Bosch dishwasher

I'm having the same difficulties with a Bosch SHE64. It worked great for about a year but now will not drain. The unit is getting power and does a so-so job if I run the cycle - but it still won't drain. The filter is clean and there does not appear to by any junk in the filter system. The waste hose exits the back of the washer and is routed at the bottom of the case and then rises to the bottom of the sink and hooks into the top of the waste basin on one side of the sink - effectively creating an air gap.

It worked very well for over a year and we have had no obvious changes. The waste hose is not kinked.

Any pointers appreciated!!

if you lift the waste hose out, and lower it into a pan or tray at floor level, does the water gush out freely?

what do you mean by "the waste basin on one side of the sink"?

Hi John, thanks for the pointers. I've uploaded some pics of the situation:

http://danbrew.smugmug.com/gallery/3792809/1/218794604

The waste line is the gray tube that goes to the plumbing on the right side of the sink. I would have thought that, perhaps, it was a bit too high and I had a vacuum effect, but it's worked well for over a year. I did remove the waste line and tried to drain the water into a pan and got about half a saucepan full - clearly not all the water in the bottom of the dishwasher. The level of the water shown in picture 2 above is where the water remains after having tried to drain with the hose disconnected. I even tried a little suction action on it and it wouldn't drain... hmmm... perhaps I do have a blockage.

Worse, a tiny shard of white plastic that curved like an eggshell came out of the line. Oh oh. So it's either a blockage or perhaps the impeller blades are broken? I'm fairly certain that we don't toss rubbish in the dishwasher and we haven't had any broken plates, etc. Do you happen to know if this shard like piece fits the description of the impeller blades?

What's the best way to completely disconnect the line to see if there is a blockage? Or better, do you have recommendations as to how I may get at the pump from the inside to see if it is broken?

Many thanks,

danbrew

if the d/wrs sold in the US market are similar to my Bosch, you can get to the pump by tipping the machine over - all the mechanisms are underneath. On mine the pump is visible when you do this, and you can see the hoses attached with metal clips. the pump is a replacable part - it has a non-return flap valve incorporated on one of the spigots. It comes as an electric motor with a couple of spade connections, and a plastic pump bolted to it. I would have thought there will be appliance spares companies selling them over there. I had one replaced under warranty but i think the list price was surprisingly high - something like £100 ($200). However it is a part common to a number of different brands - I think Hotpoint, Bosch, Contructa, maybe Electrolux - lots of the European ones use common parts. however it may be different in the US. look for a part no on the old one. If you can get the pump part without the motor, it should be cheaper.

Yours might be different, but you can have a look. there might be a drip tray underneath with a float switch to turn off the power in the event of leakage - mine doesn't have this but the later ones do.

If the water will not gush out when you lower the waste hose to floor level, then you must have a blockage - it will normally do this even if the pump is not running.

If you pull the waste pipe off the pump first, you can also verify if the pipe is blocked, or the pump.

p.s. push it over backwards - there are a lot of electronic parts inside the door, and you don't want to get water on them.

p.p.s. looking at your picture - we always recommend that the grey pipe should be looped up, so that the high point is above the level of the water in the sink. otherwise sink water and muck can go down the pipe towards the dishwasher when the sink plug is pulled.

p.p.p.s this is an example of a UK spares supplier, I expect you can find something similar
http://www.espares.co.uk/parts?k=bosch+pump
http://www.espares.co.uk/part/p/0/0/0/0/723337/pump-housing.html?k=bosch+dishwasher+pump