Tales from the dishwasher

1am, early Sunday morning. A wild beeping rouses me from sleep. The dishwasher, close to finishing its cycle, has detected a leak, and won’t shut up about it.

I try to work out what’s happening. The support page in the app tells me not to unplug the dishwasher, lest the anti-leak feature stop working.

I pull out the bottom filter and see a broken piece of plastic. I can’t work out where it’s from. With the filter removed, I can see the dishwasher draining away and refilling the water, loudly frothing the soapy water every minute or so.

I can’t stop it. I press the buttons, to no avail. The beeping stops temporarily, but restarts when I try to reset the controls. I worry about waking the kids, but it turns out rousing teenagers is hard for a broken dishwasher.

Frustrated, tired and without too many options, I turn off the water supply, yank the plug from the wall and use a small measuring cup to remove as much water from the bottom as I can.

Now… does anyone know a good dishwasher repairer?