TLDR: My dishwasher has overflowed and flooded the kitchen 3 times, the first two times from seemingly not draining between wash and rinse, though I could eventually trigger it to drain by manually advancing the timer knob around a few times, and the third time also from the inlet water valve never closing (I had to turn off the under-sink valve to stop the water flowing in). Help please!
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The dishwasher in question is a ~1974 KitchenAid KDC-17, and it had been in regular use and working great, but sat unused for a few months last summer/fall. A couple months ago I ran a cycle like normal, walked away, and walked back in 20 min later to a completely flooded kitchen floor, but no water visibly flowing out of the dishwasher, or sign of where it came from. I stopped the machine by turning the timer knob to off, opened the door, and the basin was full to the top.
I assumed it was the drain solenoid being stuck from sitting unused, so I went underneath (which was all dry under there) and took off a solenoid power wire and then contacted it on/off a few times to zap it and unstick it, and heard it click, then manually turned the timer knob to the drain position (unlabeled, but is just a bit past "rinse"), heard it kick in, and it drained and ran the dry cycle. I figured that fixed the problem (save for 5 gallons in the shop vac to clean up the floor), and ran another cycle a week later, with no problems.
A month later I ran it again, but casually kept an eye on it, and sure enough, another kitchen flood started, with water pouring out the hinged bottom of the door (the timer somewhere at the start of "rinse" I think). I manually advanced the timer again straight to the drain position, heard the pump running but felt no water going out in the under-sink tube, while water kept flooding the floor. I repeated turning the timer knob around about 5 times until I finally heard the draining kick in, and it then completed the cycle. Again, I assumed it was the drain solenoid.
Today, 3 weeks on, I felt brave and tried another full cycle, but only after I first pre-tested the drain function this time by running the machine empty for 1 minute just to get some water in, then advanced the timer to the drain position, where it drained just fine. Good, the drain solenoid is working, I thought. So I ran the full cycle.
And this time, a few minutes in, here comes another kitchen flood out of the door bottom. I again advanced the timer to drain, but this time I couldn't get it to start draining, and the water just kept pouring out through the door. I grabbed some pans to catch the water, turned the timer to "off", and unlatched and opened the door, and saw the water inlet was still gushing in hot water, regardless of timer knob position, and I couldn't stop it.
I then again closed the door, and turned the timer knob to try to get it to start draining, and after maybe 5 more full times around, it finally triggered and drained the basin, but only half way, while the hot inlet water still kept gushing in. After much effort and fighting valve corrosion, I turned off the hot water valve under the sink, which stopped the inlet water. I then set the timer knob to one more draining, which finally fully drained the basin.
So with these combination of symptoms, I'm left wondering where the root of the problem is. I'm not sure what the operating logic looks like as it goes through a cycle, or if I disturbed or bypassed some process by advancing the timer knob to drain.
Do you think the root problem is actually a faulty inlet water valve that isn't closing properly and overfilling (or did I just mess that up this time by advancing the timer manually)? Or a faulty/sporadic drain solenoid? Or some faulty signal from the timer that isn't activating things correctly (like not turning off the inlet valve)? (the timer is progressing/rotating through just fine, and different stages activate when manually turning it forward.) I thought there was an overflow drain trigger too, which obviously isn't triggering.
The inlet valve is currently stuck open, and if I reopen the under-sink hot water valve, water will still immediately start filling the basin.
Thanks for your thoughts! (I added a couple photos of the offending machine)
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The dishwasher in question is a ~1974 KitchenAid KDC-17, and it had been in regular use and working great, but sat unused for a few months last summer/fall. A couple months ago I ran a cycle like normal, walked away, and walked back in 20 min later to a completely flooded kitchen floor, but no water visibly flowing out of the dishwasher, or sign of where it came from. I stopped the machine by turning the timer knob to off, opened the door, and the basin was full to the top.
I assumed it was the drain solenoid being stuck from sitting unused, so I went underneath (which was all dry under there) and took off a solenoid power wire and then contacted it on/off a few times to zap it and unstick it, and heard it click, then manually turned the timer knob to the drain position (unlabeled, but is just a bit past "rinse"), heard it kick in, and it drained and ran the dry cycle. I figured that fixed the problem (save for 5 gallons in the shop vac to clean up the floor), and ran another cycle a week later, with no problems.
A month later I ran it again, but casually kept an eye on it, and sure enough, another kitchen flood started, with water pouring out the hinged bottom of the door (the timer somewhere at the start of "rinse" I think). I manually advanced the timer again straight to the drain position, heard the pump running but felt no water going out in the under-sink tube, while water kept flooding the floor. I repeated turning the timer knob around about 5 times until I finally heard the draining kick in, and it then completed the cycle. Again, I assumed it was the drain solenoid.
Today, 3 weeks on, I felt brave and tried another full cycle, but only after I first pre-tested the drain function this time by running the machine empty for 1 minute just to get some water in, then advanced the timer to the drain position, where it drained just fine. Good, the drain solenoid is working, I thought. So I ran the full cycle.
And this time, a few minutes in, here comes another kitchen flood out of the door bottom. I again advanced the timer to drain, but this time I couldn't get it to start draining, and the water just kept pouring out through the door. I grabbed some pans to catch the water, turned the timer to "off", and unlatched and opened the door, and saw the water inlet was still gushing in hot water, regardless of timer knob position, and I couldn't stop it.
I then again closed the door, and turned the timer knob to try to get it to start draining, and after maybe 5 more full times around, it finally triggered and drained the basin, but only half way, while the hot inlet water still kept gushing in. After much effort and fighting valve corrosion, I turned off the hot water valve under the sink, which stopped the inlet water. I then set the timer knob to one more draining, which finally fully drained the basin.
So with these combination of symptoms, I'm left wondering where the root of the problem is. I'm not sure what the operating logic looks like as it goes through a cycle, or if I disturbed or bypassed some process by advancing the timer knob to drain.
Do you think the root problem is actually a faulty inlet water valve that isn't closing properly and overfilling (or did I just mess that up this time by advancing the timer manually)? Or a faulty/sporadic drain solenoid? Or some faulty signal from the timer that isn't activating things correctly (like not turning off the inlet valve)? (the timer is progressing/rotating through just fine, and different stages activate when manually turning it forward.) I thought there was an overflow drain trigger too, which obviously isn't triggering.
The inlet valve is currently stuck open, and if I reopen the under-sink hot water valve, water will still immediately start filling the basin.
Thanks for your thoughts! (I added a couple photos of the offending machine)
