Frigidaire A10797601 Dishwasher sometimes doesn't drain but always drains if I cancel cycle

Dishwasher Repair
1

I have a Frigidaire A10797601 dishwasher which was purchase a year and a half ago. Recently I noticed standing water in the dishwasher at the end of its wash cycle. Dishes appeared clean. I started a new cycle and then canceled it to get the dishwasher to pump the standing water out. This works every time but there is standing water in the dishwasher about half the time after the full wash cycle.

If I allow the dishwasher to fill completely and then cancel the cycle, it takes 15-30 seconds to pump all the water out (after 15 seconds most of the water is pumped out but there are still trickles during that last 15 seconds).

I emptied the trap/filter and cleaned them thoroughly. Nothing appeared concerning. I disconnected the drain hose from the garbage disposal and drained into a bucket. Drain timing was consistent with when hooked up to the disposal. On older dishwashers I remember seeing the drain hose move quite a bit when the drain pump turned on. In this case I don’t see that. Is this specific to this (or newer) dishwashers, or should I be suspecting the pump and/or a clog closer to the pump inlet/outlet?

When I drain the dishwasher using the method mentioned above, most of the time the drain pump is running there is no water being pushed out of the dishwasher (approximately 90 seconds total). There is still a small amount of water remaining after I take the trap and other components out to reach down under the filters. Is the pump being excessively worn during that last minute of runtime? I’ve been opening the dishwasher door after the first 30 seconds so the pump doesn’t run so long but I’m not sure how to prevent it from continuing to run with the door closed.

I’ve been trying to “catch” the dishwasher during that last drain of the cycle to see how long the drain pump is running and if anything seems unusual. Any suggestions for how to do this or other ideas on what I should try to look at / do next?

Thanks,

Dave

2

It sounds like you have a fairly new unit for this to be happening. I’m not sure if all dishwashers have this, but I repaired one several years ago by cleaning the side reservoir. The unit wasn’t really cycling at all. I pulled the unit out and on the outer left side was a reservoir (for lack of better description) that was clogged. I cleaned that out and everything worked fine again. It may not be this, but worth a try inspecting. Try finding a breakout manual to see if your unit has this side reservoir. If it does, it’s not hard to access. Otherwise, I would say maybe the pump is defective. Good Luck!

3

You mentioned that the drain hose was connected to your disposal. Perhaps try running the disposal before running the dishwasher. It’s possible that there could be an air gap, or a blockage, in the disposal that’s causing the problem. It’s not legal to connect to the disposal in my area, so I’m not sure if this will help. But something else to check.