by HRRC Program Director Allison Urbanek. Last weekend I was all comfy and cozy in my living room chair reading a book, when Dave came in and told me that there was water on the basement floor. Once before a rag had gotten stuck in the laundry sink drain, causing water to overflow when the washer emptied out, but this time I hadn’t been doing laundry. “OK,” he said, “then I think the dishwasher is leaking.” I flew up like it was the night before Christmas and ran down to the basement. There it was, a big ol’ puddle on the floor. Since the dishwasher cycle was almost done, we decided to just let it finish (I secretly moved the dial along to speed things up), and then we dried the dishes.

What to do first… Obviously, we Googled the model number of our leaking Kenmore dishwasher. We found out that it’s at least 20 years old, but – according to some appliance guru – cleaning out the various vents on the door would surely solve the problem. We turned off the breaker to the dishwasher (safety first) and pulled the unit out of its hole. We took off the front cover and saw lots of water. Even worse, there were water stains, evidence that the dishwasher had been slowly leaking for a very long time. (Terrible!) We cleaned a lot of soap gunk out of the bottom vent, cleaned around the gasket, and tightened all the bolts. Very pleased with ourselves, we turned the breaker back on, started up the dishwasher, and no water! Wahoo, all fixed…time to dance a jig! WRONG! Five seconds later, it was again leaking like a sieve, with more water on the basement floor. (I actually think it was leaking worse…)

The next issue became repair man vs. new dishwasher. Dave even proposed that we just leave the old dishwasher there and not use it. Yeah, right, like I am taking suggestions from the non-dishwasher in the house. (He cooks, I clean.) I decided to sleep on it. The next day, we opted to replace the dishwasher, reasoning that the savings from a more energy- and water-efficient machine would definitely pay off in the long run. Fast forward to Thursday, my 30th birthday. (You know you’re getting old when your birthday present is a dishwasher!) We select a new one, with a great smudge-proof stainless steel, top-rank wash-only option, even a time delay if you want to run it while everyone is asleep. Fancy, schmansy. (I’ll leave to a future blog all the interesting stuff I learned during the buying process – the difference between a commissioned sales person vs. a noncommissioned sales person, etc.)

Time to install it. We went to shut off the hot water valve in the basement, and the handle crumbled in my hand… yes, it actually disintegrated, another reason I believe that the old dishwasher had been leaking forever without our noticing it. We turned off the water a little further down the line, connected all the pipes using the installation kit we purchased at the store (new water line and electrical connection. Does it seem odd to anyone else that you have to buy a plug for your dishwater?) It took us about an hour. We just followed the directions provided; most of the stuff was already there and just needed to be swapped out.

We finished up, turned the breaker back on, moved the new unit back into the old hole… and there was a two-inch gap between the dishwasher and the counter. You’ve got to be kidding me! I thought I’d just have to live with this hole, but the troubleshooting instructions said there were feet on the dishwasher we could adjust. So, we pulled it back out again, adjusted the feet, used a level to make sure that they were all the same height, pushed the dishwasher back in, and turned it on. It took a minute to hear the water swishing around inside, and meanwhile I was nervous that we’d screwed something up. But, everything worked, and I have to admit, I LOVE it! It’s so quiet that I can actually have a conversation in the kitchen while it’s running. The energy savings alone will be a welcomed relief.

This is the first appliance Dave and I ever purchased. We’re now on our way to a smudge-proof stainless kitchen… But there’s no hurry. It’s ok if it takes another year or so for the next appliance to go out. I’m perfectly willing to take my time!