Our tiny leak did not magically fix itself overnight, so I turned off the hot water supply, removed the two fittings, retaped them with Teflon plumbing tape, and used two different size adjustable spanners to screw them on separately. Sounds easy? Don’t forget I had to do this crouched on the floor perched deep inside a kitchen cabinet! Finally the %#@ leak stopped!
I have never had to deal with such inadequate installation instructions. We searched the Bosch site and resorted to generic youtube videos on dishwasher installations. The double-sided page of tiny schematic diagrams guiding the install process was for multiple languages, and required a magnifying glass to read.
Normally, fitting a dishwasher is the reverse of removing one – slide it into the cavity and connect power, water and drainage – a bit like setting up a caravan. The inlet hose for hot water has an anti flood device at the connection point. This would not fit through the existing hole in our cabinet. I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to provide another hose from the tap to this device, so resorted to phoning Bosch. I obviously wasn’t the first customer to make this enquiry as the Bosch employee had an instant response – cut the hole bigger. So I did!
I used the jigsaw but had to finish with a hammer and chisel because of limited access. At least it was easy fitting the hoses and electrical cord through the enlarged hole. We had figured out how to unpack the machine and adjust the plastic legs. Wouldn’t it be too easy to write instructions that specify a 14mm spanner is needed to wind up the two front legs? The single rear leg was adjusted by turning a screw at the bottom front of the machine – a great idea and much more convenient than pulling the dishwasher in and out to adjust that leg.
As the legs are plastic, I didn’t want them fully extended, so put a sheet of 7mm plywood under the machine. Levelling and parking the beast equal distances from the sides of the under bench cavity was the next challenge. This was where we discovered more bodgy work by our kitchen installers – cabinets are not aligned, panels are not perpendicular to the benchtop, and it was impossible to make the dishwasher even look right! I adjusted one of the panels and resisted rebuilding the kitchen, then screwed it to the cavity.
There are still some damp patches under the cupboards, so I will leave the kickboards off for a few days. Tilly can walk under the cupboards and thinks she can break the no pets in the kitchen rule. We have had stern words about this!
We cleaned up and packed tools in the dumb waiter before I took Bluey for a quick visit with his friends. We were booked in to go to dinner at the casino at 6pm, but were hungry so turned up at 5.30 for an early meal. My veal scallopini was delicious.
Committed Travellers 