Frigidaire dishwasher fix

[czechsonofagun]

We got a new dishwasher two years ago or so. It was one of the quiet models. Few month ago mugs and glasses from the top shelf would not come out clean.

I cleaned all the filters and gunk on the water pump impeller shaft and it made no difference. The next suspect was the middle arm, the one that sprays directly in the top basket. I started positioning it in one position and every time the dishwasher finished the run, the arm was in the very same position - clearly it was not moving - i.e. it was not spraying.

I did my research, called Frigidaire - they suggested making sure the water is hot, check the intake valve - generally they dismissed my tests of the dishwasher especially with the arm that was not moving.

Further research on the internet uncovered problems other people were having with similar quiet dishwashers. The bottom of the problem, AFAIK is this:

- The water pump housing divides the stream to lower sprayer and upper sprayers.

- In the housing is a small rubber ball of specific weight

- Once the pump start spraying, the ball locks up the output for upper arms and sprays only through the bottom arm

- Water leaks under the ball blocking the lead to upper sprayers and fills the tube behind the ball

- There is a short pause in the water pump cycle and the ball is supposed to move towards the lower arm output (since it is floating in the water now) and when the pump starts again, it should block the output for the low sprayer arm - i.e. the upper spraying arms start spraying water now.


The problem is the pause is too short and the ball often does not have time to shift to block the lower arm; there were people who were able to shift the spray from lower to upper by opening the door for a second or two. Aside of this Fred Flinstone solution the main electrical board has to be reprogrammed to make the pause longer.

Or you can just take the ball out and be done with it. That's what I did. All the arms are spraying now all the time, dishwasher is louder but all dishes come out clean and all is well in the Kingdom of Denmark.

Why it was working for two years and stopped suddenly I don't really know, maybe tolerances worn out from the use? Who knows.

Sorry for the long rant, hopefully it will be of help to somebody:thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

Why it was working for two years and stopped suddenly I don't really know, maybe tolerances worn out from the use? Who knows.

Maybe the ball is less buoyant now. It could have some water in it. Or lime built up on the ball, or lime built up in the passage, or both, making it harder for the ball to move around? I know we bought a new high efficiency dishwasher about 6 moths ago. It does not clean the dishes anywhere nearly as good as the old one for several reasons. The main reason being it uses a lot less water and has smaller motors, orifices and pumps. It also leaves lime deposits of everything. The only solution is soft water, and hand rinsing of the stuck on stuff before loading it in the dishwasher. The soft water solved the lime problems, but we still have to hand scrub pots that have sticky stuff. If I'm going to hand scrub them, I'm just going to finish washing it. It also put lime on the black handles of all of our pots and pans, and turned any of our black plastic spatulas, spoons, ladles, etc... a nice shade of gray. Honestly, in the name of efficiency, they really have ruined some things.

 

[woodchuckie]

Your method to determine if the upper spray arm is working takes lots longer than my method. I leave the door open and hold the door switch in and letter rip. You get an extra bath any time you do it.