Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

[eastlmark]

Having spent the majority of the past few months doing not much else than removing leaked water from the base of late Bosch dishwashers, was wondering if anyone has located the cause?

[simtoms]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

After pulling my hair out with my last leaky Bosch D/W, I noticed moisture building up around the main sump gasket.
New sump complete with gasket has cured that one at least 😀

[nomadPaul]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

There are 4 main culprits.
1. Left hand side water inlet vent seal. It’s the large plastic collar on the inside of the tub approx level with lower basket. These can leak through the small round seal. You can normally see the residue on the water inlet itself. There is a dedicated tool designed to tighten the collar up.
2. Door seal . Self explanatory really
3. Sump seal . There is a small rubber seal built in to the top of the sump that can degrade and cause leakage. It’s not always obvious although sometimes you get a limescale build up on the sump/tub join.
4. On the plastic tub versions , they can actually leak from the join between the bottom edge of the tub where it’s fixed into the plastic base. This is normally obvious from the yellowy/white grungy residue filling the tub/base groove.

Unfortunately, all these leaks tend to be very small and it’s an accumulation over a few washes that finally tips the balance.

Other causes include custoners using separate salt and rinse aid BUT also all in one tablets causing overfoaming and p
oor installations causing doors not to close fully.

I can tell you now that BSH engineers are as frustrated about these leaks as anyone !

[nomadPaul]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

Oh and I meant to add that a lot of the time they happen towards the end and at the hottest parts of the cycle. I’ve watched it through a quick wash with no signs of a leak but been back within days because the base has filled again…..yet the exact same machine WILL leak on the intensive cycle at the end of the wash or final rinse part of the cycle.

[eastlmark]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

Thanks for the responses, glad its not just my bad luck then, it gets you down a bit after the 4th one in a day and not much job satisfaction either and the probability of a recall does us no favors either.
Cannot understand why dishwasher manufacturers don’t cotton on the fact that these faults must cost so much in service alone, as well as peeing customers off against their brand. answer is obvious, open the bases up like they are on their washing machines- what’s the difference? Why do dishwashers have to collect every little drop of leaked water?

[Rograbbit]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

Yes I think the first manufacturer who is brave enough to make their appliances more serviceable, and reliable will keep their customers. Unless Bosch deal with these issues quickly, it will only fuel the ” whats the point in paying more, theyre just as bad attitude”. With social media these days those chats at what used to be the school gates, can cover a very large area, and very rapidly.

[aqualectric]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

Got one of these in ATM…..fitted a new heat pump as the heater had failed and now E15 “base flooded” fault. No leaks from my repair – seems to be leaking from the side air chamber seal (thanks NomadPaul for the pointer!! 😀 ) Going to seal it and try again ….and hope.
Definitely not a fan of these crap dishwashers; I used to recommend BSH dishwashers highly; now I don’t dare as several customers have told me they are not at all impressed with their machines. Although it’s not my fault, you can’t help feeling a little guilty for telling them to buy better and buy Bosch.
I really think that these new dishwashers are no better than Beko now. Bosch should be concerned….but probably aren’t….. 😈
What is worth recommending now?

Steve.

[Steven]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

Steve, I had a built in one, found the leak from the side chamber as mentioned, only noticed it by chance a small drip but over a matter of a few washes would e15.
You can tighten from cold but suggest put it on a quick wash and heat up first then tweak it bit more, that seems to sort it out.

Steven

[aqualectric]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

I am just about at the end of my tether with this machine……… 😈 😈

Resealed sump; leak stopped. Leaked from side inlet. Sealed and re tightened that; no leaks for 5+ washes….small leak – resealed again. New leak from somewhere…… 😈
So I cleaned and dried the base, wrapped all the hoses and stuffed the corners of the base with kitchen paper to detect where the hell it was coming from.

Yay, no leaks. Ran the machine 7 more cycles and noticed the paper at the back near the hose entry hatch was wet. FFS!!!

I am now thinking I need to strip the machine down and systematically seal absolutely every possible water inlet outlet and seal there is on the machine. Of course, I have better things to do, but as there are so many of these machines out there, a complete solution is what I’m after as this problem is obviously going to be commonplace soon.

How do you get the sump off? The base is held on by a twist in the lower stainless tub seam…. daren’t twist that straight unless that’s what you do…..

Any help on this PLEASE…… 😥

Steve.

[Martin]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

aqualectric wrote:How do you get the sump off? The base is held on by a twist in the lower stainless tub seam…. daren’t twist that straight unless that’s what you do……

[aqualectric]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

Thanks Martin…so I assume once the sump is unscrewed it can be withdrawn from the machine without disturbing the cabinet to base fixed positions? I might have to try it and see…. machine still has small leak at the corner under the outlet hose (rear left). Yet the paper wrapped around the inlet and outlet hoses is dry……it’s driving me crazy!!!

Steve.

[Martin]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

Check your email Steve. 😉

[aqualectric]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

Found the phantom leak!!

Drips out of the bottom oval hole of the airbox directly into a rectangular hole moulded into the back corner part of the base tray. You can’t really see it drip as the distance between the airbox hole and the base is maybe 2mm at most. Filled that base hole with kitchen paper and yes, the paper is soaking but the base is dry!!

OK, celebrations over….. 😥

Why is the condenser able to drip water down the hole and into the base tray; after 4 washes there was quite a pool at the back of the tray under the machine. It hadn’t tripped the float switch but given time it easily could. The old BSH dishwashers had a breather hose at the side of the machine which never gave any problems. That hose went from the right side of the tub, round a loop and into the base tray. This airbox just has the breather hole open at the bottom of the airbox so the steam condensation is just going to drip continuously into the base on hot cycles.

Basic science 101…..hot air / steam rises, steam expands and pushes into the airbox space, condenses to form water that flows downwards by that thing called gravity. So why not put a big hole in the bottom of the airbox to let that water drip into the base…. I’ve run the machine 4 times on Intensive tonight and every time it has leaked from that hole…OMG… it’s too stupid for words!! Without the paper to catch the drips they will end up in the base tray. 😈

How can you fix this? The airbox is stock and a new one is the same shape with the oval hole at the bottom. Martin kindly tried to help but there was nothing on this I’m afraid. Thanks again Martin, it’s much appreciated!!

Help please, I’ve run out of answers and patience…… 👿

Steve.

[gandh1]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

apart from the bin or a much delayed bsh “upgrade” i cant see theres any point in continiuing. spoke to bosch about this today weirdly enough and their response is customer opinion suggests hot washes are used sparingly, at most once a week, as their customer feedback is their customers use the fast wash all the time unless food is noticeably baked on. reminds me of beko’s “we can offer guarantees on -15*c refrigeration because it probably wont drop below 0*c in britain very often…

[aqualectric]

Re: Bosch, Siemens heat pump style dishwashers base leaks

Put a small plastic piece under the vent to deflect the water from the base tray to the side panel area. No leaks at all in the base. Yes!!

Not really comfortable with leaving the deflector in there as the condensate will drip on the door spring below……or just put it back as it was and hope that there is not enough water to cause an E15. Stupid Hobson’s choice but nothing else I can do.
Really not looking forward to yet another heat pump change tomorrow; that’s 3 this week.

Definitely not recommending BSH dishwashers any more.

Thanks to all that helped!!

Steve.

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