...yeah?
That's a water intake valve from a dishwasher. A _broken_ water intake valve. I got my digital multimeter:
I pulled out the dishwasher:
Had to redo the intake hose to pull it out this far
After some troubleshooting, I headed out to Appliance Depot for my replacement water intake valve:
See, that's a _working_ water intake valve. Huge difference from the first picture.
Popped that baby in and the magic happened:
Well, it's less magical when cleanup hasn't happened yet.
That's a working dishwasher. I'm combinations of satisfied, smug, proud, and amazed I managed to do it. I figured pulling the dishwasher out and recreating the error (it would emit a buzzing sound and water would start leaking through the basement ceiling) could be possible, but I'm not exactly an appliance repairman. One hour later, I had the dishwasher pulled out and running over and over. When the buzzing finally did happen, it was during a phase neither motor (not the pump to empty the washer nor the main pump) was running. The buzzing continued even after the electricity was cut; water just kept filling the dishwasher. Must be a valve problem, right? The Multimeter confirmed 120 volts were being sent to the valve (thanks high school electronics class!).
Lucky for me, the internet is a beautiful place. There are actually videos of replacing a water intake valve on a Frigidaire Dishwasher available. Even luckier, replacement parts for appliances are available on demand on a Saturday afternoon.
My take-away is keeping fear in check. All told, it was a five-hour endeavor (including driving time to Appliance Depot). There were a ton of points along the way where I was telling myself I was an idiot for even trying this. In that last photo, you can see the wet-vac out, implying exactly how sloppy of a time I had. But dog-gone-it, problem solving works in any discipline and a little faith in yourself goes a long way. Screw fear.
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