Dishwasher problem - electric shock therapy, circuits going down, please help!

[shovetheholly]

In March, I started to have problems with my Bosch dishwasher. The bloody thing is literally a few months out of a 2 year warranty.

The problem began when it would occasionally short the plug socket circuit in the house, so I'd have to go to my fuse board and flip a switch.

Then, one day, I noticed that if I touched the inner side of the door and another metal surface in my kitchen (like the oven), I got a mild electric shock!

I called out an electrician, thinking it might be the plug (was getting some work done elsewhere so he did this too. He tested it and confirmed it wasn't the plug and there was a current through the door of the machine. I tentatively touched both surfaces and got a shock.

I then called out a Bosch engineer. He came within 2 days and couldn't find a thing wrong. The damn machine was no longer malfunctioning - and I was not longer getting shocks! I was charged £100 for the privilege of being told the machine was fine.

As soon as he left, it shorted the circuits in the house again! And the intermittent problem has got steadily worse, to the point that whenever I now put the machine on, it shorts the circuits within 3 seconds.

Bosch are coming out again tomorrow but I would love to hear if anyone else has had the same problem or can suggest anything I can do (apart from buying a new machine). Am frustrated that it is costing SO MUCH to sort this out.

[MountainDweller]

We had this problem with our dishwasher - it turned out to be caused by water dripping down the back of our sink onto the electric socket (stupid place for the socket if you ask me!). Took us ages to work it out, so thought it might be worth mentioning just in case.

[shovetheholly]

Second engineer has been out, and immediately diagnosed a failure of the heating element.

A new one cost £110. Back in March, when the first engineer came out, Bosch promised that they would fund the parts. However, because the first engineer didn't find the problem, they are now trying to wriggle out of this agreement on the grounds that they have sent a second engineer 'for free'.

Fortunately, the wonderful customer service team at John Lewis are fighting them on my behalf, which is way beyond the call of duty. I am very impressed and VERY glad I bought from them.

[Wilford]

If the Bosch Engineer still can't find anything wrong with your machine, It's quite possibly not a problem with the machine itself. It may well be a problem with your socket/ring main. What you're describing sounds like earth leakage. It may even be coming from another appliance in the house but as all the earths are connected together you're receiving the shock from the metalwork of the dishwasher. If the engineer can't fault it again you should call an electrician and have them test your circuits

[Wilford]

Sorry cross posted glad it's sorted!