On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:27:31 +0000,
(bettynugs) wrote:

Greetings all. My 7 year old Bosch SHU3035UC/UC12 stopped filling with
water the other day. It powers through all the cycles and SOUNDS like its
working, but when I open the door mid-cylce, no water... It drains fine
though. I disconnected the hose from the dishwasher to verify that water
is coming out of the hose and no kinks are present. Not sure what to try
at this point. No issues with the unit in the past 5 years (came with the
house we bought...)

Any suggestions other than calling a repair person? -betty

On my whirlpool, the inlet valve is in the front. Remove the kick
panel, probably two screws have to be loosened, maybe removed to do
this. You could take the 2 wires off the inlet valve solenoid and
measure them for 110VAC during the fill stage of the wash cycle. Be
careful if you get wet. you probably won't, especially since there is
no water, but still, if you do, I'd postpone things until I dried off.

YOu can get either a digital or an analog (with a needle) meter, for
under 20 dollars at Harbor Freight, Radio Shack, or Ace
Hardware/HomeDepot/Lowes. ONly touch the plastic parts of the meter
and the probes. Don't touch the metal parts of the dishwasher.

The metal clips that clip on to the taps of the valve will most likely
have protective plastic (or something) covers over them, except at the
open end where they slip on. That's where you put in the meter
probes.

REmember to set the meter on AC volts when planning to measure AC
volts, and on resistance when planning to measure the resistance of
the coil, disconnected from thos e wires. Always set the meter to the
right setting and amount before measuring something. Otherwise you
may burn out your meter and have to fix it or buy another one. I've
been doing this for 40+ years and only burnt out one or two meters.

When the wires are off the valve you can use the ohmeter to measure
the resistance of the inlet valve, of the solenoid that is the
electical part of the inlet valve. It should be greater than zero and
less than infinity.

If you had voltage at the wires, you can try to confirm that the inlet
valve is good, by putting one of the two wires on, and then just
touching the other wire to the metal tab it connects to. Or if the
wires are one piece, you can do both wires together. Even if there is
no water, you should hear a little click when the valve opens.

Another thing that might turn off the inlet is the float. In the
whirlpool it is obvious, a big plastic thing that sits low when there
is no water and rises when it's filling with water. When it gets high
enough, it turns off the power to the inlet valve, which makes the
valve shut. Try lifting that up and down. ESPECIALLY the first
time, note if it sticks at all. If it sticks at all you might free it
up and then the whole thing might work.

It's unlikely that the internal hoses are clogged. After all, they're
pretty big and all they ever get is water, but if you lay your head on
the floor you should be able to see the hose from the valve to the
center bottom near where they water shoots up. And you should be
ableto see the hose or copper tube that goes out the side and bottom
of the dishwasher to where it connects to one of the pipes to your
kitchen sink faucet.

Do you have both hot and cold wwater at your kitchen sink? If not,
why not. Is there a separate valve on the copper tube/pipe to the
dish washer. Is it open? Is it turned counter-clockwise.

This is a pretty simple system, little more complicated than what it
takes to turn on your garden faucet. Except the valve is electric and
it also has the water level float switch in the cirucit.

You're either missing water, missing electricity, or the valve is
broken.

P&M