[homeclinic] Homeclinic'ers, Here's Your DRSNews!

  • From: Dave Harnish <drs@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: homeclinic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2004 23:00:00 -0600

The DRSNews
January 2004  
Happy New Year!
By Subscription Only
Published by Dave's Repair Service, All Rights Reserved

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Hi Homeclinic'ers!

In this issue:

1) Dirty Dishes? Check This First
2) Check This Second
3) A Simple Little Tool for Installing Valve Screens

With all the Holiday dishes being washed, I thought I'd 
dedicate this issue to a couple of quick tips on that most 
overworked and underpaid machine in our kitchens - the 
lowly dishwasher. We'll be talking more about DW problems 
in the future, and posting articles on the upcoming website. 
Please stay tuned!

1) First of all, the most important resource your machine 
needs to do its job is *hot* water, and I see many cases 
where they just don't get it. At least not in the first wash.
Let me explain. 

Basically, a dishwasher fills with fresh, hot water, 
dissolves detergent into it, and sprays the solution onto 
your dishes for a while. After draining this water/detergent 
solution, then repeating this process several times 
depending on how dirty you've 'told' it your dishes are, it 
runs through the process minus the detergent, rinsing 
them with clean water. Then some sort of dry cycle takes 
place (in winter we just open ours and roll out the racks, 
which puts the dishes about 3 feet from the woodstove. 
This dries them *very* fast!)

One of the most common causes of poor DW performance 
is simply wash water that's not hot enough. In many cases 
this is due to house plumbing that puts the DW too far from 
the water heater.

If your home uses ¾ inch pipe and the water heater's 20 
feet away, there'll be nearly ½ gallon of *cold* water entering 
the machine before any hot water arrives! This wasn't as 
much of a problem years ago when DW's filled with a lot 
more water than today's more water-conserving models. 

The newest Whirlpool 'tall tub' machines, for example, use 
only 1.8 gallons per fill. Some use even less. That means 
25% of the first fill will be made up of cold water, and much 
of the first wash will be a waste of time and energy. DW 
detergents are formulated to do their job in hot water, and 
wash results can really suffer if it's not available.

The simple fix - and I know you've already figured this out - 
is simply to run the water at the adjacent sink until it gets 
hot, *then* start the dishwasher.  Try it - it can make a world 
of difference.

2) Another problem, just as common, is too little water. 
Dishwashers are 'time-fill' critters, and aren't that 'smart'. 
That is, they energize a fill valve for X amount of seconds and 
then start to wash, whether there's actually any water in them 
or not.

If there's any sediment in the water supply (present in most, 
especially out here in the country where we're on well water), 
some of it will eventually end up in the dishwasher's fill valve, 
and can drastically lower the amount of water that ends up in 
the DW after these X seconds.

If your machine's just not doing the job it once did, and the 
water temperature in the first wash fill is 130F or more, have 
a look at this. Once it's filled and begun to wash, open the 
door and take a look at the water level. It's tough to tell you 
exactly what your level should be, because they're all a little 
different. But a rule of thumb is: the bottom of the tank should 
be completely covered, and there should be water partway up 
the side of the overflow float. You'll see this float assembly just 
inside the door, in either the right or left front corner of the tank.

The Good News: 
Just like clothes washer fill valves, DW fill valves have a fine 
stainless steel screen that often clogs, but can be cleaned. I do 
this job on a regular basis.

The Bad News: 
This screen can be a BEAR to get to! But it can be done, and 
without too much fuss if you're a little handy, and patient (and 
subscribe to The DRSNews <g>).

Turn off the power and water to the machine, pull the bottom 
panel(s), and you'll see the fill valve, usually on the left side, with 
2 wires attached. In most cases, you won't have to completely 
remove the valve to do this. If yours is connected with a flexible 
water line, it's even easier. 

I like to have my wetvac handy to catch any water that spills 
from the valve and water line when I do this.

Using a magic marker, mark the position of the inlet in relation to 
the plastic valve body. With a ¼ inch socket or nut driver, remove 
the 4 screws that hold the plastic body to the inlet. You'll see the 
screen inside the plastic part, most likely buried in sediment.

These screens are reusable after cleaning, so carefully pry it out 
with a small screwdriver, scrub it using an old toothbrush or scrub 
brush, and you're halfway there. 

Note: as in clothes washers, be sure you reinstall this screen - it 
must be there, or you risk a flood!

Keep reading to find out about a neat little tool to easily reinstall 
this screen without damaging it.

3) Here's a little homemade tool I've used for about 20 years to 
neatly and easily reinstall fill valve screens in dishwasher, clothes 
washer, and icemaker valves (some newer clothes washers use a 
different style screen these days, but there are still a ton of them 
that don't). 

It's just a 2 inch length of ½ inch steel electrical conduit with the end 
sanded lightly to remove any burrs. Put the screen onto one end, 
and it'll push back 'home' easily. Give the tool a little twist, pull it 
out, and you're done. You can usually scrounge a short piece of this 
from most any electrical supply house or your friendly neighborhood 
electrician. Cut it with a tubing cutter to ensure a square end.

The job can be done without one of these, but it's pretty easy to 
dent and damage screens, so this is one I recommend. The problem 
with 'occasional use' tools like this, though, is finding it when you 
need it. Maybe attach it to your washer fill hoses, or the faucet(s)?

***

Thanks again, Homeclinic'ers, for allowing me into your inbox this 
month. I hope you benefit from this half as much as I enjoy writing 
it for you.  Thanks for all your encouragement - I really appreciate 
it!

May the Lord richly bless you & yours with a wonderful 2004, 
and may He continue to shed His Grace - and Mercy - on America.

Sincerely,

Dave Harnish 
Dave's Repair Service
New Albany, PA
drs@xxxxxxxxxx
(570) 363-2404

'Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loadeth us with 
benefits, even the God of our Salvation. Selah.'
- Psalm 68:19


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