Funk Babblings

After last week's dishwasher debacle, we ended up deciding to just buy a new one. To put the old one back after all that work would've been rather disappointing, and we'd been intending to buy a new dishwasher soon anyway.

So Saturday we dug out the Consumer Reports, picked out a couple of good brands and a price range, then checked websites for what's currently available, and finally headed out to Sears.

The final decision was whether to install it ourselves or have someone else install it for us. Considering the hassles I'd already been through, and knowing that there were further hassles of the process that I hadn't yet ventured into (I'd punted on replacing drain hose in the vain hope that the old one would be fine), I decided to spend the extra money for installation.

The installer came yesterday and did the work, under duriyah's supervision. I think it took him maybe half an hour or so. Much quicker than I could have done it.

Now we have to learn the best buttons to push to best clean dishes with our super-hard water.

Yesterday I went out and bought a dishwasher inlet installation kit (with 4-foot hose), and managed to get the new dishwasher installed, minus a few final cosmetic attachments. Yay.

Then I ran it through a test cycle, watching for leaks. I suspected that the drain connection might leak because the initial connection (before I clamped it down) wasn't as tight as I'd like. And yes, it leaked. As did the water inlet connection.

But neither of those leaked as much or as quickly as two other places. Water constantly dripped from the bottom of the dishwasher tub, as well as from somewhere on the left side.

Good thing we didn't pay much for it.

So now the question is whether to put the old barely-working (but not leaking (as far as we know)) dishwasher back, or just go ahead and buy a new one -- and pay someone else to install it.

Meanwhile, I think it's about time to wash some dishes......

Saturday we bought a (barely) used dishwasher for really cheap, intending to replace the old one that barely works.

This afternoon I thought we might install it. I have been called an optimist before.....

( Read more... )

Finally I got around to turning off and disconnecting the water line.... and realized that the water inlet is in a different place on the new dishwasher, requiring some additional copper pipe and an elbow. I do not count plumbing as one of my skills, not even one of my "I've seen it done enough that I'd feel comfortable doing it myself" skills. At this point, after already fighting the flooring and the foot, I decided it was time to put the project down until tomorrow.


Update: Read duriyah's account of the same thing.
It's also worth noting that the noise of the Dremel scared away one cat, while the near-deaf one wandered over to investigate further.