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View Full Version : Dishwasher-repair or replace?



dennis thompson
12-17-2018, 8:55 AM
My grandson tripped over our dishwasher while the door was open. It now leaks some when we run it. It's a Bosch, 13 years old and worked fine. Do you think I should have it repaired or replace it? If replace, what brand would you suggest?

Thanks

Stan Calow
12-17-2018, 9:11 AM
Assume you've checked the gaskets to see if they are out of place or can you see the door frame is bent? Thirteen years seems like a pretty good life, so unless you can fix it cheaply, I'd buy a new one. We have a Kitchen Aid that we really like. Very quiet. But as we found out while shopping, a lot of different brands are actually made in the same factories. If you shop for them in a store, open them up and see that the internal parts (detergent dispenser, for example) all look the same.

Jim Becker
12-17-2018, 9:29 AM
If it was far newer, I'd opt for attempting a repair, but a 13 year old appliance is very close to end-of-life in the majority of the real world. If you like Bosch, stick with it. (Thermador is also Bosch under the covers). We opted for KitchenAid at the time of our last DW purcahse over Bosch simply because the interior of the units we were choosing between was better setup in the KitchenAid than the Bosch, but these things fluctuate over time. My friends who I did the very large kitchen island ("continent") top for have a Thermador that has a really nice slim drawer setup for flatware that I "covet", for example. I look at those kinds of things very carefully when choosing an appliance...function is important.

Bill Dufour
12-17-2018, 9:44 AM
Does anyone make a dishwasher whose door opens from the side? Not that important in a DW but I know there are three ways clothes dryers open. 2/3 of them are wrong for my setup. Including our current one that opens down so there is no room for a laundry basket in front. But it is better then a left opening one which would totally block access. For some reason very few are right opening. I guess my house is old fashioned since the garage was added in the 70's. But left opening would have been used in the original tandem garage from 1948.
Bill D

Paul F Franklin
12-17-2018, 10:00 AM
I tend to agree that a 13 year old dishwasher is nearing end of life. Bosch was and still is a good brand, I have one and folks I have recommended it to like them as well. Very quiet, hard to tell it is running much of the time.

A few things to keep in mind though. Because of changes to reduce energy and water use, current model dishwasher have much longer cycles (like clothes washers). The typical auto cycle on my bosch is 2 hours and 10 minutes. For the most part, food grinders have been eliminated as well, replaced with filter screens to capture larger food particles. The screens need to be cleaned periodically or they start to smell. It just takes a few minutes. You don't have to rinse your dishes before putting them in the DW, but you should scrape off any larger chunks of "stuff". Finally, most models have eliminated electrically heated drying cycles. Instead, they use super hot water for the final rinse and depend on evaporation for drying (with moving air assist). This works pretty well for glassware and china and metal; not so well for plastic items which don't retain enough of the heat from the hot water to flash off the water afterwards. Get used to having water droplets remain on plastic items and the tops of upside down mugs, etc.

And of course, they haven't gotten any cheaper.....

Having said all this, our Bosch cleans dishes better than any of the previous 4 or 5 dishwashers I've owned.

Jerome Stanek
12-17-2018, 11:57 AM
appliances are not what they used to be a 13 year old appliance would be just getting broken in

Barry McFadden
12-17-2018, 12:01 PM
We have a Maytag dishwasher that is around 22 years old... still works well but has a few issues like the door spring is shot so you have to be careful of not letting it just fall open on its own... but I'm reluctant to get a new one because it seems that these days anything you get new doesn't last near as long as the old ones. I was thinking of updating my central vac in the house which is also about 22 years old and the guy at the vacuum store said that unless something was wrong with it keep it. He said if you get one made now you'll be looking to replace it in a few years....

Jerome Stanek
12-17-2018, 1:42 PM
I always like when people say that something is at the end of it's life. Like cell phones I had one that was 3 years old my carrier said it was at the end of it's life and I should get a new one. I kept it for 5 more years and it still was going strong even the battery would still give me over a day of use. I only gave it up when I switched carriers and then my wife grab it and used it for over a year.

Neil Gaskin
12-17-2018, 6:50 PM
As a remodeling contractor I’d recommend either Bosch or Kitchen Aid. At 13 years old I’d replace.

Ronald Blue
12-17-2018, 8:39 PM
Definitely replace. If you like your Bosch then go with another one. They were the first super quiet one. We went with all LG in our new home. No complaints with those either. Full dishwasher cycle is over 3 hours.

Jim Becker
12-17-2018, 9:12 PM
I always like when people say that something is at the end of it's life. Like cell phones I had one that was 3 years old my carrier said it was at the end of it's life and I should get a new one. I kept it for 5 more years and it still was going strong even the battery would still give me over a day of use. I only gave it up when I switched carriers and then my wife grab it and used it for over a year.
It's absolutely true that many things exceed their manufacturer's/vendors's "intended life spans" when they are taken care of, not abused and the stars all align. For a dishwasher, 13 years is a very respectable run and it does sound like the OP's unit has still be working well. But repairing it from the described damage may incur a cost that's a healthy chunk of what replacing the unit with a new one will cost. End of life isn't always about function...it's also about cost to repair vs cost to replace.

Peter Christensen
12-17-2018, 9:14 PM
We have one of the Fisher & Paykel drawer models. Because there are just the two of us half the time we only use one drawer to wash the day’s dishes. It is quite and doesn’t use a lot of water.

Jim Becker
12-17-2018, 9:16 PM
We have one of the Fisher & Paykel drawer models. Because there are just the two of us half the time we only use one drawer to wash the day’s dishes. It is quite and doesn’t use a lot of water.
I originally had the dual drawer unit in our kitchen when I first renovated back in 2003. We liked the system a lot...until it failed. The cost to fix was major because of parts and not having and experienced labor nearby qualified to service it. That's when we got the KitchenAid I mentioned earlier.

jared herbert
12-17-2018, 9:19 PM
appliances arent what they used to be. We have two water heaters in our house, not that big of a house but thats the way it worked out. just replaced one water heater that was 7 years old, I replaced the other one last spring, it only lasted 4 years so the 6 year warranty replaced it free, I still had to install it. Dont know about any one else, I have tried different brands of propane water heaters and none of them last much much more than 6-8 years it seems like, just long enough to get past the 6 year warranty. These heaters were made and sold by an offshoot of the Rheem company which I always thought was a good outfit. They were built in Mexico.

Peter Christensen
12-17-2018, 9:47 PM
Jim how long did your F&P last until it quit?

Jim Becker
12-18-2018, 11:06 AM
Jim how long did your F&P last until it quit?
About 5 years, Peter. I was disappointed because the technology was really kewel (including the motor design) and that's why I chose it in the kitchen plan originally, but when I found it was a service challenge here, replacement was the better choice. Also, it was really a great setup when it was just the two of us, but after our girls came into play (adopted in 2005), the dual drawer actually got a little cumbersome with both fitting things efficiently and having them both running constantly from volume. What I'd really like is a single drawer unit plus a full size DW for maximum flexibility, but our kitchen cannot accommodate that anyway.

Peter Christensen
12-18-2018, 11:22 AM
Thanks Jim. Hoping mine will last a little longer.

Jim Koepke
12-18-2018, 11:48 AM
Does anyone make a dishwasher whose door opens from the side?

The first time you opened the door after a wash cycle you would know why these are not a feature found on home dishwashers.

We have a Bosh that is 10 years old and problem free.

jtk

Jim Becker
12-18-2018, 1:39 PM
The first time you opened the door after a wash cycle you would know why these are not a feature found on home dishwashers.
Not to mention in the middle of a cycle to put something else in that needs washing... LOL

Dave Cav
12-18-2018, 1:45 PM
appliances are not what they used to be a 13 year old appliance would be just getting broken in

If this was 1965, I would agree with you. These days, not so much.

Warning, thread drift.

Our previous house had a nice Kitchen Aid. We built the house in 1985 and moved out in about 2000. At some point in the interim we had hardwood floors installed in the kitchen. We heard from the realtor that about six weeks after we moved out, the dishwasher died, and since we'd installed the hardwood up to the dishwasher, the countertop had to come off to get the dishwasher out. Oh well, it was 15 year old laminate anyway.

Todd Mason-Darnell
12-18-2018, 2:04 PM
Replace. 13 years is a great run for a dishwasher.

Also, get the Bosch. In the last 5 years or so, I have replaced several dishwashers-helping friends, in laws and my own. The Bosch, hands down, was the easiest installation of any of the brands.

Jerome Stanek
12-18-2018, 5:44 PM
If my dish washer broke I would have to take her to the emergency room as my wife loves washing dishes by hand. I could never figure that out but she says it is relaxing to her.

Frank Pratt
12-18-2018, 7:55 PM
If my dish washer broke I would have to take her to the emergency room as my wife loves washing dishes by hand. I could never figure that out but she says it is relaxing to her.

Haha, #2 daughter is the same. Washing dishes by hand is her Zen thing.

Bruce Wrenn
12-18-2018, 9:13 PM
appliances arent what they used to be. We have two water heaters in our house, not that big of a house but thats the way it worked out. just replaced one water heater that was 7 years old, I replaced the other one last spring, it only lasted 4 years so the 6 year warranty replaced it free, I still had to install it. Dont know about any one else, I have tried different brands of propane water heaters and none of them last much much more than 6-8 years it seems like, just long enough to get past the 6 year warranty. These heaters were made and sold by an offshoot of the Rheem company which I always thought was a good outfit. They were built in Mexico.Rheem, Rudd, And GE water heaters are all the same. The difference between a 6 year, and a 9 year is the second anode, and a couple hundred bucks more money. You can install a second anode. We have been in our house 38+ years, and are on our second water heater. The first (State brand) lasted 18 years before gas valve failed. Replaced it with a Lowes 6 year unit, which has been in place for a little over 20 years. I guess I should have bought the 9 year one from Lowes instead, yeah, right! Our water contains some calcium, so eating away of tank is limited. Rental house has a Lowes that furnishes both hot water, and heat. It's over ten years old. As for DW, we have a GE "Potscrubber," that was rescued from a trash pile over 25 years ago. Replaced the pump (from another rescue DW,) and racks, along with door springs. It's definitely not the quietest, but only takes 38 minutes to do a load of dishes. This means after a big dinner, we have the dishes (two loads) done in less than an hour and half. FYI, our DW is mounted in pantry wall, so when you open door and roll out bottom rack, it is level with counter. No stooping to load and unload DW.

roger wiegand
12-19-2018, 8:54 AM
I've just been DW shopping as our 4 year old KitchenAid is falling apart. It was one of their higher end ones, but they all share the same crappy hardware. The wheels have broken on the bottom rack (it wouldn't track even before it broke, continually falling off the rails), the retractor spring on the door has broken, and cleaning out and replacing a part in the grinder/trap in the sump is a nightmare of major surgery requiting special tools and a good hour of disassembly once you actually know how to do it. Thick nasty sludge accumulates around the door gasket if you don't keep after it. (This is a machine lightly used by two older, careful adults, can't imagine how it would be with kids banging it around) It does do a good job of washing the dishes, albeit slowly.

Needless to say, KA and all its siblings are not in my short list for a replacement. (Sad, because previously we had them and they were great) The Bosch seems to have slightly better hardware; I need to fine a Meile to look at, they are popular with the high end kitchen crowd.

I remember being impressed that the new KA weighed about 1/3 as much as the old DW that came out of our house when we moved in. Unfortunately that seems to have translated to flimsy rather than well engineered.

Jim Becker
12-19-2018, 9:29 AM
Roger, we've had the issues with the wheels on the lower rack with our KitchenAid, but fortunately, they are easy to replace. But it's true that in general, appliances today just don't have the quality for long-term use that they did years ago, no matter what the brand. That's sad, honestly...

Brian Henderson
12-19-2018, 3:15 PM
Our previous house had a nice Kitchen Aid. We built the house in 1985 and moved out in about 2000. At some point in the interim we had hardwood floors installed in the kitchen. We heard from the realtor that about six weeks after we moved out, the dishwasher died, and since we'd installed the hardwood up to the dishwasher, the countertop had to come off to get the dishwasher out. Oh well, it was 15 year old laminate anyway.

Same here. When we moved into our current house, we replaced the old dishwasher with a much better one, but since they had installed it, they had put down a nice new tile floor that blocked the dishwasher. Luckily, I was able to screw the leveling feet all the way in and it just barely came out, same with putting in the new one and then re-leveling it, but it was millimeters we're talking about. If I have to do it again sometime, I'll have to be careful to get a new dishwasher that will fit. I can't even go in from the top because the countertops are all granite.

Marc Jeske
12-19-2018, 7:29 PM
OP says DW worked FINE until Grandson tripped and tweaked the hinges.

Somehow, ALL the posts jump to " !! REPLACE !! "

?????????????

How bout instead, spend a bit of time UN tweaking and testing for leaks ?

Back in Mayberry, Emmitt would come over and put his knee against one side and with his hand slightly yank the other side... and it would be fixed.

Probably anyway ... at least worth a try.

Consumerism is taking us over Guys.

Marc

Tom M King
12-19-2018, 7:46 PM
I haven't installed a dishwasher in a long time. Have they figured out how to make them out of close to nothing, like they have for TV's, and refrigerators? Maybe the bent door is saying yes.

Dave Cav
12-20-2018, 1:23 PM
Same here. When we moved into our current house, we replaced the old dishwasher with a much better one, but since they had installed it, they had put down a nice new tile floor that blocked the dishwasher. Luckily, I was able to screw the leveling feet all the way in and it just barely came out, same with putting in the new one and then re-leveling it, but it was millimeters we're talking about. If I have to do it again sometime, I'll have to be careful to get a new dishwasher that will fit. I can't even go in from the top because the countertops are all granite.

I think the people that bought the house (and who had to replace the dishwasher) just didn't have a sawzall handy to remove the old DW.....

Roger Feeley
12-20-2018, 2:08 PM
I have used 6 dishwashers in my life and none of them did a very good job cleaning dishes. We always pre-washed the dishes to get all the particulate matter off. After it was done, we either had to had dry the dishes to put them away or leave the door ajar overnight. Dishwashing soap is pretty caustic and eventually caused the glassware to become a bit cloudy. All this is to say that, in my experience, dishwashers really aren't worth the bother and expense.

So in our latest house, we have no dishwasher. One reason is the above but also, our kitchen is downsized and I wanted the cabinet space. I'm the handler of dirty dishes and I prefer to wash by hand. Since we have a small combination kitchen and great room, this has imposed a discipline on me to take care of the dishes immediately. We don't have dirty dishes sitting around.

Interesting trivia: The dishwasher would have been cheaper than the cabinet. Our architect argued that I would regret not having the dishwasher and insisted on making a cabinet section removable so that one could be put in later.

On a related note, we also have no garbage disposal. I wanted the space under the sink for storage and I never used the old disposal anyway. What we do have is a really awesome basket strainer (Kraus) that I only have to empty once per meal.

Jim Becker
12-20-2018, 7:55 PM
Our architect argued that I would regret not having the dishwasher and insisted on making a cabinet section removable so that one could be put in later.
This was likely prudent so that the option is available with reasonable effort for the next owner...one may even need to go in prior to sale by you or your heirs just for marketability.

We have no disposal, either...we compost. But we're also on septic and "in general" disposals are not usually used in that case. When I did have one in a previous home, it was rarely used.

Roger Feeley
12-21-2018, 11:02 AM
Jim, Another thing at work here is where we live. There is a LOT of money floating around here inside the DC beltway. Around here, any house under a million is considered a fixer-upper or a tear down. It's generally agreed among the locals that a kitchen that's 10 years old (and gorgeous) is dated and in need of renovation. The likelihood is that, if we were to sell, the new owner would rip it all out.

Go figure.

Jim Becker
12-21-2018, 11:13 AM
Professor Dr. SWMBO grew up in Falls Church just inside the beltway on Executive Avenue and my "office" prior to retirement was in Fair Lakes. So yea...I do understand your area in that respect!

dennis thompson
12-22-2018, 6:25 PM
So I called a repair man, it would cost $445 to repair,didn't seem worth repairing, so I ordered a new Bosch for $900 plus installation costs, will be installed on Dec 27. Thanks for all the advice.