[tmsimonson]

I have an older Bosch dishwasher and it is not drying the dishes. I performed some basic troubleshooting to try to locate the source. Here is what I have done so far.

1. I disconnected the wires from the terminals of the heating element and measured the resistance. R = 12 ohms.

2. I also measured the AC voltage being supplied to the terminals during dry mode. AC voltage = 120 VAC. This measurement was taken at the wires when disconnected from the heating element.

What is the next step. Do I need to replace the heating element or might it be something else.

Thanks in advance for any advice given on this topic.

Todd

[Gene]

Looks like mechanically is nothing wrong with your dishwasher.

There are two non mechanical things which could affect the drying: incoming water is too cold or there is a calcium built up inside the dishwasher.

Gene.

[tmsimonson]

Thanks for the response. Since the inside of the dishwasher is aluminum, the calcium buildup you are referring to would have to be on the heating element itself? If so do I need to soak the heating element in CLR solution or something like that. I have physically opened up the dishwasher during the drying cycle and touched the heating element and it seemed at best lukeward to the touch.

As an experiment I placed an icecube on the heating element to see if it was warm enough to melt the ice. It only melted a little bit over 5 minutes so I concluded what heat there was there probably came from the water temperature heating up the element during wash or rinse cycle and not from the dry cycle itself.

I think as a next step I will connect a thermocouple to the heating element as well as a multimeter to the terminals of the heating element and measure cause and effect.

Thanks for your help.

Todd

[Gene]

The body of the dishwasher made of the stainless still, not aluminum.
If you can see a white stuff inside the dishwasher (when it's dry) this is the calcium.

The same stuff should be cover the heating element.

There is almost not possible to find the technical documentation (besides the wiring diagram) on such old dishwasher and I can not tell you what resistance should have the heating element but it should be really hot on touch.

If it's not, may be it's bad.

- The part number for the heating element AP2802201

- Here is the wiring diagram


- Here are the break down diagrams for the Bosch dishwasher Model SMU4056 US/09 (FD 7211-)

Gene.

[tmsimonson]

Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.