Why Does My Dishwasher Stop Running?

The simple reason your dishwasher stops running after filling – and how to fix it.

LESLIE: Now we’ve got Darlene in South Carolina on the line who’s dealing with a dishwasher situation. What’s going on over there?

DARLENE: Whenever you turn it on, turn it on pots and pans, it fills up and then it stops. Does nothing. And you can turn the knob around to the different cycles and everything and it does nothing.

TOM: Have you checked the float, which is in the bottom of the dishwasher, to see if maybe it’s become clogged?

DARLENE: No, I didn’t know there was …

TOM: Yeah. Because if it’s clogged, it might think it’s – it might think that it’s about to overflow and it might shut the machine off. So in the bottom of the dishwasher, take a look at the float. And it’ll move kind of up and down – it’ll pop up and down a little bit – and a lot of times, it gets filled with food and grime and stuff. If you clean the dishwasher float, that might just be the thing to do it.

And here’s a little trick of the trade: if you’re trying to clean out food from places you really can’t get to, you can use a wet/dry vacuum for that. It’ll sort of draw it right out. But another thing to think about: If it’s older, replacing rather than repairing a dishwashwer might make the most sense.

DARLENE: Oh, OK.