Dishwasher wont drain

[bnew17]

We have a GE dishwasher here at the house. It was here when we moved in. opened it up this morning and there was a few inches of standing water in the botton. Anybody got any ideas of how to fix it? I sucked all the water up with my shop vac. I felt around with my hand down there and didnt feel anything clogging it up. We dont have a garbage disposal

[leemckinney]

There is a strainer in it that may be clogged. If that is not it, then check where the drain attaches to the sink drain. Usually pretty easy to disconnect to see if it is clogged there. Sometimes the drain hose was not installed properly or came loose. It should have a hump in the line so that the sink water does not drain into it.

[leemckinney]

The dishwasher is usually just fastened to the underneath side of the counter at the front of the dishwasher. Remove the screws and you can slide it out to get to the entire drain pipe.

[leemckinney]

If the strainer and the drain line is clear then it is probably the pump.

[jimbo4116]

Most likely the Backflow (foot) valve is malfuctioning and the water from the drain line into the sink drain is flowing back into the DW bowl.

The BF valve is in the drain line where it attaches to the pump on the bottom of the DW.

[slightly grayling]

If the above doesn't fix the problem it is likely your pump OR if you have one with an electronic panel it could be the control panel. I also had one once that the wires leading to the panel were cut by the sharp edge of the door.

[Oldstick]

Is it clean water? I have seen some models that were designed to leave a little water in the bottom when finished. I've heard someone say it was to keep the seals down there from drying out but I don't know for sure.

If it is pumping and draining all the dirty water during a cycle there might be nothing wrong with it.

[bnew17]

Originally Posted by Oldstick

Is it clean water? I have seen some models that were designed to leave a little water in the bottom when finished. I've heard someone say it was to keep the seals down there from drying out but I don't know for sure.

If it is pumping and draining all the dirty water during a cycle there might be nothing wrong with it.

no its dirty water

[boneboy96]

Either the strainer is clogged or it's the pump. Mine turned out to be the pump.

[jimbo4116]

I have had two dishwashers that had the same symptoms and both times it was the back flow valve.

[maker4life]

I had trouble witht he nipple on the main drain stopping up . Cleaned it out good and haven't had any more trouble .

And that was after taking the pump off a couple of times .

[dawg2]

Originally Posted by bnew17

We have a GE dishwasher here at the house. It was here when we moved in. opened it up this morning and there was a few inches of standing water in the botton. Anybody got any ideas of how to fix it? I sucked all the water up with my shop vac. I felt around with my hand down there and didnt feel anything clogging it up. We dont have a garbage disposal

I have a Maytag that does the same thing. What we have noticed is that if you don't keep the disposal clear (run it while washing dishes) then water goes back into the dishwasher from the sink. When I run a load of dishes I hit start, then cancel and the pump drains the bottom of the dishwasher. Then I hit start. I beieve the backflow valve must be going bad.

[rjcruiser]

Mine has done the same before...not drain.

There's a manual drain...I hit two buttons at the same time, and it will run the drain cycle again. Try that if yours has it.

Might just have had a bad cycle.

[bnew17]

update. called the repairman out after i couldnt find anything and it magically started working for him and has worked for us ever since. Go figure.

[Nugefan]

Originally Posted by bnew17

update. called the repairman out after i couldnt find anything and it magically started working for him and has worked for us ever since. Go figure.

then it was something causing the backflow / check valve to stick open ...

[southwind]

If your drain hose is not looped up and fastened to the underside of the counter top when you drain water out of your sink it can travel down the drain hose into the DW. Back when i used to install DW's I would bore a hole in the cabinet wall divider (between sink and DW compartment) as high as I could and run the DW drain hose through to keep it as high as possible. This way the drain hose will always have a loop higher than the water level in the sink. To check this fill your sink up to normal level with water (both sides if you have a double) let em loose and see if any water winds up in the DW. Did the service guy try this or check the hose for a high loop?

[Oldstick]

Originally Posted by southwind

If your drain hose is not looped up and fastened to the underside of the counter top when you drain water out of your sink it can travel down the drain hose into the DW. Back when i used to install DW's I would bore a hole in the cabinet wall divider (between sink and DW compartment) as high as I could and run the DW drain hose through to keep it as high as possible. This way the drain hose will always have a loop higher than the water level in the sink. To check this fill your sink up to normal level with water (both sides if you have a double) let em loose and see if any water winds up in the DW. Did the service guy try this or check the hose for a high loop?

+1. That would be the next likely culprit I would suspect. It was just sinkwater that ran back downhill. A lot of times the backflow valve is nothing but a thin rubber trapdoor sort of device. Having the DW drain hose up high will stop any back drainage from the sink.