My dishes are not getting clean.
The water is not getting hot.
I opened the dishwasher during operation and found that the heating element was not hot and was not submerged.
Shouldn't the heating element be under water during operation?
Usually, yes.
Check the water float sensor. It sometimes gets clogged with crud such that it doesn't move freely.
Pull out the float and remove the caked-on nastiness.
the element will not necessarily be submerged. The main thing is to have your incoming water at least 140 degrees.
Really?
Should a car be washed before taking it to the carwash?
Should I wash my clothes before putting them in the washing machine?
Should I dry my clothes before putting them in the dryer?
Balderdash!
With a suitable amount of TSP added to the dishwashing detergent, a dishwasher WILL wash the dishes.
Somewhat exasperated with my current squeeze's hand washing before putting dishes in the washer, I commanded: "STOP. Time to perform an experiment!"
Over her skepticism, we loaded the dishwasher with bowls encrusted with dried chili, a skillet with baked-on egg remnants, glasses with milk residue in the bottom, forks whose tines could not be seen inasmuch as they were covered with some unknown food remnants, and a bunch of regular stuff.
Then we added my special concoction of powdered detergent, augmented by 15% TSP.
Forty-five minutes later, the dishes came out super-clean, the cutlery was sparkling, and my honey was VERY grateful (if you know what I mean).
When dishwashers first hit the market, manufacturers were perplexed that they weren't selling. It was only THEN that they decided to do some market research! They found that many (most?) women actually LIKED to wash dishes by hand (God only knows why). The manufacturers changed their marketing push to emphasize "sterilizing" rather than "washing" as a dishwasher's main purpose.
Sales took off, because many (most?) women insist on "germ free" stuff (God only knows why).
*** I don't have a dog in this fight, since we haven't used a dishwasher for several years. Just want to point out that newer dishwashers make a point of advising users NOT to rinse foot particles off dishes before stacking in dishwasher. I always thought that was strange.
HB
What do you mean by 'usually'? For most dishwashers or most of the time during the washing cycle?
I did that a few years ago, and yes, it was completely full of nasty crud, and so I cleaned it up. The dishwasher had been overflowing.
I checked the float again lately, and it was not cruddied up like before. I think it works okay.
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