KITCHENAID DISHWASHER WON'T DRAIN

[larryn]

Hi, I need some assistance with a Kitchenaid dishwasher, Superba model KDS-20. The unit fills, washes, but won't hardly drain. Some water comes out but not much. If I hit cancel a few times, i can get just about all of the water out. Cleaned out the filters, and that seemed to help some, but didn't fix the problem. I'm thinking that maybe something got into the pump or perhaps the pump has a problem. I'm looking for advice, and perhaps a link on how i can disassemble from the inside to see if i can remedy this problem. Otherwise, this is a great old dishwasher that I really don't want to replace. thanks for any help you can offer. larry

 

[volvoguy87]

Check the drain hose.

The drain hose goes from the dishwasher to your kitchen sink drain (nearly all installations). Check it to make sure it isn't kinked or that someone putting something into the cabinet below the sink didn't kink it by mistake. Also, if you haven't used it for awhile, crud can deposit in the drain line and clog it up (my grandmother almost never used her dishwasher and crud from the garbage disposal back-flowed into the dishwasher drain hose and clogged it).

Good luck,
Dave
(PS: The KDS-20 is one of the best dishwashers money can buy, new or old)

 

[mixfinder]

Backflow

Many Kitchenaid dishwashers have a check valve in the drain to prevent backflow of dirty water. On rarer occasions they fail or plug.

 

[spankomatic]

I had this happen on the KDS-18. It was broken glass in the pump that damaged the impeller. Removed the broken glass and replaced the impeller. Good as new.

Jim

 

[beekeyknee]

Dishwasher won't drain.

Like "Volvoguy87" said, "Check the drain hose to see if it's clogged". But first you have to open the drain solenoid underneath the D/W. The drain hose connects to it. You'll have to open it manually, (there's a lever that connects to the solenoid) then blow through the end that connects to the drain. If air can be heard coming up through the bottom of the dishwasher while you hold the solenoid open, then the drain is not clogged. If that's not the problem, then the drain solenoid might not be opening(coil bad, no voltage at coil, lever mechanism needs to be oiled, core is sticking inside coil) or the pump has gone bad and needs to be rebuilt. That's a different project. Your D/W may need an over all rebuild. But the machines are definitely worth it. If you do try to mess with it, I'd turn the power off. Taking the bottom panel off can be a bit tricky if you don't know what you're doing. Go to the search field on this site and type in KDS20 and maybe KitchenAid, and see what you get. These things can be done, but it's a learning process. Good luck.
Brian

 

[larryn]

follow up

I happened upon my local appliance repair person who has been in the business for probably 50 years or so. What he does in a situation like this is to simply take the drain hose off the sink disposer; hooks his shop vac to the hose; fills the dishwasher with water; hits the cancel button and then sucks out the water with the shop vac hoping to get anything out of the unit that is clogging up the hose. I will try this and the other suggestions this weekend. Thanks for all the help so far and I'll let you all know next week what happens. larry

 

[larryn]

problem resolved

After not having success with the shop vac, I disconnected the hose from the dishwasher to the solenoid and found a cherry pit and part of what appeared to be a plastic straw stuck in the intake of the solenoid. Removed the items and that fixed it. Thanks for all of your suggestions. larry