Installing a Dishwasher
Posted by Wayne
When we were purchasing our appliance set the salesman asked us if we wanted to have their guys install the appliances, and I told him I could handle it but I was curious about installing the microwave because I had such a tough time getting the old one removed. He told me if I could install the dishwasher, I could easily install the microwave. That removed my fears about the microwave because I knew the dishwasher would be a piece of cake.
It certainly didn’t hurt that I removed the old dishwasher so I had a good understanding of how the new one would go in. There are 3 things you have to connect: the dishwasher drainage, the water supply line, and the hardwired electricity. The water supply line has it’s own shutoff valve underneath the sink and the electricity is on its own breaker, both of which I turned off before removing the old dishwasher.
I unpacked the new dishwasher, taped down some butcher paper over our new hardwood floors so it wouldn’t get scratched, and hauled the dishwasher over to right in front of its new home.
The only speed bump in installing this new dishwasher was the granite countertops. If you have laminate or tile covered wood countertops, the dishwasher will screw into the countertop from underneath to keep it from moving or tipping out when you open the door. Obviously screwing into the granite is not an option, nor is leaving the dishwasher loose underneath the counter.
The installation manual did give two options for dealing with granite. One was to order a special kit so it could screw in sideways into the cabinet rather than the countertop. The other option is to lag bolt it to the floor. The installation manual actually warns that lag bolting the dishwasher to the floor is difficult so you might not want to attempt it.
The dishwasher itself stands on two steel runners (like skis) so it can easily slide into place. Each runner has a hole directly in the middle underneath the dishwasher for bolting it too the floor. I could see that the space between the dishwasher and the floor is limited so it would be a little awkward reaching under there with tools, but despite what the manual said about it being difficult I went with the lag-bolt option. These were not provided with the dishwasher.
The first step was to push the dishwasher into place underneath the cabinet to get it positioned correctly. Once I thought it looked right I reached underneath with a sharpie and marked the runner holes onto the floor. I pulled the dishwasher all the way back out and pre-drilled the holes with a drill bit slightly smaller than the lag bolts I picked up at Home Depot. Now I knew that when (if) I got the dishwasher bolted to the floor, it would be positioned correctly.
Connecting the water supply line back to the dishwasher was simple enough. It required installing a small 90 degree fitting into the bottom of the dishwasher, and the water supply line would connect to that fitting. The fitting was not provided with the dishwasher. I can see not providing the lag bolts, but come on Fridgidaire! This piece is a necessity! Fortunately I still had the old dishwasher in the garage and was able to salvage the fitting I needed. I removed the old fitting, tore away the old teflon tape, retaped it, applied pipe dope, (per my plumbing tips) and screwed it into the bottom of the dishwasher. I reconnected the water supply line to the fitting and turned the valve on to check its water tightness.
Connecting the electricity was also pretty straight forward. There is a small junction box on the bottom front of the dishwasher. Once the front of it was removed, there were two wires connected to the dishwasher contained in the box (white, black). There was a hole in the back of the box to feed in the wire from the wall. Once the wire was fed in, it was just a matter of connecting the white and black wires together with wire nuts and the ground (gold wire) screwed directly onto the dishwasher. I pushed everything neatly back into the junction box and replaced the front.
The last step was to feed the drainage hose into a hole in the sink cabinet. This hose was not long enough to go all the way to the final location while the dishwasher was not in its final position, so I’d have to pull it into the sink cabinet as I pushed the dishwasher into place.
Everything was connected, and I pushed the dishwasher back under the cabinet. Every foot or so I’d stop and pull more drainage hose into the sink cabinet until the dishwasher was all the way back.
Once the dishwasher was in position I reached underneath with the lag bolts and a ratchet and secured the dishwasher to the floor on each side. Because the holes were pre-drilled, I knew the dishwasher was in the right position.
The last step was to feed the dishwasher drainage hose down the drainage pipe. As discussed in a previous post, Colorado code is slightly different than eastern states where the drainage hose could be connected directly to the garbage disposal. See my post on kitchen sink plumbing for more info.
I turned on the water, went downstairs and flipped the dedicated breaker for the dishwasher, and we happily washed our first load of dishes in months!
After
3 Responses to “Installing a Dishwasher”
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March 6th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Microwaves are pretty easy to install! We found it was quite doable, even WITHOUT the template for hole drilling (had to make our own)…
March 6th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Thanks Jennifer! I’m actually about a month behind on writing this blog and I have since installed the microwave. It really was easy.
I am impressed that you were able to do yours without a template!
May 13th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Hey there! My wife and I just got a dishwasher (go Whirlpool!) and I will be roughing the installation. The instructions seem simple enough, but it’s always nice to have a pictorial in color from someone who knows to help out. Awesome article!