Bosch dishwasher fault

randella

ToneControl said:

I'd try to fix it but the nature of the beast is that I'd have to be on the floor cricking my neck, which is alreadyd injured, so I am reluctant to try it myself for this one

I'm with you on this one.  An hour of titting about trying to diagnose a strange glitch with our (Bosch, natch) washing machine the other day had me reaching for the Ibuprofen.

Our washer is free-standing in a corner of the utility room; if it had been slotted in under the kitchen countertop I don't think I'd have even bothered with that.

FarleyUK

ToneControl said:

ToneControl said:

FarleyUK said:

ToneControl said:

our 5.5 year old dishwasher has failed
there is a leak detector in the base, which raises a polystyrene disc against a microswitch
In our one, it seems to leak about 2 desert spoons full of water over several washes, then stops working and shows "Error code E:15)

if you tip it up, a tiny bit of water runs out, then it works again for 2-3 days

The repair man sais it's probably the main pump, and not economical to repair. Mind you, I think his criteria was "is it a leaky pipe I can see or not".

Should I just scrap it, or try another approach?

We had this issue with ours as well. I found that if you turned off the mains and left it for a while, it would work again; however, in the end we called BOSCH and they sent an engineer.

It took 3 visits to fix, and they replaced about 4 parts, but only cost us £100 in the end - they gave several parts and installation fees for free, which was decent of them. Dishwasher is around 6 years old.

Did you speak to BOSCH directly?

good idea, will try

OK, Bosch want £100 call out fee, plus parts
I'm thinking that could end up as £230 quite easily
Probably better to buy a new one??

how come they only charged you around £100?
what parts were needed?

Sorry mate, forgot to reply!

They came out to check it originally, and thought it was a part in the underneath area (around that polystyrene disc). However, they also found that the sump hadn't been fitted correctly, and they couldn't remove it to replace the part.... so they had to order a new sump area and the other part.

They then came back with the parts, installed them, and it didn't fix the issue - the engineer then saw it was to do with the seal around the bottom. They ordered that part and arranged another visit.

Came back and fitted the seal, and it's been fine since.

They installed the sump, first part and the seal as acts of good-will mostly, although having checked with the Mrs she was charged £150 in the end. Still not bad for a 6 year old machine though (the dishwasher, not her).

ToneControl

FarleyUK said:

ToneControl said:

ToneControl said:

FarleyUK said:

ToneControl said:

our 5.5 year old dishwasher has failed
there is a leak detector in the base, which raises a polystyrene disc against a microswitch
In our one, it seems to leak about 2 desert spoons full of water over several washes, then stops working and shows "Error code E:15)

if you tip it up, a tiny bit of water runs out, then it works again for 2-3 days

The repair man sais it's probably the main pump, and not economical to repair. Mind you, I think his criteria was "is it a leaky pipe I can see or not".

Should I just scrap it, or try another approach?

We had this issue with ours as well. I found that if you turned off the mains and left it for a while, it would work again; however, in the end we called BOSCH and they sent an engineer.

It took 3 visits to fix, and they replaced about 4 parts, but only cost us £100 in the end - they gave several parts and installation fees for free, which was decent of them. Dishwasher is around 6 years old.

Did you speak to BOSCH directly?

good idea, will try

OK, Bosch want £100 call out fee, plus parts
I'm thinking that could end up as £230 quite easily
Probably better to buy a new one??

how come they only charged you around £100?
what parts were needed?

Sorry mate, forgot to reply!

They came out to check it originally, and thought it was a part in the underneath area (around that polystyrene disc). However, they also found that the sump hadn't been fitted correctly, and they couldn't remove it to replace the part.... so they had to order a new sump area and the other part.

They then came back with the parts, installed them, and it didn't fix the issue - the engineer then saw it was to do with the seal around the bottom. They ordered that part and arranged another visit.

Came back and fitted the seal, and it's been fine since.

They installed the sump, first part and the seal as acts of good-will mostly, although having checked with the Mrs she was charged £150 in the end. Still not bad for a 6 year old machine though (the dishwasher, not her).

I think we will probably try the engineer
a new one that is as good would be £550 + £100 to £150 for a 5 year warranty

ToneControl

Latest update
we had the Bosch Engineer round, £100 fee
He could not reproduce the fault, which was weird, since for the preceding 4 days we'd given up using it since it was not even completing a cycle before going into fault mode (and when I tipped it up, much more water was coming out).
He said call him back for free if it happens again.
We've been thrashing it for 2 days, and so far all is well

My current theories are:

1. something he did accidentally solved the problem (i.e. part of his diagnostics nudged or tightened something)
2. The first time it happened was because I'd added too much rinse aid, which overflowed and caused the error on Christmas Eve, but then perhaps the tipping it over to drain it was causing water to pour out from the main internal cavity into some part of the unit, that was trickling down later to trigger the detector. I say this because I asked my Mrs if he mopped up the existing spill in the bottom tray before his tests, and she said yes. If true, this would mean a vicious circle where every time I leaned the dishwasher over, I was causing the next, delayed error  

ToneControl

ahh, it's thrown the error again now, let's call out Bosch again

ToneControl

went through 2 more visits, he tried replacing a a gasket

in the end he declared it not repairable, just because the fault could not be observed
They gave us a £50 Bosch voucher, so I bought a new super silent one. It is so quiet it's amazing

Fretwired

ToneControl said:

our 5.5 year old dishwasher has failed
there is a leak detector in the base, which raises a polystyrene disc against a microswitch
In our one, it seems to leak about 2 desert spoons full of water over several washes, then stops working and shows "Error code E:15)

if you tip it up, a tiny bit of water runs out, then it works again for 2-3 days

The repair man sais it's probably the main pump, and not economical to repair. Mind you, I think his criteria was "is it a leaky pipe I can see or not".

Should I just scrap it, or try another approach?

We're on our third Bosch dishwasher in 30 years and I live in a hard water area. I doubt it's failed. It might just need an internal clean - try some vinegar and a hot wash to remove grease and grime build up. Or buy some pro cleaner. My wife does this regularly and got the tip from a Bosch guy. Seems to keep everything tip top with no odours.

ToneControl

Fretwired said:

ToneControl said:

our 5.5 year old dishwasher has failed
there is a leak detector in the base, which raises a polystyrene disc against a microswitch
In our one, it seems to leak about 2 desert spoons full of water over several washes, then stops working and shows "Error code E:15)

if you tip it up, a tiny bit of water runs out, then it works again for 2-3 days

The repair man sais it's probably the main pump, and not economical to repair. Mind you, I think his criteria was "is it a leaky pipe I can see or not".

Should I just scrap it, or try another approach?

We're on our third Bosch dishwasher in 30 years and I live in a hard water area. I doubt it's failed. It might just need an internal clean - try some vinegar and a hot wash to remove grease and grime build up. Or buy some pro cleaner. My wife does this regularly and got the tip from a Bosch guy. Seems to keep everything tip top with no odours.

we scrapped it in the end. If I had a holiday home I'd move it to there, but not much use having a second, leaky one
it was clean inside btw, Bosch Engineer was happy with that

SteveRobinson

ToneControl said:

OK, Bosch want £100 call out fee, plus parts
I'm thinking that could end up as £230 quite easily
Probably better to buy a new one??

how come they only charged you around £100?
what parts were needed?

A couple of years ago we paid the £100 fee, the engineer wrote off the (out of warranty) machine and Bosch sent a brand new one for no extra charge.

ToneControl

SteveRobinson said:

ToneControl said:

OK, Bosch want £100 call out fee, plus parts
I'm thinking that could end up as £230 quite easily
Probably better to buy a new one??

how come they only charged you around £100?
what parts were needed?

A couple of years ago we paid the £100 fee, the engineer wrote off the (out of warranty) machine and Bosch sent a brand new one for no extra charge.

we weren't so lucky!

CHRISB50

We’ve been washing up since our Bosch DW went kaput about a year ago. 

I think we’ve been through 3 Bosch models in around ten years. 

Just ordered a new Siemens hoping it will last better. If not, it has a 5 year warranty so it’s not our problem anymore. 

ThePrettyDamned

A £150 repair on a good quality machine (a super silent one should be one of the better made ones) will likely give you a few mores years good use - especially if you run it on a cleaning cycle every so often and ensure you soften water (if you have hard water like me) when using.

My parents were going to replace a laundry washing machine. I took a look and it was basically just limescale damage - I ran a couple of cycles, one hot, one not, with a descaling solution and it's given it a new lease of life. Total cost was about £20 including electricity and water.

I'm definitely in the "get a quality machine that's energy efficient and look after it" camp. After a repair, if it lasts 3 years you've broken even with a new machine+warranty, if 5 years you've won the game.