Whirlpool Dishwasher Repair

Gritty dishes are usually the filter or the spray arm, not the pump. Our water runs 16 to 28 grains here, which is very hard, so the little holes in the spray arms scale shut and the arm stops reaching the top rack. Standing water in the bottom is a drain problem, often the air gap (the little cap next to the faucet) or a kinked hose under the sink.

Many Whirlpool dishwashers use a hard food disposer, a small chopper that grinds up food, instead of the fine filter European dishwashers use. That one design choice explains most of what we see. The chopper blade gets dull or jams on something it can't cut. You get dishes that don't come clean and a grinding noise, and most people blame the pump. The drain pump itself is a common, cheap failure. Before anyone orders one, though, rule out a simple clog, because a plugged drain hose or a check valve stuck open leaves the same standing water. The door latch is the other frequent call. The dishwasher won't start a cycle unless it can tell the door is closed, so a bad latch looks like a dead dishwasher with no power at all. Since Whirlpool parts are so easy to get, most of these get fixed in one visit.