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...appliance repair obviously isn't in my wheelhouse.
That other comment wasn't intended to be snarky.
But on the point, even if you aren't doing the work yourself...
it behooves a homeowner to accumulate enough knowledge to appreciate
what they are instead hiring out to be done by others.
I still maintain that it was a snarky comment. My question was whether it was worth a service call, not whether everyone thinks I know enough about my household appliances. Every household is run differently.
That said, thank you for the book suggestion. I'll look into it.
OP, my dishwasher does that occasionally, I run a 1/4 cup of borax through it with detergent to clean the dishwasher from built up gunk, works like a charm every time.
You can buy dishwasher cleaner at the store, but a little bottle is 4 bucks, you can get a whole box of borax for half that price.
I too thought I needed a new dishwasher. Thank goodness I had a coupon for a soap I hadnt tried, and bought Finish Powerball detergent. Wow! This stuff really, really works. I've even tested it by not rinsing, and putting in dried on food. It has done a outstanding job. I dont even have to use that little bottle of spot free stuff any longer. Op, you might need work done due to your d.w.'s age, but I'd still give finish a try. Good luck..
Consumer Reports, as I recall, also said that appliances only last ten years. We recently had a problem with our clothes washer that just hit the ten year mark so we replaced it rather than feed the repair man as the squeaking in the spin cycle sounded like an expensive repair. In our area, service calls are really expensive.
I have a number of repair books also but to the best of my knowledge, they aren't brand specific and can only give generic advice. There are free web sites with lots of "how to" information on them and you can search by the brand name. After researching, decide whether it is the cost of just the parts alone and then add on labor and service call. We found a discontinued model that didn't have a lot of bells and whistles and the price was good. In short, if it is out of warranty, it is probably too expensive to repair.
Went through this last year. Appliances came with the house. One by one they started breaking. I looked up all the serial numbers online to find out the age. Pretty much everything was 5-14 yrs old. First the stove broke. It wasn't worth fixing after finding out what the service call cost. So we replaced it. Then the dishwasher broke. I could replace with a similar model but it was high end at 900. It needed a new motor and cost me 265.00. Well worth getting fixed. Then the dryer kept breaking. My husband could fix that and we had to keep replacing the sensor. 35 each time. It was a huge PITA, taking the drum out and getting it lined up again. The washer was 14 yrs old and the dryer was 10. We decided to replace and get a set that actually matched. WOO HOO. I hate using credit so we try to save and pay cash to buy new and fix the older stuff (if its worth it) to give us more time before the next big purchase.
I agree, bree. I love that stuff. But the OP apparently doesnt want any advice other than should he call a repairman or buy new appliances.
Untrue. Specific, helpful advice is welcome and I will try the soap/Borax suggestions. Thank you. General disdain for my lack of knowledge is unhelpful.
I suggested that you empty the filter, where water can accumulate, and explained how, when I forget to do that, water leaks from underneath the clothes washer. It's a very easy fix if that's the problem. You didnt seem to want to try that.
And it would be very easy, as well, to google something like WATER LEAKS FROM UNDER (BRAND NAME) CLOTHES WASHER. Google is your friend.
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I hate using credit so we try to save and pay cash to buy new and fix the older stuff (if its worth it) to give us more time before the next big purchase.
