Appliance Hell: Corroded Dishwasher Rack

I really wished someone had offered stainless steel racks to me. My Kitchenaid is only three years old and looks worse than your pics. I have noticed that some of the new machines have all nylon racks, considering how cheap manufacturers are today, I wonder how long these will last.

In the price of things, not just dishwashers, some years ago bought a Panasonic Microwave, supposedly the best at the time - used it for popcorn a coffee water from time to time....then one day the membrane pad decided to not work and thought, no big deal I'll bypass with another swith until I found it was a "matrix" ya couldn't beat. Numerous calls to their Parts - they kept telling me it wasn't available UNTIL desparate and demanding, I finally got a number for some parts outlet that DID have it....never mind the ### but if that switch was worth almost one third of the retail price I paid, then Panasonic is another one that won't see my household again. Oh, the funny part was that Panasonic said there was NO PART NUMBER like that the first few times I called. At least my Frididare Dishwasher that'a twice as old the the Microwave WORKS everyday with no apparent wear and tear....Don't know who makes it now - but whoever did back when must have never heard of "throwaway" products...
Csn't say the same for Whirlpool - 2 "fridges" in 5 years took them off my list too. Maybe that's why their plant in "my town" went from 4500 employees down to 900....doubt it's just the economy.

The photo looks exactly like the racks in my Kenmore dishwasher installed in 2000. The washer works fine, but these racks are yucky and leave rusty stains on the bottom of my plates. None of my previously used dishwashers have had this problem. The stainless racks seem like a good idea.

Our Whirlpool dishwasher, purchased in 2004, is shedding prongs from its lower rack. Figuring that I could replace the rack for $50.00 or less, I called Whirlpool's "Customer Care"(sic) line and was astounded to learn that the price was $150.00! To paraphrase Woody Guthrie, some will rob you with a sixgun, and some with a parts department. So long, Whirlpool-- we won't buy your products again.

It amazes me that a dishwasher rack could rust so quickly! My dishwasher is 20 years old, and shows no signs of rust. My Mother had a 50-year-old dishwasher in her home (before she sold the house) that also showed no signs of rust. Maybe some dishwashers are just poorly designed or manufactured, but it seems like there are other factors, like water quality, or whether one uses heated drying, that may affect longevity.

I had a Whirlpool Gold as well and had the same issues. When I called to price out the replacement racks it was half the cost of a new unit. I sold it and bought one that did not have metal in the racks.

GOD gave me two of the best dishwashers I've ever used. Lefty and Righty. They've worked well for many years. They started to work when I was about 6 years old, so they have been in operation for 46 years without a hiccup. There ya go.

I replaced the vinyl-coated racks on my 1976 vintage Kitchen Aid dishwasher several times. When the pump finally failed after 23 years, I replaced the dishwasher with a Whirlpool Gold model. I was careful to choose one with nylon-coated racks. After 10 years, so far, so good with the racks (though I have had other plastic parts fail).
Note to "Roger" above: Modern dishwasher are very efficient in their use of water and energy. You are likely to do worse when washing by hand.

Great observation on what the appliance manufactures need to address. I too am a victom of premature rack failure. But the answer is not spray-on, paint-on, or pvc coatings, etc. They have public safety issues. Upon using your repaired racks; the washers dry heat drying cycle will release small dangerous cancer causing particles from these products that attach to your plates. The composites used on your old racks also produce their own cancer causing and metal contaminates. Where do you think the composites and rust particles goes upon their breakdown. Yep, on your fresh clean plates. But the amount is not dangerous per the FDA and must pass the washing test only. When heat is applied to many plastic products the compound structure leaches and lets face it no one knows the long term effects. Just like those plastic water bottle containers release cancer causing compounds when left in your car, sun any warm environments. Try it. Put one in the sun for a few hours / days and open it up, you will smell the chemicals. Do not drink the water, it is importmant to keep plastic bottled drinks out of any sunlight / heat.
Now their is an answer to our manufactures rack defects. Why don't they just use commercial racks? The reason would surprise us all. Retooling and design costs are not present if the public doesn't demand changes. In fact the production, material, transportation costs of industrial racks are less expensive then the current racks being produced in China / Mexico. Injection mold dies will have to be made for the new racks and design. But for us green heads out there the new racks would now be totally recyclable. The commercial racks are currently being used at your restaurant up the road. They last on average 14,000 wash cycles or 7 years if handled by employees correctly. Now lets say you run your dishwasher twice a day with no vacations. That means your racks would last over 19 years with no rusted parts. Stainless steel would cost to much and their is other issues as the racks would be hot for to long and so on.
Which leads me into another problem. Vacuums cleaners.... Over the past 15 years I have spent over $5,000 in vacuum cleaners. Until I put some reasoning into vacuums. Watching TV looking at the new super vac and ball swivel styles I must purchase and toss later due to failures. It hit me, why am I buying expensive retail store vacuums when I know commercial products are the best. They are built tougher, better suction, longer warranty. If you really look at and use commercial products; its no contest. Pay now or pay later. Lets face it nothing cheap is made to last for more then a few years. Except commercial products. Time tested and approved by the real pros. Here is another secret, buying a chainsaw at home depo. Stop and look at their rental store and try to buy one of them in the store. Yep, most of the time you have to special order it or go somewhere elsewhere. It just happened to me. The way I figure it is if the rent them out they don't want to do repairs after each use. I asked the rental manager what do you think of this saw in my shopping cart I picked up on isle 4. He said, "We do not rent or repair that model". Look at what we rent, they are the best. The store ones are cheap for a reason, you will buy one every other year. Depending on use.
Keep up the good work and shop smart. As dad always says. "Price is not everything".

I bought a used Kitchen Aide washer from a couple moving down to Texas back when that was where all of the jobs were. About 1978, I think. I replaced it a few months ago after the timer motor failed and I could not find a replacement for less than $50, which seemed a bit much since I only paid $100 for it 30 years earlier.
I did get one small rust spot on the wire rack, then that post fell off. The plastic utensil rack did deteriorate with age, finally needing a hardware cloth bottom, and at the very end the sels did deteriorate. BUT 30 years of good dishwashing for $100 is not bad. Especially with no mentionable rack rust. They undoubtedly make them a lot cheaper now, cutting corners to save a penny, but not dropping the price. A replacement unit of the same brand was about $850 or so, therefore we bought a different brand. IT weighed less than half of what the old Kitchen Aide weighed. So far, no problems have shown up, which is good because with all of the electronics being in a proprietary module there is not a lot that can be repaired.
MY beliefe is that some folks are just very hard on appliances, plus they always purchase the trash ones. My Norelco microwave oven lasted 30 years, we replaced it because my wife wanted one with buttons instead of a knob. The replacement almost lasted 2 years, then it had to be replaced. Of course, the Norelco weighed more than both of its relacements put togather. Sometimes heavy is better. It only had to sit on a shelf, so what did it matter about weight. In addition, the rotary timer had a really neat speed change, 0 to 3 minutes for the first 180 degrees, and then about 27 minutes for the next 170 degrees. That was a mechanical marvel, and never gave any trouble at all. The electronic timers are a main source of failure, and will be even less reliable when built with lead-free solder. That is certain.

Planned obsolesence, if dish washer lasted a long time the manufactures would be out work!

I wonder how a water conditioner plays in to this failure rate? Does it improve the life of the appliance like the salesman say?

Make the kids do the dishes. Frequent whining, but no rust. Multiple benefits otherwise.

My $900 LG which is truly a poorly designed unit crapped out and the wife and I unloaded all the dishes to do them by hand. I can tell you that we definitely used more water than the machine to get that quantity of dishes clean as well as sanitized.

How did they solve this problem in the 1800's?
friggin losers, use paperplates and plastic cups!
use the SINK
LET THE DOG LICK THE PLATES CLEAN!
EAT OUT OF A CAN

I bought a Kitchen-Aid about 4 years ago. After two years the door slammed open. The counterbalance cord connecting to a spring was the problem. The cord has a plastic attachment at both ends one end-to the door, the other to the spring. The cord Pulled out of the molded plastic part. I fixed it, myself, but I purchased an assembly just in case. Two years later the door fell down, again, and I saw that the other original part failed. So, I fixed the cord MY WAY. Researching new Kitchen-Aids at Lowes, they never upgraded the design. One would think that K-A would be on top of this problem.
Rock

Have the rack manufacturers ever heard of powder coating the metal under the plastic coating?

Great comments ! Why do you need a dishwasher at all ? High energy consumption- high water consumption and so on. Perhaps washing things in the sink is too technical now !

Wow, I like the plastics idea and the am surprized at the cost of replacement racks. I'm going to start a new business - replacement racks at half cost. I'll post my millionaire status soon.

use paperplates you losers.

I've got a Whirlpool Gold Dishwasher and I have used it every day since I bought it new and had it installed in late 2005. Mine upper rack looks just like the day I bought it and I DO just toss stuff in (in a logical order, of course). I don't know what caused all of yours to break down, but I suspect the type of dishwashing detergent and water chemistry has a lot do do with it. For the record, I will buy Whirlpool again, it's the quietest dishwasher I've ever had and all my friends and family comment on that too.

The manufacturers' incentive to produce long-lived equipment is that I will not purchase a machine from a manufacturer whose equipment is not long-lived. Simple.

Why don't manufacturers make the wire racks out of plastic-coated stainless steel wire? The tooling would be the same, with a slight increase in material costs. Then, if the plastic coating gets nicked or develops pinholes, the wires still won't dissolve into rust, and the plastic coating would provide cushioning and scuff-prevention for fine china. Stainless wire would increase the price of the dishwasher a couple of bucks, but would keep it usable until some major component fails. Stainless steel is very recyclable, to boot.

I have grown accustomed to this failure mode and have devised a simple rework procedure. The trick is to catch it soon enough. When you notice the coating beginning to degrade, go to your local hardware store (Home Depot and Lowes will definitely carry this product) and purchase "Plastidip" in a spray can. It can be found in the spraypaint aisle and generally costs ~$7 a can and comes in a variety of colors. It is a spray on PVC coating developed for electrical isolation of tools. It also works well for sealing against fluid ingress in a wet environment. In my experience, it will hold up for an additional 3-5 years with daily use. The dishwasher companies won't tell you this because it limits their dales of replacement parts and new dishwashers.

The tips of the rack were putting rust spots on the (white!) dishes...solution? Shrink tubing. Been workin' for a couple years now.

Perhaps this is why commercial dishwashers have all plastic racks.

My dishwasher is a digital, stainless steel two-basin model. (Using both hands, 10 digits)
It never fails, and is almost as fast as the so-called automatic models. In a previous home I bought a KitchenAid after seeing what one looked like after 10 years of service in a home with a water softener. I'm surprised to hear anything bad about one of them!

Our dishwasher silverware basket deteriorated to the point that a butter knife slipped through the bottom of the basket, contacted the heating element and then, as it was quite hot,proceeded to melt through the plastic tub. I've never seen anything like it! Now our new dishwasher is stainless and has no exposed heating element. A painful lesson learned

I had a Kitchenaid dishwasher that worked fine other than the fact that the rack was literally falling apart due to deterioration of the plastic or whatever coating. Sure, they sold a touchup kit for more than I cared to spend (really how long does one expect a touch up plastic application to last?) and ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to get the full set of replacement racks. I had an extremely talented, very young welding engineer friend of mine take on the challenge in his Dad's garage to fabricate a new set of racks out of SS. Wonderful. He used it as a resume example of the kind of work he could do. The weld fillets looked robotic welded. The only thing I kept where the two utensil pockets which were made solely out of plastic.

Ok, fine, the racks eventually corrode. It's a cheap dishwasher. Mine has that problem now, but I just found out replacement racks are $300, or about the price of a new dishwasher! I guess I won't buy another one from Whirlpool.

maybe composite or polymer based racks?

Scan ebay...there are a few sellers with a paint on coating to repair...worked GREAT for the POS rack in my Whirlpool dishwasher. Whirlpool customer service was PATHETIC and I will never purchase another product from them.

My dishwasher racks look similar to the attached pictures, what a mess.
I have recently started to experience this rusting and I truly feel it does not help the dishes! (No scientifc evidence)
I purchased the coating repair kit, $24, to try to recoat the racks and as far as the top rack goes, it works well. The bottom rack is in worse shape and seems to have a couple of, all call them, rust holes, that are so large I need apoxy to fill them. I am not sure, however, it seems that they are near the heat source and I think when the weight of a dish is on them and the coating heats up, I assume this can be good for either the dish nor the coating. (Again no scientifc evidence.)
Dishwasher works great and to replace the racks it would cost about the same as the dishwasher as mentioned above.
I guess I will be one of those individuals that help to stimulate the economy since my wife is getting ready to replace all the appliences just becuse the dishwasher (parts people don't even see) is not pleasing to the eye any longer.
Thanks for the good comments.

Plastics tend to be porous, especially nylon. Ice scrapers need to have the nylon pellets dried carefully before molding. Then they need to be soaked in water right away. "Wet" nylon has greater impact strength than "dry" nylon. When nylon is polymerized in production, water is a byproduct. Think of nylon like a bowl of spaghetti, the nylon molecules are the strands, and the water is the sauce.
A water cooler we made had LEDs in polycarbonate windows under the water line. After several months of use a droplet of water would form in the window destroying the focus of the LED and causing unit failure. The water would percolate through the plastic. The water would also percolate through a Teflon coating and corrode the aluminum cooling plate.
The moral is: never expect a plastic coating to act as a long term barrier to water molecules, it just slows it down.

My dishwasher has started to corrode exactly where my wife or I place our breakfast bowls aftewr our morning oatmeal. The machine and racks are at this point about 12 years old but since the main "tub" carried a 10 year warranty this does not seem overly long to resist rack dissintegration. It is also possible to purchase a small bottle of touch-up plastic coating. I credit this with increasing the life of my machine. Still the manufacturers don't make money if they don't sell new machines so where is their incentive to produce long-lived equipment?

Since in 2003 PVC was more common than it is today, these racks are likely coated in PVC. PVC is much less flexible than the higher end nylon coated racks. Simply forcing in a large item or slightly bending the tine can cause micro fractures in the coating especially as the plastic gets more brittle with age. Water can leak into this fracture causing the rack to look like it's rusting from the inside out. It's worth the money to upgrade to nylon racks!