Dishwasher Water Drain Pump

Dishwasher Drain Pump

Dishwasher drain pumps are often very similar to washing machine drain pumps and are produced by mostly the same suppliers. This is good for us and, good for you, as it often means that we can source a spare part at a much lower price than the manufacturer will charge for it, more so where it's a common model or a common drain pump which is just like drain pumps for washing machines and washer dryers.

Nowadays most of the waste water drain pumps that you come across are the so-called self-reversing magnetic type, largely made by companies like Askoll, Plaset and Copreci and will be fixed with a few screws or, in newer versions, a simple twist fitting.

The point of the magnetic pumps, over the old induction pumps with a winding on it, is that they use less energy, are virtually leak free and they are supposed not to jam as, if anything gets stuck in them they are meant to reverse and throw out anything that's trapped.

In reality they do jam. So, do check first that a bit of glass, chicken bone or whatever else could find it's way to the pump, hasn't gotten in there and blocked it.

These types of magnetic drain pump are also renowned for getting noisy, especially in areas where there can be sand in the air (near the coast) or in the water. What can happen is that tiny bits of sand or grit gets into the space where water lubricates between the magnetic armature and the casing of the pump motor. It then proceeds to screech or squeal like a banshee when the dishwasher starts to drain. If this happens the only option really is to change the drain pump.

Getting To The Drain Pump In A Dishwasher

In almost all cases access will be from the front or underneath the dishwasher. In many you will see a removable plinth below the dishwasher door, take that off and you can get to the drain pump in most cases.

It is often easier though to pull the dishwasher forward and tip if back, with that plinth removed, which will give much easier access to the components mounted in the base of the dishwasher.

You will see two pumps in most dishwashers, the smaller one will be the drain pump and the larger is the wash pump. Both will be connected, in some manner, to the sump of the dishwasher, thats the big plastic tray that the filters sit in.

From that point it is normally pretty obvious how to get the drain pump removed to replace it.

It has to be pointed out though that some of these drain pumps and, almost every other component in a dishwasher, can be a real pain to get into as there's not a lot of space so do be careful as there can be a lot of sharp edges in there.

Saving Money Buying A Dishwasher Drain Pump

There are, as I said, a lot of drain pumps that are available for a lot less cash than the part supplied in a nice box or bag with a manufacturers part number on it and, very often, this is the only difference between many of the original parts and the "pattern" ones.

Sadly however there are also a lot of absolutely rubbish, cheap and very nasty drain pumps out there. We can get those easily if we wanted but, we don't want to and we refuse to sell them to people. Most often this is because they can be awkward to fit, the quality is rubbish and they are often cheaper because they skip on things like thermal cut outs built into the pump, you know, little things that stop them from going on fire if they happen to overheat. We sorta think that kind of safety is important to our customers and it's worth a few extra pounds.

The golden rule is that, if the price looks to good to be true, it probably will be and somewhere there will be a compromise on quality.

There are also a bunch of generic pumps that, if you don't have a problem changing the connections slightly to suit, you can save a lot of money by using. A classic example of that is the Bosch and Zanussi generic pump which, by moving the electrical connections from the front to the rear of the pump, can save you £20 or more!

Once again, if you are unsure or are struggling to find the drain pump you need, just ask us, we'll usually get back to you in a few hours at most during the week with a suitable replacement part.