Is my dishwasher dying or worth saving ?

[holidayfever2024]

Help ! I have an old integrated Bosch dishwasher in my kitchen it will be between 10-15 years at a guess - as we inherited IT when we moved in and have been here over 8 years , it wasn't anywhere like new when we moved in.

Anyway it has been ok but seems to have given up now - when we run it there is no heat , no sounds apart from trickling water , no oomph , no water coming out of the spray arms.
Would this be a dead pump?

Anyone had similar and can help me diagnose ? If I was feeling flush I would just replace it but realistically if it can be revived at a reasonable cost then I probably need to try.

Any advice welcome !

TIA

I have just had my 6 year old AEG dishwasher repaired. It just needed a new element as not heating (£150 ish with parts and labour) but the guy did say that if it had needed a new circuit board (they apparently often go when element goes), it would not have been worth repairing.

Thanks @BathTangle that's interesting- I am loathe to get someone out just to tell me the unsurprising news that it's not worth trying to fix it.

Get a new one, parts, initial diagnosis and fixing can easily cost £200-300 and a new dishwasher ranges from £450 onwards fitted, and yours is quite old.

I'd probably just take the plunge and get a new one. The current one is so old that you may not be able to get parts for it anyway.

It will cost at least £100 to have someone come round and look at it. They might manage to give it a new lease of life for another year or so (which will cost at least another £100

You can buy a new one for £400+

The pump and heater is one unit on those and they don't last forever.

It's not that difficult of a fix if you want to try it yourself. But that age of dishwasher it's probably more economical to replace it with a new one, it will be more energy efficient.

Does it have a cutlery basket? If so, I'd try to repair as most new ones seem to have cutlery trays, which are annoying.

Or you can do what I did and keep the old cutlery basket and sometimes use the tray and sometimes use the basket as suits the load! ☺️

I bought one about a month ago and it has a basket. Plenty of choice of both - and yes we kept the old one, as a spare!

Slight hijack, but, are there any cutlery baskets that don’t get holes in the bottom after no time at all?
I think I’m on about the third or fourth one with this dishwasher even though I never put knives or anything sharp point down in it. Branded and none branded are equally rubbish. Do cutlery trays last longer?

My Neff one was 20 years old and the cutlery basket was still fully intact when the dishwasher itself died.

Never had a problem with holes in the bottom of the basket either! I do put everything sharp point down, even butter knives. Our old one we used for 5 years before it died but we think it was 10 years old when it did (came with the house) and it was the original basket as far as I could tell.

What brand was it?

If you call Bosch they will send out an engineer but it costs about £100 even if they can't fix it https://www.bosch-home.co.uk/customer-service/repair-service/dishwasher

We just replaced our dish washer and it is so much quieter and quicker.

It was Siemens (which is the same as Bosch)

Some people prefer cutlery drawers!

Oh we deliberately went for a cutlery tray in ours when we chose it a few years ago 😂

I would get a local engineer to come out and see it. I did this and have had mine repaired a couple of times for different reasons. It only cost about £70 each time. Mine has gone wrong again and I am going to get a new one this time though as I was told it is corroding on the bottom and has a minor leak so it's not worth it. It's about 13 years old.

We had a tumble dryer of similar age. It stopped working earlier this year, repair guy said it needed a new circuit board, but it transpired that circuit boards were no longer available, so we ended up with a new one. Initial call out and diagnosis was £40.

I suspect that several failures - no pumping, no heat - may be circuit board control rather than the actual mechanical failure of those parts.

My 21 year old Bosch (that we bought with the house) stopped heating the water and the eco cycle was taking 3+ hours instead of 40 minutes.

I found this YouTube video and have literally just fixed it this morning! : www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D-g43ZMtQwUI&ved=2ahUKEwjV5_yxi52JAxWZXUEAHdZ5LxkQwqsBegQIChAG&usg=AOvVaw174boX_S8CFObAXeCA87qQ

You need access to a soldering iron, but it was quite easy. Took the door apart (screws) and opened the casing. Removed the circuit board. Repaired the damaged bit with a blob of new solder. Put the whole thing back together.

Relatively straightforward and now the dishwasher works again and it didn't cost me a penny 😁😁😁

This might not be your problem, but I saw your thread and as I have just done this, thought I'd share.

Ex bosch engineer here. Almost certainly the heat pump. Easy replacement but not a cheap part. Also with the age of the machine other parts could be on their last legs.

My advice, replace the machine with new.

Wow that's very impressive ! I think we are bowing to the collective wisdom on here and I am now looking at new ones..

Thanks so much incredibly helpful.

I think we are going to look for a new one.

As an ex Bosch engineer would you recommend sticking with Bosch ?

Actually yes I would. I have one myself! Obviously they still break down, but as a brand, reliability and build quality is up there with the best.

If you can afford it skip the entry level model and go for a serie 6 or better, as they are even more robust.

Thanks @Hardlyworking that's interesting as I when I look at the spec I can't see anything to make me move beyond the series 2 based on features but better build is appealing.