Installing a dishwasher adds convenience to your kitchen, but requires certain home improvement skills for proper installation. Follow these dishwasher installation tips in order to quickly complete this project and complete it successfully.
Start by setting the leveling legs so the dishwasher sits halfway within your cabinet opening, before running power, water and drain hoses from there.
Unpack the Dishwasher
Before connecting any hoses or power cords, locate your home’s circuit breaker box and turn off electricity for your kitchen. In addition, shut off your water supply valve under your sink to make the process faster.
Disconnect the old dishwasher’s drain hose from the sink pipe or garbage disposal and place a bucket and drop cloth underneath, just in case any of it leaks out of its line. Remove its front access panel before connecting new electrical connections according to product manual instructions.
Measure the Space
Be certain that the dishwasher fits into its designated space without interfering with any other aspects of the kitchen. Clear out the area around cabinet openings, and use a tape measure to determine interior space width; if measurements differ significantly, choose the smaller number as your preference.
Measure the height of your niche and take note of the results. Accurate measurements will make shopping for a dishwasher much simpler, helping ensure it fits seamlessly into your kitchen setup. Documenting these measurements provides invaluable reference points throughout the installation process.
Install the Leveling Legs
An automated dishwasher can make life much simpler, but before fastening it to cabinets or countertops, it’s essential that it’s level. Consult the manual of your model for details; in general this means loosening a nut and moving the feet up or down accordingly.
Before beginning work on any unit, switch off both electricity and water at their respective sources – your circuit breaker and sink faucet valve respectively. Carefully tipping it onto its back, take care when unbolting its front access panel (a thin rectangular kickplate at its base) then take care when unfastening any screws holding it in place before searching for its junction box – an oval metal box connected by electrical wires.
Connect the Drain Hose
Befor you install your dishwasher, it is necessary to connect its water supply line and drain hose. Turn off electricity at the circuit breaker, turn off water at the valve under your sink and disconnect any existing hoses before connecting the new ones.
Get help from another person to carefully wiggle the dishwasher on its back before removing its front access panel to visually inspect and make necessary connections.
Install a dishwasher by running 12/2 branch-circuit cable from its junction box under your sink through holes in your cabinet floor and into its dishwasher. Splice together the black hot wire with white neutral and green grounding wires in the junction box before capping with wire connectors.
Connect the Electrical Connections
Starting the installation or replacement process requires turning off both electricity and water supplies – at both your circuit breaker and under-sink valve respectively. Next, ask someone to help move and place the appliance onto its back before taking steps such as unclipping its front access panel to access its wiring connections more easily.
If installing a new plumbing line, start by threading 1/2-inch flexible copper tubing from your dishwasher cabinet to the hot-water valve under your sink and connecting both ends securely with sealant tape. Cap the tubing off using compression nuts or couplers and attach it directly to your dishwasher’s inlet port.
Finalize the Installation
While dishwashers can save laborious work to install, they still require electrical and plumbing work to setup. Therefore, it’s crucial that the electricity at your circuit breaker be turned off, along with standard home improvement tools such as power drill, wrench, measuring tape, flashlight etc. in your toolkit for installation.
Before beginning, carefully locate where the dishwasher will reside and disconnect any existing water or electrical connections (Photo 1). Start by disconnecting one old connection, placing a bowl under your sink to collect any leaking water and installing a new supply line and drain hose to connect to the hot water valve (Photo 2).