Dishwasher rust hole repair?

[ma22]

I have a Bosch SMV50E00GB dishwasher, which is about 2.5 years old. It stopped working properly (‘check water’ light was coming on) and it turns out the problem was a small rust hole caused by spilled dishwasher salt. The engineer who came out said the machine needs to be completely replaced.

Obviously I’ve learned my lesson now (the expensive way!) and will always rinse off any spilt salt in a dishwasher in future, but I wondered if there’s any way to repair the hole? Can it be soldered over or something? It just seems like an utter waste to get rid of an otherwise perfectly fine machine because of a tiny hole, and it’s just more stuff ending up in landfill/recycling.

On a related note, is salt spillage more of a problem on some machines than others? My previous dishwasher was a Miele, which I inherited with the flat, and I never thought twice about whether there was salt lying around or not and never had any problems in 8 years of using it. Surely stainless steel interiors should be rust proof?

Any advice gratefully received, thanks 🙂

[kwatt]

Re: Dishwasher rust hole repair?

Worth a go but, I can’t guarantee it will last…

http://shop.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/quikstee … poxy-putty

There’s been a huge debate about stainless steel of late, especially so in the USA, where there’s been issues with fridge doors and the likes rusting due to a low nickel content in the mix if I recall. I’ve been paying attention to it as no doubt it will happen here soon enough.

It’s all about the chemistry in the stainless basically and, to bring down the cost, they leave out the expensive stuff. So lemon juice, other acids and so on will eat through it in time and cause pitting or rusting.

Basica reason, customers won’t pay the extra for the good stuff and simply assume (wrongly) that one stainless steel is the same as any other stainless steel.

Good stainless steel costs a fair bit more than not so good stainless steel but, it’s still stainless steel.

Confused?

K.

[ma22]

Re: Dishwasher rust hole repair?

Thanks very much for the info and the tip.

Upon closer inspection I did find a very small hole (about the size of a pinhead) near the bottom of the machine, on the side of the slope near the salt reservoir. However there was no rust near it, so it doesn’t look like it was caused by rust. No idea how it occurred (I stupidly didn’t ask the engineer to show me where the hole was at the time, I just took his word for it). But I’m assuming it is not supposed to be there!

I will buy some of that putty and block it up, it’s worth a try. Thanks again 🙂

[EFS]

Re: Dishwasher rust hole repair?

This will work but will need some dismantling as you need access to both sides of the hole.

Drill out the hole to the size of a pop rivet and remove any swarf and clean with emery cloth.
Plug the hole with a stainless pop rivet with stainless washers both sides and sandwiched with epoxy putty or Araldite.

I did this to my daughter’s Siemens dishwasher three years ago and it is still holding up.

Good luck

Steve

[ma22]

Re: Dishwasher rust hole repair?

Thanks Steve for the tip… that sounds like a good fix, problem is I’m not sure on my capabilities for dismantling the machine and getting to the other side of the hole, I am no DIY expert! In fact I think even getting the machine out would be a challenge as it’s a tight fit (it is an integrated one).

I will try the epoxy putty from one side though. Or perhaps the hole could be soldered over? It’s such a tiny hole, I can’t believe it should be necessary to junk a whole machine just for that, and if it is then something is seriously wrong with the way things are made these days…

[Martin]

Re: Dishwasher rust hole repair?

Often the hole or holes are in the immediate vacinity of the fine mesh filter. Just on the edge of the stainless steel pressing, giving little room in which to plug the hole with metal putty sealant let alone pop rivets. Too much sealant and the filter will no longer seat correctly so caution is advised. I’ve successfully repaired several using the metal putty sealant. Tiny holes plugged easily just on one side, the larger holes requiring the tub removing so both sides can be applied evenly. 😀

[ma22]

Re: Dishwasher rust hole repair?

Update on this – I have put a small amount of quiksteel pressed flat over and around the hole (yes it was near the filter, but I only used a little bit), and it worked!! Well, the machine has done two cycles seemingly fine, so I’ll see how it goes over the next few weeks, fingers crossed…

Thanks so much for the advice, you have (hopefully) saved me the cost of a new machine! I actually previously had two engineers out to look at it, one local and one from Bosch, and they both told me they couldn’t fix it and I’d have to replace it. Very unimpressed with them, if indeed the quiksteel option turns out to be a long term fix, and doesn’t give me much confidence in any repairmen I may call out in future. But this forum is very useful, thank you again. 😀

[Martin]

Re: Dishwasher rust hole repair?

ma22 wrote:, and doesn’t give me much confidence in any repairmen I may call out in future.

We that advised you on the quick steel fix ARE “repairmen”, so sadly you were unlucky in finding two without the knowledge we were able to impart. 😉

[timdowning]

Re: Dishwasher rust hole repair?

There is a possibility they didn’t want to risk such a repair due to the fact if it didn’t work they would be held responsible. Just a thought…
(Similar argument to whether a heater relay can be safely re-soldered).

[kwatt]

Re: Dishwasher rust hole repair?

Very true Tim.

Many repair companies won’t try to do stuff that could be considered, will we say, not perhaps 100{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} pukka because if it goes wrong (even when they tell people it’s such) it can come back on them.

K.

[Martin]

Re: Dishwasher rust hole repair?

An official BSH service repair was to use silver solder on these machines.

[ma22]

Re: Dishwasher rust hole repair?

Martin wrote:

ma22 wrote:
, and doesn’t give me much confidence in any repairmen I may call out in future.

We that advised you on the quick steel fix ARE “repairmen”, so sadly you were unlucky in finding two without the knowledge we were able to impart. 😉

Sorry, yes that’s what I mean. I’m in north London – seems to be a bit of a lottery who you get, unless you know someone good, which I don’t. I do get the point about them not wanting to be held accountable, but for an easy fix like this they could have just told me I could try the putty but on my own risk.

Anyway, lesson learned, I will first drop in here for advice in future 🙂

[annechanson]

Re: Dishwasher rust hole repair?

I also have a pin-sized hole in the bottom of my dishwasher next to the salt dispenser.

My authorized repairman here in Denmark also told me that it could not be fixed (he could not guarantee that a sealant would keep it “leak free”) and that we should chuck it.

It is a Whirlpool ADG 8900 FD – bought only 2 yrs and 7 months ago for DKK 4500/ $700, so I would like to try quik steel as well.

I cannot get quik steel in DK, and before I buy it online, I want to make sure I am getting the right product. Is it “Blue Magic 16002TRI QuikSteel Steel Reinforced Epoxy Putty Repair”?

Thank you.

annechanson

[Martin]

Dishwasher rust hole repair?

That is the stuff. You can also buy locally in DK a repair kit for leaking vehicle fuel (petrol) tanks which is just as good.

[Author]

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