niclonnic
Well-known member
My current dishwasher, a Frigidaire Gallery model FGID2466QF4A, came with the house and is 8-9 years old. Despite having a plastic interior, it cleans dishes well for the most part. However, there is a persistent problem that baffled me for the longest time.
A lot of dishes in the bottom rack do not emerge fully clean. This includes bowls, particularly those with soup and stubborn food residue, overly greasy pots, pans and Tupperware, as well as forks with food stuck in between the tines. Said dishes would still have food particles and/or grease leftover when I unloaded the dishwasher. However, plates and most silverware, along with every dish in the top rack, come out fully clean.
I've played around with different settings, such as adjusting the water pressure from "surge" to "scour," increasing the temperature to "hi-temp" and enabling the sanitize rinse option. However, these options only make a slight difference at best. I even upgraded the detergent from the standard Finish Powerball tabs to the Quantum type, but that didn't help matters, either. After a cycle, detergent residue often appears on the inside of the compartment door.
Before figuring out this issue, I would have to rewash the affected items by hand after unloading them. I then developed a regime of pre-rinsing and scrubbing these items before loading them into the appliance. However, in my mind, the whole point of a dishwasher is to reduce the labor spent on hand-washing dishes.
So, the other day, I did some research into these dishwashers and stumbled upon a YouTube video explaining the problem in detail. As it turns out, the so-called "OrbitClean" spray arm, which has a spinning blue end that allegedly covers a larger area for more thorough dishwashing, develops an issue where it becomes unbalanced right on the heavier end. This imbalance results in the arm turning very slowly or not at all, most likely due to insufficient water pressure. Although the arm spins freely when I turn it by hand, it tends to remain in one place during a cycle. No wonder the dishes in the bottom rack are not getting a proper cleaning!
In the video, the presenter remedied the issue by replacing the OrbitClean spray arm with a more conventional one (a genuine Frigidaire part) purchased from Amazon. Luckily, the arm is very straightforward to replace, as it's held in by a couple of plastic tabs.
After giving it some thought, I went ahead and ordered that traditional spray arm. It'll take a couple weeks to get here, though. I'll provide an update once it arrives.
This is just a notice to anyone who is having similar issues with their Frigidaire DW featuring the OrbitClean spray arm. I have included the Amazon link to the replacement arm.
Here's the repair video:
A lot of dishes in the bottom rack do not emerge fully clean. This includes bowls, particularly those with soup and stubborn food residue, overly greasy pots, pans and Tupperware, as well as forks with food stuck in between the tines. Said dishes would still have food particles and/or grease leftover when I unloaded the dishwasher. However, plates and most silverware, along with every dish in the top rack, come out fully clean.
I've played around with different settings, such as adjusting the water pressure from "surge" to "scour," increasing the temperature to "hi-temp" and enabling the sanitize rinse option. However, these options only make a slight difference at best. I even upgraded the detergent from the standard Finish Powerball tabs to the Quantum type, but that didn't help matters, either. After a cycle, detergent residue often appears on the inside of the compartment door.
Before figuring out this issue, I would have to rewash the affected items by hand after unloading them. I then developed a regime of pre-rinsing and scrubbing these items before loading them into the appliance. However, in my mind, the whole point of a dishwasher is to reduce the labor spent on hand-washing dishes.
So, the other day, I did some research into these dishwashers and stumbled upon a YouTube video explaining the problem in detail. As it turns out, the so-called "OrbitClean" spray arm, which has a spinning blue end that allegedly covers a larger area for more thorough dishwashing, develops an issue where it becomes unbalanced right on the heavier end. This imbalance results in the arm turning very slowly or not at all, most likely due to insufficient water pressure. Although the arm spins freely when I turn it by hand, it tends to remain in one place during a cycle. No wonder the dishes in the bottom rack are not getting a proper cleaning!
In the video, the presenter remedied the issue by replacing the OrbitClean spray arm with a more conventional one (a genuine Frigidaire part) purchased from Amazon. Luckily, the arm is very straightforward to replace, as it's held in by a couple of plastic tabs.
After giving it some thought, I went ahead and ordered that traditional spray arm. It'll take a couple weeks to get here, though. I'll provide an update once it arrives.
This is just a notice to anyone who is having similar issues with their Frigidaire DW featuring the OrbitClean spray arm. I have included the Amazon link to the replacement arm.
Here's the repair video:
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