can dishwasher got damaged by running with hot water disconnected

zhenying

My tenant ran the dishwasher while the water heater was disconnected for repairs, she said “the dishwasher was making squealing sounds and releasing some fumes that triggered my air purifier for most of the run over night”. After the water heater is fixed, the dishwasher is not pulling water anymore, I suspect that the dishwasher was damaged from her description, is it possible? what can cause that happen? Thanks

STEVEusaPA

I think you answered your own question. Ran with no water connected

HomerJSmith

Run it with the hot water connected and see what happens? leaking? May be that was your lucky day and it is still ok.

zhenying

Thanks for your reply, can you explain how the damage can happen? I need to explain to my tenant that it is her fault. Thanks 

zhenying

Hi HomerjSmith, the dishwasher is not pulling water after the hot water is turned back on.

mattmia2

it is kind of your responsibility to make sure they don't run appliances while you've disconnected the hot water.

Running without water can damage the motor seals but that isn't a given especially if it was run within the past month or so and still had water in it. The burning smell was likely food burning off the dry heating element and shouldn't have damaged anything. If it isn't filling at all that is likely debris in the water valve or something like that. Did it trip a breaker or something? I don't really see anything that would cause it not to fill that would happen with no water if it powers on.

Mad Dog_2

Fried the Solenoid? Yeah.  That's on the person who worked on it last.  Should have killed power or wire nutted off.  Mad Dog 🐕 

zhenying

Hi Mattmia2, So what you are saying is that even with the hot water line disconnected, theoretically running the dishwasher shouldn’t damage it , is that right?

HomerJSmith

There is a fill float on the floor of the washer, lift is up and down several times. There may be air in the line, give it time.

Mad Dog_2

Why are you trying to blame the tenant?  Unless the tenant is personally liable &  financially responsible for the repair, or they worked on the unit, that is the Mechanic who worked on it or you, the Landlord.  Mad Dog 🐕 

mattmia2

zhenying said:

Hi Mattmia2, So what you are saying is that even with the hot water line disconnected, theoretically running the dishwasher shouldn’t damage it , is that right?

it is not very likely to damage it but not impossible to damage it. the shaft seals don't like to run without water but probably would be ok on what didn't drain from the last wash but if they were worn to begin with it could finish them off

if the fill valve was on for hours trying to fill it when it wasn't going to fill it shouldn't damage the valve but it could take out a worn valve or i suppose burn out a valve that was under rated and overheated if on for hours.

Mad Dog_2

If I disconnect a trap on a sink and don't properly cap it off, and there is a back up or someone runs, the sink, that's on me.  I've seen Judges rule that way too in lawsuits.  Mad Dog 🐕 

109A_5

Hello @zhenying,

Curious, was the tenant specifically told not to use the dish washer, and was advised not to use it because the hot water was off ???

The unit could have been tired and then running it with no water kind of pushed it over the edge. I would find out why the water does not presently fill. Maybe the other symptoms will go away when it has water in it.

hot_rod

If you do turn the water on, remove the toe kick cover and watch for a leak.
Or you might have a floor redo also😳

ethicalpaul

I will say that modern dishwashers sense for if the water pressure is not there at cycle start and they flash an error if so. That is a lot of expense to implement so they either did it to prevent damage, or they did it to help the customer find out why their dishes are dirty.

I just happened to find this out because there was a water main break up the street from me last week (that I was unaware of) and we didn't have water when I tried to start the dishwasher.

It's not cool to blame this on the tenant unless she was acting with purposeful malice.

ChrisJ

I can't imagine having the water off damaged it.

However, regardless I feel it falls into your responsibility to fix it.

hot_rod

I suppose it depends on the logic in the control. I have seen some DWs that the pump turns on with the fill to purge out I suppose. So if that is a timered function, it could run the pump a few minutes, without water being added, before it ends the purge cycle.

A squeal is never a good sound from a spinning pump, regardless.

ethicalpaul

Yep it definitely depends! On mine the manual for the error actually said "water pressure not seen at the supply--check water connection and pressure" but it might have been lying

mattmia2

ethicalpaul said:

Yep it definitely depends! On mine the manual for the error actually said "water pressure not seen at the supply--check water connection and pressure" but it might have been lying

I bet it throws that error based on not seeing the water level sensor trip within a certain time frame after powering the fill valve.

ethicalpaul

Could very well be, I didn't rip it apart. That would use just already-existing parts and some computing.

Grallert

I think it depends on the washer and the type of pump it uses. I would check the strainer for debris as this is often flushed into fixtures after any work on the domestic water system.