Who else has a Bosch dishwasher? How does it work?
Folks: In an effort to become the consummate condo-dwelling yuppie, I replaced my 10-year-old (mid-priced) Whirlpool dishwasher, whose cleaning power was beginning to fade, with a $1200 Bosch. The new Bosch leaves food on silverware and dishes and can’t clean pots or pans. The Whirlpool, at age 10, did a far better job. Compared to the Whirlpool when new (throw in any dirty dish, without scraping or rinsing, and pots with all kinds of stuck-on crud), the Bosch is a joke. (full story) Anyone else have a Bosch dishwasher? How does it compare to your old American-style dishwasher?
[Update: After four service visits, Bosch figured out that the circulation pump on this machine was defective. Service visits number 5, 6, and 7 were devoted to bringing out a replacement part, opening the box, discovering that the replacement part was also defective, and driving away. On service visit number 8, the Bosch guy showed up with a working replacement circulation pump and installed it. The dishwasher seems to work better now. It only took 25 phone calls, 8 days home from work waiting for the repair guy, and more than twice as much money to get a dishwasher that works as well as the 1996-vintage Whirlpool (which never required any service in 11 years). Surely there is no better time to be a yuppie...]
abe hollander
March 11, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
Our Bosch came with the house we bought in ‘04, and it’s pretty dern nice. Like Matt says, it’s churchmouse emulation is commendable. Cleans as well as any washer we’ve owned (admittedly a small collection).
My only peeve with it is that it often stinks to high-heaven. Dirty or clean, anytime you open it more than - say - 12 hours after it’s been run, it stinks. I check the trap, and sometimes there’s food product, othertimes not. That part’s inconsistent, but the stink is not.
It apparently doesn’t deter our 2 Boston Terriers from their “pre-wash” duties, but that’s my only beef.
DC
March 11, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
I have a Bosch. As you say, it is very, very quiet, and looks cool. It’s also very water efficient. It doesn’t clean very well unless you rinse the sticky stuff off first. It’s especially bad at cleaning the silverware unless they are rinsed. So much for water efficiency. Did I mention it looks cool?
Colin Summers
March 11, 2008 @ 4:10 pm
I bought a $500 unit at Sears. I think it’s a Kenmore. It works great, even on pots crusted with cooked-on cheese and pasta.
Len VT
March 11, 2008 @ 4:24 pm
When we remodeled 3 years ago we were looking at Bosch dishwashers because we had heard good things about them. Two different appliance stores had the same story about Bosch, they used to be great but when they moved production to the US they started using cheaper parts and quality declined. Both advised strongly against buying a Bosch. Who knows if the story is true but I am glad we didn’t buy one, a quick search shows a lot of folks are having problems.
We ended up buying a KitchenAid dishwasher. It was almost as expense, just as quiet and has worked well. It has “hung” a few times where it gets into a state that causes it not to run. A quick search on google and I found out how to do a hard reset, then it works fine.
We also bought a KitchenAid stove which I really like except for the 2 times it broke down because of bad circuit boards. Fortunately it was still under warranty both times.
It’s funny that both these appliances have problems caused by their computers, I shouldn’t be surprised.
Dave Magliano
March 11, 2008 @ 4:36 pm
We put in a nice Bosch during a remodel a few years ago. We had the same problem. Cloudy glasses, dirty silverware and grimy plates. I was complaining to a friend and he asked me what detergent I was using (this was not the manliest conversation I’ve ever had.) He suggested I try Cascade Complete brand detergent. It seemed like a cheap experiment to save a new dishwasher with which I was very unimpressed. Worked like a champ. Shiny and clean. We’ve been using it ever since.
Best of luck,
Dave
(not affiliated with Cascade)
philg
March 11, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
Dave: Cascade Complete? I checked out their Web site and it seems to come as a powder and also a gel. Bosch says to use only powered detergent. Are you using gel or powdered? [Note that the Whirlpool's performance was the same regardless of detergent used.]
Charles
March 11, 2008 @ 5:00 pm
Phil,
We got the mid-range Bosch a few years ago. My wife was at first not very happy with it because the dishes were never dry and let me know about it. But one morning we were watching the house-porn show (AKA, “This Old House”) and they were doing a tour of the Bosch factory and the manager told Norm that you must use rinse agent because the new energy efficent models don’t get as hot as the older models. Problem solved and my wife now loves the quieter Bosch.
ah
March 11, 2008 @ 5:25 pm
The stink is an installation issue, btw (to one of the commenters, not Philip). It means that the flex pipe connecting the dishwasher to the drain is at the wrong angle, and a kink somewhere is filling up with macerated garbage. Call the installer to fix it.
Our Bosch rules. Eats everything, unless we throw at least 1.5 cups of cooked rice in there (did it once, the trap overflowed, and the dishes got kinda starchy). We’re happy. Philip, you have a defective washer.
philg
March 11, 2008 @ 6:04 pm
Everyone: I am using rinse agent. The dishes are reasonably dry when they come out (albeit not much cleaner than when they went in). My water pressure is probably lower than average, since I’m on the 3rd floor, though that did not slow down the Whirlpool.
SwirlyGrrl: Thank you. I’m 99% sure that it is hooked up to the hot water line (just checked). There is only one hose going over to the dishwasher and it plugs into a tap from the previous Whirlpool installation.
I have a feeling that there is some sort of pump in this one that is not strong enough. The sprayers are never pushing water very hard. It seems about the same as leaving a dish under a running tap.
Dave Magliano
March 11, 2008 @ 6:49 pm
We’re using the powder. I was surprised by the difference between using Cascade Complete and the recommended little soap nuggets that can as a sample with the Bosch. YMMV
Mike R
March 11, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
I’ve been having the same doubts about my Bosch. When we bought a new house in 2006 we splurged on one after having nasty problems with the GE unit in our old house. It was $1300 (CDN$) and far more than any other brand. It’s a middle-of-the-road unit, with the buttons on top of the door but no readout. There’s no delayed start.
It’s very quiet but our crappy old GE did a better job on most things and seemed easier to load because the tines were better placed. For our dishes, anyway. I was finding the washing performance was pretty…meh. I did notice the odor thing a bit. The ‘Power Wash’ mode seems quite good though. After Xmas I found the trap was pretty full of yuck and this was affecting the performance. I think it was draining poorly because of it.
I recently started buying powdered Cascade and it smells a lot better; it may be washing better too but I can’t tell yet.
m.
steve roberts
March 11, 2008 @ 7:04 pm
I use both gel and powder in my bosch-replaced a sucky highend GE profile washer- works well regardless- actually a little too good at times and has faded some of the custom coffee cups I have with cheesy pics of my kids on them.
It is amazingly quiet. They do say they need to have their solid food strainer cleaned out at times but even slapping nasty barely scraped clean dishes in it I am happy to say the need for cleaning the easily removable filter is very rare- maybe twice in the 9 months I’ve had it.
Line pressure matters little to a dishwasher- they load a few gallons of water in then recirculate with their own pump- thats why dishwashers are actually “greener” than running warm water in your sink which just goes down the drain.
Only problem- my “cheapo” wine glasses which I do put in the dishwasher have been etched a bit in spite of the soft water at my house. Maybe from the times I use gel? No problems with other glassware though- I just pull out the Reidels for company.
Picked my current model on a Consumer Reports from last year and couldn’t be happier
Jay Levitt
March 11, 2008 @ 8:06 pm
Check out http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/ … it’s the biggest appliance-geek gathering I’ve ever seen. When I was renovating a house in 2000, I sifted through all the advice there. At the time, the consensus in fancy European dishwashers was “Miele is worth the money; Asko and Bosch don’t quite perform.” (I can’t remember what they said about Gaggenau, Fischer & Paykel, et al.)
I’ve never actually tried the Miele dishwasher, but I love the washer/dryer so much that I actually re-washed all my clothes when I got the washer, because they came out stunningly soft. (Keep in mind that I’m normally so lazy, I’ve been known to take wrinkled clothes from the dryer and run a new washer load so I didn’t have to fold them.)
Michael R. Bernstein
March 11, 2008 @ 10:51 pm
A couple of years ago we replaced the standard Kenmore dishwasher that came with the house (cheapest piece of crap the builder could get away with) that we had been suffering with for about five years with a near-top-of-the-line Kenmore Elite (stainless interior, white exterior, etc.). This new washer is quiet, eats chicken bones if necessary, and in extremis has a pot-scrubber mode that makes short work of dried-on egg yolks, brownie batter, and similar substances for the rare occasions that the regular cycle is inadequate, so no pre-soaking or rinsing is needed.
Ry4an
March 12, 2008 @ 12:14 am
The be all end all of appliance information, especially as pertaining to value, comes from Samurai Appliance Repairman at http://fixitnow.com/ .
He takes a hard line with respect to computer controls in wet appliances, and while that eliminates the sexy LCD displays it really does improve reliability. He also does a great job of sussing out which appliances are expensive because they’re well marketed and which are expensive because they’re actually well built.
http://fixitnow.com/wp/2003/09/24/mailbag-appliance-brand-recommendations/
ray
March 13, 2008 @ 12:08 pm
Just for kicks, check that your line into the hot water is turned on all the way. It could also have a blockage in the input pipe that is causing there to not be enough pressure.
It really does sound like you aren’t getting enough water pressure into the dishwasher, this might be independent of the water pressure in your sink.
philg
March 13, 2008 @ 2:12 pm
Ray: Okay, I checked the valve. It is warm, so it is definitely hooked up to the hot water. It was open 98% of the way.
Everyone else: I tried Cascade Complete and it seems to work somewhat better than with the previous range of detergents. Thanks for the suggestion!
David
March 13, 2008 @ 3:41 pm
We purchased a Bosh to replace a failed Maytag(horrible piece of crap) about two years back.
Agree with all the comments about (lack of)noise levels.
Haven’t had any issues with dishes being dirty after a wash.
Our current issue is the dishwasher failed last week, it stopped draining fully at the end of the wash cycle. No resolution yet, the repairman is due on Wednesday. I’m guessing a water level sensor. Possibly we have one of those bad ones made in the USA.
Update: The service man replaced the pump, free of charge.(2 year parts). Everything came out clean and the water drained normally.
philg
March 15, 2008 @ 10:35 am
One last question for the Bosch crowd: How intense is the spray coming out of the arms? If you open the door while the unit is operating, do you get splashed with any water? Mine never generates enough spray to cause a splash.
Greg W
March 22, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
I own a bosch that worked great for the first few years then started showing the same symptoms you mention. I called service out and they fixed it and it went back to working great. I never prewash anything I put into it, just scrap big stuff into the trash. BTW, the service guy also recommended Cascade Complete.
philg
March 24, 2008 @ 4:51 pm
I’m out of town and delegated the challenge of dealing with Bosch to a friend. Here is his report on service visit #4: “It was the same guy who claimed that the drain tube was improperly installed underneath the sink. This time he tested the unit and claimed it needs a new circulation pump. I made an appointment for him to come back next week.”
alexander
March 25, 2008 @ 1:23 am
So does anyone have this oil or tar like smell coming from the top of the dishwasher. Not inside the machine but the top insulation part.
Bosch replaced my first dishwasher after my complaint, now the replacement smells worse.
They know there is a problem since the first repairman called Bosch and he confirmed the problem.
Maybe different models do not have this problem.
philg
March 31, 2008 @ 6:13 pm
Service visit #5 report: “The Bosch guy brought a broken part. He is coming back again next week.”
Jeanne
April 4, 2008 @ 8:56 pm
I just bought a Bosh model SHV45M03UC. Am I the only way whose soup bowls and tall drinking glasses fall over and crash on top of one another in the top rack? It’s driving me crazy. I can’t figure it out. I have to be SO CAREFUL pushing the top tray in and out to prevent the bowls from fall over. Very aggravating.
Finally I decided, all right, I’ll just have to deal with it - treat the top rack like it’s explosive or something. However, even if I do that, and I get the rack pushed all the way in with everything still standing…when I click the door shut to turn on the machine, the bowls fall over.
I’ve only found one or two other mentions of this on the internet. Does this happen to anyone else here with a Bosch dishwasher? Help!
Jeanne
philg
April 7, 2008 @ 3:38 pm
Service visit #6 report: “The exact same thing happened again today. He is coming back again next week (with the promise that they’ll send two units, both pre-inspected).”
grace handley
April 8, 2008 @ 2:13 am
not too pleased with my bosch dishwasher–not real quiet and dishes do not come out that clean. and seems cycle runs forever. grace
Jan
April 12, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
I bought an $800 Bosch because my old GE was just too noisy. I at first was very impressed with the Bosch because of how quiet it is. Then I started noticing this awful smell coming from it. I have tried everything from constantly cleaning out the filters, mopping up any excess water under the filter, putting baking soda and vinegar in and running a cycle (this recommended by Sears) and it still stinks! Also my cutlery is never really clean and I have to pre-rinse the dishes, contrary to what the Bosch repairman told me when he came out. I have tried all the different soap powders and use rinse agent but the dishes are still not spotless. I wish I had never got rid of my old GE because it was great compared to Bosch. I would not recommend it except for the noise level is excellent.
philg
April 18, 2008 @ 6:09 pm
Service visit #7 report from my patient friend who keeps meeting the Bosch guy: “It happened again today. [the replacement pump] was broken. On every occasion he has come with a sealed package. Upon opening it up on location, he’s found it to be defective. Three times. Then he usually calls up the company and complains. Supposedly he can’t open up the package before he gets here (I don’t get it). He said he’s going to come with two next time (inspected by the company beforehand). He said something similar last time, though, so who knows.”
Jill
April 19, 2008 @ 8:01 am
Has anyone ever had this problem with their bosch dishwasher?
After about 3 months of everything running fine, clean dishes etc, I opened the door one morning to find that all the plastic components in the dishwasher plus a plastic sandwich box had all got a blue dye on them.
The crockery and all the cutlery were fine, all clean, dye free and dry.
Just the plastic, as in, the cutlery basket, the spray arms, the drawers and the plastic interior were covered in blue. When I took the filter out to clean it, the blue dye came off on my hands.
I rang the electrical store where I bought it and the engineer came out and said he had never seen or heard anything like it before and to ring Bosch direct. The person on the line had never heard anything like it before and they are sending out an engineer next Tuesday to have a look.
I’m just worried that it could be toxic.
I’m using the same dishwasher powder, rinse aid, salt and dishwasher cleaner that I have used with my last dishwasher and this one since I bought it last October. So I am at a loss to just what is causing this, any ideas?
Dave B
April 24, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
I have had experience with two Bosch dish washers. We got the first to replace a dying DW in our first home. It was quiet, efficient, and we never had a problem with it during the 3 years we lived there. We wanted to take it and the new refrigerator with us when we sold the house, but they were both selling points…so we left them.
We moved to a new state and even though we had a dishwasher in the house, it was a noisy thing without adjustable top rack (which is so handy for big pots in the bottom or tall cups on the top as needed). We bought the exact same model for the new home…and again I installed it myself. We’ve had this one about 3 years now and three problems emerged.
First, we had a problem that the door seals got dirty (we now have kids, so…) and the seals started leaking. Cleaning them fixed the problem, but I have to clean them fairly regularly.
Second, the dishwasher stopped entirely during the cycle although the LED was still on. It was under warranty, and so we called. The repair person came out and suggested the problem was that we hooked up the drain hose first to an air vent on the sink and then to the drain. Apparently this model is NOT supposed to have that connection (although the manual which we still have shows such an installation). He removed the drain from the air vent and stuck it directly to the drain and … problem solved.
Third problem, my back was facing the dishwasher when I saw a blue flash reflected in the kitchen window and heard a sharp SNAP! The LED on the dishwasher was out, the circuit breaker was blown. I reset the circuit, but the dishwasher was deader than the proverbial door nail. A call to the service company is in and I await the results (he comes tomorrow).
Until that point, we use liquid blue rinse and have used gel packs, liquid and powder detergent with success, although we have been using powder for the last two years. We don’t pre-rinse, but I do scrape food (especially starches like rice and glutinous like oatmeal) into the trash. Oatmeal flecks can be found on dishes if I don’t and rice can clog the drain. But sauces, burnt/baked on cheese and other items come off and dishes are clean on a regular basis.
I’m guessing that somehow when the bottom faceplate was put back on by the last visit, something was left where it could short out and that’s the blue spark I saw happening. I checked the seal and it was not leaking at the time. I’m worried that they’ll open it up and find a small item that my toddler shoved in there somehow.
So overall I’m happy, but there are some issues that have not made the experience this time as happy as the experience with our first.
I’ll post later when I find the results of this repair visit.
Dave B
May 19, 2008 @ 11:54 am
Well, here’s the latest on my dishwasher. Turns out the seal was not sealing properly and water shorted out the electronics located on the bottom. We purchased our Bosch from Lowes and the extended warranty was offered through them, not Bosch.
The biggest problem I’ve had is the nearly 4 weeks that has gone by without the repair being completed. Apparently Lowes subcontracts with several companies to complete the repairs under their extended warranty program. The one that handles the Bosch diswashers here is:
Capital Electronics
6266 Kenilworth Ave
Riverdale, MD 20737
Our experience with Capital Electronics has been terrible. They originally scheduled a Friday visit (about 3.5 weeks ago), but then they called to say that they did not make it and to reschedule for Monday. On Monday they called to say they would not be there because we were in the “wrong” area for that repairman and he was in Frederick and we were 35 minutes away in Eldersburg (ever heard of MapQuest?). On Tuesday, they promised that they would call my office and/or my wife’s office 30 minutes before arriving so we could be there since neither of us could take the 6 hrs leave again to wait around. We explicitly gave them my office and my wife’s cell number. They never called my office (I have an incoming call tracking system even if I don’t answer) and they called our house at 10am -instead of 30 minutes before hand). My wife called to say she was scurrying home because they were there. The repair person was competent and diagnosed the problem, replaced the electronics but said he didn’t have a seal. So we were told not to use the dishwasher until a new seal could be installed. He left. We heard nothing for a week. We called Capital Electronics and Lowes to follow up. Capital Electronics claimed that they submitted their warranty approval request to order the seal, but Lowes never got back to them. Turns out it was faxed to the wrong number or Lowes told them the wrong department. Anyway, it was three days of me persistently calling to get the approval finally accomplished on a Saturday morning. On Monday I called to confirm that Capital Electronics ordered it, but they had not until I badgered them. They said it would take 5-7 days for the ordered part to show up. Today is the 7th day. I called, the part isn’t in. They got the model number “wrong.” So the part won’t be in until “the next shipment” sometime between this Tuesday and Thursday. I can’t WAIT for the part to be in and to have to schedule that next service visit to install it. The machine broke around April 28. It will be over a month before it’s working again.
So check your seals! And I cannot recommend Capital Electronics for ANY work. Whether it’s poor quality control or just incompetence, I can’t say. But this is the worst experience with a repair company I’ve had in my life. Lowes people have been pretty good once I started calling and confirming every thing. But they chose Capital Electronics as their subcontractor for Bosch extended warranty repairs. So this is their problem too.
philg
May 19, 2008 @ 10:10 pm
Service visit #8: The Bosch guy showed up, met my friend, and installed a replacement circulation pump. I’ve only tested the machine once, but it seems to work a lot better. So… the Bosch now works possibly as well as the Whirlpool did in 1996. The Whirlpool did not require a single phone call or service visit during its 11 years of service. The Bosch required perhaps 25 phone calls and 8 four-hour daytime windows waiting around the apartment for them to show up. The Bosch cost more than twice as much as the Whirlpool.
Maryw
May 21, 2008 @ 10:49 pm
I hate our Bosch dishwasher. It has the stink and leaves rust spots on all our silverware. I had two service calls and the repair man says nothing can be done. We have check the drain line and it is raised as high as it can go.
The odor is terrible and rust appeared on brand new silverware.
The repairman said it was cause by the silverware touching each other. Crazy suggestion.
ccmac
June 3, 2008 @ 2:10 am
i had a 18 year old, perfectly working, kitchenaid whisper quiet and never had a problem. i replaced it last summer with a bosch and i hate it. it leaves the dished spotted (yes, i’m using bosch recommended electrosol powerball tabs and jet dry rinse agent). the worst part is that i bought the new bosch because i was afraid the old one would leak and ruin my hardwood floor, like my friend’s had done. well…the new bosch started leaking about a month ago and since i run it at bedtime, i didn’t notice it at first and it buckled my floor. it leaks on the left and right sides of the bottom of the door. the bosch authorized repairman visited and said it doesn’t leak…well, it does. i’m over 55, have never used a warranty in my entire life on anything, and it will be one year since i purchased it in 2 weeks. i did not purchase an extended warranty. the authorized repair only comes to my town once a week and i work and cannot be home….wah, wah, wah…i would NEVER buy another bosch. my boss said that he had a bosh and it was also lousy. they say, on the phone, that they will honor the 1 year warranty since the problem began before the warranty’s expriation. can i trust them to keep their word? any advice would be greatly appreciated…i’ve asked them to just replace it, but of course they won’t do that.
Pam
June 9, 2008 @ 11:43 am
I want to add my experience to ‘ccmac’. I am having the exact same problem with the leaking door. I called a non-Bosch repair service which took many service calls to fix the problem. It appears the air vent hose had water in it. When this was cleared(by pulling out the dishwasher and blowing air into it) the leaking stopped. But after 2 months, it is leaking again. same as before. The dishwasher is not under warranty. I called Bosch anyway to no satisfaction.
I was very happy with my Kenmore dishwasher from my old house.
Has the problem been solved yet?
Ellen
June 13, 2008 @ 8:19 am
I feel like I could have written your blog! I just said to my dh last night that we should have just gone w. a $250 dishwasher and we would have been just as happy as with our fancy Bosch that does a LOUSY job of actually cleaning dishes. The service call through Bosch will cost probably $250 ($99 for diagnosis [if they can do it in 18 mins], plus $120/hour labor plus the cost of parts. We are seriously considering Freecycling it and just buying a cheapo Maytag.
Our Rinse Aid Dispenser won’t stay closed. Bosch says there is no way to fix that by oneself and we’ll need a service call (see above!).
For those of you in the Boston area, can anyone recommend a service company that won’t charge so much????
hoqES
July 7, 2008 @ 11:22 pm
Your blog on Bosh is good information. I bought a bosh SHX43 May 1, 2007, it is a disaster. A lemon waiting to happen. It used to clean dishes for 3 cycles and then leave the upper tray glass ware gritty. The spray arm had to be cleaned out over and over. The bottom rack did not clean unless we scraped the dishes well. The soap would stick in the inside door dispender. Bosch’s
factory service didn’t fix the problem. finally it sounded very quiet when turned on–opened the door, yes, it had not turned on. Called factory service June 30th., the repair man said your water line needs to be replaced. I called a plumber the next day–nothing wrong with the water line. But, the plumber said even though the indicator lights are going on, nothing is happeni ng.
Called Lowe’s warranty service- called Active Appliance-we have a 4 year contract. They didn’t show, but left a phone message after the 4 hour wait expired-said were too busy today., want to resechedule for another day. That was a wasted 4 hour wait. Here’s what I plan to do. I am giving Bosh and Loews notice of rescission and request for refund of all money aid for this
defective machine. I am replacing the machine with a Maytag. When the bosh is pulled to put the maytag in, the bosh will be delivered to the bosh factory office in Huntingbeach, CA. If the refund isn’t received promptly, both will be sued for rescission, fraud, misrepresentation, and damages. It is senseless to play their game of wasting our time waiting for service calls, losing time from work, all at our expense, for this defective washer. Anyone know a good class action law firm, there must be hundreds of these problems.
angel
July 12, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
My Bosch’s has similar problems as stated above. It’s only 1 year old and the smell JUST WON’T GO AWAY! I rinse all my dishes, flatware and glassware before loading ’cause I thought maybe I was rinsing before hand well enough. That doesn’t make one bit of difference. After reading here, hopefully it’s something that can be fixed easy like a circulation pump. Geez … 1200.00 bucks for trouble. Should replaced old GE with another.
Anonymous
July 22, 2008 @ 6:13 pm
I agree full heartedly about Capital Electronics- they are rude, unprofessional and unreliable. In terms of Bosch- I just bought one mid-priced. Installation people(A-1 in DOC area) couldn’t install it appropriately at first and it didn’t lock tight so it didn’t work. After about 10 calls to different places they installed new one, even though the first one probably was OK. It washes dishes just fine but leaves the dirty water in a in a hole where filter sits and in AM it smells!!!!. Does anybody have the same problem and know how to deal with it?
Marie LaLumiere
September 2, 2008 @ 7:06 pm
I too purchased a Bosch (stainless tub) Dishwasher. It smells disgusting and the rust on my expensive stainless steel cutlery is embarrasing to use. My granddaughter (2 yrs) was in my kitchen when I opened the dishwasher to add some cups, she gagged and ran to another room. My home is all new construction and new appliances. I purchased a Bosch because of its quietness but that is all it does, not clean dishes, stained cutlery (rust spots). What can I do??? It will be 3 years old next month.
Laurie Johns
September 16, 2008 @ 10:51 am
We’ve had our Bosch for a little over a month. So far, I have noticed it not getting some things clean, but that has been minimal.
I have two complaints so far.
(1) The bottom rack doesn’t roll in easily. Every time you push it in, it hits the side of the tub and you have to take the time to align it just so and push it in. It’s just not effortless like every other dishwasher - expensive or not - that I’ve ever used in my entire life.
(2) I don’t know how to best load the darn thing. The arrangement of the tines and spaces on both racks doesn’t make sense. I haven’t been able to figure out yet what dishes should go where; nothing seems to quite fit anywhere. It seems to have much less capacity than our old American bomber (that’s what that machine sounded like). I am also wondering how much good the EnergyStar rating is doing us since we end up having to run this dishwasher every day - for a family of 3…
Oh yeah, I have already experienced The Smell too. I try to open the dishwasher as soon as it is finished and let everything in there air dry.
V Samuel
September 30, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
I’m sitting here in England with a Bosch Classixx with an attitude problem. In the UK the models are cold-fill, so they have to cycle the water up to washing temperature, so you can expect a longer wait. The manual does say that it will only take an educated guess at how long it might take to do a wash, but it has been over three hours now and it’s barely counting down from 99. Most alarming, all the lights and the display go off while it is thinking, so it looks like it has died. Just when you think that’s it, the fuses must have blown, it pops back in to life for a few minutes. Currently it has been sitting there so long it has presumbably decided that it can’t be bothered and has gone off in a sulk, with the sump full of greasy water, because it really wanted to be a large hadron collider and its parents forced it to go in to dishwashing.
It is however, very quiet. Especially now I’ve unplugged it in an effort to get it to reset and empty the sump. You have to be cruel to be kind. Any more of this and it’s back to the store; see if that contract law module is about to earn its keep. US law is probably different, but in the UK I’d always advise someone to demand a replacement unit - not a repair, they just go wrong again.
tm
October 3, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
Have a eight year old Bosch..it’s a piece of CRAP! The timer is dead for the second time, the rinse aid dispenser has not stayed closed for years, nor has the regular soap dispenser. It was quiet for a time but is now as loud as any.
deb
October 27, 2008 @ 11:59 pm
WE HAVE A NEW BOSCH AND IT SUCKS. IT WILL NOT CLEAN THE SIIMPLE LOAD OF DISHES……I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER AND I WILL TELL ANYONE, NOT TO
BUY ONE.
bh
October 29, 2008 @ 10:51 pm
I also have one of those lemons (to put it politely). Within a year it leaked and a valve was replaced. I complained over and over about it not cleaning properly -it cannot be normal to use only power scrub, as one repair person recommended. Why pay extra for all those cycles when you only use one? But every time an expensive and indifferent Bosch service person came out there was “no problem” and everything “was normal”. Now, after 3 years, it is leaking again and the service guy says almost all parts have to be replaced because they are rusted and is estimating the cost to be $550 - that is for two hours of labor at $120 per hour and the rest is for parts at 50% off because I complained. How do they get away with advertising for Aquastop and claiming they are number 1 in customer satisfaction??? These dishwashers are made in NC and because of my ongoing problems with Bosch I bought a Whirlpool washer and dryer.
Daniel
November 2, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
Our Bosch smells like rotting rodent on the outside near the top. It smells the worst when the washer is the hottest. I can’t find anything obvious. Any body heard of rotting exterior odder or bad smell?
The inside does not smell.
Really unhappy customer.
November 27, 2008 @ 6:09 am
We’ve had to replace our control panel three times in five years. Also, our tankless hot water heater is a Bosch. The pilot light goes out at least once a month. The lines must be bled and after attempting to light the pilot and bled the lines several times (approx THREE HOURS) we finally have hot water for our shower.
I WOULD NEVER BUY A BOSCH PRODUCT AGAIN.
Pete
December 1, 2008 @ 1:21 pm
Same problem as the person from Sept 16th. Every time you push in the lower rack, it hits the side of the tub and you have to take the time to align it just so and push it in.
Tom
December 3, 2008 @ 6:42 pm
I too hate the new bosh I bought last month… the salesman at sears said it was the way to go and the door leaked right after I installed it.. It doesn’t want to shut correctly.. the repairman said I didn’t push it hard enough to close and set the catch.. well it for another week..and now its leaking again.. so they are coming back the 8th… on the plus side it is quiet and seems to clean the dishes ok.. but I still like my old kitchenaid better.. Does anyone else had a door that is not closing properly?
Joel
December 5, 2008 @ 11:02 am
I have a new SHE68 Bosch installed November 25, 2008. Suddenly, it isn’t working properly. It doesn’t wash the dishes and drops about 30 minutes in its displayed cycle. It shows 110 minutes to go and then it shows a much lower number to go. I am trying again with the Electrasol capsule they give away, having successfully (for a week or so) and then unsuccessfully used Cascade capsules with Dawn. I use Jet Dry or whatever it is. This is our second Bosch. I find them to be mediocre machines that are wonderfully quiet and usually the highest rated, not obscenely priced machine, ultra quiet machine in Consumers Report. I fear I need a new pump from what I have read above.
My wife’s view is that it’s skipping the washing cycle, which sounds like the electronics to me.
Joel
December 5, 2008 @ 12:22 pm
Buried in the manual are instructions for making the Bosch expend more energy to do a better job of drying.
I just did a second load using the Cascade pellet that came with the machine and things seem back to normal, though it did skip about 27 minutes.
So, I hope this is my last post (ha ha).
Would I buy another Bosch? Yes (sigh)
Joel Dobris
December 20, 2008 @ 12:19 am
Repair man came re skipping a cycle. He recommended using Autowash button if we want a long cycle and whatever they call the short cycle if we want a short wash. It seems to be working. So, like the thermostat and the jobbie that controls the lawn sprinklers we’ve accepted an uneasy truce and less than 100% of what the manufacturer promised.
bertha butt
January 7, 2009 @ 9:32 pm
I am so angry, I am beyond trying to be nice about the stupid Bosch dishwasher I purchased for our newly built home in 2006. It worked, I think, for about 4 months. Did ok - when you opened the door there was steam, so it seemed to be working. Then it stopped getting hot, the cycles lasted forever. The computer doesn’t appear to be reading when to change cycles, it just keeps running and running and running, never getting hot, never cleaning, never draining and it stinks. A handyman we talked to said Bosch’s are only built to last a year or so and then break down, and to always buy Whirlpool. He gets returns and salvage mdse from Sears, fixes and re-sells so does have some knowledge.
I’m with V Samuel above, maybe this thing wants to be something else and was forced into servitude as a dishwasher.
I feel really cheated because now I have to buy a new dishwasher and don’t have the money. Bosch has lost me as a potential customer for any future product I might be tempted to buy.
Just Bosch-ing Ya...
January 17, 2009 @ 10:14 am
Model SHX46A05UC
Purchased almost 3 months short of 5 years ago. $900 then. In place/use for almost exactly 4 years now. A friend got the same model at the same time and had similar experiences.
At that time Consumer reports gave them a fairly high repair rate. Not the worst- not the best.
Always cleaned decently. Wasn’t a super-scrubber. There’d be debris on ‘clean’ dishes if debris went in on some dishes- garbage in & garbage out it seemed. LOVED the quietude. Older one was noisy & cleaned similarly.
Always a soapiness to anything that was ‘run through’. Run water in a freshly washed glass or even a pan there’d be bubbles- soap apparently. They’d dissipate with rinsing(s). Finally a couple years ago someone knowledgeable (a professional of some appliance knowledge perhaps. Can’t remember exactly) told us not to fill the soap hopper. Use only a teaspoon of soap. Had to make sure the rinse agent was full to prevent post cycle dampness.
Recently have run into the endless cycling. That was preceded by dishes not getting clean/being quite wet when run through. Used CLR, running it empty, and then vinegar several times to de-lime the heating element. Our water is very hard & don’t have a ’softened’ cold-water feed line to kitchen (on a slab, so changing the feed would extensive). There is pronounced lime build up on the rinse holder & lime staining down the door interior.
The machine worked better for the de-liming a few times and then went back into the overlong cycles mode. Not sure what to do now.
heather
January 18, 2009 @ 6:26 pm
I will never buy a bosch dishwasher again or their oven for that matter. THEY ARE BOTH CRAP. I have the same problem =dirty glasses and crap all over them. This happened with my old one as well no idea why I bought another. I have a kitchenaid in my summer house and cleans beautifully. The oven is another story never worked right from day one. But back to the dishwasher I clean the filter everday makes no difference the glasses end up with a film of dried food debris and I have to wash them in real hot water to get it off. I am disgusted. I have to say it is quiet but I rather have noise and clean dishes!!
jon p drew
January 23, 2009 @ 2:11 pm
We bought a bosch dishwasher when we remodeled in 2003. Nothing but problems. It leaks which I’m sure will require me to replace the surrounding cabinets eventually as wood and water is not a good mix. It constanly comes loose from the cheap z brackets that are suppose to go into this cheap plastic that is supposed to hold this cheaply manufactured dishwasher in place. it is now january of 2009 and today the dishwasher did not fail me in it’s substandard performance. So today it is getting ripped out and I am buying something new from a local merchant so when that breaks I actually have somebody’s ass I can chew and get results instead of going to a big box store and have some 16 year old stare at me blankly when I try to explain the problem. Maybe I should find something from 1965 that still runs as I am sure it would outlast anything else made in this modern era. So to Bosch or whatever tightass penny pinching cheap company that actually paid for this useless brand name I say F**K YOU.
washerwoman
January 25, 2009 @ 11:48 pm
Having a Bosch dishwasher is like marrying for looks– it wears thin pretty fast. Sure, it’s quiet, but when my new glassware got etched, not only by the Bosch in my old house, but also again by the Bosch in the new house (don’t even ask me why I got talked into buying another one– like I said, I’m a sucker for looks and quiet) I embarked on this endless quest for info on WHY this high priced beauty was betraying me. Salespeople, even seasoned ones, will not help you out once you have that baby home. They just try to imply that it’s my fault (yes, I use jetdry, yes I use the detergent recommended.) I feel like I’m having to become a dishwasher geek to figure this out– one person says it’s hard water, one says soft water with too much detergent. One site says my water’s too hot, one says its too cold. Call me goldilocks, I’m frustrated.
FranS
February 7, 2009 @ 5:31 pm
I have had a Bosch dishwasher for 6 months. It’s crap. We drove from Canada to the States to buy the dishwasher. The appliance people tried to talk us out of the Bosch and to buy the Miele. We had been told by friends that the repairs for Miele in Canada were terrible. The appliance saleslady said that it’s the opposite in the States, that Miele was great and Bosch terrible. Anyway, I haven’t called them to come fix this piece of junk yet. I’m having the same problems as everyone else. It doesn’t clean anything, it has ruined all of our silverware and it stinks. Due to having to open the door to get things to dry, the steam has ruined the finish on the surrounding cabinets (also only 6 months old). I am totally unimpressed.
Lynn M
February 28, 2009 @ 11:10 am
I purchased a POS Bosch SHX46 dishwaher from Sears. I thought it looked great in stainless and I was impressed with the stainless interior. However, it has never gotten dishes on the top rack clean. All the glasses are coated with debris. It works okay when the bottom basket is empty. Its so nasty. I must feel each glass on the inside befor I put it away. My builder grade dishwasher I had before worked much better than this crappy Bosch!
Liz
March 8, 2009 @ 10:28 pm
I’m so glad to find I’m not alone in this. Our Bosch is the worst dishwasher we’ve ever owned in addition to being the most expensive. Our complaints are pretty much what everyone else’s are: food left on the dishes, spray arms that get clogged, standing water in the bottom. It doesn’t matter what I use for detergent, although I’ll admit that Cascade Complete does work better than the Electrasol (amazing because Electrasol was always the best with our other dishwashers. Recently, I’ve tried putting vinegar in the rinse dispenser instead of the commercial rinse agent and it seems to be doing a better job, not perfect, but marginally better. I’ve never had a dishwasher before where I had to rinse so thoroughly, so it’s no savings in water, and very little savings in time. The aggravation of rinsing stuff afterwards after you’ve already pre-rinsed is getting really really old. I suspect that perhaps these units work better with some a particular hardness of water. Obviously some people love their machines, but I’ll never buy another one.
irene valentino
March 21, 2009 @ 5:17 pm
All, If you like Cascade complete with your Bosch you will love the results of
Electrosol “finish” it’s the small cube version and came as a sample with my dishwasher
Carol
March 30, 2009 @ 4:50 pm
We bought a Bosch dishwasher in January, and almost immediately it refused to drain. The problem was intermittant - the worst kind! The service person would come out, press the two button Cancel-Drain cycle, and the washer would drain - but this was after the washer had been turned off for several days. If I tried the Cancel-Drain cycle right after the cleaning cycle finished, it still refused to drain.
The service people were incredibly rude, and implied that we were either crazy or too stupid to run a dishwasher. After their fourth trip out here, they replaced the dishwasher.
It worked perfectly for two weeks, and is now refusing to drain again.
The filter is clean, there are no kinks in the drain hose, we don’t have a garbage disposal, and all the pipes, drains, and hoses are unclogged. Nothing is blocking the impeller.
I had a Whirlpool that gave good service for 25 years before giving up the ghost. It may have been noisy, but at least it cleaned and drained properly! And even allowing for inflation, it cost less than this Bosch.
What a piece of garbage!
RUTH
April 16, 2009 @ 7:31 pm
In 2007 we got the Bosch SHE58C05UC/48 coming in at $1,200 incl. tax, del; ext. warranty. Does an excellent job using the shortest cycle(37 min.), quietest dishwasher we’ve ever had since 1969! Buuttt, cleaning the 3 part filter assembly several times a week is annoying and gross. We scrape and rinse our stuff before loading so I’m baffled as to the weird gunk that continues to accumulate. We are using the Electasol detergent cubes as recommended by Bosch. Anybody else out there with this experience?
Kristin Halsell
April 18, 2009 @ 7:20 pm
My mid-range Bosch was installed 3 years ago, and has never been any warmer than lukewarm. It leaves a lot of spots.
However, my main complaint is that the components of the top and bottom racks are constantly becoming dislodged. I have removed several of them permanently out of sheer frustration.
The temperature problem might be an easy fix-I am going to try the rinse cubes. However, the moving components are a design flaw.
Jim
April 21, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
Let me add my words of disgust for the SHX43. Purchased in January and we’ve had nothing but heartache ever since. It isn’t quiet, nothing gets really clean, it breaks dishes left and right, bottom rack doesn’t slide in and out easily, it takes forever for a cycle to complete. Now it isn’t draining and we have a service call in. I want my stupid Kitcheaid that lasted 25 years without a single service call back. This is ridiculous. Our daughter had one installed on the same day we did, and is already on her second one. Don’t buy this machine.
Lois
April 26, 2009 @ 2:39 pm
When we moved into our new house 4 years ago, there was an older Bosch dishwasher here. It was quiet, quick, and efficient. When it died 2 years ago, we replaced it with another Bosch - mid to upper quality. I dislike it so much. Although it is still very quiet, it takes up to 140 minutes for the regular cycle and many times my glasses come out filmy and my dishes not completely clean. Next dishwasher will definitely NOT be a Bosch. I am actually hoping it dies sooner than later. It definitely was not worth the extra cost.
David
May 5, 2009 @ 8:31 am
We built a new house last year and decided to “Move up” to a Bosch dishwasher from our Sears Kenmore which we’d had for years and I’d never had any problem with. Now I have to wash my dishes before putting them in - I always thought people who did that were crazy, now I think maybe they have a Bosch! - after they come out I remove the crud and scrape off the hard bits. There doesn’t seem to be as much room, the bottom rack is hard to operate and is always falling out. I complained to their website and all they said was “most people like it.” If it breaks I’ll definitely go back to a Kenmore, I never realized how good it was until I had something to compare it to The only thing I can say in the Bosch’s favor is that it is quiet..
Brigit
May 11, 2009 @ 10:49 pm
I’ve had my Bosch for just a few weeks - it seems to clean fine and it is very quiet. But I am going crazy with the poor design of the racks. The top rack does not work well for common sized cups, glasses or mugs. With the flip tines up, I have to struggle to get a small class between them and the side. If I put them down, it’s hard to get two rows of cups or glasses next to each other, so there is so much wasted space. We measured after struggling with this and found the top rack to be more than 2 inches shorter than top racks on other dishwashers. Missing that extra space is very noticeable when things don’t fit well. On the other side I can’t get even small cereal boxes to stay in place. Put one it and it rolls to the side. Put in another one and you have to hold in place what you already have there with the other hand. The bottom rack has such big openings that no cup or mug can be put there without falling over. I am so unhappy about this - but apparently stuck with it. I would not buy this again simply because of the racks!
SamCin
May 14, 2009 @ 4:38 pm
Bosch Dishwashers are CRAP! I own the SHX46A05UC, it won’t drain, the cycles run off on their own, and the unit smells like wet garbage all of the time. I trusted Sears and paid $1,100 for this piece of crap. DON’T BUY BOSCH!
Barb U
May 25, 2009 @ 10:16 pm
I just got the next to the lowest priced Bosch to replace a Kenmore that I had for 20 years that leaked during the night when I ran it as it was so noisy and it had been leaking and warped my wood floor in the kitchen. My sister had advised me to get the Bosch as she had one in her last house and loved it. I have no problem with mine except it stinks. I do not ever scrape anything and I had always used the Cascade 2-1 Action Pacs that have Dawn in it. It cleans great and runs quietly but the smell is horrible when I open the door. I tried the Electrasol that came with it and that is when the smell started, with the first load. I thought it was the Electrasol so I threw it away and the Cascade never smelled until just lately. I checked the drain and there is nothing in it but the water smells horrible that is just below the drain. I have never had a dishwasher stink like this. I have never liked all the bells and whistles on appliances as the computers always go haywire and screw up everything. I just want clean dishes that do not stink. I have not heard anything good on here except it runs quietly. The water pressure is high as I get splashed if I open the door and it is hotter than blue blazes. The smell is just horrible and I can hardly stand to open the door it stinks so bad. I guess I will call Lowe’s where I bought it and get them out here as they were the ones who installed it and it has only been 2 months since they put it in.
Wallflower
June 8, 2009 @ 11:08 am
Just caught this when I was looking up ‘cleaning the filter’ to find out if it WAS a pain. Apparently it IS a pain.
Bosche, like all German companies (dare I say, BMW is a prime example??) expects consumers to cater to their products. We, then, become servants to the appliance that is supposed to serve us, make our lives easier and better. Sounds like a science fiction novel… Let us all ’serve Val’ (Really bad science fiction, sorry…)
Having consumers clean the filter is thoroughly brain-dead. People won’t do it. (I will, but then I’m a clean-nut) I have a ‘high end’ Kenmore, and it was around $650 on sale (including a stainless interior). It heats the water and it grinds up the garbage - I don’t pre rinse anything either, just scoop out big gobs of stuff. I could buy two of them for the price of one Bosche, so no matter how ‘reliable’ it is (and it apparently isn’t), I’d still be ahead, as most American dishwashers are really quite reliable, AND you can get parts, AND you can fix them yourself if you’re not a half-wit. (There are many places where parts are available on-line. IT IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE.)
My Kenmore (or Maytag, or GE or Whirlpool - they are all about the same) heats the water to 140. I have an Aquastar gas instant on water heater (amazing item! Weirdly enough made by Bosche so they can do some things right) which I set to 160, now I get the higher temperature without having to clean filters!
It also dries the dishes (optional drying cycle - Bosche has decided that you don’t need a drying cycle. We have a busy kitchen. Two cycles a day at least!)
My girlfriend bought a Bosche and was enchanted with it. For about two weeks. She went on vacation (not having cleaned the filter and not having read the 3000 page document - this is a dishwasher, not a rocket launcher!!!!), came back to a stinking mess! She bought a Kenmore (like mine! Loves it) and put the pile of crap on Craigslist for someone else to ‘love’.
That for me is a non-starter. I’m an Engineer (PE) and I would not tolerate having to clean the filter every time I ran the thing (and I’d have to clean the filter every time. See above ‘clean nut’ comment ;-> ).
Sounds like what one other commenter said: crap. Not for me.
I got a snide letter back from Bosche when I raised the question of an optional drying cycle being included in future models? They called it ‘baking’ the dishes. Tsk Tsk Tsk. Who would want to BAKE their dishes? Horrors! They are fired at 1400 C. My Royal Doulton (that has a gold rim, no hand painted periwinkles though) has been washed daily for, oh, 20 years, and shows no decline in its finish.
I want my dishes dry. But first, I want them CLEAN.
In the case of dishwashers, I’ll buy American. In the case of cars? (I’ll buy Toyota - we have a 4 Toyota garage.)
Cara
June 8, 2009 @ 5:52 pm
Happy to find a bosch bash-fest! We decided to “upgrade” to a Bosch, mostly for the stainless steel interior, the nylon racks, and quiet run. We were happy with it for the first two years, although I wasn’t crazy about the wet dishes. Turns out I miss the “dry” cycle. Our problem came about one month after our 2 yr. warranty ran out. The machine never stopped running, ending with an error code of 1. Googling around, I found this probably has to do with the control board…and the electronic PART may still be covered. However, you have to pay the service call fees.
I’ve been running the machine and turning it off manually, and then setting the rinse cycle… because I’m just too darn mad to have it fixed. After about six months of doing this, I was getting ready to consider a repair call. BTW… now the dishwasher stinks, too!
After reading all these other bad reports, I think I may call it a ‘wash’… and go back to Whirlpool… which now also offers nylon racks. We’ve had Whirlpool’s in the past and the only problem we ever had was the racks rusting out. They gave us 10-12 years of service, without ever needing a repair.
Ack…I’m still so mad about this Bosch. I paid more because I expected more…. and when I don’t get it… and the company won’t extend warranties… forget it.
To repair or to buy a new Whirlpool? I think I want a new Whirlpool. Thanks for giving me a place to vent!
BTW… there have been a lot of recalls on Bosch machines for the control board… but the recall stopped short of my model by about six months. That was the other reason I was waiting.. because I thought the recall might be expanded. Huh… more complaints about Bosch. I think that settles it.
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/home/2009/01/bosch-recall.html
Kristin Halsell
June 28, 2009 @ 5:08 pm
I looked for a Bosch dish rack online with immovable parts to no avail. This piece of crap is moving to the lake house.
FWIW, thank you to those who posted about the imperative use of rinse agent. That helped very much with the spotting on the dishes.
Can anyone recommend a high quality stainless steel dishwasher with a good performance record? I don’t care for moveable parts.
Jack Titelman
July 7, 2009 @ 1:33 pm
Is there not a lawyer out there that will do a class action on these absolute nightmare excuses for dish washers. Out of eight machines that I have owned, this one does the poorest job cleaning, stinks, and I have to wedge a roll of paper towels in the door for up to eight hours to get the contents of the machine dry. When I’m short on time, I end up drying everything myself ! The height of engineering stupidity !
Brad Sparkles
July 8, 2009 @ 7:52 pm
I understand there are many people disgusted with Bosch and rightfully so. After reading most of the comments it seems they are comparing the recently purchased Bosch with a model and brand of dishwasher purchased years earlier.
The reason for much of the decline in cleaning power is the government mandate that appliances now qualify for the energy star rating–which in a nutshell, means they use less electricity and less water. No wonder all the cleaning power is diminishing.
Rest assured I am not making excuses for Bosch, but none of the dishwashers pressently assembled clean as well as their forefathers–they just look better and have more gadgets.
Brad