Dishwasher Help Forum

Hi Everyone,

First time post and after some advice please, I have a Indesit IDL40 dishwasher which is just over a year old, the unit does not seem to heat, when a program is selected the unit seems to go throught the wash cycle in the normal fashion and then seems to very quickly progress through the rinse and drying cycle only then to display a flashing fourth light to indicate that the programme has finished.

When the door is opened no heat can be felt at all and all the items inside the unit are cold and with some residue on them. I have opened the dishwasher mid wash cycle to see if any heat was present and all was cold.

What do you think might be causing this? I have read some suggestions that it could be the heater and others suggesting it could be the PCB, any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Steve.

The heater and the PCB are both cr....sorry, prone to failure on these budget machines.

However your machine may well have the element which is visible inside the tub, this one is less likely to fail than the internal tube type element.

An electrical test of the heating element would be the first thing to do. you need a meggar or multimeter and the skills to use one. As always remove the mains plug first, access from underneath.

Jim.

Thanks for your speedy reply and honest assesement of my 'super deluxe dishwasher'.

I do have the machine with the visible element.

More likely to be the PCB than heater on your machine but it would be wise to test the element first.

Would need full model number IDL40UK or IDL40UKC plus serial number to identify the correct PCB which is not very expensive.

Jim.

Thanks again,

I will test the element tonight, in the meantime the details of my d/w are as follows - IDL40SUK Type num LS08-EV03 and SN - 61214 3211.

Steve.

Oh dear, there are three different PCB's, two around £25 ex vat and one nearer £50 ex vat, guess which one yours is.

Part number is C00143212, if required you can send an e-mail to spares@ukwhitegoods.co.uk for full costs etc.

Do not dispose of the old module if you do attempt to change it, you may need it if the new module will not come out of factory test mode.

Failing that you could always see if we have someone in your area who can help by clicking the link below.

Jim.

Oh dear, it appears I was 'giving it large' and over estimating my skills in the domestic appliance department, I am a computer repairer by trade and have no problems with measurements and multi meters but as soon as I UNPLUGGED the dishwasher, pulled it out and started to move it on it's side, some water poured out on the floor and made me panic.

I shall no longer be attemtping to test the element as I am not too sure whether to put the unit on it's side (which side?) or to lean the unit back so I can gain access to the bottom cover.

I am concernced about the water that is left in the dishwasher and whether this could leak onto any of the electrical circuits in the unit as I am moving it about and have requested an engineer as you suggested.

Possibly the best option, as an aside and with reference to your username, when you are building/repairing computers do you use the cheapest possible components regardless of their high failure rate or do you use the best that you or your customer can afford?

Jim.

Or maybe it could be the safety stat - not sure if it is a one-shot device on this model?

This was my attempt at a humerous username, in reality I fitted a new kitchen and purchased all new appliances, at the time Indesit seemed to fit the bill and was not the cheapest, I have since learned that the quality is not too good on some Indesit products.

The dishwasher is only 14 months and I did expect a little longer from it.

With regard to computer parts what is reliable and how do you measure this? I tend to install named components that are well supported as well as reliable, for example Intel network cards are better supported driver wise than an unknown make of card that is much cheaper.

Of course the customer budget dictates what hardware goes in and I can only advise based on my experience, you might be quite shocked at the failure rate of some IBM server hdd's which are by no means cheap or Cisco switch\Router hardware problems.

I avoid building machines from scratch now and purchase pre-built machines, the only time I would consider building a machine from scratch would be if the customer wanted a really specialist or high end machine.

I_Buy_Cheap_Rubbish wrote: I have since learned that the quality is not too good on some Indesit products.

Make that nearly all and you would be nearer the mark, interesting to hear about the Cisco problems etc.

Jim.

How many times have we bought something found a problem then looked up what you bought on the internet and found that it is rubbish?

Ok we are all guilty of it once in a while.

I have a Indesit IDL40 actually had it 18 months but only used for 8 months as we bought it ready to move to our latest bigger house.

Same problem water not heating, cutlery not drying, residue from tablet still in dishwasher etc.....

I have checked the resistance in the heater element which there is some (it shows infinity on 1X scale but shows 5 ohms on the 10X scale), I contacted Indesit helpdesk by e-mail asking what the resistance should be but they basically told me it was and I quote

"I have spoken to our Technical department regarding your query and they have said that unfortunately we are unable to supply this information as it is a specification we would consider company confidential and is also information only held by our Technical Department"

I have then checked the voltage at the element during the short 44 minute cycle and it shows good AC voltage during the heating phase.

To me this must point at the heater element £30 inc delivery is the best price I've found so far.

My latest brain wave will be too remove the element wire it up to the mains and see if I have heat (I'm not going to recommend anyone does this, but if still alive I will report back with results later, unless some brainy dishwasher electrician can shed light on my results so far.

Cheers

Dave

Life expectancy of heater with no water in it - seconds. There is absolutely no need to live test under these circumstances..........

Heater should give a reading of approx 25ohms. 5 ohms is not acceptable.

Penguin45.

Sounds like good advice, will confirm the resistance reading and order a new Heating Element.

Regards
Dave

Although will update with results for the benefit of others later...

Afternoon all,

Well I got the new heater element, genuine part from an on-line company, fitted it and gave it a test and low and behold the dishwasher is still not heating up.

I’ll give the information that I have measured so far and see if anyone out there can help me find the fault.

The new heating element has a resistance reading of 25 ohms

The heating element has 0 voltage when plugged in and turned on, but when the cycle is running the element gets a feed of around 240 Volts AC, the voltage starts a few seconds after the mains water feed has plumbed some water into the dishwasher and then finishes at the end of the cycle.

That would tell me that if I have voltage and a circuit that something should happen, but it isn’t.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated

Regards

Dave

Needs to be quick my hands are getting soft from all this manual labour at the sink that is…