I have a problem that has appeared on two dishwashers. They both
stopped working. One dishwasher is in my house, the other in a rental
condo. My dishwasher had been installed two years ago along with new
wiring and was working fine. The rental dishwasher is older, and
working for at least five years.

The problem is as follows, they both have the same electrical issues.
When I place a multi-meter on the black and white power wires, I do not
get voltage or continuity. When I touch the white wire to ground, I
get continuity/ short. I have switched the breakers on and off on both
washers, and they are not tripping.

My dishwasher, which was wired two years ago, is not a dedicated
circuit. It is the last device on the circuit, with two GFI outlets
between the washer and the breaker. Each GFI outlet tests fine for
electricity. The rental dishwasher seems to be isolated on its own
ciruit, based on the breaker panel.

Does anyone have any ideas? I don't have mice in my house or the
rental. Can a breaker go bad? Can a GFI go bad and still work?

thanx

Vitomacdoc wrote:
I have a problem that has appeared on two dishwashers. They both
stopped working. One dishwasher is in my house, the other in a rental
condo. My dishwasher had been installed two years ago along with new
wiring and was working fine. The rental dishwasher is older, and
working for at least five years.

The problem is as follows, they both have the same electrical issues.
When I place a multi-meter on the black and white power wires, I do not
get voltage or continuity. When I touch the white wire to ground, I
get continuity/ short. I have switched the breakers on and off on both
washers, and they are not tripping.

if you mean at dishwasher #1's electrical outlet, black ac is hot 110v
when measured to ground or white common. do you measure 110vac at this
outlet?


My dishwasher, which was wired two years ago, is not a dedicated
circuit. It is the last device on the circuit, with two GFI outlets
between the washer and the breaker. Each GFI outlet tests fine for
electricity. The rental dishwasher seems to be isolated on its own
ciruit, based on the breaker panel.

does the dishwasher #2 have 110 vac at the outlet? if not perhaps the
gfi is not passing it along properly.

Does anyone have any ideas? I don't have mice in my house or the
rental. Can a breaker go bad? Can a GFI go bad and still work?

thanx
a breaker can go bad, you would check that inside the electrical panel.
a gfi can fail, or the connections that send the line in and the load
out can break.
new gfi's will behave a bit differently:
please read the sections on gfi wiring at:
http://www.landfield.com/faqs/electrical-wiring/part1/
and then use your meter to test for ac with a helper.

On 10 Feb 2006 19:26:21 -0800, "Vitomacdoc"
wrote:

I have a problem that has appeared on two dishwashers. They both
stopped working. One dishwasher is in my house, the other in a rental
condo. My dishwasher had been installed two years ago along with new
wiring and was working fine. The rental dishwasher is older, and
working for at least five years.

The problem is as follows, they both have the same electrical issues.
When I place a multi-meter on the black and white power wires, I do not
get voltage

Bad.

or continuity.

Well there should not be continuity between black and white so that is
good.

When I touch the white wire to ground, I
get continuity/ short. I have switched the breakers on and off on both
washers, and they are not tripping.

That is good. Too many of them use LSD, etc.

My dishwasher, which was wired two years ago, is not a dedicated
circuit. It is the last device on the circuit, with two GFI outlets
between the washer and the breaker.

Everyone here says you only need one GFI, the nearest one to the
breaker. Regardless, I think either could have tripped But below
you say that neither has, so forget that.. ( You can forget this too,
I guess: Up two paragraphs you checked and showed continuity between
white and ground. Did you mean the ground wire, the ground hole in
the outlet, or some other ground?)

Each GFI outlet tests fine for
electricity.

Then you must have a problem between the second GFI and the outlet for
the dishwasherd, including the connections at either end. Why don't
you replace the 2nd GFI, if you're sure which it is, with a regular
receptacle, and in doing so, check the connection from there to the
dishwasher. If that is not the problem, then it is probably inside
the outlet box at the dishwahser. Don't forget to turn the power off.


The rental dishwasher seems to be isolated on its own
ciruit, based on the breaker panel.

Does anyone have any ideas? I don't have mice in my house or the
rental. Can a breaker go bad?

Definitely. What kind of neighborhood is this? Drugs, prostitution?
Was it mistreated as a child? Sometimes you do everything right and
they still go bad.

Can a GFI go bad and still work?

More likely a connection, as above.

Keep narrowing things down by observing carefuly and using the meter.

thanx


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