I did a search of the CPSC website, SaferProducts.gov, to see if my Bosch dishwasher report had been posted yet. What I found was a shocking number of similar reports, many of them of full-fledged fires that started in Bosch’s defective control board. Many of these reports are for the recalled models, but not all of them! It seems my problem is not unique.
Over just the past 12 months there have been 26 reports filed on Bosch dishwashers.
See how Bosch downplays the seriousness of some of these reports:
The control failures reported in this dishwasher are random component failures over the last ten years. They do not, individually or collectively, represent a significant consumer hazard.
The dishwasher in this report is in one of the model families that was recalled (09-100), but that unit was made after the recalled controls had been discontinued. The control failure symptoms appear to be similar, but the control in this report does not have the propagation characteristcs found in the recalled controls. The limited extent of the damage is shown in the photos included in the report.
The 11 Amp current level cited is the total input current drawn by the dishwasher while the heater is operating. Other components, including the circulation pump which is always operating when the heater is on, are also drawing current. The heater relay is properly sized for the heater current.
The consumer in that last report rightly asked this question (emphasis mine):
The relay is rated at 10amps, Bosch technical manual directs to test the heater circuit that it draws 11 amps when operating normally. Why is a 10 amp rated relay put in a 11 amp circuit unless you want a fire?
Another echoes what I put in my report:
Bosch had a recall for a similar issue with other dishwashers, I believe the recall was not as wide spread as it should have been.
These are some frightening stories. Wish I hadn’t started digging into them right before bedtime.
That seems like an extremely basic point. I wonder what the engineers were thinking when they did that?
Any chance you can replace that relay with a 15 amp (or higher) version? If the problem is as simple as an undersized amp a different amp might solve it, right?
Even if they do replace the control board with a new one, will the new board have this fix? (I would assume so, or else they wouldn’t recall it right?)
I put in (or well, my neighbor put in) a 12A relay. He said he saw evidence of arcing on the board, too, which concerns me. Putting a new relay won’t fix that.
For now we’re not running the dishwasher when we’re not around.