SOURCE: Tenant thinks it’s the dishwasher causing it.
SOLUTION: It was a loose air gap at the sink.
TOOLS/SUPPLIES:
TIME:
tl;dr
obs: noticed water on cabinet base, and on hose.
troubleshoot:
01
ran dishwasher and drained it. no water emitting from any hose.
ran hand up hose following wetness it went to underside of sink.
02
poured water top of sink at air gap; water dripping.
tried tightening nut on air gap, kept slipping; replaced with new.
Time: ~1h
SEQUENCE
Based on what the tenant said, I wanted to check the dishwasher. I wanted to test whether there was an issue with the supply hose or the drain hose. This can be done quickly.
01 dry off hoses
02 run dishwasher (any setting), let the tub fill and start the cycle for a minute.
check supply line while this is happening
03 Open dishwasher to interrupt cycle. To end the process, cancel cycle. On most dishwashers this will also initiate it to drain (once you close the door).
check drain hose
no issues observed here. time to dig deeper. Ran my hands up the hoses one more time. Got under there with a flashlight and followed the drain hose, where it looked wet on the underside of the cabinet.
New theory: not a dishwasher problem. A sink problem. This is a stainless steel sink.
Poured some water around the air gap. Water started dripping below. Bingo!
Air gap was wiggling a little. Normally tightening the nut would do, but in this case, it kept slipping. It wasn’t getting tight enough to be watertight. A clean way to fix it is to replace the air gap.
POSTMORT
10min tool prep
10min trip: there
30min diagnose
10min trip: hardware store
20min repair
10min trip: return
5min repairnote
SUPPLIES USED:
channel lock
booties
flat head (clamp) couldve used 5/16 nut driver
2 zipties
snips
towels (2)
nitrile gloves
small tub
grocery plastic bag for trash
Did i know this would be the problem from the beginning? No. It was all troubleshooting and observation.