Sunday night I was sitting back as the Bosch SHU43U dishwasher was completing its long (pot scrub, 105 minutes) cycle.
Suddenly I heard a racket. I had the kitchen door open for ventilation. It looks out on a secure courtyard. It sounded like maybe an animal, perhaps a raccoon, was trying to tear apart the corrugated fiberglass wall next to the steps. Yikes!.
I jumped up from my nearby desk in the family room, and peered out the door. No sign of raccoons or other interlopers. The racket continued, and it became obvious it was coming from the dishwasher. It only had a minute to go!
So it was in a final drain part of the cycle. I opened the door, took a peek, and then closed it again and pushed the on button. More racket. Sounded quite bad, like grinding.
OK, I thought, it's drained enough, cycle is over.
This morning I realized I'd have to fix the damn thing unless I wanted to go back to handwashing the dishes. NEVER! I'd rather shell out $500 and get a new dishwasher, if necessary.
I was thinking maybe a bit of broken glass might have found is way into the drain pump. I don't remember breaking any glass inside the DW, but you never know.
Fortunately the Bosh has a relatively easy drain pump impeller to access, without having to pull the whole DW out of its cubby hole. Just a T20 bit needed. Which of course, I got. Stuck that on the end of a mag extension, put that is a 20 volt portable drill (overkill). Emptied the DW of the now clean dishware, pulled both racks and the lower spray arm. Pulled the cylindrical filter (never have quite figured out how that's supposed to work), as well as the coarse metal screen filter.
Found a whole coffee bean half in the sump. Hmm. That shouldn't happen. But, who knows? Removed the drain pump impeller cover. Easy. Used some forceps to remove some soft debris. Then I saw what might have been the cause: a blood glucose test strip. Must have stuck to the bottom of some dishware that got loaded into the DW.
Got out the nearest wet vac (Bissell Little Green Machine) and sucked out all the sump water it could. If there was glass in there, maybe it would be extracted as well.
Inspected impeller and drain cover. The cover was a little chewed up inside, like something had pummeled into it. Put it all back together, ran a brief drain test. Sounded good. Then stated up a full 105 minute cycle with a minimal load.
Emptied the Bissell drain receptacle. Didn't see any glass, just some food bits. OK, well, the test drain seemed to be quiet so it might be fixed.
Full cycle still running as I type. I think it's fixed now, we'll see. Don't think it will need a new drain cover. We'll see.
So this is my labor day so far!
Suddenly I heard a racket. I had the kitchen door open for ventilation. It looks out on a secure courtyard. It sounded like maybe an animal, perhaps a raccoon, was trying to tear apart the corrugated fiberglass wall next to the steps. Yikes!.
I jumped up from my nearby desk in the family room, and peered out the door. No sign of raccoons or other interlopers. The racket continued, and it became obvious it was coming from the dishwasher. It only had a minute to go!
So it was in a final drain part of the cycle. I opened the door, took a peek, and then closed it again and pushed the on button. More racket. Sounded quite bad, like grinding.
OK, I thought, it's drained enough, cycle is over.
This morning I realized I'd have to fix the damn thing unless I wanted to go back to handwashing the dishes. NEVER! I'd rather shell out $500 and get a new dishwasher, if necessary.
I was thinking maybe a bit of broken glass might have found is way into the drain pump. I don't remember breaking any glass inside the DW, but you never know.
Fortunately the Bosh has a relatively easy drain pump impeller to access, without having to pull the whole DW out of its cubby hole. Just a T20 bit needed. Which of course, I got. Stuck that on the end of a mag extension, put that is a 20 volt portable drill (overkill). Emptied the DW of the now clean dishware, pulled both racks and the lower spray arm. Pulled the cylindrical filter (never have quite figured out how that's supposed to work), as well as the coarse metal screen filter.
Found a whole coffee bean half in the sump. Hmm. That shouldn't happen. But, who knows? Removed the drain pump impeller cover. Easy. Used some forceps to remove some soft debris. Then I saw what might have been the cause: a blood glucose test strip. Must have stuck to the bottom of some dishware that got loaded into the DW.
Got out the nearest wet vac (Bissell Little Green Machine) and sucked out all the sump water it could. If there was glass in there, maybe it would be extracted as well.
Inspected impeller and drain cover. The cover was a little chewed up inside, like something had pummeled into it. Put it all back together, ran a brief drain test. Sounded good. Then stated up a full 105 minute cycle with a minimal load.
Emptied the Bissell drain receptacle. Didn't see any glass, just some food bits. OK, well, the test drain seemed to be quiet so it might be fixed.
Full cycle still running as I type. I think it's fixed now, we'll see. Don't think it will need a new drain cover. We'll see.
So this is my labor day so far!
