Saturday, July 19, 2008

How to install a dishwasher (illustrated)

Tampa Bay Handyman is back again to show you how to install a dishwasher. The dishwasher I am going to be installing will be a GE type model, and I will be connecting the electric by means of "hot wiring". Most newer homes and apartment have a direct plug in connection for the electric so more than likely you wont have to follow my last few steps in hooking up the electric. Below is a picture of where we are going to put the new dishwasher.




You're going to need two types of hoses, a supply hose and a drain hose as shown below, there are many different types of supply and drain hoses that could be used to install the dishwasher but these are the ones that I am going to be using.



Here is a snapshot of the dishwasher that I am going to be showing you how to install.





WARNING ! Before you even start doing anything make certain that the hot water is turned off to the supply and that the breaker to the dishwasher is secured. These 2 steps are very crucial when removing the old dishwasher failure check these two steps could flood your house or shock the crap out of you or even cause death. Electricity is no joke use extreme caution.

First thing that I am going to due is flip the dishwasher upside down and remove the wooden crate that it was delivered with. I am going to do this by loosening up all of the feet, then I'm going to toss the crate and tighten all the feet back down. Depending on how high the counter top is to your dishwasher will determine how high or low the feet will need to be adjusted.



Next there should be a 90 degree fitting that comes with the dishwasher supply hose that must be attached to the bottom of the dishwasher. Since this connection is going to be metal to metal with out any rubber washers or anything I am going to wrap some teflon tape around the threads to help prevent any possible leaks.





Next I am going to attach the 90 degree brass coupling as shown in the picture below.



Then once I got that good and tight I will hook up the dishwasher supply line to the 90.




Then hook up the drain line, this one is going to be secured into place by use of a clamp that came with the drain hose.



One last thing I'm going to do before I flip the dishwasher over is I'm gonna take the cover off thats on the bottom of the dishwasher. It's held on with 2-4 screws.







Okay we now have the drain line and the supply line hooked up to the dishwasher. Next step is we are going to feed these hoses under the sink. If your installing a dishwasher you might have to drill some holes to run the hoses under the sink, if your just replacing a dishwasher then you could just use the old holes.






Once you have the hoses ran you can start hooking them up. In this situation I am going to be hooking the drain hose up to the garbage disposal, I will be securing it with th clamp shown.




*Note - Not shown but the dishwasher drain hose should be mounted above the garbage disposal to prevent sink water going into dishwasher.

Next step is to hook up the supply line to the how water supply valve, making sure to tighten it down good with a wrench or pair of channel locks.








Now we still have the cover off and both hoses are fully hooked up so next thing we do is push the dishwasher in. Making sure you don't push the electric supply behind it. Now we can hook up the electric, the black wire to black, the white to white, the green wire is the ground and should be secured to a metal screw that's on the dishwasher. Connect the black wires and the white wires with wire nuts.








Adjust the feet on the dishwasher to your desire liking. Then secure the dishwasher to the counter top with a couple 1" or half inch screws, don't use too long of screws you don't want the screw to be poking out of the top of the counter top.



Now we can turn the power to the dishwasher back on and turn the hot water supply valve back on. You're going to want to run a full cycle and watch under the sink and the dishwasher for any signs of leaks. Once you are comfortable that there aren't any leaks you can put the bottom cover back on. If you have any questions or concerns about how to install a dishwasher just leave me a comment.




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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the informative blog. I trying to install my new GE dishwasher, wondering which is the outlet for drain hose. Here is the reference pic http://www.partselect.com/PartDetail.aspx?Inventory=260801&SourceCode=5&ModelNum=gsd680x

is it the outlet with black cap or one just front of it (white)

thanks.

dwepproductionz said...

The outlet is white. But here is why because thier may be a 1% chance that I am wrong...

the inlet is usually either copper or steel tubing going into a 90 degree brass fitting, the reason that this is because semi-high pressure water is going into the dishwasher, low pressure cooler water is draining from the dishwasher, so the fittings on the outlet of a dishwasher are usually of the plastic type.

I am not sure why this is but I am pretty sure that money has something to do with it, in the old days when dishwashers first came out they used copper tubing for the inlet and outlet, now a days they use generic steel for the inlet and plastic for the outlet, probably because copper and brass are worth more than 2 bucks a pound and plastic is worth less than a cent.

Sorry for babbling off subject but I hope that answered your question, just let me know if you have any more problems installing your dishwasher.

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much for answering my question. I have already installed to white valve and it works fine. This valve is very narrow (less than half inch I guess) was wondering how it can push the dirt. The older DW had a bigger valve.!

The other queston I had was, washing machine drain hose connection. I do not have a option to connect to sink drain system (underneath), what I did was put the hose into the laundry sink. Reading most of the article, it is recommended that the hose connection should be atleast 2ft above the floor when it is connected to the sink drain system (for air and to prevent back flow of dirty water). My concern is, in that case, a little water will be remaind in the WM would cause any problem? I was thinking to connect to the ground drain system to have a smooth flow of water.
Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks in advance.

dwepproductionz said...

The way you have the drain hose I don't see why that wouldn't work, so I am taking that you have the washing machine right next to the dishwasher?

As far as the drain hose being so small, 1/2 inch, that is the common size for most newer dishwashers, especially GE because that is what I mostly work with, my guess is that the scolding hot water breaks up the food and dirt so tiny that the drain pump has no problem shooting the crap water through the tiny little drain hose. :)

Anonymous said...

Great illustration. I am preparing to replace my old dishwasher. Old model GE potscrubber to New GE tall tub. The old model had a spring/steel line/clamp that connected to the DW door which prevented, when opening, going all the way down to the floor. This steel line was then clamped to the bootom side of the cabinet next to the DW. I am not sure the new model will also such a steel line to hold the DW door. Any comments or advise?

hose adapters said...

I also want to install a dishwasher to my kitchen. Seems interesting. Thanks for guiding me through this. Rarely do I find good entries that would walk me through. Great post.


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