If you plan to hard-wire your dishwasher, switch off all electricity at your main panel. For those who will use a power cord instead, open its shipping box and remove any insulation or styrofoam that might block its path.
Flip your dishwasher onto its back, locate and take steps to access panels for its water supply line, drain hose and power cord before reading its user manual for specific instructions.
Electrical Connections
Before installing a dishwasher, both its plumbing and electrical connections must be completed. You should ensure that its own dedicated circuit can support its use, and that its current rating meets household needs.
The power cord for your dishwasher may either be hardwired directly to the breaker box, or connected through an appliance cord that plugs directly into a wall outlet. When hardwiring directly, make sure you leave extra wires (at least 3-4 feet in length) looped behind it so it can easily be unplugged for service when required.
No matter how the power cord is connected, the first step must always be shutting off the main house water supply valve or opening a faucet to drain existing water lines before beginning installation of a new dishwasher. Next, locate and open up your dishwasher’s junction box cover plate if necessary before mounting its coverplate back over it and installing its cover. Finally, bore holes into your cupboard sidewall in order to accommodate for the cables or hoses as required.
Water Connections
Shutting off the water supply line to your house as well as its power cable (if hard-wiring direct). Locate and switch off both at your kitchen’s breaker box.
If the existing under-sink water supply tube is copper, remove its nut and install one designed specifically for dishwashers; these are available at home centers or hardware stores. For flexible stainless steel tubing that’s already there, leave it as-is but purchase longer tubing to provide enough length to connect both dishwasher lines and drain hoses.
Attach the new tubing to the dishwasher using a compression fitting, tightening it by hand before tightening with wrench. Be mindful not to kink the line as that could lead to leakage at that point. Run one end of the new tubing under the sink to an extra stop valve on its hot water line that leads up to your faucet.
Drain Connections
Before connecting your dishwasher’s plumbing connections, carefully review its instructions. Make sure you connect to the appropriate pipe and drain. Usually this means connecting hot water supply line and drain hose.
Your dishwasher’s drain hose inlet should have a round, threaded opening; use one that comes pre-equipped with a 90-degree elbow or install one yourself to avoid kinks in your water line.
Some localities require the dishwasher to connect to an air gap before the sink or garbage disposal inlet to prevent sewer gas from backflowing into the kitchen. In such a scenario, shape its drain hose into a high arc prior to connecting it to the P-trap of your sink.
Assemble all wires, starting from white (white to white and black to black), into one junction box using wire nuts before attaching each cover on its receptacle and turning on power; once finished, connect and test out your dishwasher in full cycle mode to check its positioning as well as all its connections.
Installation
Dishwashers can be an efficient labor-saving appliance, but before using it you must connect water, power, and drain lines to it. Turn off both power (via circuit breaker) and water (from under sink valve).
Carefully turn the dishwasher onto its back in order to make electrical and plumbing connections easier to access. Unscrew and remove the thin access panel at its front base before locating its junction box – either as a square metal box with cover, or three colored terminal connectors which look like rectangular slots with screws at their top edges.
Connect a flexible supply line from the dual-outlet shutoff valve to both your sink’s faucet and dishwasher’s inlet using hose clamps, making sure clean water flows directly into the machine; add a 90-degree elbow as necessary if necessary to avoid kinks; wrap Teflon tape around its threads at the dishwasher inlet before tightening using an adjustable wrench until snug.