The dishwasher probably pauses to let the crumbs settle and go out with the
dirty water. Some of the crazy stuff done by the front loading washing
machines is to clean the outer drum according to a Maytag tech. Initially
the early Maytag front loaders had simple cycles but when they got mildew
complaints upgraded boards made the inner tank spin sometimes as clean water
poured in to clean the outer tub.


"Nexus7" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Mar 31, 11:49 am, Jeff Wisnia wrote:
But now, at some points in a "normal" cycle the machine's motor stops,
everything is quiet as a mouse, and after about what seems like one
"advance" of the timer knob (about 30 seconds) the motor starts and the
cycle proceeds again.
I never noticed that "stopping" on our old Whirlpool, and this machine
isn't supposed to have any "soak" cycles. I can't think of why it would
be a designed in feature, unless maybe to make sure everything has

Don't know about this model, however dishwashers pause like this,
although I don't know if it is for as long as 30 s. I think it is to
let the water drip down before draining. My washing machine (front-
loader) pauses between steps (such as rinse-spin) or even at times
while filling with water. I think it is because things don't happen
instantaneously. So it allows the water to soak the clothes so it can
figure out how much more to add.

The dishwasher has a mechanical timer, and the WM's is a computer. So
yours could be a combination of having a mechanical timer and
necessary process delays.