Strange Electrical Problem with Dishwasher

[J66442]

So tonight my wife tells me the dishwasher won't work. Of course its fully loaded and ready to go.

First I checked the breakers. I couldn't find one labeled dishwasher so I flipped several on and off to make sure it hadn't popped. Still no dishwasher.

I next checked the wiring connections under the dishwasher. I put the voltmeter on the hot lead and the ground and got 120 so I had the wife flip breakers until we found the right one to shut off the power. The wires led into the door so I disassembled it to get to the circuit board. Once it was apart I saw the door latch interrupts the wiring so no power if the door isn't closed. I checked power at the latch by putting voltmeter to the hot and neutral wires and got nothing!!!!! I went back to the wiring connections underneath and connected voltmeter to hot and neutral and got nothing. Confirmed that I had turned the breaker back on. Tried voltmeter to hot and ground and got 120.

What really caused the problem was the dishwasher was plugged in under the sink. A box leaned against the plug and knocked it loose just enough to disconnect the neutral but leave the hot and ground connected.

An hour wasted taking the dishwasher apart and putting it back together. At least I didn't have to buy a new dishwasher.

I am considering removing the outlet and putting in a box to hard wire the dishwasher. Is there a reason I should leave the outlet?

 

[RECox286]

No ! Most dishwashers, if not all, are usually hard wired direct from the panel to

the connection at the machine. Wired the way yours is, is not a problem until you

find out that it is just unplugged. (the first sentence in almost all appliance trouble

shooting sections asks: "Is the machine plugged in ?" So, keep that in mind if you

don't change out the elecrical construction.

Uncle Bob

 

[Milton Shaw]

I always ran into bad connections in the wiring box under the dishwasher. Connecting a stranded wire and solid wire together often results in only solid wire secured by wire nut. Always pull on stranded wire after tightening the wire nut to make sure the wires are really connected. Sometimes it would show as burned wire nut, but most of the time dead dishwasher for no apparent reason. Some dishwasher electronic controls are very sensitive to electrical noise on incoming power and would freeze up until power was turned off for two to five minutes and then turned back on and everything worked properly. Had one subdivision that had 5 houses with the same problem happening because of bad power supply to subdivision. I worked for 20 years as appliance tech so I saw just about everything that could go wrong. The worst and funniest was going into one kitchen and hearing wife say "I know its installed right my husband is an engineer." Picture this he removed a GE dishwasher and installed a new GE dishwasher, It took him three trips to HD to find enough of the right fittings to hook the hot water supply line to the drain and the outlet of the pump for top sprayer to the drain instead.
Some people are too dangerous to work on anything. I hope I don't run across anything he designed.

 

[wssix99]

If you have a plastic tub dishwasher, I'd keep the plug on there so you can quickly disconnect it in case of a fire. There have been issues with this kind of thing happening across all manufacturers. (See table at bottom http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/03/appliance-fires-is-your-home-safe/index.htm)

 

[Icky1911]

I tried starting a motorcycle for over an hour (kick start) come to find out it was out of gas! Thanks for the dishwasher post. Mine is old and due to fail. I'll check the power hook up first.