My dishwasher not turning on

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navycop

navycop

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Joined
Nov 4, 2010
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Virginia Beach, VA 23454
Before you guys say anything- -That is my "electric" dishwasher...
The lights come on when I press the: normal, 4 hour delay, baked on, energy saver buttons but not the start button. I am thinking it is the switch. I made sure to slam the doorshut so it was making a good contact, still nothing. It is a kitchenaid about 16yrs old.
 
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Mike:
This may sound ridiculous, and it may require taking the DW from under the cabinet. We have a top of the line Kitchen Aid DW that had the same problem. It turns out that these units have an incoming water filter. We are also on a community well. Before we installed the water softener, we had so much calcium build up that water was not making it into the machine.

Without a water supply, the diswasher doesn't know what to do next, as Kitchen Aid washers must first read the water temp and make "programming decisions" based on temp and the settings you have selected. If you can "hear" the water going in, the next thing to check would be to check the heating element.

It took me FOREVER to discover that my DW was not getting adequate water supply. I told a DW tech about this, and he said nearly 80 percent of his DW calls were for no water or no heat.

I hope this helps.
 
My "on" light doesn't and is not supposed to come on until the unit makes the calculations based on user settings and incoming water temp. Once that has been done, the "on" light comes on and displays how long it will take to have clean dishes.
 
navycop said:
Before you guys say anything- -That is my "electric" dishwasher...
The lights come on when I press the: normal, 4 hour delay, baked on, energy saver buttons but not the start button. I am thinking it is the switch. I made sure to slam the doorshut so it was making a good contact, still nothing. It is a kitchenaid about 16yrs old.
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I'm guessing the 'water supply' folks are probably right. Mine works a bit differently the first thing it does is start the pump to empty any water that might be there, then starts taking in water. It will cycle without water though (low cost contractor's model Maytag).
 
There is no "water" sound. We did replace a waterheater, but it still worked fine after that. The "on" light used to come on when the button was pushed. Then it would start as soon as you shut the door. But now it does nothing.
 
PenMan1 said:
Just curious! Have you replaced a water heater, lately? Or have you checked the faucet just above the DW for mineral build up?
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:biggrin::biggrin: Funny you should ask this question !! Although this is a washer (dishes never came out well) We did keep having an "EI" error shutting off our washer in mid cycle. EI = electrical interruption. You could always restart the washer and it may or may not run the whole cycle. I am a retired "sparky" and after a lot of testing I gave up and read the manual. #1 "Check water supply and clean filter's". After much searching I found, not one, but 5 filters for my machine. 2 in the shutoff valve in the wall. 1 in each of the hot and cold water inlets into the machine. And 1 behind a panel near the floor for the drain water outlet. All had semi clogged screens. Yes we did change the water heater several months before. And yes your dishwasher will only start if it has enough water and it has heated to the correct temp. One other thing to add to your list is the temp. or water level sensor themselfs. You should have a switch, within reach, that will shut off the power to the dishwasher only, depending on the age of your house. If not turn the breaker off. Water and electricity are poor bed partners. It may be under the washer itself behind the bottom front panel. Jim S

P.S. I noticed one day while sitting and thinking, that the water level I could see in the glass door seemed very low and the water was not rushing in like it used too.
 
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Love that idea, Billy B! The only draw back to that is the replacement Stainless tub Kitchen Aid replacement is now over $1 000. That's gonna leave a mark!
 
I would offer advice, but don't know from Adam about dishwashers.... we've lived in our house for almost 7 years, owned the place for almost 10 years and don't even know if the dishwasher is wired in... we've never used it or tried to use it.... there's only two of us and we can wash by hand faster than loading a dishwasher.
 
TellicoTurning said:
I would offer advice, but don't know from Adam about dishwashers.... we've lived in our house for almost 7 years, owned the place for almost 10 years and don't even know if the dishwasher is wired in... we've never used it or tried to use it.... there's only two of us and we can wash by hand faster than loading a dishwasher.
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Use it - you'll love it. There are only two of us also but we use ours every day. The water is so much hotter than you can stand to use when washing by hand, and we use a product called jet dry and the dishes come out so clean it's scary.
 
Smitty37 said:
TellicoTurning said:
I would offer advice, but don't know from Adam about dishwashers.... we've lived in our house for almost 7 years, owned the place for almost 10 years and don't even know if the dishwasher is wired in... we've never used it or tried to use it.... there's only two of us and we can wash by hand faster than loading a dishwasher.
Click to expand...
Use it - you'll love it. There are only two of us also but we use ours every day. The water is so much hotter than you can stand to use when washing by hand, and we use a product called jet dry and the dishes come out so clean it's scary.
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Sorry Smitty, but I can wash two plates, two forks, two knives and two glasses plus a couple of pans in about 1/2 or 1/3 the amount of water a dishwasher would take, rinse in 140 degree water, wipe and put away in about the same time it would take to load, run then empty a dishwasher... and my dishes are as clean as from a dish washer.... maybe I'm cheap, but I just don't see the need.


Now if the wife would let me, believe it would make a great kiln for drying woods.
 
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TellicoTurning said:
Smitty37 said:
TellicoTurning said:
I would offer advice, but don't know from Adam about dishwashers.... we've lived in our house for almost 7 years, owned the place for almost 10 years and don't even know if the dishwasher is wired in... we've never used it or tried to use it.... there's only two of us and we can wash by hand faster than loading a dishwasher.
Click to expand...
Use it - you'll love it. There are only two of us also but we use ours every day. The water is so much hotter than you can stand to use when washing by hand, and we use a product called jet dry and the dishes come out so clean it's scary.
Click to expand...

Sorry Smitty, but I can wash two plates, two forks, two knives and two glasses plus a couple of pans in about 1/2 or 1/3 the amount of water a dishwasher would take, rinse in 140 degree water, wipe and put away in about the same time it would take to load, run then empty a dishwasher... and my dishes are as clean as from a dish washer.... maybe I'm cheap, but I just don't see the need.


Now if the wife would let me, believe it would make a great kiln for drying woods.
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Yea, but I can stick that from breakfast, lunch and dinner for two days then run the dishwasher once....
 
Be Carefull!!!!

Ya gotta be extra carefull when ya mess with those dishwasher's.

This is what my kitchen looks like today because of a dishwasher, we have two walls that look this way...:mad:
kitchen.jpg
We had water coming out of the AC vents, the lights, the outlets and switch plates on the wall, and out of the baseboards on to the floor, out from under the cabinets, and from under the stove. :eek:
All because of a broken Dishwasher water supply line in the upstairs unit. But we get a new kitchen on them.:wink:

Trying to get everything rebuilt now that it's all dry.
 
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As luck would have it, loml says to me yesterday after breakfast, honey, the dishwasher wont come on. Nothing, no power, no water sound, nothing, and mine is a maytag, only about 5 or so years old.
 
longbeard said:
As luck would have it, loml says to me yesterday after breakfast, honey, the dishwasher wont come on. Nothing, no power, no water sound, nothing, and mine is a maytag, only about 5 or so years old.
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Hmmmm....did it cycle correctly the last time it was used befor quitting? If it did, you probably have either a tripped circuit breaker or a busted power switch on the unit. My first guess would be a bad power switch.
 
Smitty37 said:
longbeard said:
As luck would have it, loml says to me yesterday after breakfast, honey, the dishwasher wont come on. Nothing, no power, no water sound, nothing, and mine is a maytag, only about 5 or so years old.
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Hmmmm....did it cycle correctly the last time it was used befor quitting? If it did, you probably have either a tripped circuit breaker or a busted power switch on the unit. My first guess would be a bad power switch.
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Gonna look into more today when i get home, first thing i checked was the breaker box, then looked under it from the left side. Nothing appears wrong from that angle, gonna look it all over good (water line,electrical wires) Gotta be something simple, she said it cycled fine Thursday or Friday when she used. Even tried pushing the cancel button a couple times too. I really hate to have to pull that thing out, but i'm glad its at the end of the counter. Oh well, you'll have that i guess. :frown:
 
Hey. I know this is an old thread. But someone the other day told me to check the thermal fuse. Does that sound right? Longbeard did you figure out what was wrong with yours?
 
LOLOL yeah, i moved it about oh say 1/4'' or so, darn thing came on, have not had a problem with it since and could not tell ya what was wrong with it. I could not find any loose wires, breakers are good, dont know, but it works. Still has me stumped.
 
jd99 said:
We had water coming out of the AC vents, the lights, the outlets and switch plates on the wall, and out of the baseboards on to the floor, out from under the cabinets, and from under the stove. :eek:
All because of a broken Dishwasher water supply line in the upstairs unit. But we get a new kitchen on them.
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The steel braid hoses are the only way to go. They also make special cut--off valves that shut off the water supply pressure. When the dishwasker is turned on, the electric causes the valves to open and supply pressure to the washer. If the electric goes out, no pressure either.
 
Always always start at the very begginning. Do you have power and is it the right power??? Is it a 120 or 220 volt??? If power is there, look for the contact switch that makes when the door is closed. with the door open make and break that contact switch. Does it make noise??? If not then that would be where I would start looking. Try different settings. Too many different models to get specific.
 
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