Before using your dishwasher, use caution by placing an old blanket or cardboard on the floor to protect counters and cabinets from scratches.
Take careful measurements of your cabinet opening’s height, width and depth so as to prevent ordering an appliance that won’t fit. This is essential in order to avoid ordering one that won’t.
Water Inlet
Installing a new dishwasher requires that the water inlet valve be installed correctly to avoid leakage or malfunction of any kind. Before beginning, make sure you switch off electricity at its circuit breaker and the water supply at its source under your sink – then set out a bowl or rag for any dripping connections that might appear during assembly.
With the use of a screwdriver, loosen and remove all screws securing the front access panel at the bottom of your dishwasher before disconnecting any wired and water supply connections. Label all wires connecting to valves so they can be reattached correctly later.
Remove and clean out the old water inlet valve before replacing it with one that includes a 90-degree elbow fitting that extends your hose to the top of the cabinet.
Drain Hose
Before installing a new dishwasher, first turn off its electrical power at your fuse box or circuit breaker and turn off its water source under your sink to prevent flooding your cabinet. Use a towel, shallow pan, or bucket to collect any spillover when disconnecting and reconnecting the drain hose; connect one end of the hose to an air gap mounted on your sink deck or countertop and attach its other end to a Y-branch tailpiece in your drain (if applicable).
If you choose to install an air gap, ensure it complies with local building codes. Otherwise, loop the drain line as high as possible and secure it, to prevent wastewater from your sink from siphoning back into your dishwasher. Afterward, route power cord and drain hose under rear legs of appliance. Now it is ready to be put into place!
Electrical Connections
Most of the components inside of a dishwasher are hidden behind an access panel at the base front of its unit, so tip it carefully onto its back to access them and take care when taking off its cover.
Locate and connect plumbing supplies to an inlet solenoid valve and drain fitting, followed by connecting electrical supplies for your dishwasher to a junction box (which may have a cover). Finally, feed each end of each power cord wire into its respective junction box opening on your dishwasher.
Splice the black hot wire of the branch circuit cable to the black dishwasher wire in the junction box; cap with a screwdriver and replace the cover of the junction box.
Power Cord
As the power cord connects your dishwasher to an electrical outlet, it is of vital importance that it has a three-prong grounded plug and meets its amp requirements.
Dishwashers can either be “hard-wired” with an NM circuit cable that feeds directly into its wire connection box, or installed using a standard appliance cord plugged into an electrical outlet. Both methods require basic hand tools and basic repair skills for installation.
To install a new dishwasher, begin by turning off all water and electricity sources (or unplugging it) for the current one. Enlist someone’s help tilting up the unit so you can route power cord, drain hose and water supply lines through sink cabinet opening. Make sure the drain hose dangles freely so it does not become tangled under your dishwasher and run a test cycle to verify all connections are secure before running your final test cycle to check all is in working order.