Dishwasher problem, won't fill ~ sometimes.

[Nick]

Just inherited a Hoover Optima D830 dishwasher. About 8-10 years old, hasn't been used for last 4 years and little used before that. Still in situ, cold fill only. As a trial run I checked the filter on the inlet hose, set the most intensive programme and pressed the start button. Sounds of water entering and then the washing process started. Looking good thinks I. Some while later the waste is pumped out successfully but it does not refill. The program continues without water and the internal heater is still live and working! I checked this during the 'Daily' segment of the program. There was a lot of froth in the machine but I had not put any detergent in. Started from the beginning again but no water fill. Turned it off at the mains and tilted it sideways to look for bad connections, broken wires or anything else obviously amiss. Didn't find anything. Went through the trial run process again, filled again but not filling after initial fill/drain. The water inlet valve appears to be ok. It seems as if something is telling the machine that it has sufficient water when in fact it has not. I've googled for some hours without much success but have come across reference to sticking float switches. Have checked inside the machine but can see nothing that looks like it might be a float switch. Tilted the machine again to look for anything that might be a float switch, no joy. Tried the trial run again, exactly the same. Filled again but not filling after initial fill/drain.

After several attempts I have found that if I tilt the machine for a couple of minutes it will fill at the beginning of a cycle but not again. Always plenty of white froth. Unfortunately I don't have any manuals, diagrams or any other paperwork. Gut feeling is that this is a simple problem but I don't know how to go on. Any ideas please?

I hope the above makes some sense

Thanks

Nick.

Any ideas please

[Lurch]

On Sun, 27 May 2007 15:50:29 +0100, "Nick" mused:

Drying cycle?

[Andrew Gabriel]

The rinse aid can froth a bit.

There will be a water level switch somewhere. These are usually a pressure switch (~3" diameter disc with thin tube emerging from one side and connections on the other side). The thin tube can get muck in it and fool the pressure switch into a wrong reading.

Dishwashers (and washing machines) can misbehave in quite unexpected ways when an unexpected set of sensor combinations signal together. I found on mine that if the pressure switch gets stuck on, the thing never switches off but just keeps repeating its full wet, wash, rinse, dry cycle continuously.

[Franko]

I'd be interested in any input from anyone too. My Bosch suffered the same sort of symptons and would go through the initial phases of the wash but would hang - awaiting water during the final drain cycle.

The clock would continue to count down until it got to 1 minute remaining and would the just halt at that point, if I then opened the door and poured a couple of jugs of water into the machine and shut the door, the clock would then go back to 30 minutes remaining and the cycle would complete properly.

We got into the habit of waiting until the clock read 30 mins remaining and using the jug technique but this meant that we couldn't let the machine run unattended.

As we have an insurance policy for our electrical items we called in en engineer who didn't seem to be able to fix it after numerous visits so they replaced it with a new Neff machine - exactly the same as the Bosch but with a different control panel.

I've offered the Bosch machine to a relative to use in their kitchen and would be interested if anyone would have any input on what could be wrong.

Thanks,

Franko.

[Part timer]

Is your cold water supply to it from the mains (direct) or tanked? Ours is from the mains (old house), (and an old Bosch dishwasher for that matter). Finally nailed our problem last summer when Haynes Dishwasher Manual (eBay or Abebooks) gave me the confidence to have a fiddle with it. Turned out the inlet valve was fine, just when we flushed the bog or ran the washing achine at the same time as the DW was taking its fill, the DW would stop mid-cycle. Try not running anything else, and check the safety cutout float is fully down (inlet valve shaft thing pushed fully inwards).

[Franko]

Is your cold water supply to it from the mains (direct) or tanked?

Thanks for the input part timer.