Cleaning dishwasher wash arms

[mattl]

I have a 5 or 6 year old KA DW (where does the time go...) and noticed a few dishes placed in the corners were not as clean as they had been.Found that the end holes in the arm were plugged with gunk. Tried various methods to clear them - needle nose pliers, pins, blowing it out but none were really successful.

 

I'm pretty good at keeping the filter clean but somehow bits got into the pump.  The arms are stainless and sealed well so looking for a better way to clear the plugged portions, ideas?

 

[petek]

what about a drill with an appropriately sized bit

 

[qsd-dan]

It's a pretty common problem among most dishwashers, especially self cleaning ones as items work their way into the pump and the macerator doesn't always chop things finely enough. I was always cleaning the jets in the top arm of the Maytag Reverse Rack. I have to clean them often in Point Voyager Kitchenaid. Considerably less in the Powerclean and very rarely in the Hobart KA 18/19/20 dishwashers. The Hobart KA's have so much water force that things don't lodge themselves in the jets, they generally shoot out.

The dishwashers least likely to have this problem are the manual clean ones with very fine filter mesh screens, and usually 1-2 sets of screens/screen layers. I used an Asko dishwasher at work (2001 model) that had a very fine self cleaning filter. Never once had to clean any of the jets in that machine for 15 years.

 

[combo52]

Clogged wash arms on a five or six-year-old KitchenAid

Hi Matt, this should not be happening, you didn’t mention which KitchenAid model you have, the models that have a manual clean filter with a plastic flat screen at the top have trouble with warping, and it allows particles to slip past the edge of the filter and get into the wash arms if this is the case, replace this filter, we carry them on our trucks. It’s a frequent problem.

If you have the model with the sophisticated self cleaning filter system, you’ve got a big problem. It probably needs to have the self cleaning filter screen replaced.

To clean clogged wash arms, remove the arms, poke the debris loose, and see if you can shake them back out of the arms where the water enters.

Many dishwashers have problems with things getting caught in the wash arms, it seems worse than models that have small jets, I don’t know where it comes from but bits of plastic bags are one of the most insidious problems in some customers dishwashers. I’m not sure why they’re letting bits of plastic get into the machine in the first place.

 

[mattl]

John, yes I have the large flat filter. I think a few times it wasn't seated properly, it can be a bit finicky in it's placement. At this point I have the wash arms clear of debris using a straight pin and needle nose pliers. 

 

Part of the issue may be due to a drain backup. Found a large puddle of water in the DW after a cycle as well as a sink full of water, possibly overwhelmed the backflow preventer. Might have allowed dirty water to be forced into the system. Generally don't pay attention to the bottom of the DW.