Kenwood dishwasher fun (KDW12ST3A): Part Six (IT'S FIXED!!!)

Yes indeed :)

Today I took delivery of my new-old-stock pump - £30 delivered from ebay. I'm not actually sure its precisely the right pump because it is visibly different to the pump on the machine. Plus there's no space on the impeller housing for the half load solenoid. Nevertheless, the piping all fits, as does the wiring, so I lashed it in tonight, after my tea.  I've opened up the dishwasher so frequently that the whole job of swapping the pumps over (from disconnection to re-connection of the water main), took little more than 10 minutes. The dishwasher is now on its longest (and hottest) cycle and I've chucked in a bottle of cleaner, just to get rid of the soily smell that had developed over the past few months.

I'm very pleased to have my dishwasher back. Total cost:

New controller - £80
New heater element - £18
New pump - £30
Switches and other bits - about £10

Total: £138

I'm going to put the old controller on ebay - they seem to be going for about £30 so I might be able to recoup some of my costs.

Either way, my outlay is far cheaper than buying a new dishwasher. And since I've replaced all the important bits, I've basically got a new dishwasher. I've also learned plenty about dishwashers. This additional "string to my bow" is priceless.

The photos below are the new pump. It's definitely a Welling YXW50. I'm thinking that the correct pump is actually the YXW65 but, really, I don't actually care :)

More soon (but hopefully not about this dishwasher...)

D.

EDIT (20 August 2020) - well, we're almost five years on from this repair and I'm pleased to say that the dishwasher is still working fine :)

EDIT (15 March 2024) - Almost nine years now and still fine (apart from the door latch and spray arm which needed replacing per my more recent posts) :)

Kenwood dishwasher fun (KDW12ST3A): Part Five

Well, I've put everything back together and there is still no heat.

However, I stand by my theory (in Part 4). Before I put the motor back (using some shiny new and cheap jubilee clips from Screwfix), I took some time going over the motor.

The first thing I noticed, underneath, was rust. There appears to be a leak on the seal where the motor's shaft enters the impeller chamber.

It is only a matter of time before the leak gets so bad that water starts pissing out every where.

The other problem is with the impeller itself. The presence of the flap off the solenoid valve has destroyed the outer edges of the impeller. This can only have had a detrimental effect on the performance of the pump. Having spotted the damage, I was now less hopeful that merely removing the flap from the chamber would fix everything. And so it proved. The dishwasher is running and both spray bars are turning - plenty of water everywhere - but it seems that it is not enough.

So, what next? The impeller chamber is two halves that have been plastic welded together. I suppose its not beyond the realms of possibility that the chamber could be cut in half again, along the seam, a new impeller and seal fitted, and then re-welded. The question is, can I be arsed? Plus I'd need to spend money on some plastic welding kit. On reflection, I think its time for a new pump. As far as that goes, espares do them for about £80. However, there are quite a few sellers on ebay selling the part "new old stock" for less than £40. It's pay day on Friday so that's what I'm going to do.

For the record, the pump (which in my machine has no labels or other identifying marks) is a Welling YXW50. Power wise, there are actually a few variations of this pump but from what I can tell, all of them have the correct arrangement for coupling up to the existing pipework. These next two pictures are for me to use as an easy reference:

More soon, no doubt...

D