Just Call Me Rosie

Our dishwasher drives me crazy. What should be a wonder of modern convenience is instead a source of constant annoyance. It should be easy. Load the dishes up in a nice and orderly way. Add the detergent. Turn the machine on to the proper wash cycle. Go away and do something else. And then return to a machine of nicely washed dishes, ready to be immediately soiled by our minions. But what has happened instead for it seems like forever is that I open the door to find things mostly clean. Mostly clean would work if you are talking about a mad dash around the house to straighten things up before the relatives arrive. It would work if you are talking about getting the car ready for a big trip. But mostly clean does not work when it comes to dishes. Our poor dishes come out of the dishwasher with most of the main food rinsed off, but there is always a significant layer of grime that now is dry-baked onto the items. The top rack is the worst, with nothing coming out smooth and clean, especially not if there is any sort of dried food on the items. If there is a food particle showing anywhere it has to go to the bottom rack. 

The straw that broke the camel's back and convinced me that something drastic had to change was when we had the Stewart family over last Sunday. They were newly back in the area, and they got to see the Blau family at our worst, I think. The house was in complete chaos. Routine is not our forté during the summer. We are super laid back, and for this final weekend of the summer it finally began to take its toll on the house. It was a mess. But the absolute worst thing that happened was when we had one of the kids grab a drink of water for one of the Stewart boys. They went to the dishwasher, pulled out a "clean" glass, and filled it with water. When they brought it out there was a noticeable ring of old milk on the inside edge. Sis. Stewart was so nice. I think she was still going to give the drink to her little boy, just to spare our feelings, I'm sure. But Herman and I were mortified, and Herman got up to find a better cup. There were not many to be found. All the glasses were caked with debris. Ick!

We were tempted to just go and buy a new dishwasher, but this one was not that old, and it has really great reviews, so we thought there had to be an easier solution. I looked online (yea for internet searches!!) and found some possible ideas. The first ideas were easy ones. Many suggested using liquid detergent instead of the tablets because the tablets sometimes do not dissolve properly. Others were insistent that a good rinse agent was all that was needed. I headed to Wal-mart, grabbed some liquid detergent (the expensive stuff, just in case) and some good detergent booster, and headed home to see what would happen. Turns out ... nothing much. The fancy detergent change made no difference at all. The dishes were still MOSTLY clean.

Now it was time to really work the problem. The next thing required me to take the dishwasher apart. Oh no! I was not so excited about that. Taking things apart can lead to lost tiny parts, incorrect reassembly, broken appliances. It could be messy. But at this point our next option was to just buy a new machine, so the worst that would happen as I attempted to disassemble things would be that I would be forced to buy a new machine. 

The problem potentially involved either a clogged filter or debris in the chopper. Taking the water assembly apart that forces water through the machine was not all that difficult once I figured the instructions out. I didn't seem to break anything. It was a little complicated to get to the filter at first, but even that was a piece of cake once I could see what needed to be done. The filter wasn't all that dirty. There were some hard water deposits around it, but that was easy to wipe off. Once the filter was removed and cleaned I found a bunch of plastic pieces, including the metal top of a pencil, and lots of corn pieces next to the chopper assembly. I removed all of them and figured the problem would now be solved. I didn't actually remove the outer housing from the chopper because it sounded complicated, and it looked secure, so I thought that would not have any debris in there.

I reassembled everything, loaded the dishwasher up again, and ....

There was still grime on the dishes!!! Ugh!

Well, now I was really frustrated. But until I did every last step I wouldn't feel right replacing our mostly new machine. So this morning when I should have been doing so many other things, I decided to bite the bullet and open up the chopper assembly to see if it was damaged. This time disassembling the dishwasher was a piece of cake. I knew exactly what I was doing. Everything was off in record time. Now I was down to the plastic casing covering the chopper. The instructions made it look hard, so I was super nervous, but I gave it a go to see what would happen. It ended up being pretty easy. The thing just popped off. Hooray! 

What I found inside was just wrong. The whole chopper assembly was filled with plastic pieces, a pop tab off a soda can, sunflower seed casings, corn (what is the deal with so much corn in the machine?), and various ultra tiny obstructions. I pulled all of it out. It felt like there should be more to do, but that was all that I could see. 

Hopefully that will solve our problem. If it does I will feel super accomplished. I saved our family a few hundred dollars in expense. I managed to do it myself without having to ask Herman for help or call a certified repairman. I'm feeling pretty good about myself today. 

So today I'm going to ask that you call me Rosie the Riveter for kicks since I am soaking up my new found ability. Of course, that'll change if it turns out that my cups come out grungy again, but I'm hoping for the best. Fingers crossed!

UPDATE:  The dishwasher's first post-cleaning cycle just ended and ... I THINK IT WORKED!! I put some fairly dirty stuff on the bottom, and it came out clean, and the glasses on top are super smooth and sparkly. Hooray!! We'll see how it lasts.