designergrey....."I like the Quantum Finnish but it is overkill for small loads." I agree -- "overkill". Like you, I have soft water via Kinetico. New Whirlpool dishwasher came with Finish Quantum samples. These things are 3-4x overkill for even full dirty load with soft water...and you can't divide them.....and they're expensive. Been experimenting in the two months since new machine installed. For full dirty loads, I've settled on scant teaspoon prewash plus heaping teaspoon main wash Cascade Complete powder without phosphate. Use "normal" cycle which heats water to 120 only. Excellent results every time. For small loads or lightly soiled loads, I cut the amount. The machine it replaced used just about twice as much water....and I was using just about twice as much detergent for the same result. Soft water is wonderful stuff. However, if you use "normal" amount of detergent, as you would with hard water, you're going to get etching over time. Most folks don't understand this and the product purveyors aren't much help. For example, right on the Cascade box it says: "For best results, fill both pre-wash and the main wash cups completely." Without considering water quality in use, that's completely nuts! For soft water users, that's about 4-6x overkill.

Purple, you probably can fix your machine for a small expense. *The door counterbalance can be repaired with part #8194001. See the link for further discussion. The repair parts should be around $20. *The water feed tube in held in place with stainless steel clips fitted to the tub ceiling. You'll want to remove the cutlery trays, adjust the upper rack to its lower position for clearance, then you can reach up into the tub and firmly press the feed tube into the clips. The clips are to the left & right of the sprayer. If the clips don't hold the plastic tube securely, gently bend them inward. *What kind of detergent are you using? The new non phosphate stuff causes all sorts of trouble. Finish Powerball or Quantum tablets give really good results. Try them. Make sure you are using rinse aid as well. Selecting the high temperature option improves results with the new detergents. Here is a link that might be useful: Door link repair

After the tub fills, I can put my ear up to the door and hear a thumping noise for about 10-20 seconds, then nothing for about 30 minutes, then a drain, then it repeats. When I open the door mid-cycle I do not see any water being sprayed about, although when I put silverware with food on it in there it gets wet enough to clump up a bit. I placed bowls face-up and level in both racks to test water distribution. Water did get to the bowls, but neither one filled up much more than 1/4 way. Also, follow-up on the water temperature: I was able to get the HOA to increase it to 118ð at the faucet, and used the Hi-Temp and Sani-Rinse wash options to get it up to 121ð in the tub (see link below, note that I did test with the probe not touching the heating element before snapping the photo). So I think I can rule temperature out as the primary issue. Here is a link that might be useful: Photo of water temperature at 121°

@wdccruise we thought it was leaking at the junction you mentioned, be the clamp that was there completely rusted and disintegrated. We placed a paper napkin between the washer and the hoses, ran every possible combination of wash and dry; it wasn’t until we used the “sani wash” did we get enough moisture build up, that resembled condensation, to See that this is where the issues lies. @joseph_corlett nope, the sink is on the right side and this is on the left side. @wdccruise that opening is covered by the insulation. The steam escape is on the upper left side.