Author Topic: Dishwasher is not draining water, any ideas?  (Read 5452 times)

FastStache

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Dishwasher is not draining water, any ideas?
« on: June 13, 2013, 02:39:41 PM »
I need to fix the dishwasher in my house and it's not draining water.

I'm checking there is a clog in the line or the pump isn't working anymore. How do I check the pump?

It's about a 7 year old lg dishwasher.

George_PA

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Re: Dishwasher is not draining water, any ideas?
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2013, 07:28:28 PM »
Start taking it apart slowly with tools; take photos with a digital camera as you work so that you remember how to put it back together again;

Probably no-one now-a-days is an expert in repairing washing machines, thus just play around it with and teach yourself a new skill

Greg

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Re: Dishwasher is not draining water, any ideas?
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2013, 09:27:26 AM »
Usually it's because of a build-up of food debris in the filtering system.  On some models this is before the circulating pump as well.  If you look up your model online, you may find an exploded diagram of the spinning parts that will help you take things apart.  Usually the main hold-down for the bottom spinner is reverse-thread, and from there you may need special bits for the ss screws underneath.  My Kitchenaid requires yearly cleaning due to our water and our diet.

But, the pump is usually accessible from below behind the front bottom panel.  The drain hose is usually ribbed, and could clog or kink.  Best to take things apart to see if you can spot a problem easily.  If you remove the hose from the pump, be prepared to catch the waste water.

Another thing to check is the air-gap fitting on the drain hose.  Sometimes these clog with debris.  This is usually in-line with drain hose and mounted next to the sink faucet or a close exterior wall.

Nords

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Re: Dishwasher is not draining water, any ideas?
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2013, 05:59:58 PM »
I need to fix the dishwasher in my house and it's not draining water.
I'm checking there is a clog in the line or the pump isn't working anymore. How do I check the pump?
It's about a 7 year old lg dishwasher.
Take the model number to the Appliance Samurai's website:
http://fixitnow.com/kitchen-appliance-repair-help/dishwasher-repair-faq/
and read up on Dishwasher Drainology.

The simple (hopefully) answer is that the drain basket in the bottom of the dishwasher's interior is full of gunk that's blocking the flow.  (We cleaned ours out last month for the first time in about five years.  Impressive.)  Another possibility is the "new disposal syndrome" (I won't spoil the surprise here).  Once you've eliminated those issues then you may have to crawl underneath to deal with the pump suction.

jennipurrr

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Re: Dishwasher is not draining water, any ideas?
« Reply #4 on: June 23, 2013, 06:51:34 PM »
I had an issue at a rental where when the there was a clog in the in sink and that was causing the dishwasher to not be able to completely expel all the water.  A little draino in the sink and problem was solved.

FastStache

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Re: Dishwasher is not draining water, any ideas?
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2013, 07:14:44 AM »
Thanks everyone.

Got the problem fixed, and it was a combination of a clogged line and pinched piece of the rubber hose going into the disposal.

Nords

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Re: Dishwasher is not draining water, any ideas?
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2013, 02:43:18 PM »
Thanks everyone.
Got the problem fixed, and it was a combination of a clogged line and pinched piece of the rubber hose going into the disposal.
You probably saved yourself a $75 service call...

WalkingWisp

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Re: Dishwasher is not draining water, any ideas?
« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2013, 09:31:59 AM »
Just wanted to thank this thread for giving me the juice to fix my dishwasher.

Quick back story:

2 months ago our dishwasher wouldn't drain the water in the bottom basin.  The water would only drain by the emergency drain.  Every time the drain cycle would run, it would make crazy cracking noises.  It didn't sound legit.  I took out all of the easy parts inside of the Dishwasher, by manually draining the water, cleaning out the filter, unscrewing what I could in the basin to see if anything was obvious.

At which point, I saw a broken pistachio in the water.  Ugh.  This meant more than one of these guys was in there, probably in the motor that drains the water.  I broke down and called a mom & pop service repair.  He came for the visit, spent two hours pulling everything apart, and finally got it working again.  Cost me $150.  That stung.  Half of that cost was his time and he was SLLOOOOWWW.  But since he had to completely tear everything apart I didn't feel like it was a *horrible* expense.

Speed up 2 months to last week.  The dishwasher is now not draining again.  Same deal, except there isn't the noise from before like something was stuck in the internal drain mechanism.

My wife tells me she accidentally had a piece of plastic go in the disposal, she ran it and that might be involved.

Because the service guy had a 90 day warranty on his labor, I thought I'd give him a call.  He thought it might be a broken motor, but didn't give any guarantees about how his visit would be free.  I scheduled him to come today (Monday).  I had a 5 day wait until he was coming.

That's when I gave myself a face-punch.  Maybe 3.

I figured, hey, this weekend, if I tear this thing apart and completely break it, no biggy, service guy is coming on Monday.  BUT, there's a 70% chance I'm going to figure this thing out AND learn about the guts and operation of a dishwasher.  And since we'll *probably* have a dishwasher in our family house for the rest of our lives, now's a perfect time to understand this highly used appliance.

Saturday morning spent 2.5 hrs ripping everything apart and totally found the pieces of plastic stuck at a junction in the drain tube.  I reverse blew them out into the disposal, and BAM, problem fixed.  And now I'm a dishwasher ninja.  And cancelled the service call for this afternoon.

So yeah, thanks to this forum and the link posted above, I was able to figure this problem out and save $150+!!!

MrsPete

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Re: Dishwasher is not draining water, any ideas?
« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2013, 12:55:25 PM »
We had this problem recently.  My smart husband Googled and found a uTube video that showed step-by-step how to take the dishwasher apart.  Super easy. 

The video says, however, that if cleaning out the filters doesn't work -- that is, if it's the pump -- you're probably better off just replacing the dishwasher. 

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!