One step no one seemed to mention is that when you buy peaches if they are still hard place them in a paper bag no more than 2 deep for a day or two in your basement or a dark dry cool (no refridgerator) place. This will ripen the peaches enough to make removing the pits easier. I always buy my peaches a few days before I am going to can them, I sort them by how hard they are and refridgerate or bake a pie or cobbler with the very ripe ones. When canning, also no one mentioned, spiced peaches!!! This is all anyone in my family wants, plus I also dice them into bite size pieces and raw pack in an extra light syrup. I steep "whole" cloves & cinnamon sticks in the extra light syrup, with Fruit Fresh added, and also add a couple of cloves to the top of the jars before sealing. This year I bought star anise to try, and I'm going to try brandied peaches too. I didn't can brandied cherries so I'll use peaches instead.

If you want to keep it, vinegar is the wrong thing. You want bleach, but only about a 10% solution of regular Clorox and water. You need to get the pump running, but at 8 years replacement of the whole DW may be the better option. The sink should have overflowed before anything got to the DW. While the codes do not allow just a check valve on the wast line (they demand at last a high loop, and sometime and air gap) The DWs do have valves on the drain line usually. A common method used in DWs is to run the pump one way to circulate in the DW (and drives the rotating elements by water pressure). An electric valve is then opened and the pump reversed reverse for draining. The electric valve is often a solenoid valve with a ball for the actual seal. They are not relied on for sanitation safety since debris can keep the ball from sealing completely. A jammed open drain valve often hows as dirty dishes after a cycle since the pump cannot develop enough pressure for the wash arms to move with the valve partly open. The clean water feed in DWs is always well above the water level they can maintain. It is often half way up the side or higher) and has a built in air gap between the fill valve and the inside of the DW. This makes sure the potable water supply cannot be contaminated without filling the kitchen to a level of a few feet with water,

The verticle height is about 8 ft, so removing or disabling the check-valve is probably not going to work. pjb999, if your in my basement, the tubing runs parallel in between 2 joists. In a most houses here, the tubing would penetrate the plywood siding to the exterior (just like most outdoor faucets are installed. However, my kitchen sink area is like a bay window, where the floor extends past the foundation, about 2 feet. Because of this, once the tubing is past the foundation wall, it is routing down so it penetrates the plywood straight down. From the outside, I can get on my back right under the bay window area and look straight up and see the tubing. Maybe I can try making a hole about a 1/2" below the point the tubing meets the outside plywood, and see if that helps with the draining. I was thinking of a T, but I'm not sure if I understand how you are proposing. From the sound of it, I'd end up with 2 tubes holding water. Unless you are suggesting I have the tubing from the second T drain back into the pump basin?

I have 2 "Back to Basics" smoothie frozen drink machines. I've had them for 4-5 years. I keep one on the boat and have one for at home. They get a lot of use and abuse. For parties, I premix the cocktail mix. The container is marked to tell you how much mix and how much ice to add. You can make 2 or 4 drinks at a time. The stirrer stick rests in the top and keeps everything smooth i.e. no freeze ups. The machine must be running to dispense through the spigot but it works well. Clean up is easy, everything comes apart. I wash it on the top rack of the dishwasher with no problems. These machines were very inexpensive under $50 each and have taken a lot of abuse. I used these a few weeks ago for a party of 130. Everyone was able to make their own drinks and the machines performed admirably given the volume. I'd love a Parrot Ice machine, it's a great machine but alas with 2 kids in college I'll have to be content with my little machines.