How much work to remove a dishwasher?

[Higgs Boson]

Mine went out over a year ago. Water doesn't come in. I couldn't/ can't afford a medium-to-good one; don't want to get a cheapo, so I'm just washing dishes by hand -- no biggie in a small household.

Somebody suggested I have the DW taken out and have some shelves built in the space. Am toying with the idea. (Whoever buys the house after I'm gone -- IF they don't tear it down

-- can put in their own damn DW.)

I'm considering running an ad on Craigslist offering the DW free to someone who can take it out. I would explain the water problem, of course. Could someone with minimal plumbing skills take it out *and* fix the water problem (if fixable? Plumbing is not my strong suit; highlight of my plumbing life was putting in a bathroom sink faucet.

The shelves, I could probably rough in myself, or slide a thrift shop cart into the space.

With that as b.g. how much work is it to remove a dishwasher? Is my idea workable at all? Your input valued.

HB

[krw]

Trivial. There's only one or two screws holding the top of the DW to the countertop or cabinets. If you have a hard surface top (e.g. granite) there should be two screws into the side cabinets, otherwise one in the top front. The DW just pulls out. It should just be plugged in and a water line coming from somewhere. You'll need to disconnect and plug the water line or turn off a valve, whatever.

Another alternative would be to buy a used machine. They are sometimes available on the cheap. We threw ours out. If someone had wanted it we would have gladly given it to them. Second-hand (Salvation Army, Habitat or some such) sometimes have them, as well.

[Bob]

Four items to consider:

1. Capping of the supply line can usually be done with readily available plumbing parts.

1. Likewise to cap the drain line.

2. The electrical connection. Piece of cake if it's a plug-in. Otherwise, turn off the power, tape off the ends of the leads, and enclose them in an outlet box with a blank cover.

1. Sliding the old unit out. If the floor is built up, such as if a ceramic tile floor was added after the DW was installed, you may have trouble here, requiring disassembly or demolition in place.

After all that you need to dispose of the thing. This may cost you a few bucks.

[hallerb]

you existing machine may only need a fill valve, thats a easy fix if your willing to gve it a try.

if not i would just use your exiisting machine to store dishes

[Higgs Boson]

Hey! That is exciting! I looked up "fill valve" and it *almost* looks as though I might be able to do it. Whatta challenge! Thanks, I guess, for complicating my life even further

[Tony Miklos]

I used to use my old dishwasher as a drying rack. Worked great.

[DerbyDad03]

re: 4. Sliding the old unit out. If the floor is built up, such as if a ceramic tile floor was added after the DW was installed, you may have trouble here, requiring disassembly or demolition in place.

Or it may be a simple as screwing the legs up to make the DW "shorter" so it can be lifted slightly and raised up over the floor.

After all, if DW legs weren't adjustable, how would you ever get a DW

*in* after the floor was finished?

[krw]

Often the DW is tiled into place. It cannot come out in one piece. Something has to break.

[DerbyDad03]

Which means you could never replace it without tearing up a portion of the floor?

I can see jacking up the counter in *some* cases, but certainly not all.

[HeyBub]

It may even be easier than you think. The "fill valve" is driven by a water level sensor (usually located in the right-front of the washer). This is a float mechanism similar to the float gizmo in a toilet. SOMETIMES this sucker gets stuck due to buildup of what the professionals call "mung". This condition is easily fixable by pulling straight up on the float and using a Boy Scount knife to scrape out the "mung."

Once you get the float sorted out, and the dishwasher is again operating, add a teaspoon of TSP (available in the paint department of the box store) to each wash.

Whatever the outcome, please do tell us how you resolved the problem.

[jimmydahgeek]

My floor was built up so that is what I did. I didn't even need to remove the top I just lifted it up enough to slide out the old unit and slide in the new one.

[The Henchman]

With that as b.g. how much work is it to remove a dishwasher? Is my idea workable at all? Your input valued.

HB

------------------------

It's really simple for a simple handy type but you must releaise there is electrical work to do as well. many dishwashers are electrically NOT plugged into an outlet but rather direct wired to a line, usually thru the floor. You'll have to trace your line and end the wire in a junction box, preferably snaking it back thru the floor and ending it at a floor joist.

If you are lucky it may be a plugged into a wall socket. There is a removable kick plate that the remover can remove at the base of the dishwasher to scout around before proceeding. shut off elecity to the washer before working of coarse.

Download a manual from the interwebs that'll show you diagrams and whatnot to visually learn how a dishwasher is installed :) GE, Maytag etc, they are pretty much installed the same with same dimensions.

[hallerb]

fill valves often fail. to test valve connect power cord to valve, if it fails to open no water entry .valve is bad.....

of course make certain someone didnt shut off a valve somewhere cutting the water supply:(

o

[krw]

They might get it out with a Saws-All and fine one a little shorter to replace it with, but yes.

What can I tell ya'. Some people don't think ahead. I made sure to run the flooring *under* the DW, to make sure this couldn't happen.

[DerbyDad03]

OK, so if you ran the flooring under the DW, that tells me that the DW can be made short enough to fit under a counter even with tile underneath the DW.

If it can be made shorter prior to installation, why can't it made shorter when removing it out?

Are you saying that the flooring (or at least the equivalent height of the flooring) is under all of the cabinets also so that the counter top is also "raised" by the height of the finish floor?

You said: "Often the DW is tiled into place. It cannot come out in one piece. Something has to break."

But then you said: "...find one a little shorter to replace it with..."

So that means that "It cannot come out in one piece" might not be true in all cases - i.e. if a shorter one was used in the first place, right?

[krw]

If you choose the right DW, sure. There is more than one model of DW, in case you hadn't noticed.

It's a tough time to find out it can't, 10 years after it's tiled in, no?

No, but that's a good idea if you can do it. I'd have run the flooring under the cabinets but it was too much work to pull the cabinets and countertop.

Break the DW, not the floor (or cabinets). Find one shorter to replace it with. I didn't think I'd have to spell out the steps.

If one could choose to use a shorter one in the first place, why on earth would one tile it in? Wouldn't any sane person do the floor first and *then* install the DW? The problem is when lazy dopes install the flooring in front of AN EXISTING DISHWASHER.

[Robert Neville]

That's the ideal situation. Most dishwashers have an adjustable kick panel that allows for tile installs where the tile does not go under the cabinets. In those cases you tilt the dishwasher to get it in or out as the back is not as high as the front.

[aemeijers]

A properly installed floor goes All The Way Back in the dishwasher cubby, and the edges are somehow waterproofed so that any leaks run out into the room and become immediately apparent. Having any lips or seams just-out-of-sight under the front edge of a dishwasher is a very bad idea. Makes it way too easy for water to sneak into unseen places, and rot the floor out before you notice it. If fact, now that I think about it, I wonder why the same companies that make pans for clothes washers and the load floors of SUVs, don't market something along those lines for dishwashers?

(I'm old fashioned- I think the floor should be finished before the base cabinets go in. If whatever is on the floor is too expensive to hide, like fancy tile, put something cheap on the parts that will be hidden.)

[krw]

Some will just build up the sub-floor under the cabinets with plywood. Makes the cabinets the right height, too.

[DerbyDad03]

Which is what I have seen in the past.