garbage disposal/dishwasher problem

[Cameron Robertson]

We just moved into a house and discovered that the dishwasher seems to be taking in water from the sink drain. It looks like something may be blocking the disposal and allowing water to flow thru the dishwasher drain outlet. Now the fact is, we don’t really care about using the dishwasher (never used one before) and I’m thinking I should just remove the disposal and make a direct connection from the sink to the drain and eliminate the dishwasher connection. Any thoughts? What should I be aware of in removing the disposal and making the new connection? Thanks.

[sengsational1Participant]

I doubt you need to disconnect it to fix it. This is a matter of gravity (not “of high importance”, just plain old gravity).

The drain from your dishwasher needs to go really high up before connecting it to the disposall. It should be close to touching the underside of the countertop. Then it’ll go down 6 or 8 inches to the disposall. Ain’t no way your sink will drain into your dishwasher if you have it rigged like that.

Fixing it might be as easy as a wire or string on a nail or something, to lift and supporting the drain tube. But if there is a cabinet wall between the dishwasher and sink, and the installers drilled the hole too low, then it will be a pain to fix because you’ll need to pull the dishwasher, drill a new hole, disconnect the hose from one side or the other, and feed the hose through the new, higher, hole.

[artcardsParticipant]

Thanks for your response. Here are a few more details. The dishwasher drain hose does run thru a hole in the cabinet that is very low. At first, the drain hose was running up to the disposal but I did take it and hook it up to the underside of the top of the cabinet thinking that this might take care of the problem. Still draining into the dishwasher though! Does this mean that I’ll need to drill a new higher hole for the drain hose?

[plumb-it-rightParticipant]

Make sure the waste hose from your dishwasher goes above the sink waste before connecting to the waste pipe. If you do this correctly, the blocked waste pipe will cause water to sit in the sink rather than drain into the dishwasher.

[artcardsParticipant]

Thanks for your help and for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it.

[joe the plumberParticipant]

hello,
everyone else has given you good info. but something esle for you to consider is, there is always water between the dishwasher and the disposal even if you run the line up high or if you are using an airgap. what keeps that little bit of water in the hose (and any water that goes into the sink) out of the dishwasher is a valve that only opens when the dishwasher is draing. i think that the valve is slowly leaking and that is why you are getting the water in the dishwasher. i think you should call a repair person.

good luck,
joe

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