How did I tame the dishwasher beast? Four trips to Home Depot, and probably about $25, counting the items I returned. Kinda hard to return a ruptured hose, otherwise it would've been about $18. Might as well tell the story now.
My wife found a 5 year-old bells and whistles Maytag dishwasher that someone was giving away. After verifying that there was nothing wrong with it -- other than a small puncture in the tub easily remedied by a bit of caulk -- we gladly picked it up to replace our ancient GE dishwasher -- ancient like it has those toggle pushbuttons on the front and a dial that goes ka-chunk ka-chunk when you turn it.
So when I went to hook it up, I realized that I needed some fittings before I coulf get it intalled, and it was too late that night. So the next day, I got the parts I needed, installed them with liberal teflon tape, hooked up the water and electrical, slid the machine into place, turned on the water, tightened the hose clamps some more to stop some drips, checked each end of the hot water supply hose twice more for leaks, then fired it up and ran a couple cycles. At the end of all that, I was satisfied that everything was great, attached the kick plate, and called it done.
About 5 days later, my wife calls me at work and tells me the carpet in the dining room (adjacent the kitchen) is damp. Uh oh. I tell her to turn off the water to the dishwasher and that I'd look into it when I got home. What do I find? Floor under the dishwasher is wet. Luckily, the entire floor is on concrete slab -- slab that isn't entirely level, so the water runs down the slight slope through the underlayment beneath the vinyl tiles in the kitchen, and to the carpet padding in the dining room. Whee fun. For kicks, I turn the water back on to see where the leak is coming from. It's the union between the elbow and the hose barb fitting:
So I disconnect everything, pull the dishwasher out, lay it on its back, pull the fitting off, and apply more teflon tape to the joint, thinking that will solve it. Nope. But by this time, it's too late to go to Home Depot, so I tear out the carpet in the dining room, with my wife's consent. We've been wanting to get rid of it anyway. This is a perfect excuse.
Next day (this would be last Saturday), I stay home to work on it while the wife and kids go to a abirthday party. I go back to Home Depot and get some different parts. These leak in the same place. Damn! Back to Home Depot, this time with a master plan. Get an O-ring and place that between the hose barb and the elbow. While I'm there, I also buy a new hose, because the last thing I want is an old hose bursting. So I get home. attach the new parts, get everything back in place, test for leaks, and the mother-effer is solid. No leaks, nowhere. Sweet. I make myself lunch and go to the living room to listen to some loud music. Just as I'm about to take my first bite, I hear a pop in the kitchen, followed by the sound of gushing water.
Sh*t.
I run in and turn off the water. Verify that yes, indeed, the supply hose ruptured. Grab some bath towels to clean up the approx. 2 gallons of water all over the floor, disconnect everything, slide out washer, sop up the water. Oh look, the drywall got wet, too. Set up a fan in front of the dishwasher spot and turn it on high to dry it out. Finish lunch, drink a beer. Settle nerves.
Go to Home Depot one last time and get a tough, reinforced hose rated for 200psi. Get back home, install it, reconnect everything, push it back in place, test, test, test,. Yay, it works. Now I load the dishwasher with the piles of dishes that have accumulated in the meantime -- really honey, I'll have this thing fixed in no time -- and run a load. Finally, I have the beast licked!
Now, while looking for the above pictures, I find this part on a plumbing site:
If Home Depot carried this, I'da been done the first day. Damn Home Depot. Shoulda tried Lowes.
Next time, I'll know better. Nothing like (bad) experience to teach you, eh?
