How To Take Apart A Dishwasher

Your dishwasher is, no doubt, the heart of your kitchen that keeps everything going, delivering spotlessly cleaned dishes without manual intervention.

But with time, food remains or even broken or chipped parts of your dishes make their way inside, jamming up their spray arms, pumps, and tubes. Even their wash arms might get clogged up too.

These issues will eventually lead to you getting unclean dishes, water dripping into a puddle on the kitchen floor, or the dishwasher itself struggling to turn on.

Hence, whether it’s to repair/fix, or replace it, you first need to know how to take apart a dishwasher properly before you move on to anything further.

So without further ado, let’s check out all you need to know in order to do so with professional accuracy all by yourself!

In order to properly repair or replace your dishwasher, you’d need to know how to take apart the existing dishwasher in the right manner with utmost safety.

You not only need to focus on the water lines but also on the power line for safety. These two are followed by dealing with the hardware connections and brackets, providing you three target areas to focus on.

First, let’s find out how to remove your dishwasher when you intend to replace it or perform some extensive repair work.

The main tools that you’d need are basically a pair of channel-lock pliers and some screwdrivers.

Step 1: The Power Supply

Start by turning off the power source. If by any rare chance you find that the dishwasher is directly integrated into the electrical circuits, this step should be handed over to an electrical professional unless you’re an expert yourself.

Step 2: The Water Supply

Now it’s time to turn off the water supply by turning off the water valve responsible for the water line. If the dishwasher wasn’t plumbed in with the valve, you’d need to shut off your home’s main water supply valve.
You now need to move on to disconnecting the water supply from your dishwasher. Normally, there are two pipes connected to the dishwasher, the water pipe, and the drain pipe.

If the water pipe has a valve connected, it will be easier to identify. If not, now is a great time to add one in for convenience.

With the aid of your channel-lock pliers, disconnect the water pipe of the dishwasher from the outlet.

Step 3: The Drain Line

The drain line is the second connection that connects the dishwasher to your plumbing system. Track down the hose made of rubber coming out of the dishwasher.

Chances are, it goes upward and is connected to your countertop or sink’s air gap fitting. All you have to do is remove that hose by loosening the clamp holding the drain’s hose.

If the drain hose doesn’t lead to the air gap, it will join or end at the sink drain tailpiece or the food disposer’s nipple fitting. You have to remove the hose here.

Step 4: The Mounting Brackets

Now it is time to unscrew the mounting brackets holding your dishwasher in place under your countertop.

After opening the dishwasher door, locate those brackets, and using your screwdriver, unscrew the screws in order to detach the dishwasher.

Step 5: Lowering

The dishwasher now needs to be lowered before you can safely take it out. Unscrew its legs to facilitate the lowering process.
Next, remove the dishwasher’s face plate which you’ll find the lower portion of the dishwasher’s front side. It may either be screwed on or attached with basic clips.
Removing the faceplate will expose the dishwasher’s legs. You have to wind those threaded legs in a clockwise direction. This will result in the dishwasher’s body lowering down.

Keep winding as much as it will allow to create an ample amount of gap between the dishwasher and your countertop.

The final step of removing your dishwasher is to carefully slide it out of the space. Now you’re all set to replace or repair your dishwasher as required.

How To Take Apart A Dishwasher To Clean It

If you intend to take apart your dishwasher to clean it up thoroughly, follow the steps below to properly do so.

Empty out all the dishes and dish racks out of the dishwasher.
With a vacuum cleaner, clean out all the water and food scraps puddled at the bottom of the dishwasher.
Move on to detaching the lower spray arm’s retaining screw which you’ll find at the top of the arm.
Disconnect the spray arm and check all the holes to detect any clogs and clean them out with a wire.
Detach all tubings that run to the upper and middle level spray arms by unscrewing the screws that attach the tubings.
Find the metallic clips that hold the tubings to the dishwasher’s tub. Spread apart these metal clips to detach the upper spray arm and the tubing in a single piece.
Check the spray arm and clean it up as needed.
Now move on to disconnecting the filter housing from the pump assembly by removing and fasteners or screws.
Raise the filter housing, turn it gently to take it out.
Check filter thoroughly for any accumulated food or broken dish debris. Wash the filter thoroughly after removing them all.
Move on detaching the pump cover by unscrewing the screws above the pump.
If your dishwasher has a disposer for solid food, it should be here inside. Remove the screen by lifting it up. The screen is likely to reside near the chopper.
Clean the screen up thoroughly with strong flowing water or vacuum to remove all debris.
Check the chamber of the food chopper for any broken blades and clean out all the food remains.
Reassemble all the parts in order and test out the dishwasher’s functionality by running the rinse cycle in order to ensure its proper operation.

How To Take Apart A GE Dishwasher

Most dishwasher repairs require some degree of disassembly of the appliance. In order to take apart, say, a GE dishwasher, the steps are pretty similar as discussed above.

Begin the disassembly by turning off the power and water supply to your dishwasher.
To access components such as the lower wash arm assembly and valve, remove the lower dish rack.
With the help of a strap wrench and counterclockwise rotation, loosen the lower wash arm and remove the assembly. Ensure that the pump connector inside is intact.
For replacing the check valve, unscrew the chamber securing the rear filter assembly, and remove the chamber assembly.
With the help of needle-nose pliers, loosen the check valve by anticlockwise rotation and then fully unwind it to remove the old check valve. Replace with a new check valve if necessary, by threading it in a clockwise direction.
Reattach the filter assembly and screw it back securely.
For replacing the upper dishrack roller, carefully rotate both of the upper dishrack’ stops inwards. This will remove them from the rails and allow you to slide out the upper rack.
Remove the stop at the other end of the rack rail to slid the rail out.
Unscrew and replace the rollers for holding the dish rack rail if necessary.
For accessing parts such as the detergent dispenser lever and the drive motor, unscrew the dishwasher’s inner door panel.
If the dispenser drive motor needs to be replaced, unthread the screws of the motor shield that secures the motor.

If you need to remove the dishwasher from its cabinet entirely, the process is similar to the one discussed previously. If not, reassemble all the parts and test out the functionality of the dishwasher by running the rinse cycle.

How To Take Apart A Kenmore Dishwasher

Start as usual by turning off the water and power supply.
If you intend to access the control panel for repair or replacement, it resides at the top of the dishwasher door on the exterior side. Unscrew the panel.
Unscrew the control board cover to expose the board.
Disconnect all the connectors and replace or fix the board and reconnect the connectors.
With a small flat-head screwdriver, release the retaining tabs and remove them at the front of the dishwasher rack’s rails. This will enable you to slide the racks out.
Similar to the method of taking apart a GE dishwasher, you can remove the rail’s rear clips to slide out the rails, remove and replace the rollers that hold the rails if necessary.
For accessing components like the float switch, drain pump and high limit thermostat, unscrew the panel at the bottom of the dishwasher.
Removing the panels will provide you access to the heating element under the dishwasher, which you can disconnect.
Unscrew the heating elements at the bottom.
Pull out the lower dishrack to expose the lower wash arm.
Twist the arm assembly and remove it.
Now the heating element terminals can be lifted out of the tub base. Detach the heating elements from the brackets to remove the whole thing. Repair or replace the heating element with a new one and reinstall it back in place.

Reassemble the rest of the parts and run the dishwasher to confirm its proper functionality. If you need to take the dishwasher out of the countertop cabinet entirely, the steps are similar to the one we discussed in the very beginning.

Conclusion

Your dishwasher is an integral part of your home that keeps your whole kitchen running. Hence, making sure it’s running smoothly is crucial, so is its maintenance.

Hence, you need to know how to take apart a dishwasher properly when doing it by yourself as or else, you’d be doing it more harm than good.

Disassembling a dishwasher follows similar basic steps with some variations from brand to brand.

Hopefully, after going through our step-by-step guide, you no longer have to spend a hefty sum in hiring a professional in order to fix the simple issues ever again!