Stored Dishwasher

[Stephen E.]

I had a dishwasher that I had pulled when renovating a unit and putting in stainless steel appliances. I kept it in the garage thinking it would be useful if a basic white dishwasher failed in one of our other units. Lo and behold one did fail, and my handyman installed the dishwasher. All was fine, it ran well and the tenant had no complaints. Then suddenly they complained that it would not drain. The appliance repair man was there for an hour cleaning gunk out of it. I have not spoken with him yet but the tenant has said there was black mold in there and that the appliance repair man said it could have been stored for a while.

The tenant has run vinegar through the unit several times to get rid of anything remaining and appears to be happy. We had it repaired within a couple of days of her making contact. But the issue of stored dishwashers possibly accumulating mold worries me. Does anyone know if there are best practices in storing dishwashers and minimising the chances of anything like this occuring?

Of course there is the question of how the dishwasher worked fine for about six months and then was suddenly plugged up. When we installed it the tenant said she would rarely use it, that her kids might once in a while when they cooked for themselves. Could they have used it and left it without draining fully, hence the problem? I don't understand how it could have worked fine for an extended period and then run into problems that have been attributed to a longstanding issue to to storage.

I am minded to buy a new dishwasher in future and throw out or sell old ones. Home  Depot Canada has a basic Amana model for $349 and it is energy star rated. Dishwashers are light so they could be loaded in the van, and my handyman can install for $100.

[Roy N.]

@Stephen E.

Your garage must be heated, otherwise your lucky the water left in the dishwasher didn't freeze.   When storing appliances, clean them (as mentioned, vinegar works well) and drain them (or you could try RV waterline antifreeze) before they go into storage.  We once purchased a property which came with two spare washing machines, which had been put away wet in an unheated shed -- they were little more than scrap metal when we pulled them out.