--- title: "DishDrawer Problems: What Goes Wrong on a Dishwasher That Is a Drawer" description: "Fisher and paykel dishdrawer problems explained by what makes a drawer different: the lid motor, the horizontal seal." url: "https://fisherpaykelmiami.support/blog/fisher-paykel-dishdrawer-problems/" date_modified: "2026-08-26" Category: "Common Problems" --- # DishDrawer Problems: What Goes Wrong on a Dishwasher That Is a Drawer ## Fisher and Paykel DishDrawer problems start with one design decision Every dishwasher you have ever used seals in front. A door swings down, a gasket runs around its edge, a latch holds it shut. A DishDrawer does none of that. The drawer slides out on runners, and when a cycle starts a **lid is driven down onto the top of the tub by a motor** and held there under pressure until the cycle ends. That one difference explains most of what people report about these machines, and it is why a technician who has only worked on door dishwashers will spend your appointment learning. Forty of the fifty-one dishwashing machines Fisher & Paykel lists for the United States are drawers — sixteen tall doubles, fifteen tall singles, and nine of the shorter versions. So on this make, the drawer is not the unusual option. It is the machine. ## Where the water goes when it escapes On a door dishwasher, a failed gasket puts water at the bottom of the door. It is obvious, and it points straight at the part. On a drawer, the seal is at the **top**. Water that gets past it runs down the outside of the drawer, inside the cabinet housing, and appears under the front — while the interior of the drawer looks exactly as it should. People describe it as a mystery leak, and it is the single most characteristic symptom these machines have. The search order that follows from that is: - **the lid seal**, which lies flat and collects what falls on it rather than shedding it;- **the lid motor**, because a lid that is not driven down evenly cannot seal however good the rubber is;- **the flexible fill and drain connections**, which move every time the drawer opens and weep before they leak;- **the spray arm seat**, if the arm has come off its mounting and is sending water somewhere the design does not expect. Water in the base is not a wait-and-see. These machines have flood detection: once the appliance has seen water where it should not be, it shuts down deliberately and refuses to restart. From the front that looks exactly like a dead control board, and it is the opposite — the machine protecting itself. Look underneath before assuming the worst. ## A double is two machines, and it fails like two machines A double DishDrawer has two lid motors, two rotors, two wash controllers, two motor controllers and two filters. What the two drawers share is a cabinet, a water supply, a drain and a communication link. Practically, that means: - **one drawer out is not a broken dishwasher.** You keep washing in the other one while a part is on order, which is worth a great deal in a household that cooks;- **"my dishwasher is not draining" needs a follow-up question** — which drawer — and the answer narrows the job before anybody drives anywhere;- **both drawers reporting at the same instant** is its own condition. It usually points at the link between them rather than at either controller failing. ## The machine has no display, so it flashes instead There is no screen on a DishDrawer. A great deal of this line is integrated behind a cabinet panel, and a screen would be hidden by it — so the machine reports through the lights it already has. Read it like this: - **wash modifier lights and the lock light flashing together** is an **F** condition;- **wash modifier lights alone** is an **A** condition;- in both cases one or more program lights stay lit, and which ones identify the specific code. The A conditions are the ones with published owner steps: water supply, drainage, the spray arm, foam recovery, the sanitize temperature and an overheated element. The F conditions cover the rotor, the lid motor, the heating element, the drying fan, the fill valve and the two controllers, and most of them need a technician. Photograph the panel before you switch the machine off. The pattern is the diagnosis, and it disappears the moment power is cycled. Ten seconds with a phone is worth more to us than a paragraph of description. ::: ## The complaints that are not repairs at all Three of the things people write to the maker about most on these machines are the machine working correctly, and it is worth knowing which before you pay anybody: **Detergent still in the dispenser.** The most-linked article this maker publishes about its dishwashers. Three of its four causes are free: a dish leaning over the dispenser cover so it cannot open, moisture in the cup before the tablet went in, and a cycle too short for a tablet to dissolve. **The fan running after the cycle ends.** That is the drying fan pulling moisture out of the drawer, and a second fan cooling the electronics. It is meant to run on. **Plastics still wet.** These machines dry with residual heat and a fan rather than a large element. China and glass hold heat and dry; plastic holds almost none and does not. It is physics rather than a defect. ## What is genuinely worth a call - **Water on the floor**, especially with a machine that has stopped and will not restart.- **A drawer that will not open**, once the machine has been off and on at the wall and given a few minutes.- **A flashing F pattern** that comes straight back after being cleared.- **A drawer that will not drain** after the filter and the filter plate have both been out, rinsed and reseated, and the drain hose checked at the sink. Everything above starts at the diagnostic, which is credited toward the repair. What we would rather not do is sell a lid mechanism to somebody whose real problem was a teaspoon too much detergent — so if you are unsure which half you are in, say so on the phone. --- **[Read full article: DishDrawer Problems: What Goes Wrong on a Dishwasher That Is a Drawer](https://fisherpaykelmiami.support/blog/fisher-paykel-dishdrawer-problems/)**