Another (different) Bosch dishwasher leak

My Bosch sms40a02gb/03 Dishwasher has been tripping the RCD. I took the sides and back panel off and ran it. There are pinhole leaks where the metal inner liner meets the plastic base. See

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Any ideas how to seal it?

Reply to
mattscantlebury
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Sorry - was interrupted by SHMBO - should add that the leaks are where the black insulation meets the plastic base, about midway along the left side a nd also midway along the back. There is one very small pinhole on each side that spits out small amounts each time the rotating arm ?swooshes ? past.

Reply to
mattscantlebury

So what is it made from, are we talking rust or just poor gluing here? If its rust then its retire it time. There will be more as time passes. If its just bonding you might be able to find some kind of sealant, but I'd be interested in what made it leak first. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

any waterproof sealant. Silicone is relatively cheap and tolerant of very small amounts of movement.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Not sure why it leaks. It?s only about 4 years old and there? ?s no rust. The gap is full of gunk that looks like grease and food waste .

Do you think Plumbers? Mate might do the trick if I put it on the o utside?

Reply to
mattscantlebury

??s no rust. The gap is full of gunk that looks like grease and food wa ste.

I'd put the sealant on both sides after cleaning it well.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

We have exactly the same problem with ours. Having first spotted the problem a few years ago when I had not time to solve it properly, I stuck some duct tape over on the outside and forgot about it. Earlier this year the duct tape failed, causing the leaking water to dribble down into the electronics compartment, so the machine shut down with a ?water in base of machine? error code. Not remembering the duct tape, I called out an engineer who emptied the water and tightened some screws that might have (but weren?t) the source of the leak. It worked again for a while and when it next failed I remembered the duct tape.

I thought I could make a better fix than duct tape (which doesn?t really stick to the bitumen), so I squirted CT1 sealant into the gap. This worked fine until we ran an ?intensive? programme (which runs hotter than the one we normally use) and it started to leak again.

The problem is that when the cycle gets hot, the metal back and plastic base expand at different rates, so the gap gets bigger and pulls apart the seal. The plastic doesn?t really take adhesives (with all that bitumen there I?m not willing to try flashing it). My next thought is to use some flexible ?air seal? expanding foam, but since we rarely use the hot programme I just put a towel on the floor when we do, and getting round to trying the next fix consequently hasn?t happened yet.

Reply to
Jon Fairbairn

Thanks everyone - I tried my idea of plumber?s mait (had some ? ??in stock? so thought I?d give it a go) - it failed on the first intensive cycle (too hot). I?ll try one of the adhesives mentioned. Sounds like I might have to redo it every now and again, but ch eaper than buying a new one.

Is there a design flaw in these machines?

Reply to
mattscantlebury

Arguably yes, since the stainless steel and plastic were never going to have the same expansion coefficients. But I know that our machine suffered some un-designed-for pressure on the back when it was first installed: unseen behind the machine, the two hoses had crossed and were trapped between the metal part of the back and the wall. So it is possible that this broke the original seal.

Reply to
Jon Fairbairn

Applied Stixall to side and rear. Left for 24 hours to go off. Side seems t o be holding well. However, leak still happening at rear. Watching the mach ine in operation, I can see the rear case flexing in and out fairly signifi cantly, with water spurting out ( like a spitting image puppet crying) when the rear flexes outwards.

I?m worried that no amount of sealant will cope with this amount of movement. Any ideas?

Reply to
mattscantlebury

to be holding well. However, leak still happening at rear. Watching the ma chine in operation, I can see the rear case flexing in and out fairly signi ficantly, with water spurting out ( like a spitting image puppet crying) wh en the rear flexes outwards.

of movement. Any ideas?

So you need to fix it in place as well as seal.

Reply to
tabbypurr

Ther is a design flaw in nearly all German dishwashers, especially Bosch.

Bosch = schitt

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Six month old post.

And in 25 years of having Bosch dishwashers I have never had a leak in one.

Reply to
Bob Eager

Would not say that, but most stuff these days seems to be designed with a life span of around 3 years in mind form what I've experienced. As for dishwashers. I never had one as talking to people you have to wash the dishes to get the worse off before you shove them in the washer, and while you are doing that you might as well hand wash them at the time. Of course if you have a lot of dishes to do then it probably makes sense, but then a better product might be the best choice, the cheap mickey mouse devices made at the bottom end of the price range are just that, cheap. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

It helps to run the plates etc under a tap if, for example, they have gravy on them. Rice is a bu**er and worth rising off.

Likewise, rinsing things like rice from pans is a good idea.

However, you don't need to wash them before using the dishwasher.

As for the cheap vs expensive, I'm not sure price is the decided. Our first one wasn't hugely expensive and lasted ages. We've had expensive ones which were unreliable. Those with a multitude of programmes seem overkill. Our previous one had programmes we never used. The current one, a SMEG, has 3 (or perhaps 4) ranging of which we use 2 most of the time. The SMEG has a 5 year warranty included.

With just 2 of us at home now, it goes on once a day normally (overnight). A few things don't go in the dishwasher- more I think because Senior Management prefers to washer them by hand, a dw can fade some things etc and not everything is dw safe.

We've had one since (about) 1983/84 and wouldn't be without one.

Reply to
Brian Reay

I just wipe the worst ones with a bit of blue roll.

We've had one for 25 years, and I agree!

Reply to
Bob Eager

You can chuck everything unrinsed, but stuff then often comes out with bits on it. Or you can prerinse. It's stupid regulation, by trying to enforce water savings they greatly increase water use.

You can work for that 40p an hour if you want :)

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

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