--- title: "Dishwasher wash & filter service" description: "KitchenAid dishwasher wash and filter service: dishes coming out gritty, filmed or still dirty on one rack." url: "https://kitchenaidmiami.support/services/dishwasher-wash-and-filter-service/" date_modified: "2026-08-23" Appliance type: "Dishwashers" --- # KitchenAid dishwasher wash & filter service ### Not cleaning is usually not a failure Of the calls we take about a KitchenAid dishwasher that has stopped cleaning properly, a large share end at the filter, the spray arms or the rinse aid setting. That is why this is a service rather than a repair: the machine is checked from the tub outward, and only if the water is arriving and moving correctly does anything come apart. ### What actually goes wrong - **The tub filter**, loaded. Gritty dishes long before any code. - **Spray arms and jets**, scaled closed or fouled by a label or a seed. - **The diverter**, which is what a single bad rack usually means. - **Rinse aid and detergent**, set for softer water than this. - **The wash pump**, last, and measured rather than assumed. ### Hard water, and what the maker itself says to do Miami-Dade and Broward both soften their supply at the plant because Biscayne Aquifer groundwater is hard, and KitchenAid recommends a water softener at 15 grains or more, treating 7 to 12 grains as medium to hard. Its own remedies for spotting and film are the rinse aid setting, tablets rather than gel, and a periodic dishwasher cleaner. None of that is a breakdown, and all of it is cheaper than a service call. ### What it costs From $145 for the service, and if it turns into a pump or a diverter you will hear the figure before we start. The exact cost is confirmed after the on-site diagnostic. What this involves Filter, spray arms and jets cleared and checked turning Wash pressure and diverter proved rack by rack Rinse aid and detergent set for hard water Which rack, and on which cycle Upper only, lower only, or both, and on every program or only the short ones. That is the diverter question, and it is answered standing in the kitchen before anything comes apart. The filter and the arms The cylinder filter and the flat screen under it come out by hand; the arms have to turn freely and every jet has to be open. Scale closes the small ones first, and a partly blocked arm washes half a load properly. Set the machine for this water The rinse aid dispenser has settings and the factory one is low for South Florida. The maker's own answers to spotting and film are to raise it, use tablets rather than gel, and run a dishwasher cleaner periodically. Then the pressure If the arms are clear and the machine still washes badly, it is the wash pump, the diverter or a fill that is too slow — measured, not assumed. Not cleaning is usually not a failure Of the calls we take about a KitchenAid dishwasher that has stopped cleaning properly, a large share end at the filter, the spray arms or the rinse aid setting. That is why this is a service rather than a repair: the machine is checked from the tub outward, and only if the water is arriving and moving correctly does anything come apart. What actually goes wrong The tub filter, loaded. Gritty dishes long before any code. Spray arms and jets, scaled closed or fouled by a label or a seed. The diverter, which is what a single bad rack usually means. Rinse aid and detergent, set for softer water than this. The wash pump, last, and measured rather than assumed. Hard water, and what the maker itself says to do Miami-Dade and Broward both soften their supply at the plant because Biscayne Aquifer groundwater is hard, and KitchenAid recommends a water softener at 15 grains or more, treating 7 to 12 grains as medium to hard. Its own remedies for spotting and film are the rinse aid setting, tablets rather than gel, and a periodic dishwasher cleaner. None of that is a breakdown, and all of it is cheaper than a service call. What it costs From $145 for the service, and if it turns into a pump or a diverter you will hear the figure before we start. The exact cost is confirmed after the on-site diagnostic. ### Is my water really the problem? Often, yes. Groundwater here is hard enough that both Miami-Dade and Broward soften it at the treatment plant before it reaches you, and KitchenAid's own manual recommends a softener at 15 grains or more. Film on glassware is the classic sign, and it is water rather than a broken machine. Ask your own utility for their number rather than trusting a figure from a water-treatment website — the ones published for this area disagree with each other wildly. ### Where is the filter and how often does it need doing? In the floor of the tub under the lower rack. A quarter turn on the cylinder and the flat screen underneath lifts out. Every month or two under a running tap is enough, and it is the single most useful thing an owner of one of these can do. ### The top rack is clean and the bottom one is not. That is a genuinely useful sentence, because it points at the diverter — the part that sends water to one arm or the other — rather than at the pump. A pump that has lost pressure washes both racks badly. ### One of my rack wheels has broken off. Common on machines of this generation, and it is a part rather than a repair — the upper rack adjuster wheels go brittle from years of wash heat and snap. Worth replacing rather than living with, because a rack riding low fouls the upper spray arm and then nothing on that rack gets clean. --- **[Read full article: Dishwasher wash & filter service](https://kitchenaidmiami.support/services/dishwasher-wash-and-filter-service/)**