Monday, 5 December 2011

Repairing a dishwasher

Surely modern white goods are "throw-away" items? Well they don't have to be. Please read on...

Our dishwasher was bought at least 15 years ago. It's a Hotpoint Aquarius and proudly proclaims: Made in Great Britain. Some of us had bought into the "buy local" message even back then. Up until this year it had only gone wrong once which was when a plastic label got wrapped around the heating element causing it to overheat and burn out. An easy task for the local repair-man to do.

In recent months the machine seemed to be taking longer and longer for each wash and eventually would stall at various points around its programme. We looked into a replacement but even second-hand machines were out of our price range so I thought I ought to give good old reliable Hotpoint another chance.

I made sure the power was UNPLUGGED, unscrewed the left-side panel and found the nylon tank structure (see picture) inside was grubby with limescale and that the level-sensor was stiff to operate.


We used various techniques for cleaning the structure including an old toothbrush, cotton-buds, white vinegar (an excellent cleaning agent) and good old elbow-grease. Upon re-assembly the level-sensor moved nice and freely and there were no more areas with stains and limescale in. By the way, this is a particularly hard-water area. I then reassembled - the machine has now done dozens of successful washes with no leaks and lovely sparkling dishes, knives and forks.

This is obviously not a job for the absolute novice but by taking care and treating safety issues with respect it should be possible for the average DIYer to accomplish. A fuller description of this job is given here.

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