Is there a market for better - but refurbished - portable dishwashers?

[michaelz08]

I enjoy fixing things. There's lots of somewhat recent model DWs in my areas that have simple problems - such s needing a new drain pump, wash pump, etc- and are priced very cheaply and sometimes free. If I fixed them up and packaged them in a portable enclosure, would that make it a worthwhile hobby? Not to make any insane profit, but perhaps pay for some new tools. And it gives me another thing to tinker with.

The only portable DWs you can buy are the BOL models, and the needing-repair DWs in my area are often much nicer, such as SS tub Maytags and ktichenaids; MOL and better. I have everything I'd need to make a simple plywood enclosure (table saw, etc) and have a 3D printer for anything more niche. I mean even at cost of materials, I feel I could sell it for far less than the $800 of a new one that's yet another BOL model.

Considering I don't see anything like this ever being up for sale on this or it being mentioned much aside from some basic instructional sites, it's probably not a great idea. But what the heck, figured I'd ask and get an opinion.

 

[maytaga806]

To be honest there isn’t a huge market for portable dishwashers and I don’t think it would be extremely successful. You would need the drain/inlet hoses that hook up to the faucet and you would need to sell the adapters for the faucet too, which are expensive, and there’s a lot of additional parts you’d need to make a regular under counter dishwasher into a portable and to me it wouldn’t be worth while. But it’s definitely a cool idea. There’s a video or two on YouTube of a few people who have done this and they did such a half butt job where they literallt just stuck a under counter Maytag on a square dolly and hooked garden hoses up to it, lol.

There are tons of Whirlpool and Kenmore Powerclean portables I see all the time from the used market. And a lot of them are on the mid range end of options and cycles. I even see a lot of Maytag Jetclean portables and the 2000s Maytag portables a lot. Maybe make one and see how you like it.

 

[qsd-dan]

Not sure you'd make your money back on building portable dishwashers once you factor in time, repair parts costs, and the materials to turn it into a functional portable dishwasher. You're probably better off in time and money just picking up free dishwashers with a good a reputation in both performance and reliability, repairing them, and selling.

I see future used dishwashers soon turning into the washers of today....tossing them when a problem arises and buying another. Manufactures gouge the public with high parts cost and once the control board goes, it cost almost the same, if not more, to repair rather than replace. Not too many people are going to pay over $200 for a used dishwasher and a new control board alone can easily exceed that. By this time, others things are falling apart, likes racks, thanks to cheap build quality.