Dishwasher troubles...

If I'm remembering correctly there is an impeller under the lower spray arm that sends water to the upper spray arm. The gray 90° piece in the back should have a valve in it also.

The impeller is usually the culprit though, I think we've replaced 3 on my parents.

For flow problems on dishwashers...start simple. It could be a clog. If everything sounds normal, (as in..pumps are starting and moving water) i'd start pulling off the horrible plastic parts and looking in. Or, if you have an air compressor, blow some air down below and see if it comes out the top...with some old steak behind it.

sportbikerider78 said:

with some old steak behind it

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We're on a non chlorinated water source so I have been pretty grossed out with the goopy shmooky looking stuff that can grow in the dishwasher. It grows fast too and can get away from you if you let it and start clogging things up. Every couple of months I add a 1/4 cup of bleach to two stages of the load to the clean and kill the growth which turns white and blows out. You've got to listen closely, these modern dishwashers are quiet but also run over 5 stages of filling and pumping out per load. They take like 90 minutes too!

mwhitnee said:

Think I'll do a empty load with bleach

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Don't use too much bleach as the rubber seals may not like an overly strong solution. Most important is the dang dishwasher fills and empties itself like 5 times during the full cleaning cycle. So this means that you want to either load bleach five times or make sure that you choose one of the long stages so that the bleach is circulated as much and as long as possible. You want the last stage to be without bleach so that the bleach is purged out of the dishwasher guts at the end. The first fill/empty stage is like 10 seconds of running just to blow the big chunks off of the dishes! So for sure skip the first and last stages.

If you're concerned about it, get some pool shock and put a quarter teaspoon in the dispenser. Most are around 50% cal-hypo and it'll get dispensed at the correct cycle and rinsed properly without any fuss.

festerw said:

If you're concerned about it, get some pool shock and put a quarter teaspoon in the dispenser. Most are around 50% cal-hypo and it'll get dispensed at the correct cycle and rinsed properly without any fuss.

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I always wondered how a strong does of chlorine would do with the dishwasher detergent.

I already add a 1/2 teaspoon of TSP to the soap dispenser to get back those lovely phosphates.

For an every day use I would cut it down to 1/16 tsp maybe less, 1 tsp in 15 gallons of water will give it 20 ppm of free chlorine.

festerw said:

For an every day use I would cut it down to 1/16 tsp maybe less, 1 tsp in 15 gallons of water will give it 20 ppm of free chlorine.

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Any concerns about the interaction of granular chlorine with the dishsoap? The pH will be changed, the chlorine may neutralize the soap or the soap may neutralize the chlorine.

Shouldn't be any issue assuming there isn't any peroxide in the soap. You could probably make your own blend using, cal hypo, tsp and borax if you really wanted to.

festerw said:

Shouldn't be any issue assuming there isn't any peroxide in the soap. You could probably make your own blend using, cal hypo, tsp and borax if you really wanted to.

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Hmmm, I already am adding the TSP and could easily mix in some sodium dichlor granules that I have on hand.

Highbeam said:

Hmmm, I already am adding the TSP and could easily mix in some sodium dichlor granules that I have on hand.

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I would caution against di or trichlor because of the cyanuric acid that stabilizes it. It is used in other products but who knows how much residual would be left.