Dishwasher drain installation

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BobN

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Every dishwasher installation manual I have seen talks about a high loop and/or air gap in the drain hose. I understand that. Every dishwasher installation manual also prohibits running the drain pipe up the back of the dishwasher. They insist that the drain hose go through the cabinet at the lowest point, then up to the high loop or air gap. For example, see attached from GE.

In my new house, they ran the drain hose through a hole in the top of the cabinet, just under the countertop, then down to the disposal, serving as a high loop. See attached photo. That clearly violates the instructions.

When I complained, they said that they always do it that way. After a little research, it seems that lots of people do it that way.

Why do the manuals prohibit running the hose up the back of the dishwasher and across just under the countertop? Is this important or just a minor detail?

Thank you.

GE dishwasher installation.jpg
GE Dishwasher Drain.jpg
 

Terry

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If your drain line fit behind, then there isn't a problem. Some dishwashers use all of that space though. The safe bet is going down low.
 

wwhitney

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BTW, you don't want that extra trap in the dishwasher discharge. You want the hose to strictly fall from the high loop down to the tailpiece or garbage disposal.

Cheers, Wayne
 

BobN

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Terry and Wayne,

Thanks for the quick and helpful replies.

"If your drain line fit behind, then there isn't a problem."
I can try wiggling the hose to see if it is pinched. Will that tell me, or do I need to remove the dishwasher and measure to know?

"...don't want that extra trap..."
I see what you mean. Can I simply stuff the extra hose back into the dishwasher cavity or is the hose too long?
 

Terry

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I would guess that you can shove the hose back into the cabinet more. That hose pumps out under pressure, and it's hard to kink.
 

Jeff H Young

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I really don't do the high loop method much because its illegal in my state but have done it a few times I run the loop even higher as high as possible. The hole high in cabinet I've never done as I use a single hole for the water, power cord , and drain line low and as Terry pointed out there is a space low for all that. Wayne's comment not sure that it breaks code but I don't like the dips in hose either. pushing excess hose should solve . assuming it is higher than the 32inch minimum per manufacture instructions ? kinda nit picking
 

John Gayewski

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If your dishwasher fits into the space it needs to fit into, then there's room. No real need to measure.
 

JohnD2000

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I'm having a similar problem. The drain goes over the top of a corner lazy susan cabinet. The sink is around the corner. The new DW fills the space. The corner cabinet has some space around it as the cabinet walls are a circular wrap around the lazy susan turntables. So I need to keep the drain hose in the space around the corner cabinet. I've drilled some holes from inside the corner cabinet and ran strings through, tied to the drain hose, to try to pull the hose as the DW is pushed in. DW is resisting being pushed in fully. I have a little borescope I can try to get a peek back there with through more drilled holes inside the corner cabinet.. It's all tedious and difficult. I'm still working on it.
 
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