13 year old GE dishwasher not draining

[Sluggo]

For months my wife has been complaining that our dishwasher has been leaving specks on the dishes and I haven't been too concerned, but now I've got 2" of water that won't drain from the bottom. I've done the following:

-removed the cover on the float...it's working fine
-checked the air gap at the countertop end...looks clear
-ran the garbage disposal...it's not backed up
-pulled some plastic basket-type filters from the bottom...they're clean now after removing a lot of accumulated slimy gunk off them

I ran it for a minute or two, but the water is still sitting there, and I didn't want it to fill to overflowing the bottom rim.

I know it's an older appliance and that it could be the pump, but I want to check out a few other things before I give up.

What's next? Do I disconnect the drain line to the air gap, and, if so, do I have to remove the appliance entirely to get at the back? How can I check the pump itself? Any other ideas? Thanks.

 

[Terry]

If you remove the access panel near the floor on the unit, you can see where the hose attaches. Water is pumped out under pressure to the air gap on the counter and then drops down the larger hose to the disposer. If water is pumping to the disposer, that's not it.
A dishwasher runs best with anti-spotting. That my have emptied. I would check that and refill if needed.
I also prefer the liquid Cascade over the powder, and none of the generics for me.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[DonL]

What is your Model number ?

Does it have a food grinder ?

You can Disconnect the Drain and connect a wet vac to suck the trash out of the pump and grinder.

Tell your wife to wash the dishes by hand. Then be ready when she says You can do it. Hide the skillets. lol

I use the liquid Cascade also, but adding some regular dish washing liquid like dawn can help.

Good Luck on your project.

 

[Sluggo]

What is your Model number ?

Does it have a food grinder ?

You can Disconnect the Drain and connect a wet vac to suck the trash out of the pump and grinder.

Tell your wife to wash the dishes by hand. Then be ready when she says You can do it. Hide the skillets. lol

I use the liquid Cascade also, but adding some regular dish washing liquid like dawn can help.

Good Luck on your project.

DonL-
If I attach my shop vac to the line going to the air gap and have a good seal (duct tape) will it suck out debris even if the drain pump is defective? At this point, I'm thinking that the drain pump is either dead or plugged, but I don't know how to figure out which of these two is correct.

 

[WJcandee]

I always used the liquid Cascade, but in the last two years I have switched to the reasonably-priced Finish Powerball tabs (not the more-expensive and less-effective Finish Quantum thingies). In two washes with the Powerball tabs, a cloudiness on some of our older glassware just disappeared -- very noticeable. I also believe in using Finish rinse-aid (formerly JetDry) in the dispenser, because it does help, regardless of whether the tablet purports to have a rinse aid in it. In the restaurant biz, the rinse aid is saved for the final rinse in commercial dishwashers, as it is in our home dishwashers when you add it in the dispenser, and that's where it belongs.

One other thought: in the year or two before I replaced the old dishwashers in the city and in the country, I used the Finish dishwasher cleaner on each, with good results. It's a bottle of liquid that you take the cap off of and upend into the top rack, then run an otherwise-empty cycle. Once you remove the cap, it exposes a waxy plug in the bottle, which dissolves in the hot water when you run the dishwasher, so the effect is that the machine rinses itself first, then the hot water dissolves the plug in the bottle and the chemical dispenses into the main wash cycle and pumps through the hoses and nozzles, after which the chemical rinses out in the remaining wash and rinse cycles. It appears to dissolve lime deposits and other things, which can be helpful in an older machine, and leaves the interior shinier and smelling clean.

 

[DonL]

DonL-
If I attach my shop vac to the line going to the air gap and have a good seal (duct tape) will it suck out debris even if the drain pump is defective? At this point, I'm thinking that the drain pump is either dead or plugged, but I don't know how to figure out which of these two is correct.

Knowing the model number can help.

The Pump that washes the dishes is the same pump that pumps the water out, so if the cleaning jets are working then the pump is working.

Some pump motors switch direction when pumping the water out. On some models there is a solenoid and the pump motor only runs in one direction.


Good Luck.

 

[hj]

None of the things you did have anything to do with the pump removing the water from the DW. If the water control is working properly, you can run a cycle and it will not add any extra water to the sump. Does the DW actually wash the dishes, i.e. do the arms spin? If so the pump is working but the drain valve may not be.

 

[Sluggo]

None of the things you did have anything to do with the pump removing the water from the DW. If the water control is working properly, you can run a cycle and it will not add any extra water to the sump. Does the DW actually wash the dishes, i.e. do the arms spin? If so the pump is working but the drain valve may not be.

Thanks for all the tips and encouragement. I think I've solved it. I attached my shop vac to the hose going to the air gap and was able to pull water pretty freely through it. After the standing water was about 2/3 gone, I stuck the shop vac hose directly inside the dishwasher to suck out the remainder from the other side of the pump. I ran a rinse cycle and there was no standing water and the water was exiting through the air gap freely. So, I just think that all the crud I found on the various filters was completely or nearly completely preventing the water from being pumped out (and maybe there was gunk in the drain line or near the pump inlet, too). We have been using Powerball tabs for the last couple of years, and I don't know if that has helped or hurt with the cleaning performance. In any case, I will run some dishwasher cleaner through it just as a precaution.

(Sorry I didn't mention the model number earlier. It's a GE Triton GSD5560G00s...and it appears to have a separate pump dedicated just to the drain.)

 

[DonL]

Great that you have it going.

Yep that model does have a separate pump. It is a good one when it is working.


Good Luck.

 

[WJcandee]

Here's the mini-manual for your dishwasher, if you find it helpful.

http://www.applianceblog.com/mainforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=11908&d=1375741108

 

[Sluggo]

Here's the mini-manual for your dishwasher, if you find it helpful.

http://www.applianceblog.com/mainforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=11908&d=1375741108

wjcandee-
Thanks. I couldn't find that when I was looking. I've saved it...it may come in handy in the future.

 

[Noyzee1]

Hello Sluggo!
I don't know if anyone has touched on this, but if not then read on...
About 5 years ago, when I moved into this house I had the same problem with my dishwasher not draining at all. The problem was that the check valve on the output of the pump discharged was "gunked" up and stuck in the closed position. My unit is a late 1980's Whirpool model, and it has a marble-sized plastic ball in there, which acts as the check valve. It was literally stuck to the mating surface as if glued, but once I broke it loose and reassembled, it works fine up to this day. Keep in mind that I think that the reason that it was so stuck is that the dishwasher was not used regularly and dried food particles, soap, etc. glued it on there.
Your unit seems to have an integrated output collection chamber and check valve, so I would check that out for a clog.
Questions to ask:
1) Is there adequate pressure to the spray wands? See if you can hear them spinning when water is in there and the unit is running. This should mean that the pump is working. My Whirlpool unit does not have a separate pump and if it's pumping water to the spray wands, then it will pump it out the drain. I believe the motor reverses (like a washing machine) to engage the output pump mechanism from the same motor that drives the wands.
2) Does ANY water drain out of the output line into the disposal?
I'm willing to bet the output side is clogged or that the check valve is stuck...

Cheers,
JIM

 

[Sluggo]

Hello Sluggo!
I don't know if anyone has touched on this, but if not then read on...
About 5 years ago, when I moved into this house I had the same problem with my dishwasher not draining at all. The problem was that the check valve on the output of the pump discharged was "gunked" up and stuck in the closed position. My unit is a late 1980's Whirpool model, and it has a marble-sized plastic ball in there, which acts as the check valve. It was literally stuck to the mating surface as if glued, but once I broke it loose and reassembled, it works fine up to this day. Keep in mind that I think that the reason that it was so stuck is that the dishwasher was not used regularly and dried food particles, soap, etc. glued it on there.
Your unit seems to have an integrated output collection chamber and check valve, so I would check that out for a clog.
Questions to ask:
1) Is there adequate pressure to the spray wands? See if you can hear them spinning when water is in there and the unit is running. This should mean that the pump is working. My Whirlpool unit does not have a separate pump and if it's pumping water to the spray wands, then it will pump it out the drain. I believe the motor reverses (like a washing machine) to engage the output pump mechanism from the same motor that drives the wands.
2) Does ANY water drain out of the output line into the disposal?
I'm willing to bet the output side is clogged or that the check valve is stuck...

Cheers,
JIM

Jim-
I think the issue was just an accumulation of unseen gunk in the innards, and the vacuuming I described above got it working. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the check valve was stuck enough to have also contributed the problem. Fortunately I didn't have to pull the machine out and disassemble the drainage valves and mechanisms. I appreciate your thoughts.