my "blonde roots".  

To give you a little back story, we have had issues with our dishwasher for several weeks recently. We will run the wash at night after dinner and only to open it in the morning and find the entire bottom still covered in water. The unit has not been draining properly.

While I value the knowledge of skilled labor, I am also insanely jealous. I too would like to have that knowledge. However, I'm more of a hands-on learner that also really values YouTube.  

I know what you must be thinking and no, I am too cheap to pay for a repair person. We have a home warranty that covers major expenses. It's a $85 repair fee. I would really just rather do it myself, if I can.

Over the past few months I have turned to YouTube several times for tips on repairing our dishwasher and found one that did the trick. Baking soda and vinegar. It has worked so well in fact that I now put baking soda and vinegar and all of our drains at least once a month. They may not be clogged, but at least I know they are clean. This tip worked wonders for our dishwasher. Until it didn't.

I came home from a recent work trip to find the dishwasher had stopped draining again. Naturally, I pulled out the baking soda and vinegar. This time however, it did not work. So once again I turned to message boards and YouTube. It seemed that another likely cause of backlogged water was a jammed or defective drain pump.  

To check this one would simply turn off the power to the unit, remove the bottom panel from the dishwasher exposing the parts, locate and twist off the drain pump, check for debris that could be clogging the drain, and test the pump. I however, skipped one very important step.  I forgot to remove the water from the drain before removing the drain pump. Do you want to know what happens when you remove the drain pump without first removing the water? I'll tell you. Your kitchen floods!

My husband has an infatuation with a wet/dry vac. We have one, yet. Every time he sees one on sale he thinks we should buy a new one. Apparently, you can never have too many. For years I have thought these contraptions to be absolutely useless. I am woman enough to admit when I am wrong. Today my friends, I am a believer.  

Knowing full well that there would be some residual water is still in the drain when I remove the drain pump, I had the good sense to bring the wet dry vac inside. However, I forgot to use it to remove the water from the inside the dishwasher before removing the drain pump. Thankfully I have the good sense to turn it on as water was gushing from the drain pipe onto my kitchen floors, and into the master bedroom and laundry room.  It is the only reason that there is no evidence of the catastrophe that occurred while Frank was out in the garden.  

Disappointingly, the drain pump was not the problem.  After removing all the excess water from my floors, I got back to the task at hand.  I cleaned and removed any debris from the drain discharge and pump as well as tested the pump to ensure it was working properly.  It was.  

At this point, I've lost my gumption.  I just don't have the will to remove the washer and test all the hoses.  I've put in a work order through the warranty company.  I know when to cut my losses.

I did learn one valuable lesson today though, everyone needs a wet/dry vac.  From this point forward I will be buying wet/dry vacs for every shower, wedding or housewarming we are invited to.