If the Clean Light is blinking seven times on your Whirlpool-built dishwasher (this includes Kitchenaids and most Kenmores), this excellent video from Whirlpool Corporation explains the causes and how to troubleshoot it.
Recommended Reading:
Another post on this specific issue.
More on Whirlpool-built dishwashers.
Order parts for your dishwasher.
To learn more about your dishwasher, or to order parts, click here.
At some point during your tenure of owning this machine, you’ll need to remove the top panel (three screws in back) to chase a gremlin. The flowmeter and the CCU in particular have been troublemakers. This will help…
You can buy a printed copy of the genuine service manual for this washer. Or, I may email you a pdf version out of convulsive, spasmodic, twitching gratitude for your sufficiently-generous love-offering to my flavorite charity. Come and gleefully rummage through my other pearls on this machine.
To learn more about your washing machine, or to order parts, click here.
Clues that you may need to clean out the blower (fan wheel) in your Asko dryer:
– The dryer heats but takes a long time to dry the clothes. Also see this page.
– The dryer makes a disconcerting rumbling noise and/or vibrates while running.
Just be careful in there, you never know what you’ll find. You may even run into the dreaded dryer blower lint rat:
NOTE: I am a professional– do NOT try handling the lint rat like this at home!
You can order parts for your dryer or get more help in the Samurai Appliance Repair Forum.
Dear most knowledgeable one. I am almost as bad at computers as I am Frigidaire Side by sides.
Am trying to find out how to make this bad boy go into defrost? (something like clap my hands two times, spin aound in a counter-clockwise circle while hitting the light switch 15 times in two seconds?)
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First thing to do is figger out whether your fridge uses the good ol’ mechanical defrost timer or the new-fangled and problematic Adaptive Defrost Control (ADC) board. The wiring diagram will show which it is. If you’re wiring diagram-impaired, then you’re going on a little safari to find the defrost control, be it mechanical timer or control board.
Yeah, I miss the good ol’ days when refrigerator defrost cycles were controlled by simple mechanical defrost timers. Used to be a man could go out on a refrigerator service call and make an easy $150 replacing a silly little $25 timer. The old mechanical timers would simply click the fridge into defrost mode every six or eight hours and fire up the evaporator defrost heaters for 21 minutes or so whether it needed it or not. And you could always start the defrost cycle by just turning the knob on the timer to the big click (click the pic, Slick). But life never stays simple, does it?
Alas, initiating the defrost cycle on fridges with ADC is a little less intuitive. It’s still very simple, but you have to know the Secret Handshake. When I converted to the Appliantology faith, I took an oath not to divulge the Secret Handshake to the Great Unwashed Illiterati (GUI). However, since you are reading this website, you cannot possibly be a GUI and so Lord Fixus has given me his blessing to disgorge this sacred information upon you.
To initiate the defrost cycle in most Friggidaires (not a typo) with ADC:
To initiate defrost, depress the fresh food light switch 5
times in 6 seconds (light bulb must be working). To terminate
defrost, depress the fresh food light switch 5 times in 6 seconds.
If the refrigerator won’t go into defrost, verify that you have continuity in the defrost heater and defrost thermostat. If they check out good, but you aren’t getting 120vac from the ADC board, replace the ADC board.
If your refrigerator uses a mechanical timer for defrost control, then you still need to check the continuity of the defrost heater and thermostat. If they’re both good, replace the defrost timer.
BTW, all the foregoing applies to other brands, too. Even the part link for the mechanical defrost timers can be used for all brands so equipped. The only real difference is in the ADC control and the procedure for initiating defrost. For more about that, see this page.
Sublime Masters Stumpowitz and Budget Appliance Repair, two distinguished Master Appliantologists at the Samurai Appliance Repair Forum, explain the most likely causes for this malady and how to diagnose it. Come, bask in the light of their wisdom at this topic in the repair forum.
…other than that, it works great! And it sure looks sharp filling in that big gap in the cabinets. What’s that? You say you’d like it to actually wash dishes, too? OK, I guess we can talk about that after you try cutting power to the dishwasher for at least 15 minutes. If, after restoring power, it’s still just an expensive cabinet filler, then we go to DEFCON 3.
From the genuine GE service manual for this dishwasher:
The DRYING LED will flash and control will beep when the sequence switch is not reaching its target position within 30 seconds:
1. Check connections between sequence switch and control.
So, in other words, GE’s recommended corrective action for this problem is to first try replacing the sequence switch. If that fixes it, great! Go pop a cold one. If not, wel-l-l-l, now you get to throw another part at it: the control assembly.
Are you smelling the real problem here? It’s not merely that something’s already broken on your two-year old dishwasher. It’s the fact that 1) GE designed a dishwasher with such convoluted controls that 2) even the engineers who excreted this future landfill ornament don’t know enough about this problem to be able to give any better instructions than just, “Throw this part at it; if it’s still broken, then try this other part.” [sniff-sniff] What’s that smell? 
Thank you Thank you. We love our Staber washer. We’ll be getting a dryer as soon as ours breks. Thank you for the direction. I’ve tried to wear it out and now I understand why there are no used Stabers for sale out there. I wish I’d known about them when I was 20…I WAS 20 once. lol.
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Interested in a Staber washer? You can check out all the stuff I’ve written about Staber washers and even our podcast episode comparing them to other washers. For purchase information, check out Samurai’s Staber Store.
Replacing the door lock latch assembly is a common repair on this washer. Fortunately, it’s also an easy and inexpensive repair… relative to, say, replacing the entire drum assembly. I’d rate this one a single mug on the world-famous SUDS-o-meter.
Lots of times, you can tell the door lock assembly is bad by noticing if this little nub is broken off– click the pic, Slick. If it is, well, slam-dunk: come git you a new door lock latch assembly.
The door latch could also be bad electrically, meaning that one of its little inner switches finally switched off for good. But to know that, like, fer sher, Dude, you’ll need this service manual and a multi-meter.
Otay, Buh’weet, replacing the door lock latch assembly is about as easy as cleaning out the p-trap under your sink, but not nearly as interesting. Just download this pdf file from the forum– it lays it all out for you, complete with “purdy pitchers.” You’ll need to be a member of the forum to download the file; this link explains how to join.
At some point, the electronic controls on your GE dishwasher will go squirrelly and you’ll need to troubleshoot them. How do I know this? Because GE dishwashers, along with just about every other dishwasher on the market today, violate the 5th Law of the Prophecy; repeat after me, “Electronics and wet appliances do not mix.”
OK, so the day of reckoning finally arrives and your GE dishwasher shi’ites the bed. First thing you gotta do is locate the dishwasher’s tech sheet. Every, and I mean every, GE dishwasher is shipped with a tech sheet. The tech sheets are carefully hidden in the dishwasher body to keep homeowners from finding them.
So, let us attend to the sage instruction of Jedi Appliance Guy on the proper technique for locating and extracting the tech sheet in your GE dishwasher:
Take out the 4 1/4 inch screws that hold the two parts of the service panel in place. Lay down on the floor on your left side and look under the dishwasher. You’ll notice there is a piece of sheet metal lining the underside of the tub.
The tech sheet is tucked between the tub and the sheet metal on the right side of the machine toward the front. Grab the sheet with your left hand.
Now suppose you go and search for the tech sheet as instructed but you still can’t find it.
“But, Samurai, my dishwasher never came with one!”
Yea verily, Grasshoppah, this is bullsheist that doth stinketh in my nostrils. If the dishwasher has never been serviced by anyone other than you, then the tech sheet is indeed there, you just ain’t lookin’ hard enough.
If, on the other hand, your dishwasher has been visited by a “professional” appliance tech and you really, really can’t find the tech sheet, then that can only mean one thang: the sorry sumbeech done stole it from you! 
You should always use the specific tech sheet made for your exact model number. For example, if you have a GE Quiet Power III, Model GSD5610D02AA, and you just can’t find your tech sheet, you can borrow my copy (just be sure to return it):
You can order a replacement tech sheet for your model directly from GE for a nominal fee.
MESSAGE SENT THROUGH YOUR WEBSITE
IP Address: 64.172.176.75
name: RobertI would like your help fixing a washing machine. I don’t have a paypal account and want to make alternate arrangements.
How do we do that?
Your appliance is broken and you know you need Live Help from the Samurai. Only problem is that you don’t have a Paypal account. Hey, nolo problemo, Budrow! Use Google Checkout instead:
Come, read more about the Samurai’s unique Live Help program.
If you want an alternative way of making your love-offering to the Samurai Appliance Repair Forum, use this Google Checkout button:
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How do I replace a boot/bellow on a whirlpool duet?
regards,
WJ Duffy
If the door boot/bellows on your Duet washer looks like this:
Then you need to replace it like ahso.
Samurai! Whoa, dude, you are something else. Every time I get on the site to look something up I end up getting sidetracked by a lot of other stuff you’ve written. Haikus?!? Kinda weird, man. I can’t help but wonder – have you always been an appliance tech?
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Ah, Grasshoppah, your query warms my cockles. My real beginning in learning the ancient martial art of Fixite Do goes back to the Navy in the late 70’s where I repaired aircraft navigational appliances as a snot-nosed teenaged enlisted puke.
After my sentence in the Navy, I went to collitch so I could learn how to spell words like “collitch.” Afterwards, I took a Dilbert detour and led a life of quiet desperation working in cubicle farms designing industrial refrigeration appliances.
About 12 years ago, someone shared the Gospel according to St. Applianopoulous with me. I accepted the Lord Fixus as my personal guru and I converted to the Appliantology faith. After my baptism, I was renamed to Samurai Appliance Repair Man. The old me is dead, all things are made new in Fixus! My new faith has informed my particular style of Fixite Do ever since. Amen.
Dear Samurai Repair Man:
I have a question regarding my new Wolf wall oven. Within a few minutes of turning the oven on to bake or broil, it makes a loud bang. Is this due to heat expansion and is it a problem?
Thank you for your time.
Best regards,
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The operative word here is “new,” as in, “still under warranty.” If this is a gas oven, call Wolf and stay on their corporate azz until they completely and utterly eliminate this problem. This could be caused by improper ignition of the gas fuel in the burner. If left uncorrected, this condition can get progressively worse until, one day, after you try to light the oven, the door blasts across the kitchen like a cannon shot. In that day, may St. Applianopoulous, patron saint of appliance techs all over the world, be watching over you.
If the wall oven is electric, you should still insist that Wolf correct this. It most likely does not present any kind of danger but, given the price tag on these ovens, it is reasonable for you to expect that this oven is perfect. If they give you any grief, ask them why Whirlpool can make a $600 wall oven that doesn’t bang and clang but Wolf can’t do this even at four times that price!
I can’t remember the last time the major news media deigned to spill a little ink on us humble, hardworking (but damn good-looking) appliance repair guys. But the Washington Times recently ran an article about interesting trends in the appliance repair trade. And it wasn’t in the Obituary section, either! One of the outstanding features of this article is that it features some quotes by yours so very truly:
“It’s a dying trade,” said Scott Brown, Webmaster of www.fixitnow.com and self-proclaimed “Samurai Appliance Repairman.
”The reason for this is twofold,” Mr. Brown said, “The cost of appliances is coming down because of cheap overseas labor and improved manufacturing techniques, and repairmen are literally dying off.”
This is true as far as it goes, but he omitted the other side of the equation here, which is people’s perception of appliance repair technicians. Perception is important because if a person doesn’t trust the appliance servicer, then he will opt to buy a new appliance simply to avoid getting slimed by what he believes to be a sleazy servicer. To quote from my widely-acclaimed screed, Appliance Repair: A Dying Trade…
Appliance techs are already behind the eight ball the moment they walk in the customer’s house. Most people have been conditioned by 60 Minutes and other tabloid TV shows to view appliance repair techs as morally deficient cretins whose main objective in a service call is to screw the customer.
Granted, there are lots of charlatans and cretins out there, like this jive-turkey from Sears A&E. I get horror stories everyday by email or in the repair forum. But most independent appliance servicers are conscientious and highly skilled tradesmen who’ve invested thousands of hours learning the basic skills, keeping up with the new models, and honing their craft in the field.
The Washington Times article includes some interesting and revealing quotes from appliance service companies:
“Nowadays appliances are cheap, so people are just getting new ones,” said Paul Singh, a manager at the Appliance Service Depot, a repair shop in Northwest. “As a result, business has slowed down a lot.”
“The average repair cost for a household appliance is $50 to $350,” said Shahid Rana, a service technician at Rana Refrigeration, a repair shop in Capitol Heights. “If the repair is going to cost more than that, we usually tell the customer to go out and buy a new one.”
But wait! This is only true for cheap appliances! What if the customer has a $4,000 Dacor wall oven or a $3,000 Sub-Zero refrigerator? In these cases, even if the repair costs $700, you’re still better off repairing than buying a new one. Granted, you won’t be happy about it, but that’s the simple, economic reality. The mistake the Wash Times article makes is in not recognizing that low-end appliances and high-end appliances are two different worlds. In the former case, the trend is going exclusively to replace or DIY repairs; in the latter, there are ample opportunities to build a profitable service business provided your business is located in an area with lots of high-end appliances.
Appliance service companies who place absolute dollar limits on the cost of a repair without regard to the type of appliance being repaired deserve to go out of business. And building a service business around repairing lower-end appliances is a recipe for bankruptcy– these companies will go the way of the dinosaur and the VCR repair company. And they should. That’s why the free-market is so efficient at delivering goods and services– losers get pruned from the money tree. That’s another reason I recommend that service companies focus on servicing high-end appliances and leave the bottom-feeders to DIYers.
What we’re really seeing here is a stratification of the customer base: there are those who buy only the cheapest products and there are those who are willing to pay more. If you choose to buy lower-end appliances, plan on doing your own repairs because it simply won’t be cost-effective to have a professional technician repair it for you. That’s where Fixitnow.com comes in!
But suppose you pay $4,000 for a Miele or Dacor wall oven and it needs a repair after two or three years. In this case, throwing it out and getting a new one is simply not a reasonable option. And often, finding skilled technicians who work on the high-end brands can be difficult and will doubtless be more expensive. Once again, Samurai Appliance Repair Man gallops to the rescue by helping you fix it yourself. In addition to saving big bucks, fixing it yourself often results in a more timely, better quality repair than if you had hired a professional. How ‘bout them apples?
The Wash Times article continues:
It’s not uncommon for today’s repairmen to condemn an appliance instead of fixing it for the sake of their customers’ wallets.
If they decide to repair an appliance that is likely to break down again, repairmen are criticized by their customers and often lose business because of a damaged reputation.
Mr. Jones said he based his repair decisions on the 50 percent rule: “If the cost of service costs more than 50 percent of the price of a new machine, I’ll tell my customers to get a new one.”
More silliness. Mr. Jones’ rule-of-thumb fails to take into account the age of the appliance. If you have a two year old washing machine that cost $400 new and the repair costs $200, how does it make sense to junk it and buy a new $400 machine? Not only are you spending $200 more than you would for the repair, but what makes you think the new washer will last any longer than your existing one? Buying a new appliance in this situation is like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
The proper framework in which to think about the repair vs. replace question is by thinking in terms of Appliance Half-life®:
Appliance half-life is defined as the number of years after which it would not be cost-effective to repair half of the appliances in the group. For example, if the half-life of all dryers is 13 years, this means that in a group of 10 dryers, all 13-years old, it would be cost-effective to repair only five of them. The other five would be too badly deteriorated from abuse, poor quality, heavy use…whatever, to cost-effectively repair them. I have repaired dozens of 25-year old Whirlpool dryers that only needed minor repairs. I’ve also seen 10-year old Whirlpool dryers that were so far gone and would have needed such extensive repairs that I recommended the customer buy a new one. By the way, I’ve also seen 4-year old GE dryers that were ready for the trash heap the day they were built.
(For a more detailed explanation of Appliance Half-Life®, see this article.)
Continuing with the Wash Times article:
Mr. Brown acknowledged this trend. “Lower-end appliances which you can buy for $200 to $300 are basically throwaway appliances,” he said. “They are so inexpensive that you shouldn’t pay to get them repaired.”
He accurately quoted what I said you should not do in this case, but he omitted what I said you should do: fix it yourself! Doing the repair yourself definitely tilts the entire repair vs. replace question squarely into the repair camp, even for low-end, bottom-feeder brands and models. You can save hundreds of dollars doing your own repairs and that’s exactly what Fixitnow.com is all about.
Modern, energy-efficient refrigerators can cost as much as $5,000 to $10,000, and with such a hefty price tag, throwing one away is not an option.
In some cases, repairmen can help consumers reduce the amount of aggravation that a broken appliance will cause.
Consider the time and effort it takes to shop for a new appliance, wait for its delivery, remove the old one and get the new one installed.
In addition, certain appliances such as ovens and washing machines can be a bigger hassle to replace because they are connected to gas and water lines.
“It takes your time, it takes your effort, and if you don’t install the new appliance, you’ll have to hire a service technician to install it anyways,” Mr. Brown said.
I label this cost as “aggra-dollars.” That is, the aggravation and time spent that goes along with shopping for a new appliance, having it delivered, getting it installed, and disposing of your old one. If you’ve not experienced this joy recently, you’ll realize that the aggra-dollar factor can be a very significant cost.
Interestingly, the Reason.com blog picked up on this story and posted a commentary on it. I’m usually impressed with Reason’s analysis of economic issues and am squarely in the small-L libertarian camp on all issues, social and economic. But, in this case, Reason’s Nick Gillespie missed the bigger picture:
Every revolution has its casualties, and this fascinating Wash Times article points to a quiet, barely-noticed increase in the quality and longevity of household appliances.
Hello? This statement makes me wonder if Mr. Gillespie really owns any appliances! The reality is that, for appliances built today, you’ll be doing some type of repair on them every two to four years, regardless of brand. This is an industry average across all brands so some models will require more frequent repairs and others less. The real variable among brands is how severe that repair will be. For example, will you be replacing the motor in your dryer ($100 part) vs. just the thermal fuse ($25 part). Anyone who’s purchased a new appliance in the last ten years has experienced this first-hand. And we professional appliantologists have been seeing this trend for about ten years now.
So, tip o’ the hat to Bryce Baschuk at the Washington Times for starting a serious conversation on this topic. Also, the few times I’ve seen appliance techs discussed in Big Media was for the sole purpose of portraying us as a bunch of slimey, thieving cretins out to screw the customer. Kudos to Bryce for bucking that trend and portraying us techs in a sympathetic, if not positive, light.
