Installed and working GREAT

Posted by Jim on 11th Oct 2021

My Kenmore Dishwasher suddenly stopped working- there was nothing- no lights - it was dead. At first we didn't realize it had died in the middle of a "Normal" wash cycle. We emptied the dishwasher (without realizing the "Clean" (green) light was not on)- we thought the cycle had completed (it actually was about 1/2 done we found out later). We didn't realize the dishwasher was "Dead" until the next time we tried to run it (a few days later). After some troubleshooting, I was *happy* to find out that the Thermal Fuse was blown (and it was nothing more serious or difficult to diagnose). I contacted Dishwasher-repair-parts.com and ordered a new Thermal Fuse. I also spoke with Al and he reassured me that these things can blow at anytime (especially in a 20yr old Dishwasher) and it's likely that there is not another issue which caused the thermal fuse to blow. I received the new Thermal Fuse in about a week. Al gave me 2(!) just in case I needed a 2nd. Very nice of him to do this! Thank you Al! I installed the fuse, and it started up in "mid-cycle".. with 42-mins left- right where it left off when the fuse blew. Since then (10/1/2021), the dishwasher has been run 3 times with no problems.
I may have discovered what could have caused the Thermal Fuse to blow: Just prior to the fuse blowing, I had a plumber come to inspect my hot water heater and he turned down the temperature. This caused the water to be too cool for the Dishwasher so it(The dishwasher) had to heat the water before running the cycle. This is the first time I remember ever seeing this happen. I'm guessing the heating of the water may have caused the Thermal Fuse to blow. I turned up the temperature of the Hot Water Heater (back to what it had been previously) prior to running the Dishwasher with the newly installed Thermal Fuse.