I posted a week or so back about or KUDS01il dw taking forever to heat the water for the heated rinse..done everything like insulated the pipes, water temp is +130 out of the tap blah blah blah..
What I need is a current owner or two to look inside their recent model KA dw, mine has sensor wash and tell me near exactly where is the water level in proportion to the heating element on a wash cycle, after you open the door and it pauses washing.. is it skimming the bottom of the heating element, halfway covering the heating element, or is the heating element submerged if even by the slightest amount. Mine is barely touching the water so I'm wondering if that's the problem and the float is out of whack not letting enough water in the tub.
And if it is..how do I or can I adjust the float...

Thanks

I have a 2005 KM Tall Tub, and the water barely touches the heater during the main wash.

HTH

Your water level is fine.
The water circulates and that is what hits the element to heat.
Your water heater is set to low.
You need to decide.
Do you want your dishwasher to run with less time with hotter water? Or do you want it to run longer, with cooler water?
This is what is going on.
If you are a tight budget, and can't run your hot water heater higher, then this is a good option for you.
You dishwasher is only doing it's job, and it will cost less running, than you heating the water in your tank hotter. Forty gallons for instance in a hot water tank.
The newer "low pressure", "Low water" user KA's, must have hot water to clean. I have to give them that much credit. So, it is up to you to choose. If you raise the temp on your hot water tank, you will see a big difference in the time it is taking to finish a load.
Bottom line to all of this, does it clean?
It is one, or the other.
Brent

Hi Brent, the water temp is fine (booklet says 120f. wash and it's coming out of the faucet steaming and scalding at about 138f) on the initial fill. I do let some water run in the sink first so it's at it's hottest and steaming. It's when it gets to it's final heated rinse which according to the booklet will heat the water to 140f. So it seems my water in the line is cooling down between that initial fill and the final heated rinse fill where it now has to boost it to 140 but it's taking sometimes an hour or more. I did check the water at the rinse stage and it was about 115, which took over an hour to re heat up. That's why I thought well maybe the element should be submerged, so now I figure if it's not,, it has to be a problem with the element not heating properly or something.

forgot to say... when I first posted this someone did post a link to a repair site that said there was a replacement higher wattage element available.. but then I thought about the water level thing so had to check that out first.. Looks like I'm going to have to call in for service because it drives me cuckoo running and running

Pete, my water heater is set at 120f. My GE doesn't have wide-open heating time, just 15 mins. for heated washes, but Potscrubber can extend by up to 30 minutes. I end up running the tap as it's draining the main wash water so that the 2 rinse fills will have somewhat 120f water temp going in it. If I don't do this, then even with heated dry, the results aren't quite what I like. And I refuse to set my heater any higher than that, except when I'm washing whites or towels (which is only about once a month).

Exactly Bob.. you know it's annoying because I insulated those pipes right from the water heater to within 2 inches of the machine and within what less than 30 minutes the water left in the pipes isn't even 120. And all the piping runs thru a well heated basement. I don't want to get into babysitting the machine or leaving the tap dripping during a wash to ensure the water in the pipes stays hot.. I feel another Miele in the not too distant future if I have my way.. I can feel it coming.. LOL

The heater could be open and not raising the temp to where it should be. Does it seem to dry the dishes...you might want to open the door during the dry cycle to see if the heater is hot. I think it pulses on and off during the dry cycle. What happens if you don't select Sani-rinse option; does it still take a long time to rinse. I think the control will time out after a certain period of time, whether or not the target temp has been reached. Let me know.

I'll check that out John..I haven't tried the Sani Rinse option. The normal cycle boosts the rinse to 140, the Sani to 160 I believe.

Pete, depending upon how old this "new" TT KA is, the Sani Rinse option could be 161. The newer ones only go to 155. And Coldspot is correct, the delay will only be executed for just so long before the computer "times out" and continues the digital countdown, even if target set-temp hasn't been reached. I wonder if this heater and immersion (or lackthereof in the water) still correlates to about 1F per minute like the older machines did. Incidentally, if Sani-Rinse is selected, the dry cycle will be shorter because of the higher water temp & compensate for the needed juice to heat the added 15 degrees, all balancing "resources'.

I'm just running a load now and it's been sitting at 42 minutes with the "water heating" light on for about 30 minutes so I opened the door and it's not hot in there at all. I didn't want to exactly grab the element but I could put my fingers right close.. LOL I'll check when it gets to the dry cycle to see if it heats up then..

uh oh.

there's gotta be an issue with the element.
even my cheapo Haier machine doesn't take that long to heat...and it's pretty low wattage.
in the other post you talked about, the fix is listed in there. Whirlpool made an "oopse" and put too weak of an element in.

that's why i love the GE tall tubs with their massive multi wattage Calrod. seriously, the thing is like 1/2 in. in diameter! it heats water in no time, yet gently dries the dishes perfectly.

i've said it, and i'll say it again. today's Ge Profile line is the "new age Kitchenaid".

they skimp on nothing. nice powerful, quiet motor, high volume pump, powerful heater.

Unsure of the differnces between the Kitchenaids and Kenmores Tall Tubs, but here's a picture of mine full of water..

BTW-I put some Gravy master in the water to make it show up... I don't have brown water..... Thought food coloring would hurt it...

Here's the controls, have it running on these settings to check temps with candy thermo..

Just checked...Elment was hot enough for me to touch, but still quite warm.. Temps where right at 100 deg...

I would wait until close to the end of the main wash phase to check temp. Also toward the end of the last rinse while heating to sani level.

I am going by ear... Its cup opend (so i know i figured out that there can be no soap granules near it and the jet dry power balls don't fit)... Its at 115 deg...

Looks about 15 degree increase in 20 minutes.

That looks like a lot of water in the tub. I once took a pic of our AEG during the pre-wash and there was only a small puddle of water in it. And there is practically no water in the tub when is recirculates.

I wonder, is it just for the sake of "heated-dry" that U.S. DW's still have an exposed heating element? IMHO a flow-through heater is more efficient - but of course doesn't allow a traditional heated-dry.

I've also wondered, why there seems to be so much space between the tub and the element. Okay, it does make sense on the plastic tub models as the heater might melt the tub (?) but even with the stainless tubs there *seems* to be about an inch of space between tub/element.

This is an 'old' AEG, which still had an exposed element and as you can see, there's hardly any space between tub/element.

Alex

Now at 125 degrees

Now she's a rinsing.. The highest it got with Hi Temp Wash was 125 deg. My water heater is set at 140 deg... Normal w. out heating the water is around 120 deg... 1st rinse portion is at 115 deg.

With hi-temp wash, the target set temp is 145 degrees.

The sani cycle is going...Highest temp seen is 130 deg.

hmm

One last check, its drying now...
The thermo reading while drying was 125 degrees...

The other time i checked while rinsing was about 135 degrees...

Overall i'd say the highest temps recorded with Pots N Pans, Hi Temp Wash 125 degrees and Sani Rinse was 135 degrees with water straight from the tap into the unit at or about 115 degrees... I normally don't use the sani rinse option, but do use the hi temp wash.. My pipes aren't insulated...

BTW-Mine is a 2005 Kenmore TT Unit, was mid line for age with no turbo zone.. Flebay purchase in Dec. 2005 for $200 while it was still sold at sears for around $600 new

Don't knock the dischwasher. I've heard several times mentioned these TT Whirlpool cousins don't always reach their target set temps and time out and resume the cycle.

Well, timewise, this two hour long cycle seems about right.

It worked like a charm and there is no trace of gravey master or even the smell inside (i did add soap after the picture)... The dishes inside came out sparkley

Well the repairman came today and pronounced the heating element wasn't working and that he would have to order a new one. Which will take about a week and a half? Good grief, they're KA/Whirpool authorized repair agents..you would think they would have some parts in their shop. Besides, what on earth takes that long to have shipped anymore. On and the motor noise.. that's the windings he said... what a piece of junk.. btw it was manufactured in March 2003.

Now to top it off when I called the KA/Whirpool 800# I was greeted by a recording welcoming me to the "Whirpool Experience" huh... so far it's not a great experience.

I"m wondering if it's worth repairing much on it if the windings are going too.

Repair guy said it should be fine, just not as quiet as it should be.. but I can just see it screwing up right after the element gets repaired.. in which case should that happen it'll be sitting on the curb.

Refer to your use and care guide. If there is a motor problem, it is covered for 5 years. The heater is too.

Hmmm..came with the house and the previous owners didn't leave any warranty info.. I'll check into that though, it may be transferrable if they still have it.

Pete, if it was determined that it was made in 2003, the part(s) are covered and the warranty is transferable. If you look at the web you'll find the warranty detail there too. KitchenAid.com