Frustration

We are in the midst of a couple of up-grades to the house.

One is a new water heater that will be moved about twenty feet closer to the bathrooms and kitchen than the current installation.

The other up-grade is a new dishwasher.

After a bit of shopping around we purchased a brand-new dishwasher from Menards.

I installed it Thursday after Mrs ERJ and I cared for my parents. I started about two in the afternoon. Mrs ERJ went to do errands because she knows that I find these kinds of projects frustrating and I am not a very patient person.

The replacement was hampered by the fact that the original installation used an eighteen inch hose of the type most typically seen on toilets. I had to disconnect the power, water feed and waste-water return while on my belly working on the dishwasher still half in the hole.

The local hardware store had a 36" version so I was able to work on the dishwasher with it not in the hole.

I hooked up the wires and hoses and pushed it back into the hole. Then I had to fight with the stupid, detachable retaining tabs but I finally got that licked.

I let Mrs ERJ have the honor of pushing the button and it started. No sparks. No leaks. End of story...right?

Nope.

It kept running and kept running and kept running.

What the heck? That is why we replaced the "old" dishwasher.

I was in a funk.

A little bit of internet searching reveals that "modern" dishwashers are "smart". They have a turbidity sensor that measures the cloudiness of the rinse water and they continue to cycle until the rinse water is clear.

In retrospect, the turbidity sensor on the last dishwasher, one that I picked up used from Craigslist for $60 was scummed up. That is probably why the original owner got rid of it.

I also suspect that the dishwasher manufactures responded to complaints about dishwashers not turning off because this one offers....a One-Hour Cycle.

Hurray! That is what we thought we were getting, a timed cycle.

I called Kubota from Mom-and-Dad's because Friday was another eldercare day.

Kubota gladly pushed the two buttons it took to switch it to One-Hour cycle and to start it. Sixty-two minutes later he reported that it turned off ALL BY ITSELF.

Just like that I went from an idiot who was too stupid to run an automatic dishwasher to a competent handyman who successfully installed a dishwasher.

This morning I went to Walmart and bought ninety-four cent swim noodles to stuff between the sides of the unit and the sides of the hole. I found that swim noodles are the optimum seals for sound deadening. Then I finished buttoning up the installation.