Dishwasher DIY
Came home yesterday after my writing session with a few grocery purchases, including a sandwich for lunch. When I entered the kitchen, my wife said, “The dishwasher isn’t working.”
The dishwasher is a GE Profile. I think we bought it about six years ago. “Okay let me eat and research and I’ll get on it.”
So I did those things and then ran the dishwasher on my own, studying the symptoms. Which were:
- lights come on; program selected; door closed; WASHING displayed
- pump runs to empty dishwasher
- time passes, and the machine is quiet
- WASHING display goes off; all lights go out
- I opened the dishwasher; bone dry; no water was entering
I pull and clean the fine and macro filters. That’s an easy first step and one I’ve done several times before. Neither are blocked or very dirty because I just cleaned them at the first of the month. They’re usually the culprits because unhindered water circulation and solid water pressure is needed for the dishwasher to properly operate and clean.
The manual is read. Nothing useful emerges. To the net!
The net suggests the overflow valve might be stuck. Just lightly tapping it with a wooden spoon might free it. Or it might be the recirculating pump.
I spend time looking for the overflow valve and can’t find it. I search for more information on the net but nothing helpful is found. I finally reverse my thinking and search, “Do all dishwashers have overflow valves?” No, more modern dishwashers don’t have ’em. Great; that was a lot of wasted time.
I put the machine into its diagnostic mode and run through those, confirming the dw isn’t filling with water.
More searching leads me to the inlet valve and how to reach, remove, and test it. The water feed to the dishwasher is turned off, as is the power via the circuit breaker. The pieces I need to access are behind the kick panel. It comes off easy enough but tight clearances and sharp edges make removing the inlet valve a tedious and time-consuming process. Some bleeding is involved but I get it off. The valve coil is tested for continuity and is good. They don’t recommend cleaning the inlet valve because of seals and tolerances. I resign myself to ordering a new one but on a whim, I gently shake the valve, thinking the valve is stuck and maybe shaking it will release it. Why not, right?
After replacing the inlet valve, turning on the water and powering up, I now have trickle of water. WTAF? I listen. The dishwasher stops and tells me on the panel, H2O.
Well, heck, it wasn’t showing that before. I confirm the water is on and no lines got kinked while I was messing around in the underside and try again. Same-oh.
Following nebulous thoughts, return to the net to search for other problems and find a video which suggests, pressure sensor. Attached to the recirculating pump, it’s easily accessible since I already have the kick panel removed. I pull the sensor, follow the cleaning instructions and re-install it, power back up, etc.
Works like a charm.
I’m astonished. I’m not mechanical, so I’m always pleased when I can find the instructions and guidance from wherever I can and repair something. It’s like a small victory in a big universe when I can declare something ‘fixed’.
Especially when I’m the one who did the fixin’.
A Light Monday Afternoon Offering
Monday’s Wandering Thoughts
It’s a first for me. Today’s coffee shop crew is all male. I’ve seen all-female crews several times. As I wrote, this is a first. Wondered if it was planned, a response to females noting that there’s often all-female crews, or just happenstance of the schedule. I suspect the last one.
Monday’s Theme Music
Mood: flippant
Hello, sugar plums. It’s Monday again, January 22 2024. Dawn broke open another day of sprinter — spring and winter — on us in Ashlandia, where the people are natural and spring is above average. Rain has stopped but temperature is now 54 F with high in the upper fifties. Looks like we’ll go below 40 F for the first time in a bit and a half.
Our weather change has the cats acting joyous. They’re like, “Meow hoo, it’s nice outside. Can we go outside and sleep? Can we, can we?”
“Alright,” I replied, “but stay close and safe, and be smart.”
“We will, we will,” the mewrished. I opened the door and they dashed out, tails streaming high, sat, and began washing.
Before letting them out, I was a-singing to my floofs when I fed them. The song was, “There’s only one way to eat,” based on “There’s Only One Way to Rock.” Natch, The Neurons fired up the song in the morning mental music stream (Trademark classified). Originally by Sammy Hagar and released in 1982, it reached new heights when Sammy joined Van Halen and cranked it out together. No wonder that Van Halen was sometimes called Van Haglen. But come on, Eddie’s guitar style carries it to a higher level of rock, proving that there’s more than one way to rock, and playing against him, Sammy brought energy to his lead guitar. Fun watching the two share lead guitar in this recording of a live performance in Tokyo in 1989.
Let us pause now to lament the end of DeSantis’ run for President, 2024. He’s slunk back to Florida, where he can resume his hypocritical existence as a government agent against small, unintrusive government and equal rights for anyone who isn’t CIS. For him, there’s only one way to live, so everyone should live his vanilla way. Such an unimaginative and closed mind.
That means, though, that it’s only Nikki Haley and DJ Trump running now. Gosh, it’s such an intense intellectual race, makes my spine tingle. Not. (Yeah, that was full snark.)
Stay pos, be strong, and keep leaning forward. Remember to vote this year. I recommend President Joe Biden, because he was sent by God. (Just sayin’ that if Trump was sent by God, so was Biden. Why not, if you take that stuff without any evidence one way or the other?)
Coffee is being sucked up; here’s the music. Cheers
A New Take
Overheard in the coffee shop: a team said they were working together.
“Yes,” one said. “We’re twerking.”
Groans and laughter all around.
Floofsicle
Floofsicle (floofinition) – Animal who is very cold. Origins: early 2000s, worldwide web.
In Use: “One thing Marta learned early about Felix was that he didn’t like the cold, and would do anything to avoid becoming a floofsicle, from climbing under her bed covers to sleep against her at night, to trying to sit on top of the wood-burning stove, scaring her every time.”
Recent Use: “Severe cold weather often brings stories of floofsicles being saved by other animals or by people, such as the news article from 2019 telling about a black kitten rescued from freezing conditions, or the time a dog was found in freezing weather protecting orphaned kittens.”
Sunday’s Theme Music
Mood: bitsy
Hello, fellow citizens of the Sol system. We have landed on Sunday January 21, 2024.
It’s a little bit day; little bit sunny, windy, rainy, warm, cold. Should be a little bit ‘o rainbow out there somewhere.
Once again, I come to you after reading some news, and end up a little bit disappointed, saddened, surprised, disturbed, and shocked. Pretty typical, really. Flipping through radio channels as I went downtown to coffee shop #2, I heard a woman on the radio saying how much Trump is needed now. Cuz, she said, crime is up and the economy is down, and our border is just a mess, stating all these things as a given without offering any stats or evidence. Don’t know if I’d trust her stats and evidence, anyway, as I was a little bit suspicious of her, especially when she ended by telling us that God sent Trump to us. Rebut: God sent Biden to us. That’s why he won, right? Debate.
Today’s theme music is “All Mixed Up” by 311 from 1996. My ginger floof, Papi, inspired The Neurons to choose this song. Rain was falling and the sun was shining and the wind was blowing when I opened the back door and let Papi bounce outside, tail up and energetic. Wind smooching his face caused him to turn away like he was gonna come back in, but then he remembered that he was a wild beast, king of the outdoors, so he redirected his course toward the sunshine, only to retreat as rain showered him. Again he began a return to inside the house only to recall his wild vows, and changed directions to head across the patio where he sat, washed, and debated his options.
Watching all that, The Neurons kicked “All Mixed Up” into the morning mental music stream (Trademark a little bit). But it’s a good song selection for other reasons, like the world’s state vice expectations and attitudes: the song declares, “You’ve got to trust your instinct, and let go of regret. You’ve got to bet on yourself now, star, ’cause that’s your best bet.” I like that aspect as it’s directing me to look forward and trust myself.
Be strong, stay pos, lean forward and trust yourself. I’m havin’ a little bit more coffee now. Then I’ll go on with a little bit of editing and home chores. Here’s the music. Cheers
Omnifloof
Omnifloof (floofinition) – An animal who seems to be everywhere. Origins: 1598, from Medieval Latin.
In Use: “Once escaped from their nursery, the kittens were omnifloofs, ambushing each other in the living room, cavorting down hallways, exploring the bathroom, but mostly, sizing up humans and inspecting what they were up to.”
Recent Use: “His cat had become an omnifloof. He’d see him sleeping in the living room, then enter the laundry room and find him chowing down kibble there, and then enter the bathroom and see him sitting on the rug. Instead of one cat, it felt like he had five, and they were everywhere!” From The Magic Floof.
Saturday’s Wandering Thoughts
One of the baristas seemed angry with him. He didn’t know why, but she appeared to act colder toward him, like he’d offended her. Searching his memories, he didn’t find a triggering episode. It could be other things, he told himself, like he’d imagined her being nicer and friendlier before, or he was imagining now that she was angry with him. Or, she might be upset with something happening in her life, and he’s just reading her interaction with him and misinterpreting it.
Really, though, while all of those were logically possible, it felt to him like she was angry with him, and that bothered him.
Michael Seidel, writer 