Whirlpool not draining

Dishwasher Repair
1

Hello, my dishwasher is not draining anymore. Over the last 6 months or so we’ve needed to press the cancel/drain button after each wash to get it to drain, then it just stopped draining.

I took it apart today and checked all the hoses and removed any gunk and calcium that might have been blocking it which included the pump and the disposal and the connection of the 2 hoses.

I removed the drain pump motor and hit the cancel/drain button and it still spins, and after cleaning it, it seemed to drain if I held the hose over the sink. I took off to go fishing for a couple hours, then came back and put it back together and now it’s not draining again. It seems like the motor might be too weak, or it’s losing a prime with water in the hose? Though that wouldn’t make sense as there’s not detectable water under the machine that I can see.

I was just about to buy a new pump but thought I’d check here first. If anyone has any advice, I’d like to hear it.

Thank you,

Tim

2

update: after taking it apart again and removing the drain sump pump I noticed that the propellers on the sump were not squared anymore, they were triangular. As if something was stuck inside and ground them down. Probably calcium.

I went to the store and purchased some marine grade epoxy putty and rebuilt the propellers with that. Trimmed it with a razor, then sanded it smooth and put it back in the washer and so far it’s working perfectly again.

The only issue that might come of this is that the propeller is not balanced, which could ruin the motor, but seeing as the motor is a part sold in whole, I have nothing to lose since I would have had to pay for one if I didn’t try this first.