KA dishwasher won't start, control lock blinks 3X
sandyinva
11 years ago
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SparklingWater
11 years agosandyinva
11 years agoRelated Discussions
Best value-performance dishwasher
Comments (35)I know appliances today aren't made like they used to be. But it makes me wonder why? I mean, there was competition even back then! All those name brands even then were competing with each other. Why would the appliance manufacturer NOT want an early fail back then so the consumer would have to go out and purchase a new appliance? Surely they realized that by making a product to last 20 plus years that they would lose all those customers for the many years their appliance continued to work. I have a four year old Whirlpool DW and I was reading the manual because the rinse aid dispenser was leaking from the cap.......I started looking at the warranty and was surprised to see a couple of things. It has a ONE YEAR full warranty Second year limited warranty on "wash module" "In the 2nd year from the date of purchase, when this dishwasher is operated and maintained according to instructions attached to or furnished with the product. Whirlpool Corporation will pay for FSP replacement parts for any part of the wash module if defective in materials or workmanship" 2nd through 5th year limited warrant on electronic control system and nylon-coated dishracks "In the 2nd through the 5th years from the date of purchase, when this dishwasher is operated and maintained according to instructions attached to or furnished with this product, Whirlpool will pay for the FSP replacement parts for the following components if defective in materials or workmanship: the electronic control system, the upper and lower dishracks (for models with nylon-coated dish racks)" Twenty year warranty on tub and inner door should it fail to contain water, if defective in materials or workmanship. Service must be provided by a Whirlpool designated service company....See MoreMiele dishwasher Q. about the dishes-fitting issue...
Comments (23)Thanks so much everyone for your great responses! I'd started responding to each of you when I last wrote (starting w/ the "oh no I wish you hadn't told me they're coming out w/ a new line" post) but then kids called and I never got to finish responding to the rest of you! My apologies... antss - those crate & barrel bowls seem perfectly fine. Thanks for relieving my fears! numbersjunkie - I wish! I can't pull the cabinets out because between the floor space being small enough and there being doors on either end of the long countertop, there just isn't room. But that would be a great idea otherwise! monicakm - trust me - I'd love to be able to get the Kitchenaid! From reading everyone's posts, I'm thinking or at least *hoping* that the problem you've had is more w/ Bosch and less w/ Miele (?) re. platters, baking dishes et al. I don't feel you're being pushy myself just because I made it clear how much I really wanted the Kitchenaid - FYI. You're just trying to help. ;) But like I was saying to numbersjunkie, I can't pull the dishwasher out more because there's a door that when opened (a fear I have - of it happening w/ too much force) will hit the dishwasher if it's even a little further out. It would also make it so that the door could never be opened fully and flush w/ counter to let in all the light from the mudroom/back yard...that would drive me batty. You do have me wondering though: can the Miele's 2nd rack be raised up like the Kitchenaids do? Hope so! carol jk - that's odd. Our water here is soft on its own so hopefully I can just disable the water-softening option. antss - it's funny...when you wrote "some people like the neat orderly loading of a Euro and others prefer the ability to load chaotically in an American tub" I thought that oh dear - I'm the chaotic messy one - very NOT Type A - haha! I want to be as chaotic as I please (w/ option of being orderly of course, when I decide to wear that hat as I do on occasion!) but I think I can still be chaotic w/ the Miele dishwasher, within reason (if that's not an oxymoron)! For example, I'm HOPING I can just lay the flatware on the top tray on occasion, knowing I can't put as many pieces in. I've seen that work for other people in other dishwashers. It all gets clean just the same unless there's heavy soiling. For me the highest priority is unfortunately that it fit in the space, then the second is that it is a reliable machine that's built to last, the third is that it's very good at cleaning very soiled/stuck-on dishes. Not sure where efficiency of space/flexibility of baskets falls in line but probably somewhere soon after! As for the new models not coming out anytime soon...I won't bother holding out. :( fauguy -Thanks for answering those q's! I don't have china/crystal that I use but I do use wine glasses. Can typical wine glasses take a lot of heat - e.g. same setting as pots & pans or cheese/starch? If they can take that kind of heat, I wouldn't have to do two separate loads. I guess if the new models end up being WOW FANTASTIC better, I could sell my current model and pay for the upgrade that way you know? Meanwhile I wouldn't waste time waiting around. Also, if the upgraded racks can fit into an older machine I could always just purchase those but who knows. Not all that important for now. whirlpool trainee/Alex - Thanks for the press release link! I love the lights, but most of all the intensive option. I could care less about the extra silent cycle having a separate kitchen however if it saves on water and electricity more then it would be a nice overnight option on occasion. buffalotina - good to know! I can't BELIEVE the off-the-charts excellent reviews everywhere I look. I don't know if I wrote this earlier or not but the bottom line is that if I had to get new bowls or a better-fitting but lesser-cleaning dishwasher, guess which one I'd choose? Bowls don't cost THAT much! And I'm sure they'd fit one way or another. Plus, I noticed the tines are surprisingly flexible - not that I'd rely solely on that. Alex - That video won't load properly for me for some reason. I eventually got it so that I could scroll slowly through stills but no video. Got the gist of it though, thanks! fun2cook - I've asked my contractor 3x now and he just won't recess the Kitchenaid due to it being an external wall w/ only 2x4 studs. And I explained above why it can't stick out, darn it. As for getting a dishwasher in black, apologies in advance for the following rant-of-sorts: I think black's generally a very nice idea and can look very good. I wonder though if it would fade into the background when surrounded by white cabinets and w/ nothing else being black (?). We have a white range and microwave and there's no space for wall ovens. I haven't had a dishwasher in years (so excited!) but the last one I had years ago (and for several years) was black and I wanted to try something different and new-to-me. I'm doing the integrated "cabinet door" look for 2 reasons: one being that it's trendy in the fun sense (I've always been behind in the times or unable to get the latest thing so that's new for me)! :) The other reason: my new stainless countertop (in 1913 period style if all works out well) will sit above the DW, w/ new stainless fridge being on opposite wall. The way that whole wall is set up in conjunction w/ the rest of the room is such that balance seems to be required more than usual. So again I'll have two walls opposite each other that will have noticeably stainless elements so hopefully no other distractions (just white cabinets and white farm sink and marble subway tile backsplash) and then the other two walls will just have white w/ no stainless (the white stove w/ white microwave and white 1913 cabinet above). So while things will be overwhelmingly if not annoyingly white, it's a small room and there will be some balance overall - and then there will be black accents from the original hardware on the cabinets but they will be relatively subtle. The true color in the room will come in through wall paint and accessories. It's the best I could come up w/ for staying w/ painted original cabinets and not having a whole lot of money - or my own personal designer! fauguy - I do know dishwashers come in white, thanks. I could get a white DW but that wouldn't be as attractive I don't think. I love combining "modern trends" or "upadated looks" with period-appropriate (not something we've always gotten in the past!), which the integrated cabinet door look offers. Plus it just helps w/ the overall symmetry of the lower cabinets under the counter. It can also help when dealing w/ a small, dark, easily-cluttered-looking kitchen. gwentm - you're so lucky your DW will go on an interior wall! Jealous! It's a GREAT dishwasher...really good reviews and at such a better price for their top of the line model. I suppose there's some validity w/ the argument that K.A. appliances aren't built to last as long as the Mieles but on the other hand, as technology advances, I might want to change out my long-lasting Euro dishwasher before the 20-year mark has arrived, anyway! ;)...See MoreDishwasher Recommendations Needed after LG Nightmare!
Comments (25)I have about a half an inch of space on the left and right side of the dishwasher and a full two inches of clearance above. Our Excella is pretty dead sounding. Ironically, one of the "sound isolation" comments I encountered was yours! :) Mando, I won't deny for a second that my machine went from a not-a-quiet machine to a quiet-machine (although by no means dead silent but perhaps at the ambient noise level of our house such as the fridge) the moment we turned the DW legs to reduce the clearance on the top. However, your own experience aside, nominal performance will beg the nominal installation specs and that there are decent odds that your experience won't transport. For instance, the only reason I thought to close the gap was because someone had posted here asking why their new Miele Optima (if I recall right - it was about a year and a half ago) was being noisy. In the course of trouble-shooting clearances were mentioned, pictures requested and supplied and in addition to some small gaps to the side, the 1" gap at the top was labeled the culprit by the friendly folks here diagnosing the trouble. Well, I thought I'd take a look at my DW clearance on top, noticed that ours was even bigger, closed that and voila my problem was solved. The person who had complained about their DW didn't post back at least while I was tracking their thread so I don't know if that resolved their problem. Regardless, the gap was flagged as a problem installation for the posters' (Miele) dishwasher - so clearly there is a correlation between installation and (acoustic) performance - or at least, there used to be said correlation 1.5 years ago. :-) There are other reasons not to assume too much performance invariance to the manufacturer's installation specs but in the interest of brevity I shan't get into it. So, if that is what you are suggesting in the last post, I'll redouble my objection :-) Finally, I hear you on full loads and I even believe it as I have had sub-whisper quiet runs in my DW when it was very full, but in my case, I guess I have to contend myself with knowing I probably can't get there. As it is, I do a load every 4-6 days. (I often have stuff growing on my dishes by the time I do the load!) The DW is not always full by that 4-6 day mark either but I simply can't bring myself to put off doing dishes beyond that window. Perhaps I'll have to reconcile myself to non-whisper quiet operation when it and I are working although at this point I really don't feel especially put upon because it is so soft....See MoreMiele Dishwashers: Diamante Plus vs Optima
Comments (24)My DW was installed by a Miele-certified installer, and has been seen by a Miele-certified technician. In a nutshell, my dishes are dirty. This includes stoneware, glassware, Pyrex, stainless bowls, baking pans, stainless flatware, you name it, from the top, middle and bottom racks. The residue is food, not detergent, that did not originally reside on the dishes where I find it at the end of the cycle. For example, this morning I had to SCRAPE tiny food blobs off the interior and exterior of a water glass when I removed it from the DW. Oddly, the things that are most apt to come out the cleanest are the things I would least expect, like casseroles with baked-on cheese and really yucky saucepots. Before I even called Miele CS, I tried a little, a medium amount, and a lot of Cascade powder (enzyme kind), as well as a half or full Miele tablet, all with and without RinseAid, at the normal, pots and pans, china, and express settings, with full loads and part loads, loaded in umpteen different ways, double and triple-checked to make sure the spray arms weren't obstructed. There is salt in the DW and it's set to the right number for my water hardness. All these permutations produce dirty dishes. I have gone from scraping to rinsing to nearly washing everything before I put it in the DW. Other than the fact that I don't want to leave dirty dishes in the sink, I don't know why I'm bothering with the DW at all. I've emptied the bottom filter many times, and there's rarely anything in there. I have had multiple phone conversations with Miele CS and Tech Support. Every time, I get different suggestions. For example, one person told me to use the P&P cycle, the next person told me not to because the hotter water could damage my dishes, and the next person told me to use P&P again. They finally decided that I needed a service visit. I went around and around with the service dept and no one would return my calls or schedule a visit. I finally called the salesperson where I bought the DW and he intervened to get me a service appt. The service person came without any knowledge of the multiple lengthy phone conversations, didn't listen to anything I told him, ran diagnostics which did not disclose the source of the problem, spoke to someone else on the phone, they decided to turn up the sensitivity on the soil sensor and turn up the water temps to "see if it would help." No parts were ordered. I think there might be something wrong with the drying function now too, because recently when the timer runs down to zero, the green light doesn't flash and the dishes aren't dry at all. Please note that I previously had a KA that washed dishes much better than this but was unbearably noisy in my open-concept home. I didn't have to go through all these mental contortions to try to get the DW to work properly. This Optima is quieter, but not as quiet as the Miele hype led me to believe before I bought it. During my last call with Tech Support, I was told that "maybe turning off the salt dispenser would help." And to go back to using the P&P cycle again. (This is after the tech visit where the temp on the normal cycle was supposedly increased.) I believe that the plan for the next tech visit is to disable the salt dispenser. I've run out of things to try on my own. And I don't think any of the people that I've spoken with have a clue as to what's wrong with this DW. I can't begin to tell you how upset I am at both the DW's performance and Miele's customer support....See Moredadoes
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