Dishwasher leak and questions

It's a water c*ck solenoid

When I had a leak in mine, it was only apparent when filling. There was a place where a pipe entered the water softener / mixer assembly and mater using an O ring - that had got tired with age and was letting by under pressure.

You may need to watch a full cycle with the side off to see when it leaks not only where from...

Valve by the looks of it.

Looks like it might go to an anti syphon riser assembly.

part of the softener assembly again I think - normally translucent with a number of chambers and connections. It makes up a certain amount of softened water (ion exchange softener, recharged with saline), then mixes that with the incoming cold water in a ratio set by a hardness control somewhere (might be physical or software)

Some of the pictures on this page might give you some pointers:

Thanks John that link is very helpful. Mine also only leaks on filling so must be in that circuit somewhere also. The challenge is that with all the pipes in place it is difficult to see behind them to identify the source. Also, because it only happens when in operation I have to have the pipes in place. Anyone have any ideas how to get a better view of where the leak is coming from?

Thanks

Lee.

Dental mirror or small camera? (even a phone camera can often see places you can't get your head)

Spread paper on the floor and around suspected leaks, then see what got wet.

Thanks John - mirror is a good idea. I suspect one of the kids has a small compact mirror somewhere will take a look. Funnily enough I bought a boroscpe a couple of years ago and you comment reminded me. Now need to find the thing...

thanks

Lee.

Thanks Dave. I know where it is dripping from (the bottom of the white circular thing) the question is more how the water gets there to try and find the source of the leak.

thanks

Lee.

Hi all

Thanks very much for your help on this. Found the boroscope and have found the leak. On the far right there is a a plastic gadget with a float switch in it. The leak was where that fits into the main housing - the rubber washer has some crud on it so assume when I cleaned out the bladder panel (I think that's what it is called) I dislodged it and it gradually got worse. Anyway taking the gadget out, cleaning the rubber washer and reseating it solved the problem.

It was leaking at the rear of it (hence why I couldn't see it) running along the back and then dripping on the white circular thing I mentioned.

Thanks again

Lee.

Glad you resolved it. ;-)

Did I miss the initial need for you to take parts off or was it all in this same session?

Not suggesting this was the case here but I have come across several instances where people working on things previously had actually created a problem that may not have been there in the first place. I'm not even suggesting it was though any lack of care either as in many cases, it's not as easy to access / fix something as it was when it was being assembled new in the factory (without you stripping it right down).

That said, where there is an obvious chance to get something wrong, like catching the lip of the end of a hose when pushing it over a large tube, you may have to both optimise your approach re getting it

The other thing I've suffered the consequences of is people over / under tightening fastener, of all types. Over tightening hose clamps, distorting / cutting into the hose or under-tightening a bolt allowing something to move and then wear, meaning you have extra repair work to do (inserting bushes or re-facing surfaces).

One of the first signs of working on a new-to-me vehicle or machine, and finding a roofing bolt though something, or one odd bolt when there should be 4 identical ones is the fear of what other things may have not been done properly. Whilst it can just be an issue of aesthetics, if someone replaces one of three cross head screws holding say the cover on a plastic airbox with a hex head, that someone else dealing with that applies way too much torque on the hex head screw and does other damage.

Cheers, T i m

Hi Tim,

From time to time the chamber / bladder thing (sorry not sure what the correct name for it is) on the side of the dishwasher gets blocked with gunk. I have to take it off and give it a clean. I did this a few weeks ago and it seems that when I did it I dislodged something else. Essentially the right hand tube of the chamber thing fits into a plastic gadget which in turn slides into a tube sealed with a rubber washer. Whilst I didn't remove / tinker with the gadget, I must have disturbed it and caused the problem. When I tested it after sorting out the original problem it was fine so assume it gradually happened over time with use.

Thanks

Lee.

That was the bit I had missed, thanks.

And this is the sort of thing I was referring to when we try to fix things, often with poor access and no instructions that there can be things that add a random element to the whole process.

Like, I don't know how many times you have cleaned this out previously with no issue and then (the random bit) something different happens that changes things (Chaos theory)?

Now, it could have been that the washer / seal could have moved the first time you did the job or never moved at all. ;-)

Yeah. Often heat, movement, pressure etc can all highlight such problems, well after the job was first done.

Like remembering you didn't tighten the engine sump nut when the oil pressure light comes on. ;-(

Cheers, T i m