Dishwasher Replacement

Since I've had a few people mention to me that they were following the saga of the dishwasher I thought I'd give you guys the full story. Maybe it'll come in handy next time...

For starters, on Christmas Eve (right after we went crazy-go-nuts about Christmas baking) our dishwasher gave up the ghost. It was a sucky dishwasher from the beginning, so although we were annoyed, we weren't surprised. Anyways, our appliances and kitchen implements like to break around Christmas time, like that time when the breadmaker caught on fire.

The only symptom we had was no lights or reactions of any kind to button presses. Also, it was filled with water that wouldn't drain. I tried taking it apart to see if something obvious was the problem, but no dice. A lamp proved to us that the plugs worked fine, and inspection of the junction box led me to believe that the problem had nothing to do with electricity, just the control panel. To prevent smells I shopvac'ed out the water and we started doing some research on new dishwashers. We eliminated repairing it as based on internet research it seemed that first, we'd pay somebody $150 just to figure out what the problem was, and then we'd pay another $150 for a new panel, if that was the problem. Cheaper than a new dishwasher, but remember, we didn't like this one to begin with.

We tried to pick a new dishwasher by looking at Consumer Reports, Lowes, Home Depot, Best Buy, and Sears' websites. It was nearly impossible to settle on a dishwasher by using those sites. They all had reviews and ratings and customer reviews and they all disagreed. One dishwasher would have 4 stars at one site, then 1 star at another. There was no consistency, or any way to weed out obvious idiots (the way you can for reviews on computer hardware). So we just went to Lowes.

The guy working there knew lots about all the dishwashers, we asked him a bunch of questions about probably a half-dozen of them. In the end we got one that wasn't one of his favorites, but he did say it was a nice one and that people were buying it at a good clip. For us it had the right blend of features and internal layout that we were looking for.

We got a Frigidaire Gallery model there, price-matched to Best Buy, and it came with a mail-in rebate, too.

That night I disconnected the old dishwasher completely so that they would take it away when we got the new one delivered. Not too big of a deal, just a screwdriver and a 5/8" wrench were all that was needed. Getting the new dishwasher installed didn't have to be too much work than getting it out, so here's my tips if you find yourself in the same position. First, don't go nuts with the teflon tape. More than one layer will make it difficult to tighten the joints enough to prevent leaks. Second, your dishwasher input line is probably a "flexible" copper tube, which works great if both dishwashers have their input in EXACTLY the same place and both have the same requirements for where the tube can wander below and behind the dishwasher. I tried and tried to bend it enough in the right places to work with the new dishwasher, but it was a total pain and I ended up kinking the tube eventually. I recommend you save yourself the hassle and buy the flexible stainless steel hose. So much less work, and the results are perfect in no time flat. Third, on the end of the drain hose, there is a rubber cap that shrinks in steps from 1" to 3/4" to 5/8". You get to cut it off to fit just right over whatever your old drain hose was attached to. I cut it at 3/4" originally and it slid on nicely and I tightened on the worm clamp until I couldn't tug it off. Leaked all over the place. So then I disconnected it, cut it at 5/8" and really had to force it over the end of the tube and tightened the clamp again. The results were much much better. Fourth, when you turn on the water and the power to test out the dishwasher, and it leaks from the input line and then from the drain line when you hurriedly cancel the run, turn that water back off again. You'll appreciate it when you start taking the source line off that it doesn't spray hot water all over you.

Other than that it was a piece of cake. It's level, installed, extremely quiet, and washes the dishes so clean you can eat off of them (believe it or not). While I wouldn't recommend sabotaging any working dishwashers, this was enough of a boost in quality of life (mostly due to the silence) that I don't even miss the money. Well, only a little.