My dishwasher freezes up during these bitter cold (-25 degree nights, -5 degree highs in the day) spells. I have a heater in the empty space beside it where a cupboard goes but there is none. But even after 3 days it still won't allow the water in. Can I manually put water (if so, how many gallons???) in it & press start? I do not want to destroy my dishwasher.
I put in only clean dishes, I use it for sanitizing them essentially (my drain is fine, I did check it to see if it needed cleaning just as a precaution). I cannot pull out the dishwasher nor have a professional come in. I need a cheap easy fix until the weather warms up. (Besides take them all out & wash by hand-which is what I plan to do the rest of winter. Electric heater costs too much.) It has done this each Winter during extreme cold spells since I moved here to Wyoming so I'm certain it is a frozen water line, not the dishwasher itself.
Best Answer
I am the original person who wrote this. My dishwasher is in the corner of the kitchen. Someone once remodeled the kitchen & took out the door that use to be there. Unfortunately they didn't insulate the wall they replaced it with. As a result that corner of this house gets really cold. I have tried using a small heater in the enclosed space next to the dishwasher but that didn't resolve the problem. I've also used a hairdryer under it; still no luck. It doesn't leak anywhere which always amazes me. For 8 years now the dishwasher doesn't work once it gets bitter cold here in Wyoming, but works fine starting in late Spring.
So I wanted to know if I could just put in hot water when the proper cycle arose? My dishwasher is now 10 years olds so I decided, "What the heck? Worse outcome: buy a new dishwasher". No one had an answer so I decided this year to just do it. I put in 1 1/2 gallons for the pre-wash, wash & rinse cycles. This required being in the kitchen the entire time so I didn't miss a cycle. WORKED FINE in my Kenmore dishwasher. Hope others have the same luck.
I don't use my dishwasher but once every 3 weeks or so (I hand wash a lot) & I was recently told I should use it every week. Something about them sitting isn't good. So I'll try that also & see if that prevents it from 'freezing up' (I'm still keeping the little heater next to it on too.)