Mark in North Carolina is looking to get some hot water to those far places. How can we help?
MARK: I’m actually having some problems with my dishwasher.
LESLIE: OK.
MARK: It doesn’t seem like it’s that far from the hot water heater but it takes forever for water to get to the faucet there, near the dishwasher.
TOM: OK.
MARK: And what I end up doing is running the water at the sink by the dishwasher, pretty much…
LESLIE: Before you run the dishwasher.
MARK: Not just before but actually through the whole cycle.
TOM: Oh, that’s crazy.
LESLIE: Wow.
TOM: What’s up with your dishwasher? Doesn’t seem like it’s working very well.
MARK: Yeah, and I don’t know if there’s a way to test the heating element in it or if it’s just a matter that, you know, when it’s not demanding the water that it – you know, since it does take so long.
TOM: Are you finding, Mark, that if you don’t do that the dishes come out dirty?
MARK: Yes, that’s the reason that I started checking on the hot water.
TOM: Well, listen. I think the problem is your dishwasher. It’s not your water heater.
LESLIE: How old is the dishwasher?
MARK: About three years old.
LESLIE: Hmm.
TOM: Yeah, I suspect that the water heater in the dishwasher, which is supposed to boost the water temperature up, is not working.
MARK: Hmm.
TOM: You know, there’s a good website. It’s called RepairClinic.com, where they can…
LESLIE: It’s an excellent website.
TOM: They can diagnose the specific part based on the specific model…
MARK: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … and then you can actually buy the part and they provide you step-by-step instructions on how to fix it yourself. You might want to head on over there because I don’t think this problem is with your water heater. This problem is with your dishwasher and you’re probably wasting boatloads of cash.
MARK: Yeah. And I’m not running it on a high – at a high amount. I get it hot and then I let it trickle during the hot water cycle but still, I know that that’s not great.
TOM: Yeah, but listen. The temperature of the water that you need to clean dishes is higher than the temperature of the water …
LESLIE: That comes out of the faucet.
TOM: Yeah, that you clean yourself with.
MARK: Hmm.
TOM: There’s supposed to be a booster in the dishwasher that boosts that temperature up a lot. I mean it comes out of the water heater – the maximum it could come out of the water heater is – and this is assuming that the water heater is completely set improperly …
MARK: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … at maybe 140 degrees or so …
MARK: Right.
TOM: … which is absolutely scalding and totally dangerous. It should be down around 110 or 120. But the dishwasher itself should be boosting that up to 160-ish…
MARK: Hmm.
TOM: … because of the temperature inside. You ever notice when you open up a dishwasher mid-cycle and there’s just all this steam that comes out?
LESLIE: It’s like a steam bath.
TOM: That’s not happening…
MARK: Yeah, I don’t get that. (Leslie chuckles)
TOM: Well, that’s not happening, obviously. That’s not happening because the water’s going in at 120. It’s going in – it’s happening because there’s a heater in there. So your heater is not working. That’s the problem that you need to solve. OK, Mark?
LESLIE: And that’s a young dishwasher…
TOM: Yeah, exactly.
LESLIE: … so you really should take advantage of the repair.
TOM: Yeah, at that age it’s definitely worth fixing.
MARK: And you say it’s ApplianceGuru.com? Is that what it was?
TOM: RepairClinic.com and yes, the – that is one of their characters there. I think it’s the Repair Guru or something like that.
MARK: Yeah.
TOM: But it’s RepairClinic.com.
Mark, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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