New Year Challenges

We took a trip to our grandson’s birthday celebration at Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs. The place was fully booked. I found out they have 300 rooms! We were in one of 42 suites with kid cabin a darling section of the room with bunk bed cots for the kids with their own TV. They loved it. We really enjoyed the swim park. Their favorite activity was swimming underwater! (And the slides of course) They are fish! We all had a great time.

One of my underwater grandkids
My underwater granddaughter

We went from the first to the third of January and came home to a broken dishwasher and the secondary boiler pump not working.
The dishwasher had an E1 error code but even though the manual says it means not enough water flow it is one of only two possible error codes so can mean anything. At first I assumed it was the water inlet valve again. So I just ordered one without looking at the machine. But no it was letting water in, just not pumping it out. I tried the rinse cycle without the food filter in case that was blocking it but the water stayed in the bottom after the motor ran to pump water out with no success and the E1 code displayed. The first troubleshooting step for draining problems was to check that the drain pipe was not clogged. Of course having modified the dishwasher from portable to installed I had several pipes to disconnect to check it.
Naturally the drains I put together in the utility room for the dishwasher, the flush water from the water treatment and the utility sink are complex. I used a couple of dishwasher drain pipes one on each side of the main pipe and the trap for the utility sink also drains plus there is an air admittance valve and an air gap for the dishwasher drain.

Complicated drain
Complicated drain
Air gap for dishwasher
Air gap for dishwasher

I tried separating the pipes behind the utility sink but nothing budged. I had to disconnect the sink and move it out of the way enough to step behind it. Then I had to cut off the pipe and reconnect it after draining it. The entire system is held up by the tub drain and air gap so it all fell apart and I had to reconnect all of them. They are put together with screw-on compression waste fittings. Getting the pipes apart and reconnecting them just to find they were not clogged was difficult. Of course I ended up with dirty trap water in my face too. At least the hot water heater was working for my shower!

Utility sink
Utility sink

Obviously the next step was to replace the drain pump. I saw that I could order a new one quite cheaply so the next day I disconnected the dishwasher and took off the rear panel. Then we turned it upside down. It was too heavy to do it by myself so Dave helped. A bottom cover was held on by four small screws and it came off easily. I had to remove the pump to match it to the new order.

I watched a few you tube videos. One that specifically covered the SPT dishwasher. Although it was labeled pump removal it was actually showing the removal of the motor. I figured that out after I found the pump on ours. Another helpful resource was a repair manual for Frigidaire portable dishwashers. The Frigidaire has more error codes and even a service mode to help troubleshoot. But I found the information about the layout of parts and replacing the pump very helpful.

Description of Dishwasher parts
Description of Dishwasher parts
Remove dishwasher pump
Remove dishwasher pump

In our dishwasher the parts were laid out a bit differently but basically were the same.

SPT dishwasher parts
SPT dishwasher parts

I noted the power connections with a photo. Then took off the motor to the pump. I wanted to be sure they were reconnected properly.

Black pump with white motor
Black pump with white motor
Power connections to the pump motor
Power connections to the pump motor

The motor was connected with two plastic clamps so it was easy to remove. The pump was connected with two bolts and I had trouble figuring that out. After seeing the video of the motor removal I went ahead and disconnected the clamps that held the sump with the pump connected to it. After removing the hoses and an electrical connection, the sump twisted off. I figured it was a good thing to check to see how it operated with the drain filters which were already removed from the inside. After I removed the sump it was easy to get to the bolt underneath the pump and disconnect it.

Disconnecting the sump
Sump removed

I could not find the exact pump of course. The dishwasher is old enough that the pump has been replaced with newer models. So I had to measure it to find the closest match I could on Amazon. Fortunately there is a great deal of description for these pumps. I was not able to find a .5 amp pump though so the closest in size was a .8 amp pump. I’m going to assume that it will work until I find out differently.

Removed dishwasher pump
Removed dishwasher pump
Replacement dishwasher pump
Replacement dishwasher pump

Until the pump arrives in a couple of days, the dishwasher sits upside down in the kitchen and all dishes have to be washed by hand.

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