Dishwasher problem

[NH_Wood]

Hi guys,

I have a Bosch (model shu43c6uc/14) dishwasher. My wife called me in from plowing and said the unit stopped mid-cycle and there was a smell of burning in the house. I checked the unit - power won't come on at all. There was a 'burned plastic' smell in the house. Checked the breaker - wasn't tripped. Tripped the breaker and removed the kickplate + wire housing cover. All wires from the 120 to the washer wiring are in good shape - nothing blackened, etc. Removed the wire nuts and checked for power (after turning the breaker back on) with a meter - no juice. So, was thinking a blown fuse, but can't locate a fuse at all - looked on the web too. Anyone have any clue about this or where a fuse might be located? Thanks guys! Cheers!

 

[soupy1957]

Don't take this the wrong way........I feel for you, I really do..........but.........there MUST be a "Dishwasher Forum" somewhere on the net?!

-Soupy1957

 

[NH_Wood]

Don't take this the wrong way........I feel for you, I really do..........but.........there MUST be a "Dishwasher Forum" somewhere on the net?!

-Soupy1957

The DYI forum is meant for this type of question Soup. Back to the Hearth room with you . Cheers!

 

[Czech]

Repairclinic.com has always been a big help for me, love that site almost, but not quite, as much as here.

 

[DWW68]

Check for a gfi reset on an outlet near by. Your dishwasher is pobably wired off of that circut. Good luck

 

[fishingpol]

I am not familiar with that model, but I do repair another brand of dishwashers for my job.

Do you have power from the feed to the dishwasher?

I'm not sure if you have a timer on that model, but I would assume so. Sometimes the timers go bad and the solenoid that directs the water from the pump to the washer arms or the drain. It depends on the cycle. If the timer has bad contacts, it can cause the solenoid to overheat, causing it to melt and give it that burnt wire smell. Remove the toe kick plate and look to see if there is a part with two wires going to it attached to the pump body. The part may have a small arm and a spring or two attached to it. If it looks melted, it is done. Replace solenoid and timer. I've only seen dishwashers give off an odor if a plastic spoon or something makes contact with the heating element on the bottom on "hot start" or "heated dry" cycle.

 

[NH_Wood]

Check for a gfi reset on an outlet near by. Your dishwasher is pobably wired off of that circut. Good luck

Will do - I'll check the repairclinic website as well - thanks! Cheers!

 

[NH_Wood]

I am not familiar with that model, but I do repair another brand of dishwashers for my job.

Do you have power from the feed to the dishwasher?

I'm not sure if you have a timer on that model, but I would assume so. Sometimes the timers go bad and the solenoid that directs the water from the pump to the washer arms or the drain. It depends on the cycle. If the timer has bad contacts, it can cause the solenoid to overheat, causing it to melt and give it that burnt wire smell. Remove the toe kick plate and look to see if there is a part with two wires going to it attached to the pump body. The part may have a small arm and a spring or two attached to it. If it looks melted, it is done. Replace solenoid and timer. I've only seen dishwashers give off an odor if a plastic spoon or something makes contact with the heating element on the bottom on "hot start" or "heated dry" cycle.

Thanks fishingpol - I'll look for that. Cheers!

 

[Hogwildz]

I think this is the same as repairclinic. But I used this site to both diagnose & purchase needed parts to repair my old Maytag dryer.
http://applianceguru.com/

 

[WhitePine]

Bosch had a rash of control panel failures on some of their dishwashers. Your description of the problem fits that scenario. There is a recall.

http://microsites.boschappliances.com/safetyrecall/dishwasher/

 

[NH_Wood]

I think this is the same as repairclinic. But I used this site to both diagnose & purchase needed parts to repair my old Maytag dryer.
http://applianceguru.com/

Thanks Hog! Cheers!

 

[NH_Wood]

Bosch had a rash of control panel failures on some of their dishwashers. Your description of the problem fits that scenario. There is a recall.

http://microsites.boschappliances.com/safetyrecall/dishwasher/

Thanks whitepine - will look into this right away! Cheers!

 

[NH_Wood]

Bosch had a rash of control panel failures on some of their dishwashers. Your description of the problem fits that scenario. There is a recall.

http://microsites.boschappliances.com/safetyrecall/dishwasher/

WhitePine - you da man! Just got off the phone with Bosch. My unit is in the recall. Free control panel repair was authorized, and my problem fits their description of a control panel failure. So, maybe, just maybe, I'll sneak away with a freebie on this one! Thanks so much for your help! How the hell did you know about this??? Ha! Cheers!

 

[BrotherBart]

You got luckier than I did with our GE dishwasher. Or I guess we were lucky too. There had been a recall out on it that we didn't know about for over twenty years. Seems the heated dry was burning houses down. We never used the heated dry. When I went to look for repair parts for it I found the recall.

I just junked the thing and replaced it since it was so old. They would have given me a hundred off of a eight hundred dollar new GE. I got a dishwasher that is fine for four hundred.

 

[WhitePine]

Bosch had a rash of control panel failures on some of their dishwashers. Your description of the problem fits that scenario. There is a recall.

http://microsites.boschappliances.com/safetyrecall/dishwasher/

WhitePine - you da man! Just got off the phone with Bosch. My unit is in the recall. Free control panel repair was authorized, and my problem fits their description of a control panel failure. So, maybe, just maybe, I'll sneak away with a freebie on this one! Thanks so much for your help! How the hell did you know about this??? Ha! Cheers!

One of ours (we have had two) produced the odor, but didn't fail. That was several years ago. It's in our old house. I did some research back then and found out about the recall. Our model wasn't covered. Since it didn't actually fail, I guess I can't complain. The odor never reappeared.

When I saw your post, I knew immediately what is was. A quick Google search popped up the link.

Good to know you are covered.

 

[Shari]

Just a side note here because it seems your problem has been solved.

1. Over 20 yrs. ago we had a fire in our dishwasher control panel (no recall on this appliance). Luckily I was standing right next to it when it happened.

2. We also had a fire between the drum and sidewall of our electric dryer (lint had escaped the dryer venting system and had accumulated between the drum and sidewall, unseen by us). I was at home when this happened and smelled the smoke.

The above are reasons we NEVER let either of these appliances running when we leave the house or go to sleep at night.

 

[Czech]

Shari, that is great advice, esp with the clothes dryer. Lint fires are all too common, maint is not done by many as far as cleaning the vent occasionally.

 

[Shari]

Shari, that is great advice, esp with the clothes dryer. Lint fires are all too common, maint is not done by many as far as cleaning the vent occasionally.

Slight correction to your observation: Our vent was clear. Somehow, due to dryer design, lint had by-passed the vent and had accumulated between the drum and the sidewall of our dryer.

 

[BrotherBart]

Me either Shari. When we came home one day many years ago we wondered where all that water running in the curb gutter a block away was coming from. We found out in a few minutes that it was coming out from under our front door from the dishwasher.

 

[semipro]

Just a side note here because it seems your problem has been solved.

1. Over 20 yrs. ago we had a fire in our dishwasher control panel (no recall on this appliance). Luckily I was standing right next to it when it happened.

2. We also had a fire between the drum and sidewall of our electric dryer (lint had escaped the dryer venting system and had accumulated between the drum and sidewall, unseen by us). I was at home when this happened and smelled the smoke.

The above are reasons we NEVER let either of these appliances running when we leave the house or go to sleep at night.

Thanks for posting that. Our electric dryer is over 20 years old. I'm going to check that!

 

[WhitePine]

A few years ago, my wife asked me to clean the dryer vent pipe. She thought is was clogged, because it was taking too long to dry a load.

I pulled the cap off of the vent pipe from outside the house. The pipe was almost completely free of lint, so I pulled the dryer apart. I found lint stuffed everywhere, including in the area behind the lint filter. It took me a couple of hours to get it all cleaned out.

Like others, we never run a washer, dishwasher or dryer unattended. And when we leave the house for any overnight or longer trip, I shut off the water to the house. Better safe than sorry.

 

[yooperdave]

Just a side note here because it seems your problem has been solved.

1. Over 20 yrs. ago we had a fire in our dishwasher control panel (no recall on this appliance). Luckily I was standing right next to it when it happened.

2. We also had a fire between the drum and sidewall of our electric dryer (lint had escaped the dryer venting system and had accumulated between the drum and sidewall, unseen by us). I was at home when this happened and smelled the smoke.

The above are reasons we NEVER let either of these appliances running when we leave the house or go to sleep at night.

sound advice, indeed! how about other things like curling irons, blow dryers, toasters, those sort of things that only have a cheap plastic switch for on/off???

labor day weekend 2010. our water line broke...between the house and the main. only damage was to the yard but when we had the new line installed, the yard was more damaged by the procedure!! glad it wasn't inside the house that the line broke. as it was, we were at the cottage for the weekend and the neighbor spotted the yard wet with water running into the street and storm drain. which brings up one more thing to think about. when was the last time you have inspected your washing machine hoses??? it has never happened, but i know where one of those bad boys has burst and then the damage begins! i installed new ones 2 years ago and happened to check them about 3 months after i put them in. the hot water line was ballooned to about twice its original size. would've been nice if that let go when no one was around-hot water and all.