Dishwasher Repair in Vancouver

Not draining: filter and pump

A shallow pool of water in the sump after a cycle is normal on many machines. Standing water covering the bottom is not, and the first suspect is the filter assembly in the base — unscrew it, rinse it, refit it. On machines used daily this wants doing monthly and almost nobody does it.

If the filter is clean, check the drain hose where it joins the waste under the sink, particularly if a garbage disposal is involved — a disposal knockout plug left in place at installation is a classic cause of a dishwasher that has never drained properly since the day it was fitted.

Spray arm blockage

Dishes clean on one rack and dirty on the other usually means a spray arm is not turning or its holes are blocked. Take the arms off — they normally unclip or unscrew by hand — and clear each jet with a pin or a paperclip.

Then check nothing is fouling their rotation. A tall item on the lower rack, or a chopping board leaning across, stops the arm dead and you get exactly the pattern of one clean rack and one dirty. Spin both arms by hand after loading and this problem largely disappears.

Hard water scaling

Metro Vancouver water is soft, which is why we see far less scaling than most of Canada. Where it does appear here it is usually on the North Shore or in buildings with their own treatment, and it shows as a white film on glassware and a gritty deposit in the machine.

Cloudy glasses in soft water are more often etching than scale — permanent damage from too much detergent, water that is too hot, or a rinse aid setting that is wrong. Etching cannot be reversed, so if your glasses have gone cloudy, reduce the detergent dose before replacing anything.

Door seal and leak diagnosis

Water on the floor is not always the seal. Trace where it emerges: from the door front points at the seal or a door that is not closing squarely; from underneath points at a hose, the pump, or the machine sitting out of level.

Door seals are a replaceable part on nearly every machine and are one of the cheaper repairs — they perish and harden with age and stop conforming to the door. Clean the seal and its channel first, because a crumb trapped in the groove will produce exactly the same symptom as a failed seal.

What this costs

$145 diagnostic · repairs $290–$1,100

The diagnostic is credited in full against the repair if you proceed. Where a repair costs more than half of replacement, we say so and you keep the diagnosis.

Materials are always separate from labour and passed on at cost. Quotes are free and written, and the full rate card is published rather than given out on request.