Our dishwasher has never done a stellar job on the dishes, and I've always thought the water level seemed low. We have slightly low water pressure, so maybe that's the problem.

But while I was thinking about this (yet again -- the machine is over 20 years old) it occurred to me that I don't know the answer to a basic question.

There are two mechanisms in the dishwasher to limit the water fill level. One is a timer, and one is a float switch. On our machine, the water always shuts off via the timer. Is this correct operation? Or, should it normally shut off due to the switch. If the latter, then our machine is really not getting enough water.

I guess the basic question is: which of those two mechanisms is the fallback, and which is the primary?

Thanks,
paul

thanks -- i figured that the float was probably the safety, but once i started wondering, i needed to know for sure.