Dishwasher bad luck, or electrical?

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Glowrdr

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Long story short - I've lived in my house for 12+ years now. Ran with the original dishwasher for about 7 years just fine. Replaced it with a cheapie Frigidaire (~$250) and that worked fine for about 5 years. Finally kicked the bucket about 2 weeks ago. Bought a Bosch last week, installed (Best Buy contractor) on Saturday (2/14). Worked for one day, now it will not power on at all.

The only troubleshooting I have done is check the breaker in the basement (for both units, we just figured the old dishwasher was dead and never did bother troubleshooting it). While the old dishwasher had the same "no power" issue, there was power going to the unit (based solely on the installers testing of the line to ensure we flipped the right circuit to cut power)

So - before I go to Best Buy / Bosch and say I got a bad dishwasher, I want to be sure I don't have some faulty electrical. What should I be checking for? What is considered an appropriate voltage from the wall? I've run into other areas of the house that appear to have some backfeed into the neutral. Should I check this as well? I want to avoid having a contractor come out and tell me I've got electrical problems and charge me hundreds of dollars to run a new line, or worse - tell me the dishwasher isn't covered under warranty because of this.

2 dishwashers go bad in 2 weeks. Related, or just luck of the draw? Thanks in advance
 

Cacher_Chick

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The instructions state that the unit should be on a dedicated circuit. The heaters draw a bit of juice, but if the circuit is wired for 15 or 20 amps like any other receptacle, there should be no problem.
 

Glowrdr

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I do believe it is on a separate circuit - at least that's the story I'm sticking to. Without running the electrical myself, I don't want to say 100% that its solo, but I haven't found anything else on that circuit either.

Thanks for the second opinion. Kind of figured it might just be bad luck, but wanted to be sure.
 

Jacobsond

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Have you called and set up a service call? Everything should be under warranty and paid for by the company. If you want to check for power get your voltmeter out and check for 120V at the dishwasher. If you dont have a volt meter nothing you can really do.
 

Glowrdr

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I did call to have someone come out and check. Definitely under warranty, and since they installed it - I would assume it is their responsibility to check for proper wiring at that time. I will still double check voltages myself beforehand though, just to eliminate the small chance that something happened. I don't want to get involved in a situation where they might not warranty the item due to environmental circumstances (i.e. power issue). Just strikes me as odd that I've had a dishwasher in that same location for 12+ years, and I've had 2 "die" within a week of each other.
 

Jadnashua

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Circuit breakers do fail on occasion and can produce some intermittent power - IOW, it could look okay, but during running, the heat from the current being drawn could cause it to stop. I'd also check that the cable connection at the CB was tight. If you feel comfortable doing it, you could pull the CB and look at the connections to see if there is any discoloration or burn marks.

I'm an advocate for whole-house surge suppression and have had it on my house for decades. After my Mother had two appliances fail during an electrical storm (a microwave and the refrigerator's electronics board), I installed one at her house as well. They are not hugely expensive (paid about $100 for the last one), but can help, if that was the cause.
 
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Had a Bosch in the rental we were in for a year...worst dishwasher I've ever experienced. Poor rack layout, poor rack pullout, broke glasses as a result since trays slammed on close or came free on opening. Used and needed rinse agent to work properly and went through it rapidly. Didn't clean any better than any other dishwasher I've used, and after a year its cleaning performance had become abysmal. Slow cycles too, even with preheated water charge. Detergent dispenser hatch was sticking shut in final months despite careful clean up. Hated it and wouldn't take one if you gave it to me...it would just be an encumbrance to be disposed of.

While I've got some complaints about Whirlpool's dishwashers and thought they were somewhat loud, I liked the rack layout of theirs the best of any I've used by a long shot. The controls worked well and made sense. I've got a GE now and its racks are better than Bosch (haven't broken anything yet) but the controls are idiotically positioned under the countertop when closed. (GE has real issues with basic viewing angles on several appliances, perhaps the designers have never used a kitchen before and have no idea where eyes are on the human head?) GE racks are not as well laid out for our dishes and utensils as Whirlpool, but are still better than Bosch. The GE is probably the best at cleaning on more difficult applications, but there is substantial electrical water heating penalty paid for the higher level setting, so it is anything but miserly with electricity. Hasn't demanded rinse agent so far.
 
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