Flooding dishwasher

Hi everyone,

My mother woke up to a flooded kitchen a few days ago which originated from her dishwasher, a Hotpoint LST216A, despite it having an anti-flood float and an anti-flood inlet hose. I initially suspected a drain pump issue so I ordered a replacement part, however, when removing the old pump, a piece of plastic fell from it that had clearly been impeding the impeller. When I replaced it and ran the dishwasher, the pump clearly works well, furuously pumping water out of the dishwasher. However, after 30 seconds of running a rinse cycle, the machine beeps and the Normal wash light flashes, with the drain pump then continuously running to expell all water. I’ve noticed also that if you turn it off and then on again at the mains socket, water starts flowing into the dishwasher even when the appliance is turned off. If I open the door, the water stops immediately and starts again on closing. If I then turn the machine on, the drain pump kicks in again and the Normal wash light once again flashes. When troubleshooting the flashing light, it states that it’s an Inlet Solenoid Valve Malfunction.

I suspect that the original flood was caused by an inlet fault causing the dishwasher to fill with water and when the old pump tried to expell it, it was unable to because of the piece of plastic I found. I initially suspected the inlet solenoid but given I think it is this which cuts off the water when I open the door, I don’t think that is the problem. On the other hand, I tested the resistance over the contacts and it gave a resistance of about 3500ohms, which seems a little high compared to the 500-1500ohms measured when someone was testing an inlet solenoid online. I can’t actually find a replacement part suitable for my machine anyway. Could it be an electrical circuit malfunction, where the dishwasher is commanding the water to be shut off when it should?

Any help would really be appreciated. I’ve spent far too long tinkering with this now and will need to give up soon. The machine isn’t expensive enough to pay an engineer to come out and believe it or not I can’t order a comparable machine at the moment because there are no reasonably-priced slimline dishwashers in stock anywhere!

Many thanks,
Patrick