Installing a dishwasher - any guides?

Kemik · 22 Sep 2015 at 21:20

Hi guys,

I ordered a dishwasher today. Never had one before so need to install it.

Electricity
There is a plug which was destined for the dishwasher but it's in use for the water softener. Thinking of getting one of these converters to add an additional socket. I assume this will be fine?

Drain
Two options in the installation manual but it seems to prefer one for GB... not sure why.
1. There is a long drop pipe which the washing machine and water softener goes into. The problem being that there's no more room. Can I expand it? It seems to be higher than the softener which I heard was bad, but it was professionally installed...

2. There is a cap on the sink u bend which I believe can be cut and attached to. Isn't there a risk of the sink draining into the dishwasher?

Cold water
No idea on this. There is obviously a cold tap (both softened and hard water) for the sink but it is all copper pipes. Any easy way to attach? You can see the setup in the bottom pic.

Cheers guys!

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 22 Sep 2015 at 22:30

The socket looks like it needs the actual cabling changing so as long as your comfortable doing that should be ok.

Yes the white thingy should be cut off so you can force the outlet hose from the dishwasher onto it. I highly doubt sink water pressure would be able to force its way into the dishwasher, they pump quite hard to force the water out.

Looks to me like there is a cold water outlet at the back up against the wall, which the current picture is obscuring the top of, its got a screwdriver valve showing just below the white waste pipe almost mid picture. Or is there something already attached to that?

Kemik · 23 Sep 2015 at 13:17

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
The socket looks like it needs the actual cabling changing so as long as your comfortable doing that should be ok.

Should be easy enough right? Switch off electricity, unwire original, attach to new, reattach to wall? Is there any reason not to use a dual plug extension lead instead?

Yes the white thingy should be cut off so you can force the outlet hose from the dishwasher onto it. I highly doubt sink water pressure would be able to force its way into the dishwasher, they pump quite hard to force the water out.

Thinking as long as I bring the dishwasher hose to the top of the cupboard and then down to the drain u bend it should be okay for preventing backwash from the sink.

Looks to me like there is a cold water outlet at the back up against the wall, which the current picture is obscuring the top of, its got a screwdriver valve showing just below the white waste pipe almost mid picture. Or is there something already attached to that?

I think that's the outside tap. There is a pipe that goes to the dishwasher. I was thinking of getting a self cutting tool and just adding to that pipe as the pipes around the sink are small in length and difficult to get near.

londonbairn · 23 Sep 2015 at 13:25

Wont be a problem having the dishwasher enter the trap like that, fairly standard. Most dishwashers have a non return valve so if the trap was blocked up and water entered the drain pipe of the dishwasher, shouldn't damage it

joelk2 · 23 Sep 2015 at 13:37

Kemik said:
Should be easy enough right? Switch off electricity, unwire original, attach to new, reattach to wall? Is there any reason not to use a dual plug extension lead instead?

Thinking as long as I bring the dishwasher hose to the top of the cupboard and then down to the drain u bend it should be okay for preventing backwash from the sink.

I think that's the outside tap. There is a pipe that goes to the dishwasher. I was thinking of getting a self cutting tool and just adding to that pipe as the pipes around the sink are small in length and difficult to get near.

1. the plug converters are fine, i used one myself. (had 1 socket for fridge/freezer but i had a fridge and seperate freezer so used one of the socket converters)

2. cut off the white thing under the sink and plumb into that.

3. picture 1 (turn off water, cut off pipe, install this http://www.screwfix.com/p/compression-appliance-tee-brass-x-x-15mm-bsp/24030 done the same recently (installing 2 washing machines next to each other off 1 cold water feed)

bowey · 24 Sep 2015 at 18:21

londonbairn said:
Wont be a problem having the dishwasher enter the trap like that, fairly standard. Most dishwashers have a non return valve so if the trap was blocked up and water entered the drain pipe of the dishwasher, shouldn't damage it

since its above the trap wouldn't the smell from the used dishwater cause a problem? would have thought it would have been under the trap im no expert like ha

ci_newman · 25 Sep 2015 at 09:28

bowey said:
since its above the trap wouldn't the smell from the used dishwater cause a problem? would have thought it would have been under the trap im no expert like ha

No, it should be fine - I have it plumbed in like that at our house. Dishwasher water is typically at 90c anyway, so unlikely to get bacterial build-up

Puzzled · 26 Sep 2015 at 12:29

I used one of these so I could connect both the dishwasher and washing machine to one cold feed:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/compression-appliance-tee-brass-x-x-15mm-bsp/24030

Works fine

Edit: Just seen it was posted above, get some PTFE tape as well for a better seal.

Blackjack Davy · 26 Sep 2015 at 23:04

Kemik said:
Hi guys,

I ordered a dishwasher today. Never had one before so need to install it.

Electricity
There is a plug which was destined for the dishwasher but it's in use for the water softener. Thinking of getting one of these converters to add an additional socket. I assume this will be fine?

Yeah thats fine. Sockets are 13A though so using both the washing machine and dishwasher at the same time could overload it.

Drain
Two options in the installation manual but it seems to prefer one for GB... not sure why.
1. There is a long drop pipe which the washing machine and water softener goes into. The problem being that there's no more room. Can I expand it? It seems to be higher than the softener which I heard was bad, but it was professionally installed...

Yes put a branch (forgotton the name for it) so it has two inlets (compression fittings are easy enough to fit)

2. There is a cap on the sink u bend which I believe can be cut and attached to. Isn't there a risk of the sink draining into the dishwasher?

Cold water
No idea on this. There is obviously a cold tap (both softened and hard water) for the sink but it is all copper pipes. Any easy way to attach? You can see the setup in the bottom pic.

Cheers guys!

Dishwashers usually just a need a single cold water feed, that blue thing in the other picture is the cold water feed to the washing machine or water softener you can get a simple Y-splitter that screws into the end of the cold water feed so you can connect two hoses to a single feed.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/washing-machine-y-piece-bsp/81000

Kemik · 27 Sep 2015 at 09:03

Blackjack Davy said:
Yeah thats fine. Sockets are 13A though so using both the washing machine and dishwasher at the same time could overload it.

What happens then...? :eek:

Yes put a branch (forgotton the name for it) so it has two inlets (compression fittings are easy enough to fit)

Ah okay, so you would branch that off rather than use the sink u bend?

Dishwashers usually just a need a single cold water feed, that blue thing in the other picture is the cold water feed to the washing machine or water softener you can get a simple Y-splitter that screws into the end of the cold water feed so you can connect two hoses to a single feed.

Not sure that would fit. I was thinking of getting a compression tee with two valves and just replacing the single valve on there.

Kemik · 29 Sep 2015 at 11:45

Slight update.

Installed the plug converter last night. Plugged the water softener back in and realised that the size of the softener plug means the dishwasher won't fit... So now I'm going back to the original one plug plus a heavy duty, 3 core extension cable which will sit on the floor. I think it should be fine as the water softener only needs electricity for the timer so can't really use many amps.

Took the 60cm cupboard out to have the space ready for a 15cm cupboard and the 45cm slimline dishwasher only to find when they replaced my work top they also moved the sink by a few cm and cut into the side of the existing cupboard to make the sink fit where they installed it... This means the new cupboard won't fit without some serious jigsaw work or they come out and replace the worktop again. GRRRRRR!

Kemik · 2 Oct 2015 at 08:46

Still going...

After discovering my hacksaw was pretty plunt it took me a while to cut through the old compression olive and install the new one. It's not dripping... for now.

My question now is; the dishwasher manual says it needs to be pretty much touching the worktop to stop it from tipping forward when opening the door. Unfortunately the gap is 8cm but the feet only raise it 6cm. Would you use wooden batten to raise it below the feet, install wooden support above the dishwasher between that and the worktop, or just leave it?

Thanks

ci_newman · 2 Oct 2015 at 09:44

I've never had that problem, and there's a 2-3 cm gap between our dishwasher and the worktop. With a slimline, the issue is going to be even less pronounced.

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 2 Oct 2015 at 12:19

Kemik said:
Still going...

After discovering my hacksaw was pretty plunt it took me a while to cut through the old compression olive and install the new one. It's not dripping... for now.

My question now is; the dishwasher manual says it needs to be pretty much touching the worktop to stop it from tipping forward when opening the door. Unfortunately the gap is 8cm but the feet only raise it 6cm. Would you use wooden batten to raise it below the feet, install wooden support above the dishwasher between that and the worktop, or just leave it?

Thanks

I don't think I would be too worried about that, suck it and see. Just be a little careful first few times you open it. I would think you would need some serious weight to risk it tipping, and if the back could raise 8cm then I still dont think your going to send the basket at the bottom running free across the kitchen, top one will be pretty much fixed in place on runners anyway.

If it did end up being an issue I would personally just glue a decent chuck of wood under the worktop near the back so the effective gap is very small, if the back can't raise, the front can't tip

Blackjack Davy · 5 Oct 2015 at 00:19

Kemik said:
My question now is; the dishwasher manual says it needs to be pretty much touching the worktop to stop it from tipping forward when opening the door.

Thanks

I've never had that problem even when tray on the door is fully loaded. I suppose it could be an issue if you were to stand on it. Sounds like one of these manual legalese where they try and indemnify themselves against all possible legal angles no matter how daft i.e. don't put your finger in the plug socket etc.

NoobCannon · 5 Oct 2015 at 07:17

Most dishwashers come with some form of bracket to attach to a unit either side to stop the tipping. (Just replaced my dishwasher this weekend) my old one had an L shaped bracket that fitted to top of dishwasher and then to the cubbord

My new one had two holes that you screwed from the inside of the dishwasher to secure it to the cubbord. (Obviously on the dry side of the water seal)

Mine is integrated tho so the doors wuite heavy once you fit the door to match the kitchen to it.

Check your manual