conversion of portable dishwasher to stationary one

grimsbyman

Our old dishwasher was a portable. Consequently, all the pipes are plumbed in(sort of)! Can anyone explain how to convert this new portable to a stationary position. We were told that the back had to come off the dishwasher leaving all the electricals showing.! Help

rod3354

heard there is a conversion kit but dont know for sure let me know if u get it done i want to do same thing

Mike Swearingen

I don't know about that, unless it is manufactured to be converted, and you can get a kit. Have you looked on the manufacturer's website or called them to get their recommendations?
Mike

bigMikeB

Each one is a little different. The basic steps are: removing the unit from the outer casings. Seperating the drain and fill hoses. Connecting the drain to a dishwasher tailpiece or the disposer inlet. Connecting the water line to the hot water. Connecting the electric line to the junction box that the cord originated at.

rlvarcoe

I just did this yesterday and as I could not find alot on the net before I started I thought I would post what I did. First off I poked and prodded my dishwasher and discovered that under the shell there were leveling leg so wella it will be easier to convert without adding blocks of wood etc. to get it level. Not quite knowing what hardware I needed I took off the shell. this consisted of various screws at sides and back (mine were torque screws but an allen key worked). I also had a wood top which required three screws (open the door and look up) and then a good tug forward got it off. I left the base on for now as it gave me more room underneath to work and I could easily move it around while working. The place I chose to put it was with a few feet of my sink so it made it easier for me. On the down side I had to rip out and rebuild a couple of cabinets (another story).

Note that most dishwashers are 24 inches so that is the room you will need.

Once I opened the can I cut the hoses near the tap filler thingy and cut the cord to get the case out of the way. What I saw inside was that the water line was connected via a hose bib size connection (same as a garden hose). The drain line was clamped into place but looking at the input line I noticed that it was enlarged meaning that the hose had lots of give and as it was in good condition and would reach my under the sink garbage disposal I ran it under hot water (and used a hot air gun) and attached it to my garbage disposal input for dishwashers (temporary).

Under my sink I had the normal configuration of copper pipes and shut off valves. At this point I decided to install it below the shut off valve due to wanting to keep it low for later set up with the dishwasher. I measured the amount of tubing I would need to go from under sink to dishwasher and added up the number of elbows I would need. I also decided to add a shut off valve for the dishwasher in case I ever had to shut it off for repair or replacement.

Not your list may vary.... I decided to got cpvc (plastic pipe) for ease and cost.

Off to home depot...... list

1 copper 1/2 inch tee
I copper 1/2 inch converter (to convert to cpvc, 1/2 copper female (3/8 female thread)
1 pvc connector to attach to above with 1/2 pvc and 2/8 male thread)
4 feet of cpvc
2 90 degree elbows (bought a 45 just in case)
1 shut off valve
1 30 inch flex line (the same thingy one uses under sinks and toilets)
1 hose bib connector
1 coil of 25 feet of wire (white 14-2)
1 clamp (to attach to garbage disposal)


Upon arriving at home depot I found most of the stuff readily EXCEPT I could find no hose type connector that would fit a flex line (1/2 inch) so after searching and racking my brain I found a hose bib connector to go to 1/2 inch male threaded but then the flex line had 1/2 inch on one end (to water supply) and the other end was only 3/8 in (making sure all parts fit before leaving home depot) so I found another copper fitting to go from 1/2 in to 3/8 out.

To summarize....

I attached the hose bib connector to the dishwasher with 1/2 male thread (copper) added reducer 1/2-3/8 to above. Attached to that my 30 inch flex line to the other end of the flex line I used a 1/2 cpvc (male to 1/2 tubing) than about 4 inches of cpvc to and elbow. From the elbow I ran the tubing under the sink and added my shut off valve from the shut of valve I went to the water supple (tee)

to add the tee turn off the water at the main and open your taps cut the copper below the shutoff valve, solder in the tee (in my case) I added the copper to cpvc connectors and screwed them all together. last step was gluing the final piece of cpvc and wella I had water.

Total cost 21.00 (even with a conversion kit most of this would have been needed ie. about 15.00)

So much for the water supply

Next the drain... easy.... I removed the hose I had put on my garbage disposal and (NOTE) I put a screwdriver into the hole and punched out the knockout in the disposal itself (yes there is a knockout in there that has to be punched out) I then ran the line under the sink and put the clamp on the hose.... done.

Now for the electrical... I went to the basement and followed the line that I had previously plugged my dishwasher into. I followed that and found that it was going into a junction box..cool I followed those lines back to the panel to make sure it was not overloaded (I don't think this is necessary because obvioulsy the dishwasher worked there before. I drilled a hole up through the floor to where my dishwasher is (yes I drilled up... cause if you drill down you may hit a joist and then drill forever lol) I then ran the wire up the hole and left enough wire so I could still pull out my dishwasher if needed (this is also why I chose a 30 inch flex line above). I removed the cord from the dishwasher making note of the proper connections and wire nutted and taped the connections. I then taped the line to the frame of the dishwasher in a couple of places so the wire could not be pulled.

Back in the basement I had my wife plug a light into the outlet and flicked the breakers until she yelled at me that the line was dead (I did not really do this as I am used to working with live power.... but you should). I than punched out a knock out in the box and added a wire connector to the box and inserted the wire. Connect the wires to the live feed (black and white from panel) use wire connectors and tape and close the junction box back up.

At this point I went and started up the dishwasher to make sure all worked ok and wella it did. At this point I removed the base of the dishwasher and notice that the water supply thingy was connected to the base... so I fished around inside and found that just off to the left was a place I could connect it with 2 screws... did that.

Next was to put it in place... in my case I had to remove the end cabinet to make room and the original floor was lower than the existing floor so I found some old plywood and leveled off the floor. Once the dishwasher was in place (I also added a piece of insulation on top of the dishwasher and hung it down to the floor on both sides (about 8 feet for quiet). Again on my unit I had leveling leg so I leveled off the dishwasher and again opening the door and looking up there were three screw holes that I used to screw it into the bottom of the counter.

Now in my case as I said I removed a cabinet and it was at the end so I went to home depot and got a sheet of soundproofing material and attached that to the end next to the dishwasher. I than added 1/2 finished plywood to the end of that for finish. When I went to put the base panel back on the dishwasher I noticed that the two bottom screws had no place for attachement (there were attached to the base) so I added a piece of 1x3 to the floor with screws (not tight so they are easily removed ) and attached the two bottom screws to that..

Final notes and thought/warnings

When attaching hoses to dishwasher make sure you use teflon tape (or similar) do not over tighten attachments as the inner workings are plastic and if you break one your in deeeeep doodoo.

If you use copper instead of cpvc the cost of plumbing will be about double, if you do use cpvc ensure you get the proper glue as it is not the same as pvc.

Check the height of the water supply input on your dishwasher and run your tubing at about the same height ie if it is too low or two high it will hit your dish washer when you put it in place. Mine was about 4 inches.

Should you use insulation as I did it may be too thick to fit properly just take off a couple of layers leaving the paper backing

when attaching dishwasher to counter make sure you use SHORT screws nothing worse that having a few screw heads sticking out of your counter.

don't forget the knock out if you are attaching it to the disposal... if you don't have a disposal there is a tee you can attach to your drain (many dishwashers have a built in disposal). This may also be a good time to add that disposal if you were so inclined.

Total time (excluding the rip out of the cabinets) was about 4 hours (one hour at hoe depot)

Total cost (most of which you would need to install a dishwasher anyway) was about 70 bucks including the handy panel for my cabinet.

I guessed the total cost of the conversion (things I would not need for a normal dishwasher installation) was about 8 bucks.

Extra time it took me to install ie convert about 1 hr. (a normal dishwasher would have taken me 3 hours in my case)

Hope this helped and good luck... it was much easier than I had thought

Rob

washington

Cheers and we look forward to your Forum Favourites selections!



taux pret auto

99BN99

One small add-on to rivarcoe's excellent telling of his d/w conversion.

The drainline for many d/w's needs to arch up as high as the top of the inside before it comes down to the drainpipe connection (either into the line or into a disposal). If it is not arched high, many d/w's will siphon the water out while washing, or will not pump out properly. (according to manuals I have read - I have not tested for the truth of the manuals)

HilaryB

Since this was really the only informative post I found online on this topic I wanted to post some photos of my conversion of my portable dishwasher to an under counter dishwasher which will hopefully help people get a better visual.

Prior to this I had never installed even a regular dishwasher or done any plumbing so the list, although it looked manageable, looked a bit greek to me.

I was converting a Maytag MDC4000AWX portable dishwasher.

Let's start with removing the counter. I removed all of the screws from the housing. I had to combine tools in order to get enough torque to get off a few:


Initially thought the counter would just lift off. Turned out that it slid forward to come off because of these:


And on the dishwasher, they slid out from these types of slots:






I ended up cutting the ends off the pipes in the back ... the parts that normally pull up and out to hook up to the faucet. I could have unhooked them from the bottom to remove them without cutting them but I figured that out later. I don't have a photo of this.

I took the new steel dishwasher hose:

...and hooked it up to where the old hose came in. This is for the water going into the dishwasher:




And here's what I did under the sink:


The one thing I was frustrated with is that my portable dishwasher did not have the leveling legs/feet underneath and the universal legs I bought online did not fit either so luckily it's level and just needs to be raised up to the counter at some point using some wood. Meanwhile it works and it's not like this kitchen isn't in need of an overhaul anyway.



I almost forgot - I also cut the electrical cord on the dishwasher to get the housing off and also to get the cord through another hole on the right side of that cabinet. The house needs some major electrical work as well so it's plugged in over the washing machine. I simply bought a new plug end and hooked it up. I've rewired at least a dozen lamps so that was the easiest part for me. I chose that over unhooking it on the underside of the dishwasher because at the time I cut it I had not pulled back much of the board on the bottom.

Again - hopefully this helps someone who is trying to accomplish this with an old house and a portable dishwasher. I don't expect that all makes and models are the same so you may have to make some adjustments.

99BN99

I do not know about other brands, but there is a conversion kit for Maytags, if they were designed as convetibles. It contains detailed instructions and some needed parts.

I had to purchase the flexible connector, and I purchased a compression ball valve to attach to the end of the existing copper supply, so that when I move I could take my d/w and flex hose with me, if the d/w is still worth keeping. (as it is now about 15 yrs old, I will probably abandon in place, if it is still working when I move).

Because of the instructions, I was able to keep my hose & adaptor for the sink. Also, I installed a device box & outlet and used the existing plug in power cord. The old d/w just had a zip cord from the d/w marretted to a piece of Romex sticking out of the wall. When I saw that, I regretted rentiung this place. However, I have not found any more of that kind of nonsense.

HilaryB

I did in fact look at the kit before I started this project. The Maytag portable dishwasher conversion kit costs about $143 and maybe shipping. Parts purchased from Lowes or Home Depot will run you around $50. HUGE price difference plus I think the kit is missing some necessary parts for installation.

The Maytag kit includes: "colored panel, water supply hose, drain hose, terminal box with cover, and installation instructions." That's all it says it includes.

No leveling feet and, based on the picture, the water supply hose would have been WAY too short for truly converting the dishwasher.

The kit also doesn't mention the tee or other parts you might need to do the plumbing under the sink. I didn't call to ask but I wasn't going to spend 3 times as much when I could buy the same thing locally plus the rest of what I needed for less. If anyone knows more detail on what the kit truly includes, please post it.

I bought one part listed here in the kit, the water supply hose, and it cost about $11. The rest of the ~$50 was spent on plumbing under the sink. As I said before, I should have probably bought the dishwasher drain hose instead of cutting off and adapting what was there but drain hoses only cost about $10. It probably would have actually saved me money to buy the drain hose for this project.

Melissa71

HilaryB, thank you so much for posting pictures of your conversion. I just converted my portable to built in, and because of your pictures it was simple and easy. I spent about $11 for the water hookup, and reused the waste water hose. I'm so glad I didn't waste money on the kit from the manufacturer. Thank you!

dudleydoright

The electrical connection for a dishwasher is normally a portable connection located underneath the sink. By portable I mean a cord cap and receptacle. This serves as the disconnect required by the NEC. The cord is allowed to be up to 4 foot long. It is a piece of machinery(has a motor) and has to have a disconnect withing site of the machine. A Disposal gets around this for hardwire due to the switch used to operate it.
2nd. The drain line needs to have a vacuum breaker installed in it . This is called an air gap and it is mounted either thru the counter top or the sink rim creating a siphon break above the flood rim of the sink for the purpose of preventing waste water from siphoning back into the machine in the event of the drain to the sink backing up. It is code here in California. It also has the 2 different size connections on it to properly connect the line from the unit and the different size line from the air gap to the drain. They are only a few bucks and are available in white, chrome etc and all the usual trim finishes. I know this is way past the post but it is none the less important and may help future users.

Alan

Hi, and welcome to a 2 year old post.

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dudleydoright

Yes old it is as I mentioned, but failed to find mention of the air gap as required by all codes in this fair state we live in. But wait, a journeyman knows that, right?

Alan

I didn't see any locations mentioned by the OP. If I missed it, I apologize, but you do realize codes vary from state to state? Not required in Oregon.

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Journeyman Plumber