Dishwasher problems in my rental.

Ok, I know it's a rental, and I'll be calling the management company unless it's something simple. I have plenty of other stuff going on right now (lawyers, doctors, moving) and I'm not spending any money or a lot of time on it.

GE GLD2800T05WW. Pretty much a basic machine as you'd expect in a rental.

I tried it on the move in inspection and it sounded like it tried to go right in to spray mode. Power had been off here for a month, so didn't understand that. No fill, just made a pumping noise like it was spraying for about 5-10 min, then shut down. Checked the valve and it's open and the sink water works. Finally got back to look earlier this week and said "hmm, lemme just poor a bucket of water in and see what happens".

Well, turns out it wasn't trying to spray, it was pumping out...which it did, and then shut down again (overheating?). Float switch appears free, but it does this every time even after another bucket test.

Anything else simple I can test? Maybe some sort of program reset? The front controls work I believe. I can change dry and wash settings, though it seems the reset button function doesn't stop it like I would think.

I'm thinking control board of some sort?

I really hate washing dishes by hand when its just me here. I can stick them in the dishwasher and when I run low on plates or glasses, just turn it on. Yeah, I'm lazy that way.

Thx

 

If it won't fill I'd look at the solenoid and fill valve.

 

I'm guessing there are no lights blinking on the display ?

When you hit the reset it goes into reset and drain mode.
If you try to initiate a cycle.... does it go right to drain mode ?

I'm leaning towards a control board problem too.

From the manual.......
RESET: To change a cycle after washing starts, touch the START/RESET pad to cancel the
cycle. For some models, the LED’s indicating selected cycle and options will flash while
the water is pumped out. This takes approximately 105 seconds. When the lights stops
flashing, the dishwasher can be reprogrammed and restarted. Buttons will not respond
during pump out.

 

Apparently. The first time I tried it after power and water were on, I just hit regular wash and start, with nothing in the machine. And it made the noise I described but I never heard it try to fill. I hit reset, but I didn't realize it might take that long, so after opening it to check for spray, I just left it slightly open. A bit later it beeped at me, but I didn't see any flashing lights.

I'll try the bucket of water again and see what happens.


Ok, just filled it with a bucket and it shut off after 2 minutes or so. I guess thats probably normal since it detected water already in there and pumped it out. I could have gone into reset mode since start and reset are the same button. It's kinda hard to know what the status is with the very basic controls it has.

No flashing lights, no beeps, just off. Hit normal wash and start and after a few seconds I can hear a humming like possibly a solenoid, definitely not the pump. No water flow sounds though. It's connected with a tee to the hot water line under the sink with a braided stainless line.

Although we have kinda hard water, there are no deposits in the machine so it may have been replaced relatively recently. Heck, it looks cleaner than my 2 y/o machine at my wifes house.

I guess the solenoid could be frozen up, but I doubt there's a blockage in the line.

Maybe I'm just used to my past machines. They've all been better than this one with separate buttons for everything and a display that told the status. It's on a wash cycle now, I'm hearing clicks and other noises, but I still don't think it has any water in it. I'm not opening it to find out since that may interrupt the cycle somehow.

Well, I'm past messing with it. I'll hunt for a manual over the weekend and call the management company to send someone out. I just don't want to be stuck with a charge because it functioning normally and I just don't recognize that fact.

Thanks for the help.

 

Ok, one more update then I'm going to bed. While I was typing my last reply I just let it do it's thing, then I heard a click/snap and went to check it. Smelled a little warm in the kitchen (can you smell warm?) and I opened the door. Soap dispenser had opened and heating element was on. Didn't melt anything though. So it was running through the cycle even with no water. I thought thats what the float switch was supposed to handle?

Would a stuck float switch cause that? I mean, it moves freely (though it looks different from the ones I've seen) but could it be stuck on (or off...however they work)?

Did a reset and the pump ran like it has before, then shut off.

Yep, management issue for sure. I can't even get down on the floor to unscrew it like I could a few years ago. Knees just won't take it.

 

Here's the link for the manual...
geappliances/MarketingObjectRetrieval/Dispatcher?RequestType=PDF

The water fill is a timer controlled function. The float should be down. If the water overfills the float rises and shuts off the water. The float is an overflow safety device.

Also... the machine has no idea if there is any water in it or not.

 

100% sure the supply waters turned on under the sink?
If they used a saddle valve it's very common for them to plug up or leak, there not even allowed in some states by code.
Here's a step by step trouble shooting guide.
GE Dishwasher Won't Fill - Model GLD2800T05WW - Repair Parts - RepairClinic.com

 

Take hammer and lightly tap that solenoid for the fill valve.

 

Joe...yeah, they do things a little weird out here, but not that stupid at least. Apparently they have a penchant for compression fittings. So the valve attaches to the pipe via compression and it has a permanently attached bendable metal supply line up to the kitchen faucet. It also has a 3/8"(?) connection off the actual valve which is connected to the braided SS supply to the DW. The valve would cut off both if it weren't open.

Norm, yeah....I doubt I'll be doing that. Like I said, the knees don't like me trying to work off the floor, and heck, I'm the one paying the rent. Let them send a repair guy or handyman to take a look, that's part of managing rentals isn't it?

I'll change light bulbs and spray for weeds, but I'm not going to actually fix anything big.

When I did the move in insp, I noted that a lot of the plastic supports for kitchen cabinet shelves were broken and the shelves wobbled and were unusable in some cases. They said, "oh, you can replace those if you want". Really? I probably will, since that's cheap and I can do it standing up, once I figure out how to remove the broken off part that's stuck in the hole. The whole problem is the shelves are too tight. They need about a saw kerf trimmed off. That's for the future.

 

Oh, and PJ...those models are much fancier/newer than mine. I only have 5 buttons. Normal, Heavy, Start/reset, Delay (2 or 4 hrs) and Heated dry. No display, just an LED for "Clean".

I don't know why people don't leave manuals for appliances to the next person...I always did.

 

Amen to that.---------------------------

 

Gunguy,

Any progress on this problem? The reason I ask is that I'm at my daughter's house and without warning her unit is giving an error code that it won't fill with water. Which in fact it won't.
The unit is an LG Inverter Direct Drive model (don't see any numbers on it). It throws out the 1E code which says no water fill. At first I thought the line was frozen under the washer. I threw a spacer heater in there but no go. I'm suspect it may be the Flood Safe supply line. But everything seems normal and dry. No leaks.

 

Norm, my old LG dishwasher (will never buy another) had the serial numbers and such on the right sidewall of the door (as you face it). It was up against a cabinet and I had to use a mirror and read the information backwards to take down the information. If there is enough supply line and you have the tools, disconnect the supply line to see if it is flowing. My guess is it is not that, but an easy check of the floodsafe line.

 

Well, I just gave it another shot. And lo and behold it's working. Apparently a frozen line. Of course it's on an outside wall and even though the supply line connects from under the sink, it goes through the cabinet wall and under the machine. I originally installed it about a year ago. These newer units have little or no air space or flow of air underneath the cabinet. I'm going to suggest she pull machine out and insualte that supply line and/or drill holes on inside of cabinet wall to allow air flow.

BTW...Czizzi, she is a loyal customer of LG. I'm with you I don't like there products or how they're built.

 

I had to come back and update this. After almost 3 months, they finally got a tech out here. I probably confused him by explaining symptoms too much, but after 30 min or so...he realized the stupid float was missing from the top of the stem, as well as the dome that covers it.

He did agree that he also initially thought it was probably the solenoid valve, but after testing he made the leap. Taped down the stem to test and it works fine now.

Probably $5-7 dollars in parts (hope he orders the stem as well as it looks buggered up to me) to fix it.

 

Glad you got it figured out. From another thread, my dishwasher is still going with no leaks.