We have two KUDE70s - one leaked water all over the floor and into the basement about 15 mo. after installation. Called Kitchen Aid and of course it was barely out of warranty so I called the service company recommended by KA. The tech arrived, knew it would be a broken clamp, verified and said he would have to order it. I believe we paid about $265 for the trip fees, parts, installation. He said that this was incredibly common and would probably happen to the other one as well.

We were having some difficulties with the electronic control panels on both dishwashers as well. I must've been feeling very vulnerable because I purchased extended warranties on both dishwashers. Within several months, (only about 18 mo after install) the computer panels on BOTH dishwashers needed to be replaced. Now, 6 weeks after that - one of them will not work. The green "Clean" light is on and it will not engage.

Admittedly, once buying the extended warranty I have not had to pay for the additional service. But we spent $650 on these dishwashers AFTER spending over $1200 on each unit to begin with!! If they did not have custom panels on the front, I would scrap them and buy something else. Once the extended warranties are up in two years I will not put any more money into these dishwashers.

One bright spot is that when working, they do a great job of cleaning and drying the dishes.

Our KA model KUDE48FXWH4 had the exact same failure after 15 months. (picture). We called the appliance store (local independent) from which we purchased the unit and the tech came out to find the pump detached. Replaced clamp and charged us $175 for the call.

I called KA and spoke Hanna who placed me on hold, contacted the store and took care of the charges.

Be polite, be nice, explain what happened and good luck!

I have an KitchenAid DW that's probably more than 5 years old. I believe I got it at Lowe's, model KUDL03. One more thing to worry about I guess! How does one go about finding out if a particular model is affected by this clamping issue? Thanks.

My KitchenAid DW KUDE70 will be 5 years old in closer to the end of this year so I better have this pump looked at!

I will look into this after my tax season.

In another thread I mentioned that I had this same problem with a seven month old KitchenAid dishwasher.

My kude70fxss just leaked into my basement for the 3rd time in the 18 months I've owned it! Prior leaks were from failure of pump clamp - haven't pulled it out to determine why it leaked this time.
First repair done by the contractor who built my house (new house warranty); second repair (Sept '13) done by Kitchen Aid authorized repairman who said he replaced all of the clamps, even the ones that hadn't failed. Just got off the phone with KA customer service, who have scheduled me for service in 5 days, noting that I may be liable for costs if it isn't a failure of the pump clamp. After calling KA and giving serial #, rep told me he had a note to transfer my call to another rep to deal with this issue, though second rep denied any technical service bulletin or recall. I was polite with rep, but I'm beyond furious. Will need drywall repair in basement and wood kitchen floors may need to be redone again!

This was a very expensive dishwasher and I'm considering replacement as I'm afraid to leave the house after I turn it on. Basement is finished so I"m concerned about potential mold in carpet.

Does anyone know of any class action suits pending? I haven't found anything online.

Hi I have posted earlier as I had the same problem. I wont repeat what I have previous posted. What I will share again is to document in detail the events and contact Whirlpool directly. I actually did that through Facebook. I just said I am having problems not sure who to contact. My advice is to not lose your temper but focus on what you want. I wanted the problem fixed, they offered me a me dishwasher ( I did not ask), They compensated me for my floor. PS My new dw has worked like a champ with no problems. Good luck!

I have had the same problem as carolmka and the water leak seeped under my brand new wood floors! I had my contractor remove the boards today and am waiting for Kitchen Aid to send me a claim form. The clamp/ sump was replaced but water damage is still apparent & they discarded the part. Glad to hear that KA is working with customers on compensation. Moved into our new house and replaced with this new KA Dishwasher KUDE60FXSS4 and new wood floors only 1 year ago :(

THANK YOU for this information everyone. Pump clamp was the first thing we looked at after I read these posts. We pulled out the dishwasher, and yup, it had failed.
I have a 2-year old KUDE70FXSS3 which started leaking - ruined several planks of my wood floor.
I didn't want to spend more $ on servicing, or wait for their part to be shipped. I went to Home Depot and bought a clamp. It was wider than KA's, but my husband (yes, he's a general contractor, but it was easy) fit it over, and he taped it for good measure, extra security! No more leak.
Oh, and the cost of the clamp: $0.98
Only two days w/o a dishwasher: priceless.
I emailed KA with my gripes. Let's see if they respond. I do,otherwise, love this dishwasher.

Our two KA appliances that hook up to water - fridge & d/w - have flooded our house TWICE IN THE LAST TWO YEARS !! (And we have 5" plank wood floors throughout. Fun times. Not.)

The first flood was a ~$40,000 insurance claim that KA eventually fully reimbursed our insurance co for. And this most recent fridge flood from Memorial Day will be about another $20,000 claim. (The d/w flooded Dec '13 and again just about a month ago. Before the last floor replacement had even fully cured !) For the big fridge floods went through insurance b/c we felt it would be easier on us. Let them fight with KA. But we don't know how /if it will impact our insurance. Something else to worry about !!

As to the comments much earlier in this thread re: whether or not it's "un-American" to recommend Bosch, Miele, etc over KA, I say nonsense! After the 4th and final flood I told our appliance co to get the KA d/w OUT of our house and I would choose ANYTHING OTHER than a Whirlpool appliance. I have had my Miele in place for a couple of weeks and love it so far. The fact that it has a DOUBLE waterproof membrane means that I will never buy any other type of d/w after having had the KA flood experiences.

As for the fridge, after the second flood from that, I told our appl co to get it OUT of the house and KA did agree to give us a new one -- which ended up having hairline CRACKS all around the inner plastic casing ! SO now I am done and am replacing it with a Subzero in a couple of weeks.

I appreciate that KA has given us a full refund on our purchase price of our d/w and fridge, BUT...

1.This number of horrible failures never should have happened in the first place. I can't begin to describe the nightmare of two catastrophic floods in which the kitchen had to be completely demo'd twice in order to install new wood floors. Additionally the first flood ruined, among other things, a WWII jacket that was my husband's dad's who died when my husband was just a boy. And the first flood happened mere weeks after my husband returned from a year long deployment to Afghanistan. But thank goodness he was home to help !
2. KA should have done a thorough QC check on the replacement fridge to make sure it was 110% perfect - instead of sending us one covered with cracks, that their customer service dept offered a "crack fill kit" (WHY do they even need to stock such an item ??!) to the KA certified tech who called them while he was on site. I said absolutely NO. If this wasn't a brand new fridge, maybe. But brand new just out of the box ??! Are they joking !
3. And KA should have covered our first d/w flood 100%(parts and labor came to a modest ~$150. They credited me $40 after a major battle. Really ????? And this was Flood #2 which occurred about 6 months after we got back into the house after the initial $40k flood !)
3. And now my appl co is putting it on KA to cover the cost of this final floor repair from the 4th flood which will be between $400-$2000 depending on how much will ultimately be needed to restore the wood floor. I think KA should cover it, but shame on our appl co too, as I've told them, for not taking it off of my plate and dealing with KA on our behalf. Our appl co has done a lot of work as a result of all these floods, but so have I !!
KA could have stood out in a positive way if they had stepped up proactively in a number of instances throughout this nightmare. So we'll see how this comes to a final conclusion once I get the new fridge and the damage has been repaired and reimbursed, and how much of a battle it will take. I'll be sure to post the conclusion here !
ps - my architect warned me away from KA d/w as she had a lot of issues with hers, which culminated in a fire.

Greengail and others, thank you for sharing! I really need to call KA and PC Richards before my extended warranty runs out in October on my KA dishwasher as now I am worried as I am about to redo all my floors downstairs and my KA DW Kude70 will be 5 years old this October 2014.

Does anyone know the exact clamp that was the issue? Looking for part # or mfg #. Or does anyone know if there is anything engraved on the defective clamp? Thanks!!

I also would like to know this as I had a 5 year extended warranty with PC Richard and now it passed. I had no time to deal with this with one crisis in my life. I am a little worried about future problems. The dishwasher is now 5 years and 1/2 month old.

Today I have had the same problem, the Kitchen Aid Model KUDE70FX flooded the Kitchen. The flood was caused by the hose coming disconnected from the pump. This is a replacement for a previous Kitchen Aid that had a defect causing it to catch fire. Inspection of this new dishwasher found the cause of the hose coming off was not due to the clamp, but due to the part the hose connects to does not have a hose barb. No matter how tight you clamp the hose its going to work it's way off of the pipe as the dishwasher runs. People should be careful and not run this dishwasher unattended. If you were told it was a defective hose clamp and a new clamp with a screw was used to replace the old clamp, it will come off the pipe at some point in time. You cannot put a hose onto a smooth pipe and expect it to stay on, especially when this part is vibrating during the pumping cycle. The attached photo shows what the pipe end that the hose goes on should look like.

VinceSardo, thank you for the pictures and explanation. I finally have computer access again as I just replaced my hardwood floors (from another problem) and finally got my home office cabinets and desk and computers back in. I have to get all my files in and next week I will have to call KitchenAid. I can not chance on having any more floods so I want them to change any parts to prevent this problem. I have been unable to do anything about it all year due to tax season, deaths in the family, car issues and my insurance claim from my other problem in 2013. Due to all these horrors, I never run the dishwasher unless I am home and I keep checking. I also replaced my kitchen floor with Porcelain Tile hoping that will help but the small kitchen is open to the family room that has engineered hardwood floors(Brazilian Cherry again as I loved the color) just installed less than a week ago.

Thank you everyone for posting about this problem as I have the same dishwasher. So far due to being single and only doing dishes 1X or 2X a week, it has not yet leaked but I can't afford another insurance claim so I must call once I get my home and home office back in order.

The problem isn't a broken or defective clamp - it is a bad design. As previously described the plastic fitting needs the ribs and it needs a screw clamp. It comes off because of the starting torque of the pump pulls on the fitting. Depending on how often it is run determines how how soon it will fail. It happened twice to me and both times the water destroyed the motor. If you have had this fixed you should have the fitting checked and the clamp replaced yearly or sooner. It will fail again!

Previous posted pictures are not available. I would appreciate If someone could repost pictures of this failure as I believe my two year old KitchenAid dishwasher just had this type of failure. Thanks !

So, how crazy would it be to try modifying the part to mimic a hose barb? By that I mean add glue or subtract PVC to make a similar shape? Is there a compound I could add to give the hose more grip? I have a replacement clamp on the way, and will be contacting KitchenAid soon, but nothing in this thread gives me the impression that any replacement parts will even solve the problem.

Interesting question. But how sad is it that such an expensive appliance requires a hack in order to not cause ruin and mayham to your home ?!!!

However there is a product I have heard of that just might do the trick. Check out sugru.com. They have video demos. I think its silicone based. I believe Target is carrying it in stores too.

Or, just get rid of EVERY KA appliance in your house that hooks up to water like we did and you'll sleep peacefully !!

I just repaired (apparently temporarily) the EXACT same problem depicted in this thread on a Kenmore Elite Ultra Wash (literally identical to the original photo from user joewb). I just happened to be searching around for those with similar problems, since it's clearly a DESIGN problem rather than a PARTS problem, and hoped others had found a better/more permanent repair methodology. The extent of this design issue is shocking, but not nearly as bad as the extent of damage every time this fails.

Long-term lesson-learned: Look UNDER a dishwasher before buying it -- in person -- and look for these inherently faulty "rubber clamped to PVC" design flaws. Hoses should be clamped to metal, or at least something that actually grips better than smooth PVC plastic.

BTW, while I dig Sugru, it doesn't bond to plastic or rubber, so it won't help. The poster with the idea of somehow scoring the smooth PVC such that a screw-down clamp might actually retain adhesion is on the right track -- but obviously if you make a mistake (slip, crack, or cut too deeply) you can permanently destroy a very expensive part.

--Fellow DIY homeowner, with lots of "mop-up towels" in the laundry...

Hi Intenselygoodtime,

Let's just say I feel your pain. The only solution for us was getting a Miele dw that has a double membrane system, so that if the dw detects a leak collected in the first membrane, it will automatically shut itself off before it even hits the second membrane. Or something like that. Bottom line...I will NEVER, EVER, EVER buy another Whirlpool appliance. EVER !

I have just repaired my KA DW second time for same problem. Wasn't aware of all the discussion about recalls etc and was just searching for a better solution than the Home Depot hose clamp I had fitted last time. I thought it had fallen off again because I hadn't tightened it down enough the first time. No major damage both time luckily. Fortunately heard the water leaking this morning just as I was walking out the door so caught it - wheew.

Note: re motor failures I thought my motor was burned out the first time and that it had been the torque on failure that had ripped it off the hoze, but drying it out with a hairdryer had it up and running again. Just had to be patient. It had just got thoroughly wet from the leak and worked again once dry. So don't let your repairman get to crazy with new motors before you have given the old one a chance to dry out.

Note: re replacement clamp: I used the home depot version successfully, but this time I have really cranked down on the hose clamp screw with a socket ratchet so I can see deformation of the rubber hose squeezing through the slots in the clamp ... but as the previous posts note, this will eventually work loose. I am interested in the modification to the pipe on which the hose fits to keep it there. hacksaw grooves perhaps? KA should really include this part with a modification in the recall kit.

Thoughts on the motor mount: Perhaps also beef up the motor mount which is just a itty bitty rubber tab slipped into a groove. I wonder if perhaps the failure sequence is that the mount slips off first and then the excessive vibration works the clamp off. Will perhaps try securing the rubber motor mount a bit better when I go in to improve on the hoze barb design. wish me luck!

FWIW, my architect's KA DW actually CAUGHT FIRE a couple of years ago. It would have burned down their house if she had not been home at the time it burst into flames. These things are a HAZARD.

We just had the exact same problem with our Kitchenaid dishwasher model KUDE20IXSS8. The hose slipped off the pump with the crimpable clamp on the hose and you can just imagine the mess this caused. I called Kitchenaid to explain the problem and asked if there was a recall and they said there was no recall. Our appliance is no longer covered under warranty and they do not even cover the service call unless you escalate the matter to a supervisor/manager. BAD PRODUCT DESIGN. It is shameful and quite frankly it is flagrant negligence. Even an amateur can look at this and say "how can you design water connections in this way and then pretend that another clamp will resolve the problem?". The pictures of these other Kitchenaid models are identical to mine therefore the poorly designed part is used on many models. Class action lawsuit anyone? They certainly deserve one especially seeing how they are dealing with this problem. The price of this appliance is not worth the cost of the problems it can cause. Beware if you buy Kitchenaid. I am getting rid of mine ASAP.

If there is a class action lawsuit against KA, count me in !

Guess what ? Been without a dishwasher for couple months and finally I pulled out the machine and guess what ? The hose is loose open , not all those time I have wash dishes with my bare hands : spent half an hour with the flash light trying to put the clamp back on to the hose together : I finally gave up and bump into this post : very outrageous how much money do u save to cost us trouble and headaches ? $5 no more than that :

Just wanted to add a data point. Am unfortunate enough to own KUDE70FX, purchased in 2013. Have been fortunate enough, so far, not to have it puke water all over my hardwood floor. However, back in December, it stopped working. I buy the extortionate service Repair+1 service plan in hopes of getting the problem fixed before Xmas. I was naive. It's now January 2017. The tech on his first visit said it was the main board. He orders it, we wait. Installs it, machine still doesn't work. Now it's the keypad. He's ordered it, but it's a 10-14 day wait. $1600 for a three-year-old DW that doesn't work and, now I'm learning, still may 1) catch fire or 2) flood the kitchen or 3) both.

Stay far far away from KA, folks.

I want to get rid of this thing, but we have too much in it.

I feel ur pain, pony_glass. All I can say is life's too short to worry everyday about flood or fire. And we're LOVING our Bosch d/w although I know many also are fans of Meile. Never again K.A.

I'd bite the bullet and just get a new dishwasher. Too many serious problems (floods and fire !) with KA dishwashers.

cozypalmer,

There are many online sources for parts. One that I frequently use lists your pump at $69.12. Depends if you can DIY the job ...

Dishwasher clamp problem was real. I had it twice and the second time I figured it was a design problem. I made a new support structure and different clamps and it never happened again. Put it on FB and was contacted to show my solution. I told them that they first had to compensate me for all the dammages.

Never heard from them again.

I wish a class action lawsuit would be filed against them!!!! I will never buy another KA or Whirlpool item again. EVER. EVIL COMPANY!

So we have had the Kitchenaid dishwasher KUDE40FX 6.5 years and just experienced the flood on the floor just moments after starting to run it. Using the advice provided here, we discovered that the pump motor came unattached from the bracket causing the hose to disconnect. Pulled the dishwasher out from under the counter and tipped it forward onto the floor to confirm diagnosis and to fix. We used a zip-tie to keep the pump motor attached to the bracket so that it doesn’t drop down again, which caused the clamp parts to disconnect. Poor design. We pushed the hose clamp back on and reattached the motor. This assembly is located further back in the dishwasher housing. There isn’t a recall for this but there is a service type bulletin. No cost to fix.

Yep. Unconscionably poor design and even worse manufacturer support. That is why I will NEVER, EVER buy anything Kitchenaid or Whirlpool ever again.

Greetings Kitchenaid sports fans! Our 6 year old KUDE70FXSS4 dishwasher had the dreaded pump hose clamp failure a month ago. We called the factory authorized service center. They sent 4 different techs to our house and spent about 12 hours of service time and $450 in parts and labor but were unable to fix the problem. Not only did it leak, but the control panel beeped and then gave us a series of 4 blinking lights. The last tech said we needed a new pump/motor. That’s when we decided to call it quits and were about to buy a new dishwasher. After a week of hand washing I decided there was nothing to lose by attempting to repair the dishwasher myself. What follows are the steps I took to completely fix the problem.

Here is a picture of the offending part. This is the short hose that connects the discharge (high pressure) end of the circulation pump to the sump diverter that feeds the spray arms.

There are multiple problems with this part. The sump connection is smooth with no ridge or barb to hold the hose in place. The 1/4” width band clamp is single use only and too weak to hold the hose in place. If the connection comes loose, you can slip it back on, but it won’t hold. The hose itself is too thin to accommodate a stronger clamp. When the pump kicks on it twists the hose slightly helping it to work loose. Bad design.

The best solution is to call an authorized service provider and insist they order and install the entire pump assembly. That is part W10328226 for $175-$225. That way you get the newer design sump (with ridges on the hose connection), diverter motor, and circulation motor. That should fix the problem, for a while. At least you will have a parts warranty. Who knows you might get another 6 years before it fails. There is also a leaking problem around the diverter motor shaft. Replacing the sump and pump assembly fixes that too. After the parts markup, diagnostic fee and labor you are looking at $500-$600 to repair.

Or you can install it yourself. It just requires removing a few screws from the spray assembly and the spray arms. Disconnect the drain hose and electrical connections. If you are a bit handy it isn’t all that difficult. Make sure power is turned off.

Or you can do what I did and attempt the low cost repair. I do not recommend anyone doing what I did as it likely voids any warranty on the dishwasher. I also don’t advise or guarantee this will work for anyone else. Leaking dishwashers can ruin floors or have the potential for electrical shock. This description is provided solely for entertainment purposes.

I wish folks would TWEET about this issue. Unfortunately I am not on Twitter, but Whirlpool (KA) should have their feet held to the fire for this criminally awful design !! I'm SO GLAD we replaced it with a Miele. Have also heard many love Bosch d/w. I'd hand wash before having anything Whirlpool again.

When the pump hose fails the leaking water can damage the pump. If the control panel has a solid green or flashing light, you need to clear the motor and reset the control board. If controls are working, you can skip this step. Turn off the power to the dishwasher. Remove any dishes and the bottom rack from the dishwasher. Remove mounting screws and slide unit out. If direct wired, remove cover from electric box and disconnect wires. Turn unit on its side. You should see the pump and disconnected hose. There are two pumps on the bottom. A drain pump (smaller) and the circulation pump. The problem is the larger pump. Remove the white outer housing from the pump. Disconnect electrical connections and then loosen any hose clamps or just pull the pump off the sump to free it. You will need to dry the pump out completely with a hair drier or air compressor. Once dry, clean the electrical contacts with a small wire brush or other tool. Then proceed to next step.

Here is a picture of the original offending part that is NOT available from Kitchenaid. I ordered the replacement clamp kit W10548435, then used parts I had to fashion a replacement. You will need a short length of industrial strength rubber hose near 1 1/8” diameter rated for water/food use and high temperatures and pressures, but flexible enough to accommodate a hose clamp. Then you need a couple of hose clamps. Here are pictures of the original part, the hose I used, and something I found on Amazon that should do the job.

I cut a straight section of the hose down to 1 5/8” and then washed it out with soap and water to remove any oil from the hose. I connected the new hose to the dried out pump using the 2 new hose clamps. Then I reconnected the suction side hose to the sump. I reconnected all the electrical connections and then tightened the hose clamps to make a watertight seal. Here is what it looked like when I finished.

Checking all the electrical and hose connections first, I turned the dishwasher back up to its normal position. The pump hangs from a lug and rubber bushing arpttached to the bottom of the sump. Be sure to attach it back. This prevents the pump from twisting when it starts up. If you can’t get a good connection, consider using nylon wire ties or something to secure the pump.

Next, I reconnected the power. The control panel was still locked and flashing an error code. To clear it I pressed the leftmost 3 buttons on the control panel in the following order. 1 - 2 - 3, 1 - 2 - 3, 1 - 2 - 3 until all the lights on the board illuminated. Then I pressed “cancel” or turned the power off to clear board. When I turned the power back on the control panel worked as normal. With the unit still sitting on the floor, I ran a quick wash cycle to check for leaks. I had a slight drip on the suction side of the pump. But a 1/2 turn on the hose clamp fixed that problem.

While still sitting on the kitchen floor I ran a full Pro Scrub cycle and even washed a load of dishes. Seeing no leaks I carefully reinstalled the unit in the cabinet, leveled it and installed the mounting screws. With the unit installed I ran another quick wash using a flashlight to check for leaks. While the unit was running I dried out the baffle cover and insulation with a hair drier. Finding no leaks I reinstalled the baffles and lower cover plate. We have not had a bit of trouble with the dishwasher since making these repairs.

I hope these comments may be useful to other Kitchenaid owners. I can’t recommend this repair to others. My dishwasher was out of warranty and the professionals I called gave up on repairing it. I wasn’t ready to spend another $1,100 on a new dishwasher because of a few defective parts. In total this cost me about $20 and maybe 30 minutes for the actual repair, not counting the testing cycles I ran. Anyone attempting to repair an appliance on their own should proceed cautiously and safely. I don’t warrant or guarantee this repair will work for anyone else and have documented it here for general discussion only. Good luck and thanks for reading!

Excellent. Be careful tightening those screw clamps. Too tight can crush/crack the pump housings.

We actually have two of these models, the other is now 7 years old at another house we own. We have always had good luck with KA appliances. Even after our bad experience with this one, we likely would have replaced it with another KA. Before this dishwasher we had an older Bosch that didn’t dry well (no heating element). My wife really likes this dishwasher. It cleans and dries well and holds a lot of dishes. We really didn’t want to replace it.

Thanks also to everyone on this forum who posted pictures and comments. They were all very helpful. Forgot to mention the most important thing. Before attempting any appliance repair, be sure to get permission from your significant other! Mine couldn’t be happier.

I was just charged over two hundred dollars to replace a defective pump unit. I believe it is the same unit KA replaced for a recall due to fire. Here is the link of the problem: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2242802/kitchenaid-dishwasher-leaking-water-defective-pump-clamp-recall

My appliance repair man did not know of the "official" recall and is researching it now. I am angry I was sold a product which should have had its pump replace when we purchased it new. It had the potential of ruining a beautiful kitchen floor, and still we do not know if the replaced pump has the potential of this happeneing again.

You might want to contact any Consumer Affairs dept in your local county or state to see if they can help.