# Intermittent water on floor from dishwasher...



## hikerguy (Aug 6, 2011)

Hello, 

We have a 10-year old GE Nautilus dishwasher that has recently been acting up. From time to time, after we run the dishwasher, we'll find a bit of water (maybe 2-3" wide and 2' long) to the left of the dishwasher (basically, just in from of the doors under the kitchen sink).

When it happened the last time (a few days ago), I pulled off the bottom plates of the dishwasher and looked underneath. BONE DRY. Opened the doors under the sink. BONE DRY.

We're puzzled about where the water is coming from, AND, what it's not happening every time. Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Andy


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## epson (Jul 28, 2010)

It sounds like your seal/gasket around the door is worn.


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## hikerguy (Aug 6, 2011)

But if the seal was worn, why wouldn't it leak EVERY time?


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## epson (Jul 28, 2010)

The seal could be worn on one side only or have a crack.


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## hikerguy (Aug 6, 2011)

Ok, gotcha. I have ordered the gasket, along with the left and right baffles (best price I found was Amazon of course). I'll re-post in a few weeks and let everyone know if that fixed it. My home warranty company was going to charge $100 service call. I spent less than $60 on everything, so if this works, I'll come out ahead. 

Thanks,

Andy


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## hardwareman (Oct 9, 2010)

if it leaked out of the gasket, why was it dry underneath when you pulled off the bottom plate. I think you jumped the gun a little bit ordering the gasket. If the gasket was the problem you should be able to see a steady drip coming from the bottom. I think maybe you have something elase happening there. You should at least leave the bottom off and run it and observe. I think you just wasted $60.00


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## hikerguy (Aug 6, 2011)

Guess I failed to mention this. One time when we had water on the floor, I pulled the panels off and they did have some water in them (although I still didn't see 
any water anywhere under the dishwasher itself).

So, I'm crossing my fingers here. I took a mirror and looked at the bottom 
of the door and could see that the gasket was pulled away from the door 
a bit (the very ends of the gasket). Since it's 10 years old, it's probably due
for replacement anyway. 

Andy


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## kb3ca (Aug 22, 2008)

I had an intermittent leak. It turned out to be a bad gasket on the door latch. Easy repair.


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## hikerguy (Aug 6, 2011)

Well, I finally see what's happening. I did replace the baffles and main door gasket, but it happened again yesterday. It was in the middle of the "soap cycle". 

I saw soap and water on the floor, and when I opened the door, I saw tons of soap suds in the base of the unit (as would be expected). BUT, what appears to be happening is that so many suds are being generated that it's seeping over the "basin" (below the heating element) and spilling through between the door and the unit. Why it's not happening every time is a mystery to me. 

We're using those small packs that Cascade sells (is basically the detergent wrapped in plastic, that dissolves during the cleaning cycle). 

Any thoughts? Could I have a clogged drain? Should I try a different type of dishwasher soap?

Thanks,

Andy


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## epson (Jul 28, 2010)

Yeah you can try the finish powder not the power balls. Less suds on the powder.


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## Jacques (Jul 9, 2008)

You shouldn't see any suds. suds?=leak. some causes; those tablets are causing it to foam, someone put reg det in the rinse aid dispenser, rad is leaking into tub [should inject small amount in final rinse], or somehow[washing sponges?] you're introducing a sink det in d/w....that was the last good d/w GE made. it'll last 30yrs[prob need a motor/pump sometime]-then you're good for another ??yrs.


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## drh146 (Sep 5, 2011)

Check the level of the dishwasher. If the back is higher than the front, the water level inside the door is too high for the lower seal of the door. 

It could not be happening every time, because with really dirty load, the water takes longer to get through the filtersystems, therefore is higher in the bottom. also different programs use different amounts of water. auto vs. regular for example. with auto if it senses really dirty, then it may bring in extra water, whereas regular just has a set volume.


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## hikerguy (Aug 6, 2011)

We've been running the dishwasher with liquid dishwasher detergent for a couple of months now with NO overflow at all. So, I guess it was those power balls (they small packets of detergent that Cascade and others sell) that was causing it too "suds up" too much and overflow.

Thanks to all for pointing me in the right direction. 

Andy


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## OtherHand (Oct 29, 2008)

I had something similar. Came into the kitchen and found a pool of water under the dishwasher. Figured it was a bad seal. But then I looked in and saw lots of suds. That's not right, as automatic dish washing detergent is supposed to be low or no suds.

The answer was that my wife often puts her kitchen sponges into the dishwasher to give them a cleaning with the dishes. This time one of them had a good amount of regular hand dish washing soap in it. I think she was doing the equivalent of a "pre-wash" on the sponge. What was in the sponge was enough to contaminate the dishwasher and caused it to suds up like crazy. And for reasons not entirely clear to me, heavy suds in dishwashers can result in water escaping the chamber.

So always check for over-sudsing for an intermittent dishwasher leak.


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