Dishwasher Dispenser Doesn't Open Until Dry Cycle

[FL]

I have a Kenmore Elite Dishwasher (which I believe is a rebadged Bosch) that's about a year or 2 old and I noticed that the soap dispenser now doesn't open until the drying cycle. There is most of the dishwasher gel still running down the inside of the door when I open the dishwasher to empty it. So, the soap obviously wasn't used during the wash cycles.

The dispenser door isn't stuck closed because it does open consistently, but during the dry cycle instead of the wash cycle. I rewashed the dishes a second time and it happened both times.

Is there anything I can do to fix this or does it need to repaired by the technician?

[hallerb]

likely bad control board. assuming the door that doesnt open moves freely. $$$$$

bosch machines clean better and are the quietest dishwashes ever built.

unfortunately they are the least reliable and most expensive to repair ever built:(:(:(

nearly all the parts in a bosch that ever fail are located in a pan thats the entire bottom of the machine......

nice they cant leak, machine has float in base that detects leak and turns machine off.

unfortunately you must disassemble the entire bottom of the machine to do much of anything.... including replacing failed float detector module.

this just makes it being unreliable worse. it makes it very expensive........

plus most parts are expensive modules $$

please post your experiences so we can compare..........

I tossed my 2 year old bosch in the trash after it broke 3 times in 2 years...... twice out of warranty. consumer reports bosch dead last for being reliable, they earned that position........

[Gini]

wrote ........................... nearly all the parts in a bosch that ever fail are located in a pan thats the entire bottom of the machine...... === Not my experience or the experience of Bosch owners I know. My high end Bosch always has control board failures and I can now change it myself in about 10 minutes. Yep--a $150. part (unless it's within the 5 year warranty on the board--I got three new ones that way--didn't cost me a dime) and 10 minutes is all it takes ;-). Oh, and there is that detergent dispenser door that won't stay closed and the failure of the plastic arm that carries the water to the top level. They just don't make plastic like they used to. There's all kinds of stuff that goes bad above that pan. ===

[hallerb]

well when my control board failed 3 days after purchase. sears sent two guys for 2 hours.

your report of control board failures matches my experience, stuff should last longer than your boards.

my last failure was a pump, about 200 bucks plus either install myself or tear the entire bottom apart service quote 500 bucks.

I bought a whirpool for 400 bucks and am pleased.

even the service company said it wasnt wqorth fixing my bosch at 2 years old the pump was out of warranty.

wonder if sears bosch have 5 year warranty, I looked at bosch when shopping sears bosch machine had one year warranty i think.........

in any case bosch machines appear trouble prone

[HeyBub]

Forget it. Just chunk one of those solid dishwasher pellets in when you close the door.

[Gini]

wrote ............................... my last failure was a pump, about 200 bucks plus either install myself or tear the entire bottom apart service quote 500 bucks.

I bought a whirpool for 400 bucks and am pleased.

even the service company said it wasnt wqorth fixing my bosch at 2 years old the pump was out of warranty.

wonder if sears bosch have 5 year warranty, I looked at bosch when shopping sears bosch machine had one year warranty i think..... ==== There is a one year warranty on the machine and five years on the board. At least there was on mine--They may have changed this--My machine is over five years old now.

[FL]

I decided to try resetting it. I couldn't access the power plug so I went to the circuit breaker and turned it off and on. I ran another load of dishes and this time there was no soap running down the door, so it looks like it opened earlier and was washed away. I also just found out that the Kenmore Elite models have a 2 year warranty, so it's still under warranty. I'll call them it it happens again and I'll think of getting an extended warranty for another couple of years. If it breaks later than that, I'll just replace it and go with a more reliable model.

The main reason I got this model is because it's supposed to be super quiet. The wash cycles are almost silent, but I still hear way too much noise coming out of the sink when it drains the water, so it wasn't worth paying extra for the quiet dishwasher. It has a delay program, but I don't use it because there is no pre- heating and if it starts in the middle of the night, it will be using cold water in the first cycle until new hot water from the water heater reaches the kitchen. Next time I'll get one with water pre-heating and just use delay start instead of getting a "quiet" dishwasher..

[linhaiyxs]

My Bosch dishwasher also has this problem, I am curious how did you do the reset. Just turn the power on and off?

[Ed Pawlowski]

Didn't work with my kids.

[devnull]

Get even with them. Spoil your grandkids. ;-)

[Art Todesco]

Unfortunately as micro controllers creep into our appliances, this seems to happen more and more. Designers don't know how to build fault tolerant controllers, hence we get these kind of things happening. I have a fridge that will just shut itself down when there is a power glitch and you have to do the "reset" thing by powering down for some time and then power back up. I've gone so far as to buy a controller that detects a power deviation and removes power from the fridge for a set amount of time and then restores it. I hope this device doesn't suffer from the same types of problems.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Would a UPS do a similar function so it does not see a power loss? I have them on the TV because a 1 second power out makes the damned DVR go through about 8 minutes of start up.

[trader_4]

It sounds like it should work. Fortunately these bad actors are fairly rare. I haven't had any problems that I recall in any of my appliances or devices. For appliances that are critical, like Art's fridge, there should be a watchdog timer that kicks in if the microcontroller CPU runs amok. They rely on the CPU having to write a certain value to a certain location every X milliseconds. If that doesn't happen, hardware forces a reset. Sounds like a bad design. Maybe Art should start a website looking for other people with the same problem and find a lawyer for a class action suit. Buying a fix is easier, but getting satisfaction against the company might be worth it.

[Art Todesco]

Most UPSs have a switch over time which is usually very fast. That's because most electronic stuff (mostly computers) has enough power in capacitors to keep the power supply going for a short time. Some UPSs (very few and far between these days) have the output coming from the inverter all the time with the battery on float, so that if the AC power stops, the battery continues to supply power to the inverter. Thus there is no power glitch. This is similar to the systems used in the telephone company equipment. Also, finding a UPS for a large appliance like a fridge, might be very expensive. And you have to factor in the power the appliance needs for startup.