Sunday, May 31, 2009

Design Flaw


So my Frigidaire FDBB4365FC3 dishwasher has a design flaw.

With the water seals in the dishwasher working correctly to prevent leaks, steam generated in the wash cycle has to try to force its way out of surprisingly small vents in the door.

These vents are usually obscured by adjacent cabinet doors in most kitchen setups and are not able to get the steam away safely. This can result in steam damage or damage to the circuitry inside the dishwasher door.

The leaks I experienced with the dishwasher were a known issue to Frigidaire/Electrolux and I am sure that from the many calls they have received on circuit board issues they are not oblivious to this design flaw. But they are not doing anything about it proactively for the people out there who already purchased a dishwasher.

After realizing that my current model is flawed I started looking at other dishwashers in local stores and realized that most dishwashers vent out of the front of the unit. Some of the more stylish ones force steam out of the bottom of the door. A number of models from Frigidaire and Kitchen Aid vent out of the sides of the doors and are likely to run you into the same problems I had.

As far as I can tell the following models are affected:

FDBB4365FC
FDBB4365FB
FDBB4365FS
GLD4050RHS
GLD4050RHB
PLD4050RHC
PLD4555RFC

If the model isn't listed above, that doesn't mean you are not going to experience problems with your dishwasher - Frigidaire does not seem to know how to make quality dishwasher products and seem to build their business model around getting you through your first year of warranty into the part where it becomes easier to just go out and buy a new one.

So in short, if you are looking at buying a dishwasher do yourself a favor and do the following:
  1. Check out Consumer Reports reliability survey (Aug 2007). Frigidaire is by no means the worst, but there are plenty of good options out there. It's not like there are no good $600 dishwashers to buy.
  2. Search extensively for the dishwasher you are planning to buy. Read reviews. Look at reviews on other models because the dishwasher companies keep changing their model numbers.
  3. Try and find a store that has the dishwasher to look at and review it with a critical eye. How does it vent? How sturdy does it feel?
  4. Save yourself some time and just avoid Frigidaire for dishwashers altogether.

6 comments:

  1. Regarding your comment and picture of the vents on this model, you are wrong. Those little vent holes on the side are just for heat to escape from the control board. The heat/steam from inside the dishwasher gets forced out under the bottom of the door during the dry cycle.

    This quote is from the tech sheet for your dishwasher: "When the control advances to the “dry” portion of
    the cycle, a vent actuation solenoid is closed.
    This opens the vent valve and starts the vent fan
    both located in the top right rear corner of the tub.
    The fan draws in the air from outside the tub,
    forcing the hot, humid air down and out the
    bottom of the outer door panel. This outside,
    cooler, dryer air helps to speed evaporation of
    water from the hot dishes. At the same time the
    heating element is continually cycled on and off.
    On some models the dry portion of the cycle can
    be extended to improve drying performance."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Please look at page page 12 of the service manual here http://frigidaireservicetips.com/pdfs/463_9.pdf this will explain the drying system. It does not vent out those tiny holes on the side of the control panel. If your cabinets are getting ruined then the door is not sealing, most likely due to the installation. If the unit is not level and square in the opening the door will not seal properly. Also the control panel hitting the cabinets can prevent the door from closing all the way and sealing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the posts. I should update my blog to state that the air is supposed to vent out the bottom but because of shoddy seal design in the bottom of the door (see water leak/seal problems post) it can and very likely will vent through the inside of the door, sauteeing the panel electronics.

    The small vents are designed to prevent this from becoming a fatal flaw but in a flush mounted design they are of little help.

    Most likely the damage caused by the known-to-be-faulty bottom seal failure compromised the design and led to the other issues. When I took a look inside the door (once it had been lemoned), it was clear that steam was moving through the door (either by design or through a fault seal near the bottom) -you could see discoloration from the steam. (Ie. In my case it wasn't a top seal problem)

    Thanks again for the correction - there are still enough design flaws
    with this model that I stand by my warnings.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
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