Whirlpool dishwasher

Dishwasher Repair
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1

My dishwasher is running very excessive cycle times and not drying the dishes at all, could this be the heating element or control panal going bad?? Thanks,

3

Here are your parts. Your model number seems to be short a couple alphanumerics.
http://www.appliancepartspros.com/partsearch/modelsearch.aspx?model=GU1500

Yes, it could be the heating element is shot.
Remove power from the unit.
Remove the kick plate.
You may also have to pull the dishwasher forward.
Measure it with a meter.
Not sure what it should be usually around 25 ohms.
if OK
Check the hi-limit thermostat (Item 30 in Section 7).
Should be 0 ohms
if OK
Remove the doors inner panel and check the wires going from the control board to the heater
if OK
Odds are that the board is shot.

If you do not own a meter, I would suggest you purchase a one. You can get a decent digital multimeter for under $20.00. You do not need fancy though it is nice if the leads are a couple feet long.
If it saves ordering one unnecessary part it has paid for itself and you end up owning a useful tool.
Most places will not let you return electrical parts so if you order it, you own it.
A couple things to watch when measuring ohms and continuity

  1. Always remove power from the machine otherwise you could blow your meter.
  2. Always disconnect at least one side of any device you are checking. This eliminates the possibility of measuring an alternate/parallel circuit path.
  3. When checking for closed contacts and continuity use the lowest scale (Usually 200 ohms). Then try higher scales. This scale is 0 to 200 ohms so if the device you are measuring is 300 ohms this scale would show an open circuit which it is not, you are just measuring outside the scale’s dynamic range.

There is a good STICKY at the start of this forum about it’s use.