Why is my dishwasher blowing a fuse?
It really does not want to wash those dirty dishes that sat on the counter for a week.
This is a literal blown fuse, but I cannot figure out why.
Dishwashers have thermal fuses, and that might be what went out.
My oven has a thermal fuse, but it has only blown during the self-cleaning cycle. But those fuses only go when the thing gets too hot, and a dishwasher is full of water.
A dishwasher has a heating element to heat up the water, which can overheat -
The water in the dishwasher would boil well before the dishwasher would overheat.
The odds of that are low, but do happen, especially if the thermostat fails.
I would not fail to notice boiling water or steam pouring out of the dishwasher, either.
If the dishwasher has a steam clean mode, the odds of it overheating are higher.
Tell me what else could cause this.
It has a drain pump, circulation pump and control board, all of which can short out and generate way too much heat.
I’d expect deformed plastic or whirring noises because the motor burned out before it hit the thermal fuse.
Or it could short out suddenly and start to arc, which will engage a thermal fuse. If you already replaced the thermal fuse but not all the parts in the kit, the fuse will blow again, and even at lower temperatures next time.
What else could it be, other than a thermal fuse?
The electrical fuse will blow when it has high current draw.
And that could be from electrical connections in the drain pump, circulation pump and control board.
Yes, and frankly, any electrical connection where it shorted out. And you are dealing with an appliance full of water periodically and occasional heat to melt wires so they can make contact with metal or water.
How do I check for that?
Disconnect the power before you check anything electrical. Drain motors should have about 16 ohms resistance, pump motors about 4, heating elements ten to forty ohms, and the water inlet valve control wires around 900 to 100 ohms.
The only malfunction of a water inlet valve I ever knew of is when it is stuck open.
The most likely cause, if a motor is not shorted out, is the control board.
That costs a third of the price of a new dishwasher to replace.
Yes, but a blown fuse indicates this is not a problem you can fix via a hard reboot.
How do you reboot a dishwasher?
Unplug it, let the power dissipate for a couple minutes, then plug back in. But if the fuses are blowing, the board needs to be replaced.
All I know is this is probably going to blow my budget.