Dishwasher repair

Two complaints cover most dishwasher calls: it won’t drain, or the dishes come out dirty. Both have several possible causes, and a surprising number of them are things you can check before anyone comes out.

Kodiak covers both cities. Pick yours for local detail and pricing.

A dishwasher fills to a set level, heats the water, sprays it through rotating arms, drains, and repeats. Most faults are a blockage or a failure somewhere in that loop — water not arriving, not being sprayed with enough force, or not leaving.

What complicates it is that dishwashers are usually built in. The plumbing and wiring run behind cabinetry, the unit is levelled to a countertop, and on integrated models a custom door panel has to come off before anything can be reached. The repair itself may be simple; the access around it is what makes the job longer than people expect.

The six we see most

1. Standing water in the bottom

Start with the filter at the base of the tub — on most machines it twists out and it’s frequently the whole problem. Beyond that: the drain hose, the air gap or high loop, the drain pump, or a garbage disposal connection that was never punched out during installation.

2. Dishes coming out dirty

Usually the spray arms. Check the holes are clear — they block with food debris and hard-water scale, and an arm that can’t spin properly leaves whole sections of the rack untouched. Water temperature and detergent condition matter too.

3. Not filling, or filling slowly

The water inlet valve or its screen. Hard water scales the screen over time and the machine fills too slowly to wash properly, which reads as poor cleaning rather than a fill fault.

4. Leaking from the door

The door gasket, or the door not closing square because the unit has shifted out of level. Built-in machines move slightly over years of use, and a door that doesn’t seat evenly leaks at the corners.

5. Not drying

Most modern dishwashers rely on residual heat and condensation rather than a heating element blasting the load. A failed heating element or vent will affect it, but so will loading pattern and rinse aid — worth ruling out the free explanations first.

6. Won’t start, or the cycle won’t advance

The door latch and its switch, the control board, or a machine that’s stuck waiting for a condition it hasn’t reached — usually fill or drain. The point in the cycle where it stalls tells us which.

Filter and spray arms first, because they’re free to check and frequently the answer. Then fill, drain, heat, the door and the controls. On a built-in we account for access time honestly rather than discovering it on arrival.

Dishwashers are generally worth repairing, and built-ins especially so — the unit is fitted into cabinetry measured around it, so replacing one is a small renovation rather than a delivery. The common faults are filters, pumps, valves, seals and spray arms, all defined parts.

A $119 service call covers the diagnosis, and it comes off the invoice if you go ahead with the repair. Labour is flat-rate — typically in the $220–$350 range — so you know the number before the work starts, and the technician isn’t penalised for being quick. Parts are quoted separately and always shown to you before anything is ordered. Every repair carries a 90-day warranty on parts and labour.

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Kodiak works on sixteen brands: Whirlpool, Maytag, Amana, Kenmore, Inglis, LG, Samsung, GE, Frigidaire, Electrolux, Bosch, Blomberg, KitchenAid, JennAir, Dacor and Speed Queen. That list is deliberate rather than exhaustive — it’s the equipment we know platform-deep, which is what makes a diagnosis fast instead of exploratory.

Detailed walk-throughs, including what to check yourself first.

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Kodiak covers Edmonton and Calgary. Send us the details and we’ll ring you back to agree a day.