The dishwasher’s door switch one of those appliance parts you don’t notice much until it stops working, and when they do you can’t move on until it’s fixed. Because of how often most households use the dishwasher it’s important you have an idea of what the door switch is and how to repair it.
What does the dishwasher door switch do?
They essentially work to secure that the liquid used to wash your dishes stay inside the appliance and don’t flood your home. So, they have a pretty important role. They are usually located inside the control panel and often are a part of the door itself. This door switch is what securely pulls the door closed before your wash the dishes. Sometimes when a dishwasher won’t start it’s due to a damaged switch.
So, when your dishwasher is not working or the door is open the switch is not active. You will find a handle or prong (can be made of metal or plastic) on the inside of the dishwasher. Once you close the door and pull or push on the mechanisms it activates and closes the dishwashing circuit. One of the first things you can check to see if there something wrong with the dishwasher is this internal prong.
Important: you should always unplug the dishwasher or any other appliance before attempting any repair work.
Where can you find the door switch and what does it look like?
A door switch can be either black or red and they come with metal prongs attached, those are called terminals. Some have two terminal other three.
Here are the different types of terminals:
- common terminal (COM)
- normally closed (NC)
- normally open (NO)
Dishwasher with two terminals usually has either a COM and a NO, or a COM and an NC. The dishwasher with three switches has COM, NC, and a NO.
You can find your appliance’s door switch inside the control panel placed on the front of the dishwasher. In some models fiding it will require you to remove the inner panel of the door, but you won’t need to remove the whole entire door. Check your manual for details. After you find and open this panel, you could find a smaller panel inside, which you will also need to remove to get to the door switch. Once follow all those steps you would have gotten to your door switch.
How to repair the dishwasher’s door switch?
First of all, you will need to get some small pliers to carefully pull the wired leading off the switch to the terminals. If you see a locking clip, just depress the lever and gently pull the harness away from the terminal. Take your time with this action to ensure it goes well. These are delicate pieces after all. Here are the steps to figuring out the problem and repairing your dishwasher door switch:
- Test your door switch with an ohmmeter, to make sure the circuit is functioning
- You have to check that all terminals are working correctly
- Your meter, set to a scale of Rx1, should be getting a reading of infinity meaning the circuit works.
If you are getting another reading it means the door switch needs to be replaced or repaired. Order and replace with a new one, assemble, connect to power and go back to normal!
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