Dish Water Blues

So, Dishwasher Repair Guy is here. This is his second visit. Can you guess why?

Well yes, because my dishwasher is broken is technically correct; however it is not the answer I am looking for. Alex Trebek wouldn't take it either, not even in the form of a question.

The reason Dishwasher Repair Guy is back is because dishwasher repair is not what it used to be. It takes some gigh level engineering.

I first noticed some difficulty with the dishwasher right before Christmas. Stuff wasn't getting entirely clean. Maybe it was the dishwasher, but maybe it was my fault. (Never miss a chance to blame yourself for anything that happens--it promotes active mental health!) Maybe I had just not rinsed off all the stuff I should have rinsed off before I loaded it? So, I started being an Extra Good Rinser! No more would stray rice grains or slivers of cheese remain on plates before they were loaded. Kind of like a Japanese soaking bath--the plates were basically clean before they got into the jacuzzi.

But still--stuff came out with cheese stuck to it. Glasses that had held milk came out with a haze across the bottom third. Could my dishwasher be. . .lactose intolerant?

Enter Dishwasher Repair Guy. I called the day after Christmas--we successfully had quite a few people for lunch and dinner on Christmas, and the washing up was not too heinous, being as quite a lot of it was china and should have been hand washed anyway--because I didn't want to keep doing that.

According to DRG, the trouble was . . .well, let's see: can you guess it?

The drain? Nope.
The soap dispenser thingie didn't open? No.
Problems with clogged water jets? 'Fraid not.

It was the motherboard.

Who knew? Who knew dishwashers had motherboards?

Apparently, the motherboard was directing the motor to run backwards, so that while the dishwater was on the wash cycle, the motor was on drain. Then during the drain phase, the motor was trying to rinse, resulting in a significant amount of water in the bottom of the dishwasher after every use.

DRG managed to obtain a new motherboard and install it on New Year's Eve day, which was really nice of him to squeeze it in between a weekend and a holiday. Hooray, hooray! It's a great day!

Except that the dishes still weren't getting clean. Milk and dairy especially. Called DRG again. But wait! He was out of town!

It took until today for him to come back. This time it turned out that the arms weren't turning. Sure, there was plenty of soap and water, it just wasn't getting moved around. It had something to do with checking the sensors as well.

So, in my Over Privileged, First World, Spoiled way, I am rejoicing because now I don't have to wash all the dishes by hand!