Dishwasher Drawer Locked Up

[OldForester]

We have the Fisher-Paykel dishwasher which we installed new and absolutely love it.

Today, while dry camping, I had the generator running and the satellite internet dish going up at the same time I tried to open the dish drawer, which I had locked for traveling. There was too much exterior noise, and I was talking to another guy, and pushed the "unlock" button on the drawer to open it and show it off. I held the unlock button down too long, so that it locked again while I was pulling the drawer out. I just didn't hear the first three beeps signifying the drawer was unlocked.

The drawer is stuck about halfway out with what appears as the locking mechanism holding the drawer, and won't unlock to let it release and move. It's like the locking mechanism is frozen, and won't respond to the signal from the unlock button - it "beeps" but doesn't give the grinding sound it normally gives to lock or unlock the drawer.

Has anybody else had this problem, and figured out how to solve it? I have a Fisher-Paykel service person scheduled in a week or so to fix it on my Monaco Extended Warranty, but if there's a way to get this unlocked that I haven't figured out, it will save me my deductible on the insurance.

Thanks--

[OldForester]

We have the Fisher-Paykel dishwasher which we installed new and absolutely love it.

Today, while dry camping, I had the generator running and the satellite internet dish going up at the same time I tried to open the dish drawer, which I had locked for traveling. There was too much exterior noise, and I was talking to another guy, and pushed the "unlock" button on the drawer to open it and show it off. I held the unlock button down too long, so that it locked again while I was pulling the drawer out. I just didn't hear the first three beeps signifying the drawer was unlocked.

The drawer is stuck about halfway out with what appears as the locking mechanism holding the drawer, and won't unlock to let it release and move. It's like the locking mechanism is frozen, and won't respond to the signal from the unlock button - it "beeps" but doesn't give the grinding sound it normally gives to lock or unlock the drawer.

Has anybody else had this problem, and figured out how to solve it? I have a Fisher-Paykel service person scheduled in a week or so to fix it on my Monaco Extended Warranty, but if there's a way to get this unlocked that I haven't figured out, it will save me my deductible on the insurance.

Thanks--

[bdpreece]

Never had one not sure I want one but is there some way to drop all power to the unit so that it does a complete reset of its logic?

[Basil Shannon]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">is there some way to drop all power to the unit so that it does a complete reset of its logic? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Cycle power with the circuit breaker. Worth a try.

We absolutely love the dishwasher and run it almost every day.

[Old Rv'er]

Hold in the locking button for three-four beeps. Then push the power button, this should unlock it.

[bdpreece]

Yaa Monty. A man who has been there.

[OldForester]

Thanks for the suggestions. I previously tried Monty's suggestion on the power button and Basil's on recycling the breakers/disconnects each a number of times and they didn't solve the problem. I will try each again now that I have the coach back home, and before the technician comes on Thursday to repair it.

In the process, I have figured out how to take the front door off (the little plastic pins at the bottom of the drawer right behind the face have to be twisted out). And it's tricky to get the door back on, so watch how you take it off!

I think there's something about the locking mechanism that won't allow it to cycle in or out of it's locking slot when it's been engaged part of the way out, and doesn't have a slot in which to move. When I push the button for 3 beeps it stops like it signals it's going to unlock, but then doesn't cycle the mechanism. If hold the button down a few more seconds, it locks again, but doesn't cycle.

In any case, we absolutely love the dishwasher as well, and missed it on this last trip since we couldn't run it.

Getting the dishwasher out of cabinet, if we have to replace it, is no small task, either, from what I see after removing the drawers on the sides and bottom. I think we will have to take the frame out of the cabinet under the dishwasher to get it out, if we have to.

I'll keep you posted on this as we move along. My advice is don't keep holding the button down once it's finished its 3 or 4 beeps, and only do it when the door's closed!

[Old Rv'er]

Old Forrester,
If you reach up inside of the DW, between the space of the drawer and the enclosure on the left side-rear, you will feel the locking mechanism. Mine stuck open fully out one day, when I thought it was latched, and it flew open. You can manipulate this lever/whatever device with your hand, at least I could. I would make sure the breaker is off. You should be able to release the locking lever, and slide the drawer back in. Once the drawer is back in, cycle the locking process a couple of times to make sure it operates correctly.

The user's manual is useless and does not give you all the ways this thing operates.

The dishwasher is more trouble than I like, but uses way less water than doing them by hand. When loaded full, it uses about 3 gallons of water, for about two-three days dishes. If we had ordered the coach, would have preferred the full stove/oven instead.

[OldForester]

Monty,

Thanks for this tip. I didn't realize it was up in inside the drawer. Or between the drawer and the enclosure. I'm not quite sure how to get between the drawer and enclosure, so I'm assuming I can reach it from inside the DW. I'll go back to the storage area and check this process out.

I agree the user's manual is useless.

We really like the dishwasher, one of the reasons being that it does use less water than doing by hand and the other being we have a place to put dirty dishes without having to wash them right away, like when we're in a hurry to get going in the morning. We had ours installed when new in place of the full oven, because we also installed the Advantium oven. Now that' I've learned to use speedcook, I like it.

Thanks again, I'll let you know how it goes.

[J R Sprague]

When your drawers lock up you gotta be creative.

[OldForester]

Monty,

I went back to the coach and tried your suggestions. When I forcibly pulled the drawer all the way out,(which I had not tried earlier), and crawled underneath the drawer, I discovered our locking mechanism is a bar that presses down across the top of the dish drawer. When the drawer's all the way out it's past this bar and moves freely for a couple inches.

I could not find, the lever that releases this bar/locking mechanism. I'm thinking our dish drawers may be different in this area, since they're a year apart in age.

So I decided to power up the DW with drawer fully extended (past the pressure bar) and found the locking mechanism cycled to release, when I held the button for its five seconds (first one beep at 3 seconds, then one beep two seconds later). When the drawer was stuck and partially open, the locking mechanism wouldn't cycle. Once the drawer was fully open and away from the bar's pressure, it cycled fine.

So now that the mechanism cycled fine, I closed the drawer and cycled it several times from lock to unlock, and it worked fine.

My learning was that if it locks up again, to forcibly pull the drawer open all the way, away from the bar pressure, and lock/unlock the mechanism so that it will cycle and clear itself.

Monty, your suggestion gave the ideas I needed to pull the drawer open all the way and look for the locking mechanism. That gave me the ability to see the pressure bar and try cycling it with the drawer out of the way of the pressure, which is all it took. Your ideas helped me save a repair vist ($109 plus WA sales tax), and probably a $200 deductible on the extended warranty, so THANKS!!!!.

This forum continues to be great! We're starting to get better technical support than we got from the factory!

[Old Rv'er]

I am so glad I could be of assistance. This is what this forum is all about. I am sure you have posted something in the past which has helped me overcome or prevent a problem from happening because I'm new here in this RV and this type. Pay it forward, or what comes around goes around, which ever works.

Hopefully we will run across each other, because like you we live in Washington State too. The city, southern part of the state across the River from Portland. We are TT members, so you will find us in one of those parks more often than anyplace else.

Safe camping and driving down the road.