Whirlpool dishwasher will not start

Three settings that imitate a dead dishwasher

Look for a padlock or Control Lock indicator first; Whirlpool notes that the light flashes three times when a button is pressed while the controls are locked, which is the machine answering you. Holding the marked button for three seconds clears it. Next look for a delayed start — a machine set to run in four hours looks completely inert until it does. Last, push the door until the latch clicks properly home, because a door resting closed is not a door the control will accept. Between them these three account for a real share of the calls.

What it usually means, by the kind of machine

Whirlpool sells one appliance in several forms — a top-loader with an agitator and one without, a front-loader, a stacked pair, a laundry tower and an all-in-one; a vented dryer, a ventless one and a heat pump — and the same behavior points at different things on each of them. A top-load washer has no drain pump filter to open and a front-loader does, which is the whole first hour of the same complaint on two machines.

• With a display — Shows the delay time and the lock symbol plainly. F1 E1 is Whirlpool's own control module label and F2 E1 is a stuck key or console error.
• No display — Communicates with the front lights. Whirlpool's wording is that all selected cycle and option lights flash to show the cycle is suspended, which is not the same as broken.
• With a floor beam — Some models project a status light onto the floor. Whirlpool's own wording: blue is washing, red is drying, white is finished, blinking is paused. It reports the stage, not a problem.

The machine talks with the lights it has

Whirlpool built these dishwashers to be affordable, which means most of them communicate through three or four indicators rather than a screen. The consequence is that the machine is constantly saying things people read as silence. A triple flash when you press a button is a locked panel. All the cycle lights flashing together is a suspended cycle. A beam of light on the floor changing color is the stage report. None of those is a problem, and all of them get reported to us as a dishwasher that will not start.

When it is the control

Once the lock, the delay and the latch are ruled out, a dishwasher that will not accept a cycle is either a console with a stuck key or a control that has failed, and Whirlpool's table separates those two. This is the point where a diagnostic earns its cost, because the two repairs are different parts. On this badge both are ordinary stocked items rather than special orders, which usually keeps the job to one visit.