Dishwasher water pressure issues

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Hambone02

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I have a dishwasher that we currently don't use because it doesn't wash the dishes well at all.

I am on a well and seem to have decent water pressure. The kitchen sink has excellent water pressure (same supply as the dishwasher), but the washer tub won't fill to the required amount needed to wash. I had a Sears guy come look at it while it was under warranty, and he said it wasn't the washer, but the water volume. Water pressure and volume seems fine according to a plumber.

My question: Is there a dishwasher I can buy that relies on a floating switch instead of a timer for houses with low water pressure issues? As I said, my pressure seems fine, but maybe Sears is right about the volume. A "floater" type DW would be nice, otherwise I may be wasting time getting a new timer-driven washer....
 

Gary Slusser

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I have a dishwasher that we currently don't use because it doesn't wash the dishes well at all.

I am on a well and seem to have decent water pressure. The kitchen sink has excellent water pressure (same supply as the dishwasher), but the washer tub won't fill to the required amount needed to wash. I had a Sears guy come look at it while it was under warranty, and he said it wasn't the washer, but the water volume. Water pressure and volume seems fine according to a plumber.

My question: Is there a dishwasher I can buy that relies on a floating switch instead of a timer for houses with low water pressure issues? As I said, my pressure seems fine, but maybe Sears is right about the volume. A "floater" type DW would be nice, otherwise I may be wasting time getting a new timer-driven washer....
What pressure do you operate your well pump at? It is a range like on at 30 off at 50 and to see that range you run water until the pump comes on and read the pressure on the gauge, then shut off the water and read what pressure it shuts off at.

If the pressure increase real fast form when the pump comes on to when it shuts off, the compressed air pressure in the tank is probably wrong. At the top of this forum are instructions to check and adjust the volume and psi of the pressure tank, with no water in the tank. If that is not right, you can have low pressure when the pump is off.

If you can't do that yourself, find a pump guy, or plumber that knows how to do it, not all do.
 

FloridaOrange

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First, make sure the shut off valve for your dishwasher supply is fully open.

Find out what the fill volume and time of fill is of the dishwasher is, connect a hose to your washer valve and run it wide open for the time into a container with a known volume.

What kind of dishwasher do you have? Could the cleaning results just be due to a subpar or faulty washer?
 

Wondering

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Check your cut-off valve as someone above said. I know I had one on my line to the dishwasher at one time that the rubber gasket/washer from inside came loose and partially stopped up the hole on the cut off where the water came out.
Also, the newer dishwashers use a "quieter fill valve" which I believe restricts the flow, hence the "quieter fill".
At one time the Maytag dishwashers used the float fill method, not sure if they still do. I have a Kenmore Elite and it fills for 1min 40sec which is supposed to fill it with 1.8 gal of water.
Maybe if your pressure setting is 30/50 try 40/60, that is what I run. My fill line is also 1/2" copper hooked to the dishwasher. You might change out your fill valve with a regular one and get more flow/vol than you have now.
I hope some of this helps and please let us know if you fix the problem..
 
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