Brand new Maytag dishwasher flips breaker - MDB4949SDE3

[dohertyc9]

Installed a new Maytag dishwasher. It runs for a while (1-3 hour cycles, wow!) but will randomly flip the breaker. Sometimes the breaker smells hot when this happens. Nothing under the dishwasher looks amiss. I made sure there's no connection or arcing between the electrical wires. I believe I have it wired correctly.

I'm not sure what part of the cycle it does this in.

I understand it has a food grinder and a small heating element which may be drawing too much power at some part in the cycle, but nothing like the big old brutal heating element in the old dishwasher that worked on this circuit for years. And the garbage disposal works fine. 

The old dishwasher began shooting sparks under the dishwasher, which is why we replaced it. I attributed that to food and garbage getting stuck in the pump. I would clean it out periodically but I figured it had had enough. 

[Rhubarb Tau]

Could just be a weak breaker, maybe weakened by the sparky load of the old dishwasher.

If you have an amp clamp, you could watch amp draw on the black wire (in the) during a test cycle (see tech sheet in kick plate insulation). The wash pump should draw ~ 1.5 Amps, the heater should draw 6 - 8 Amps. Those should be the only significant loads for current draw, so you should never see a value over 10A for the whole unit. If you do, something's pulling too much power.

Maybe an easier option, if the dishwasher plugs into an outlet, which it looks like it does. unplug the dishwasher, plug in a space heater to the same outlet, run the heater for a couple hours and see if it trips the breaker. If so, the problem isn't the dishwasher, it's the breaker (or something else in the supply wiring).

[dohertyc9]

I ended up just attempting to replace the breaker and looked here...

This breaker doesn't match the others which may be an issue, apparently. 

 

 

[dohertyc9]

 

[A & G Enterprises]

it mite be the breaker bar in the panel that is corroded tell the to call an electrician and check it out

[Hiroshi]

That thing is toast... that would definitely account for your symptom.

With that much arcing having occured, you may need to burnish the bus tooth that breaker rides on... wire brush it, or at least, use some DS/ES switch lube on the new breaker's contacts before you install it to stop this process from blasting the new parts in short order. 

If you throw the main, you can clean up the crispy spot without too much trouble- if you removed the breaker, you should be able to manage the last part, but if you get nervous poking around the heart of your load-center go ahead and call out a pro.

Edited August 17, 2017 by Hiroshi