On 5 Oct 2007 20:42:47 GMT, "Bob Eager" wrote:

On Fri, 5 Oct 2007 19:14:15 UTC, Derek Geldard
wrote:

I'd be surprised if it is not opened by a big resistor heating up a
bi-metallic strip which bends after a suitable delay and releases the
catch.

I'd be surprised if it were. As I recall, it's a solenoid. It's marked
as a small rectangular 'box' called 'actuator' in the spares list -
about 8 quid. The entire dispenser is about 40 quid. This is for my
Bosch - 7 years old - YMMV.

Believe it or not I run 2 Bosch dishwashers plumbed in and running,
the latest came "Free" with a new kitchen. The older one, installed in
a utility room is probably 10+ years old and comes in handy at
Christmas and birthday parties.

At some time (many moons ago) on the then current dishwasher the
detergent dispenser door started refusing to latch closed because a
little plastic "snib" had worn away/broken off. The whole assembly had
to be changed, this did have the large wirewound china resistor
arrangement I described. Whether it was the oldest Bosch or an even
earlier predecessor machine of unknown provenance I cannot at this
stage recall.

However, if a part is represented on a circuit diagram as rectangular
box, and described as an actuator I am inclined to believe that no
more precise concise description exists. This would be the case for
the heating element / bimetallic strip arrangement, but not so in the
case of an electromagnet, which could just be described as a
"Detergent door solenoid" and shown on the diagram as a coil. The
resistor contraption has some advantages in that it has an inherent
delay that can to a certain extent be set at the design stage thus
eliminating the need to cater for this in the programmer. Note that
the rinse aid dispenser is always IME a solenoid.

AIUI there are only two or three manufacturers of dishwashers in
Europe. You can see this just by walking round a showroom, and
companies affix their own badges, so what you actually get (and how it
works) at any one time may vary.

I see on some of the parts websites that Bosch seems to share parts
with Neff and Zannussi.

DG