Toothpicks and dishwashers really do not mix.
Last night, I started the dishwasher and began handwashing the other dishes (the official dishwashing person is sick). After a few minutes, I heard a dreadful noise, and at first, I thought it was something outside. Then I looked down and realized to my horror that the sound was coming from the dishwasher.
I switched it to the rinse cycle to troubleshoot it a bit, and still the sound persisted.
Mr. FG (who was also sick on the couch with a 104 ° fever. Oy.) did a quick Google and found that something was probably stuck.
A number of years ago, he and I had taken apart the dishwasher and cleaned it out, so I knew this was not an impossibly difficult task, and I also knew I mostly remembered how to do it.
I also knew that I am waaaaay too impatient about broken things to wait for him to be unsick, so I decided to do it right away.
I had a top and bottom rack full of wet dishes to be washed, after all.
I took the top and bottom racks out and began removing the upper and lower spray assemblies.
(I have no idea if that's the official term, but it sounds legitimate, right? Right??)
Even before I got the last dishwasher part removed, I could see the problem: a toothpick, swollen with water, was jammed down into the chopper area of the dishwasher. No wonder things weren't working right!
I also cleaned out a number of grapefruit seeds, popcorn kernels, a small piece of glass, a small piece of shrimp shell, and various other pieces of debris that dishwasher choppers are not meant to handle.
Plus I wiped out a bunch of slimy goop. The goop, which seemed like soap residue, was mostly on the top part of this grey circle.
Aren't you glad I waited to take a photo until the goop was gone??
The only part I got stuck on was removing the chopper cover (I didn't want to pull too hard and break it!), but Mr. FG googled it, and it was so easy...just lift it up to the right once you've removed the screw.
The chopper itself and the chopper screen definitely needed some cleaning too.
After inspecting it, I kind of think the chopper blade could stand to be replaced, but we all know that I was not going to leave my dishwasher unassembled while waiting for a new part to ship.
(Hi, my name is Kristen, and I like everything to be put back together. Now.)
I'll think about a replacement chopper blade later.
Once the dishwasher was all cleaned out, it was fairly simple to put back together.
And I am pleased to say that the dreadful sound is gone now.
Plus, I think the chopper and the dishwasher in general will function better without all that unchopped stuff in the way.
I have to say, though, I really do not envy plumbers and appliance repairmen because working down on that level is super uncomfortable.
I think this project probably took me a little less than an hour, so I feel like it was worth it to save the $120 a service call would have cost. Plus, there's the convenience factor: my dishwasher was up and running in an hour, and I didn't have to bother calling someone to schedule a repair appointment.
Also, since I've done this by myself now, next time the dishwasher needs to be cleaned out (Children live at my house. It's gonna need to be done again.), I think I could do it a lot faster.
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P.S. I posted a photo of my taken-apart dishwasher on Instagram last night, and a reader responded with #nowhiskers, which cracked me up. She's referencing You Don't Need Whiskers to do That, of course. And though the person with whiskers in this house is normally perfectly capable of doing this job, it's pretty handy to be able to do stuff myself when he's not at home or is sick.
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P.P.S. I wrote a post for eBay about some of our favorite toys to buy secondhand (Duplos top our list of faves!)
Hooray for being able to fix it yourself! What a great feeling...
I was thinking about whiskers myself. Hope all the sickies feel better soon.
Brave woman! I'd be scared I wouldn't be able to get it back together right. But you sure saved a lot of money!
We've found the trick to putting it back together is to take photographs at every step of the undoing in case you forget a step going the other direction. Digital photography is amazing for home repair.
Also: YouTube. There are so many great video tutorials for appliance repair out there.
Woot! I had to take mine apart this summer - somehow a carrot top got stuck. I was appalled (that's a good word) at the junk and gunk in there. Another thing that I cleaned was the sprayer arms - they come apart. We have pets, and there was actually hair, lint, little glass pieces clogging it. I'm sure that I'll have to clean it again one of these days.
I did this last week! Didn't know I could clean the sprayers--good idea!
I do not like cleaning the dishwasher. It is way too gross. Funny that I don't mind the toilet.
Even more impressive is that you did it with sick ones in the house. My house is filled with sicklings right now, and I'm operating on so little sleep that I'm pretty sure all the dishwasher parts would blur together.
Bravo!
Well, the good thing about the stage of my kids is that none of them are babies/toddlers. So mostly they do manage to stay in bed all night. Although Mr. FG has a terrible cough, so that is interrupting my sleep a bit. Ha.
I have not succumbed to the illness yet and am furiously drinking green smoothies and eating All Of The Nutritious Things in the hopes that my immune system will do right by me. 😉
That's great that you fixed it yourself. An unpopped popcorn kernel is another enemy of dishwashers....ask me how I know.
Oh yes-that's one of the things I cleaned out.
A good advertisement for a decent rinsing off before they go in. Thanks. And thanks for the inspiration that I might be able to do this someday.
Well, a scraping at least. My appliance guy says that dishwasher soaps actually work better when there is some grease and grim for the enzymes to act upon. But dishes should not be going in the dishwasher with scrapeable stuff on them.
(Particularly not anything with the texture of a pebble. Ahem.)
Yup - a lot of dishwasher detergents won't work right if plates are completely scrubbed before they go in the dishwasher. They need the food particles to act as a catalyst for the enzymes. One of the great ironies in life -- people who think they are loading the dishwasher better by scrubbing and then putting in are in fact doing it in a way that makes the cleaning process worse.
Yep. I felt so freed when I heard that. I'm not being a lazy dishwasher loader. Nope, I'm just unleashing the dish powder's full potential.
(Though obviously the pebble-like items do need to be removed.)
That must have been a terrible sound!
The most dishwasher repair I've done has been to push the bottom sprayer thing back down to get the basket to be able to slide out.
The only other problem we've had with a dishwasher was right after we had someone come and install it. They didn't put a dip in the drain pipe so it leaked everywhere. We thought we were closing it wrong so we tried again and it leaked again. By the time water was dripping out of the basement ceiling we figured it was time to call for help...
Awesome!! Great job tackling that and saving yourself some good money in the process.
The rubber bands from braces are also not good for dishwashers. Even after reminding children we had to remove them 3 times within 18 months. But it was an easy fix so I'm thankful that's all it was. Great job!!!
Oh dear. I can see that being a problem.
We may have some orthodontics in our future (Miss Sonia has a leetle mouth!), so I will keep this in mind.
Yeah for DIY dishwasher repair! My husband takes our dishwasher apart regularly to clean it! And, inspired by your recent posts, a few weeks ago, he disassembled our front loading washing machine (not once but twice) and repaired it! We ordered the parts online and the website we ordered from had AMAZING step by step videos to help him. It wasn't a "quick fix" (took about a week between ordering parts and his work schedule), but it is running better than it has in ages! And, the total cost of the parts (including shipping) was $99. It would have been $80 just for the repairman to come out and look at it. And, since we needed two repairs, we would have had to pay that twice! Yeah!!
Impressive. I assume not all dishwashers are alike. How did you google to get just the one you needed? Even from year to year I thought they changed. You are a good wife.
Sheila, I googled the exact make and model of our washing machine and tons of helpful information popped up! I'm sure you could do the same for any appliance!
Yep, just what Jen said. The internet is so vast, it's quite likely that there's a tutorial for your exact dishwasher.
Great job! And I do hope your ill ones recover quickly and you don't get sick 🙂
Me too. I feel so doomed! But I'm trying to be super careful in order to give myself the best chance possible to stay well.
The good thing is that at least I am not sick while everyone else is at their worst.
Good for you! What kind of dishwasher do you have?
Also, I wanted you to know that I made your salted spatchcock chicken tonight with the gravy and it was so good! Thank you for the recipe, it will definitely go into regular rotation.
Yay! So glad yours turned out well.
We have a Kitchen Aid dishwasher with a stainless steel inside and a chopper. Not sure of the model, but we've had it for nearly 10 years, I believe.
Our dishwasher stopped draining last week :o( We tried cleaning out the drain trap to no avail. This happened about two years ago, and it cost us about $150 for the repairman to come out and show me what was wrong--the "air gap" was clogged up. The air gap is that little silver thingie with the vents on top of your sink near the faucet. It makes noise when your dishwasher drains. Bless the man, he showed me how to clean the air gap, too.
After two years I only vaguely remembered what he showed me, but after Google and YouTube I came across a video that showed me what to do, and Voila! It's working again.
I never, ever had a problem with the air gap through many years of owning dishwashers, but at least I know how to check it and clean it now. I'm going to try to make it part of my routine weekly deep kitchen clean.
Kudos!
Thank you! My dishwasher was not getting the top rack of dishes clean. I remembered this post and I figured this was a job that did not need whiskers. I found bread ties and turkey bones clogging the grinder in addition to many popcorn kernels. Now it is working great. I told my girlfriend about it because she had similiar complaints. They were going to buy a new dishwasher the next day. Her husband cleaned theirs that night. They are delighted to not have to replace the dishwasher.
Yay! You guys are rockin' it!