As the Dishwasher Turns (Part 2)

Winchester

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Our lovely not-even-two-years-old Bosch dishwasher bit the dust last night. We will have it two years this-coming July. Rick has no idea what happened; it was running, then it stopped, the red floor light started blinking and it started clicking in sync with the blinking red light. We googled until we were blue in the face, trying to find a solution, but everything we tried failed. We pushed all kinds of buttons in all kinds of sequences. Pulled the circuit breaker several times, waited around, but nothing. I gave up and washed and dried the dishes last night 
 while Rick tried to figure out what happened. And we have no clue. We pulled the circuit breaker to the dishwasher until we can call down to Lowes to send somebody up....we have an extended five-year warranty on the thing because we don't do well with dishwashers! Rick doesn't want to mess with it too much to avoid voiding the warranty.

Those of you who remember the dishwasher fiasco two years ago will also remember that I do not wash dishes.
 We need to get the dishwasher repaired. NOW. Preferably yesterday.

I had to wash the kids' breakfast dishes this morning. I don't have time for this, not in the morning. I am not amused.
 

Kat0121

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Our lovely not-even-two-years-old Bosch dishwasher bit the dust last night. We will have it two years this-coming July. Rick has no idea what happened; it was running, then it stopped, the red floor light started blinking and it started clicking in sync with the blinking red light. We googled until we were blue in the face, trying to find a solution, but everything we tried failed. We pushed all kinds of buttons in all kinds of sequences. Pulled the circuit breaker several times, waited around, but nothing. I gave up and washed and dried the dishes last night 
 while Rick tried to figure out what happened. And we have no clue. We pulled the circuit breaker to the dishwasher until we can call down to Lowes to send somebody up....we have an extended five-year warranty on the thing because we don't do well with dishwashers! Rick doesn't want to mess with it too much to avoid voiding the warranty.

Those of you who remember the dishwasher fiasco two years ago will also remember that I do not wash dishes.
 We need to get the dishwasher repaired. NOW. Preferably yesterday.

I had to wash the kids' breakfast dishes this morning. I don't have time for this, not in the morning. I am not amused.
I hate- hate- hate hand washing dishes so I understand. I remember part one of this saga. 


Hopefully Lowe's will take care of it quickly since there is a warranty in place- if not maybe they can send someone to do dishes for you until it's fixed or replaced. That would be nice! 
 

foxxycat

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I wonder if the computer chip in the dishwasher has gone bad. The same thing happened to our dryer..the memory board was telling it to do all kinds of crazy things...hopefully the computer brains is in an easy reachable spot for them to change out. Electronics don't last the way they used to. I can't wait until manufacturing of these things comes back to the states and uses better quality materials like we did in the 1990s.

I am sorry you had to deal with this..we don't use our dishwasher, I don't have enough dishes to fill it up as we need enough settings for a week...I cleared out so much stuff that we use the same bowl and fork etc. Jon washes everything by hand. I guess if we had people over etc we would use it..too bad I couldn't send the dishwasher to you but you probably won't like it..it's built in 1997 and it still works. We run it once a year or so to make sure it's not leaking or the hosing has gone bad.

I hope the warranty deals with it.
 

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That sounds like what happened to our 16-year-old dishwasher a couple of months ago; it turned out to be a faulty pump, not the electronics. The repair guys actually talked us into getting a new pump rather than replacing the whole dishwasher.

:vibes::vibes::vibes: all yours needs is a fairly simple repair.
 
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Winchester

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Rick called Lowes. Here's the deal......They're trying to find somebody in our area who will work on Bosch products. Because we are rural, it's difficult. They told Rick that, if they can't find somebody to repair the dishwasher, they will replace our dishwasher with a new Bosch of comparative value. But we have no idea how long that's going to take. They're saying somebody will call us within the next three business days, whether it's a Lowes service representative or a Bosch repairperson. Looks like it's not going to fixed quickly. 


I don't know how you can go without a dishwasher; I truly despise washing dishes. My mother loved to wash and dry dishes.....this apple didn't fall from her tree!
 

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Rick called Lowes. Here's the deal......They're trying to find somebody in our area who will work on Bosch products. Because we are rural, it's difficult. They told Rick that, if they can't find somebody to repair the dishwasher, they will replace our dishwasher with a new Bosch of comparative value. But we have no idea how long that's going to take. They're saying somebody will call us within the next three business days, whether it's a Lowes service representative or a Bosch repairperson. Looks like it's not going to fixed quickly. :sigh:

I don't know how you can go without a dishwasher; I truly despise washing dishes. My mother loved to wash and dry dishes.....this apple didn't fall from her tree!
Pam, call them back & ask them for an immediate loaner. Not good service from Lowes IMO. Sears will come out the next day for repairs.

Not bothered about lack of dishwasher. Don't miss something I never had. Didn't have my own washer/dryer until 2001.
 
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Winchester

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Pam, call them back & ask them for an immediate loaner. Not good service from Lowes IMO. Sears will come out the next day for repairs.

Not bothered about lack of dishwasher. Don't miss something I never had. Didn't have my own washer/dryer until 2001.
They don't do loaners for appliances.  And around here, Sears has never come out the next day for repairs. Never. I remember waiting for almost a month for Sears to come to the house one time. In fact, we no longer deal with Sears, unless we absolutely have to, simply because their appliance service is terrible in our area. (Not that it matters because our local Sears store is closing.)

Rick knows there won't be a lot of baking going on until we get the dishwasher repaired or replaced. We could both stand to be away from sweets for a while anyway. I may buy some paper plates and bowls (which, ironically, I did not do when we remodeled the kitchen; we washed dishes in tubs in the bathtub). I'm seeing some Lean Cuisine meals interspersed with some Digiorno's pizza. And maybe some turkey dogs here and there. It is what it is. Rick is not particularly amused either. 

I remember when Mom asked Dad if they could get a dishwasher and he said, "We have three dishwashers; it's not my fault if you don't make them do their jobs!' . Meaning we three kids. Seems I always got stuck with dishes. My sister seemed to find a way out of doing them. My brother really didn't have to wash dishes because "he's a boy". 
 So there I was pretty much every night.
 

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Sorry Pam. I guess with the two of us we only cook twice a week. And the rest of the time it's salads and reheating food. We just wash them in a big plastic bowl in the kitchen sink. Plus I usually eat first then Jon uses my plate/bowl and we rarely eat together..he hates his food hot. Me I want it STEAMING hot so he tells me to eat first. Other times we use paperplates for toast and sandwiches etc. Guess we never make a ton of dishes unless I cook. Which is why I try to only cook twice a week.  You have some premade dinners in your freezer right? You can just use paper plates/bowls? Or do you guys not use the microwave? I seem to use ours every day several times a day. I know some people prefer using the oven vs the microwave.

Sounds like you might be getting a new one...because if they don't have anyone in the area it may be cheaper for them to just replace it than to pay the service fees. Sometimes it seems that's the way things are now. My refrigerator I have noticed isn't running as often as it used to. I told Jon this morning we may have to look into a new one.. it's from 1995-1996 so I am expecting it to kill off. I don't want to pay some guy to come in and fart around with replacing the compressor and maybe it will work. I have no other way to keep food cold. So for now it will be better to just buy a new one and bring it in than it would to pay someone to maybe show up in the next day or two if they are lucky while my food is rotting. I guess I better go buy a new one. Jon says it's colder out and we won't hear it running as much. The food feels cold inside still. the freezer stuff is still cold

But one thing of meat I bought did something weird and Jon said he wouldn't eat it. So I think for now on I have to go meatless. The package was ground turkey and it blew up when I put it in the freezer. He says that means it's gone bad. I said no-it's the way they pack it and the film was blown up so I guess I have to check the ones in the store to see if they are also blown up. I hate to buy meat that has gone bad. I smelt it and it didn't smell bad...I think Jon is nuts. I can always have the butcher repackage the meat I guess so it's not got air inside of it. Have you ever had this happen? I never paid attention before. It's been years since I have purchased ground turkey. I wanted to try something different. Anyways I hope your dish washer gets replaced soon..guess I have been so used to doing dishes by hand that it doesn't bother me..
 
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Winchester

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I really like to cook. But cripes, I hate the dishes. 

Oh yeah, there's pasta sauce, some meatless vegetable soup, chili and turkey chili, chicken corn soup, a small casserole of bake ziti, a couple calzones, some pizza dough balls, etc. There's a ton of stuff.  We won't starve. And yeah, we do use the microwave. When we remodeled the kitchen, we lived from the microwave, the outdoor grill, the crock pots, and the pressure cooker. When I really needed to, I'd plug the oven in, but that was rare.  I have some foil casserole dishes that I sometimes use when we take stuff on picnics and out around the pool and I could use them and then toss them, if I have to. And I get that I'm making a mountain out of a molehill....I do get that. I just hate dishes. And it's the principle of the thing, too; that bloody dishwasher isn't even two years old, for god's sake. That's what's really frustrating.

I just bought some ground turkey the other week because it was on sale and I wanted it for white chicken (turkey) chili. We always re-package meats and such; we have a food saver and it is safer than tossing a package of store-wrapped meat in the freezer. It will last a lot longer, too. I haven't had that happen to ground turkey, but a couple weeks ago, I opened a package of frozen shrimp and it was funky. It smelled fine, but I didn't like the way some of the shrimp looked and we tossed it. According to my freezer notes, the package was only about six weeks old, which should have still been fine. I don't know....better to be safe, I guess. We got rid of it.

I hope it's nothing serious with your refrigerator. We had a fridge for well over 20 years and it worked beautifully. They we bought the Kitchen Aid side-by-side. Since the old GE was still working, we figured we'd put it in the basement and use it down there. Took it down and let it set for a day. Then I washed it out, plugged it on, and turned it on. And.....nothing. It died, right then and there. So, off to the recycling center. You can't go without a fridge, that's for sure. And if it's that old, you're right to just buy a new one and be done with it. 
 
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foxxycat

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Yeah I never noticed the package blowing up before-it was already puffy anyways. I usually buy smaller packages and use those. If I repackage meats they still get freezer burnt. So I try to buy ones that are wrapped tightly or inside ziplock bags like the chicken fingers I buy. I have to deal with car registration and license crap this month so I am thinking of doing it in May. when it's not too cold out and not too warm so we can easily switch over.
 
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Winchester

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We did ask them, Primula. They don't do loaners. 

They called us yesterday and Rick called them back last night. Basically they wanted to know if we had done everything we could: turning the breaker off for a while and then turning it back on, trying to push the buttons to get the panel into TEST mode, etc. Rick told him that we've done everything we could and would it be possible to have a "loaner-type" dishwasher while the problem is being resolved. And no, they don't do loaners. So now we wait another three business days for them to call us back again. They are calling Bosch; I'm sure Bosch doesn't want to replace the dishwasher if they don't have to. 

Rick asked them why the guy who originally installed the dishwasher couldn't at least come out to look at the thing. They don't do that either. I don't see this being resolved any time soon.
 
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Well......the junction box is fried. When the guy installed the dishwasher, he installed a junction box in the cabinet next to the dishwasher; he said this was something they did for every Bosch dishwasher.

Rick took the front off the junction box. As soon as he took the front off, you could smell the melted innards. The inside is black. Something happened the other night. We don't know what.

Rick called our electrician right away and he's coming in tomorrow (Sunday) to look at the electrical line. 
 
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Winchester

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The electrician thinks that if the junction box is replaced, it might be enough to save the dishwasher (because the dishwasher's light is blinking). He would have replaced it while he was here and we could have checked everything right then and there, but he didn't want to do anything to possibly void the warranty. He is really concerned that it never tripped the circuit breaker when it happened that night; it should have. 

Meanwhile, we are still waiting on Lowes to call us again. The other night when Rick talked to the guy, he gave him my phone number and he is to call me and he and I can hash it out. The reason for that is that he if calls the house, there's nobody home. If he calls Rick, well, Rick can't answer his phone since he's at work (they tend to really frown on cell phone usage at work and you can get fired). If a repair person can get to the house, I'm the one who will have to take off work anyway; it's easier for me than it is Rick. So he has to call me. Rick said that I'd probably get it done faster anyway. I doubt that very much.
 

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I'm wondering if something was wired wrong. That shouldn't have happened. Rick is right. The amps fed through should have tripped the breaker. Maybe replace both breaker and the junction box and look to see if anything is backfeeding into it as well. Wonder if it's not properly grounded. Sorry that the box is fried. Also in some hand tools we have had problems with the wiring inside not being connected completely. Some people who put these things together don't tighten down the hot side completely onto the screw and of course there's room for the electricity to arc out. Such a pain in the a$$. Sometimes I feel that we have to double check all wiring before we install anything. Which is bs. Hoping you get that fixed. That could explain the motherboard getting fried. Too much current feeding into it? I am sure Rick has a volt meter and checked all that.

Hugs to you with this VERY annoying problem!

And if you can get another junction box maybe temporarily try it. If the dishwasher starts up and runs normally then maybe it's not the dishwasher?
 
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Primula

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[quote name="Winchester" url="/t/336296/as-the-dishwasher-turns-part-2#post_]As soon as he took the front off, you could smell the melted innards.
[/quote]

Wow. Could that have started a fire?
 
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Check the internal food filters. If they get clogged, the machine will shut down. They're a bit hard to find, and there are two different ones. Go online to find where they are. I bet that'll solve your problem. We have a Bosch and when we bought it, the salesman took great pains to tell us about the filters. He said most people don't know they are there because they're not where they are on other machines.

Let me know if it works.
 

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Check the internal food filters. If they get clogged, the machine will shut down. They're a bit hard to find, and there are two different ones. Go online to find where they are. I bet that'll solve your problem. We have a Bosch and when we bought it, the salesman took great pains to tell us about the filters. He said most people don't know they are there because they're not where they are on other machines.

Let me know if it works.
The filter just screws into the bottom does it not? I have a Bosch ecosense and that's where it is on mine but where is the second one?

By junction box do you mean the one on the dishwasher itself or one in the wall. They have to by law put a junction box where a hard wired appliance connects to the wall so that in a situation such as this a fire or sparks are contained. Sounds like something has short circuited and has arched. Is the dishwasher on its own fuse? They are not supposed to have anything else on their circuit. The fact the breaker didn't blow tells me you may need a new breaker. They can become stuck from lack of use especially if located in a damp or dirt basement.
 
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