February 10, 2008

Dishwasher repairman, please come to our house!

Carson, 10 months, loved to spin the spraying arms like a propeller.

This is exactly what I feel like...."hmmmm, how does this work?" Or rather, "how can I get this to work again?" "What's wrong with this thing?!" We've been having dishwasher problems for a while now, but it's gotten to the point where I can't even use it anymore, which has really made me appreciate having a working one. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but it has tons of build-up in the spraying arms. I've wasted many hours scraping bits of dried up white stuff out of the holes with a toothpick (which has been partially satisfying), only to have it all come back again after we run it the next time. We've tried many loads of just a bowl of vinegar (a tip I found online), changing soaps to one the Maytag guy recommended (and it just so happens to be one from Trader Joe's!!!), we've tried cleaning it out every time, even taking the arms out of the washer and scrubbing them in the sink. We've tried JetDry, which has actually made a positive difference in the appearance of our glasses, but has done nothing to help our other problem. I always make sure to have hot water running in the sink before we turn on the dishwasher to ensure that the hottest water is filling up the washer. But...a couple of times I've tried starting a load and opening it up to see what might be going on in there and I felt the water and it's not been very hot at all, barely warm actually. So now I'm wondering if maybe the heating element is broken and so it's not melting the soap and therefore not cleaning the dishes. I've got a call into the repairman, but it's taking a long time for him to respond....there was only one guy in the phone book....so I guess I'll have to wait for him. I know we have REALLY hard water, so maybe stuff has been building up for some time, but I'm so done with having all this white crusty stuff in my life. I think I'll put calling the repairman again on the top of my to-do list for tomorrow. :-) Along with getting some new shoes for Livi...I feel like her feet grow so fast. And they are SO wide, which makes it a little bit harder to find shoes that fit well and don't smoosh her little toes. I wonder if I can tackle 2 problems in one day (or maybe I should lower my expectations and make it one week!). Wouldn't that be nice....but the latter problem will be much more fun to deal with, shoe shopping, yeah, bring it on!!

9 comments:

You with us said...

Oh, Michelle, no fun at all. I hope you can have it fixed soon. Not sure you want to enjoy too many romantic evenings with Jason over a sudsy kitchen sink.

Arabian Acres said...

The picture is cute though! I hope you get it fixed soon. I know of a product that gets the calcium off though as I get the same gunk on my fountains. Good luck on this one.

kerrie said...

Michelle, I have a "Time-Life" fix it yourself repair book at home that is invaluable for things just like this. I learned this past year that the A/C unit needs inspected and cleaned yearly! Imagine that. Seems so obvious once you find out. I highly recommend it and if I can find a used on on Amazon I'll send it to you.

Angie @ Flibbertigibberish said...

Oh man! That's such a drag. I just hate when things don't work. I'm just not picturing you down on the floor with a toothpick scouring your dishwasher though. Actually, maybe it's ME I'm not picturing! You've got way more patience than me if you actually did that! :)

How adorable is Carson?! I miss those round baby cheeks!

Anonymous said...

I'll come out to wash your dishes!!!!! Dad

Michelle said...

Oh, Dad....will you, will you, please, please???!!! I would love that! How soon can you come??

Christi said...

The Carson picture sums it up perfectly! I hate our hard water here...we probably have to get a whole new shower because of it.

Derek said...

Oh yes! The hard water! We had the same problem up there. I remember MS maintenance gave us some CLR (calcium, lime, and rust) cleaner and that seemed to help (at least for a while, and then we'd have to use some more!). Hope you get that cleared up, otherwise you'll be like me washing dishes by hand!! :)

petiteblogger said...

HI Michelle! I feel for you... I hope by this point in the week the repairman has come and fixed your problem... Isn't it amazing what an absolutely huge part of our stay-at-home-mom life a dishwasher is? We are one with our dishwashers...when they are not working, we are sad because we are working overtime...when they are full of dirty dishes, we are hopeful for a fresh start...when they are clean and empty, we're ready for a nap!
OK, I was stretching a little but trying to be a philosopher in my little time off when the kids are napping! Maybe I need to take a nap, too...
Hope you're having a good day!