Anyone know anything about it?

I have a 12 month and 16 day old dishwasher that has crapped out. (that's right... I'm 16 days outside of warranty!) (GE Model GSD 2200)

It will run through the wash cycle/rinse cycles with no problem but, when it gets to the point at which the pump should kick on to remove the water from the area beneath the dishes, it fails. There isn't clicking, there isn't anything.

Naturally, I confirmed that the lines weren't clogged; they're not.

Any ideas folks? Ahh, the joys of home ownership... first the dog and the carpet and now the dishwasher.

THANKS!

 

http://www.repairclinic.com/0088_9_1.asp

there's also a place to email the repair guru...

 

That is an EXCELLENT website. Thank you very much!

 

If you have a below the sink garbage disposal unit, check to be sure it isn't clogged, the dishwasher runs through it. I replaced the disposal in a rental unit we own, and then the tenant complained that the dishwasher wasn't draining. I checked it, and confirmed it wasn't draining. I bought a new dishwasher, and the instructions said to be sure to knock out the block in the disposal before installing a new dishwasher. Yep, stupid me forgot to knock out the pipe block........ can't drain if it ain't got nowhere to go!!!!!!

 

Thanks serotta. I did check that leg of the drain line and it was actually a dry line. I saw online where oodles of folks had had problems in that immediate area but, I don't think that's where my problem lies.

After researching it to death last night, I really believe that the pump has gone bad in the machine.

 

I worked at a 168 unit apartment community as a maintenance man in a former life.

Every "fail to drain" problem I had was a stuck impeller.

Remove the lower front access panel. On the lower right (probably) is the pump. Remove the hose clamp from the discharge hose and pull the hose off the pump. Some water will leak out, so have a towel handy. Stick your finger in the pump (power is off right?) and you should be able to feel the impeller blades. Push on the blades to turn the "fan". It should be tough to spin, and then it will break loose and spin freely. Put the whole thing back together and it should work fine.

"Fail to Drain" is most common in areas with hard water, or if you don't use your dishwasher at least once a week. I fixed dozens of dishwashers between Thanksgiving and New Years because people only used them once a year, and when they did they were stuck.

One small tip. After the machine is back working, run it through an an entire cycle using TANG instead of dishwasher detergent. Just dump half a can of the stuff onto the bottom of the machine and turn it on. It's an old trick taught to me by an old appliance repair man. The TANG is very acidic and it is like running vinegar through your coffee pot to clean it out. Do that every six months and you won't have any problems. My 15 year old GE runs great, and is clean as a whistle.

Good Luck.

 

I'm sure I'll be redundant in your thought pattern, but with just a whisker over a year on that machine, several calls to the manufacturer may spell relief in the form of them eating the cost of replacement pump. Maybe a deal, you pay the service call, they ship the pump cost free to you.

 

That was first on my 'to-do' list this morning and, fortunately, the GE Customer Relations folks saw it my way and agreed that there should be no charge for the call, parts, or labor.

The service guy just left and the drain solenoid had melted down (really badly might I add) because of a faulty timer. He further went on to say that the drain solenoid had probably been bad for a while and it just took a little bit of time for it to 'freeze' in the closed position (where it had probably been in the open position prior to yesterday -- which would explain an occasional cycle that didn't seem to do much -- we just thought it was because it was a 'low-end' dishwasher).

So, with that in mind, the parts are to be FedEx'd to my place (timer assembly and new solenoid) and they'll be back out on Monday to reinstall the components.

Interestingly enough, I just talked to a neighbor three houses down and the EXACT same thing had happened to theirs. A little bit of research on the web yielded that this was NOT a very uncommon problem either...

Oh well, at least they're taking care of it!

Thanks for the help folks!

RP