How to start this Bosch dishwasher??

Sorry for this pitiful thread! I just can't for the life of me figure out how to start the Bosch dishwasher in my new flat! I'm following the instructions as best I can but it doesn't start.

The thing that's confounding me is that step one on the directions is "turn on the tap." Do they mean the kitchen sink? Am I supposed to run that the whole time that the dishwasher is going? That seems monumentally wasteful but more importantly  I tried that and it doesn't do anything anyway as far as I can tell (who can hear the dishwasher with the sink running anyway...)

 The digital display seems to be telling me what I want to see. But pressing start and shutting the door does nothing. Help!!

The thing that's confounding me is that step one on the directions is "turn on the tap." Do they mean the kitchen sink? Am I supposed to run that the whole time that the dishwasher is going?

No, you're not supposed to run the kitchen sink tap the whole time.

The only thing I can think of is that it means the tap that provides the water supply to the dishwasher. I'm not sure where it would be located though as I don't have a dishwasher myself and I've never really paid attention to how the one at my parents' house works (it could be outside, perhaps, or maybe under the sink, or near where the dishwasher plumbing is?).

Thanks. I've been looking everywhere for a tap. Under the sink, in the cupboards, etc. The only ones I've found are on but they're so hard to reach I can't imagine that they're for regular use. So weird...

If this dishwasher was recently installed I'd be inclined to contact whoever installed it or, if you're in rented property, whoever manages it, for clarification. Sounds to me like there might be a tap behind the dishwasher, like there is behind the washing machine, that needs to be turned to "on" before you can actually use the appliance.

I hope you get it sorted out soon

Edited to add: if you look under the sink near the dishwasher can you see the supply leading to the appliance? In my kitchen there is a red tap that has to be turned to allow water to flow to the dishwasher. Hope this helps!

Make sure you've switched the electricity switch to the on position   

I installed my bosch (tabletop) dishwasher msyelf.
There is the water inlet. This will usually look like a rubber hose-  If you can see where that hose goes from the back of the dishwasher, it should go into a water pipe (usually under the sink, but may not be) - May look like this  This water inlet needs to be turned to on for the water to flow into the dishwasher.  The only other bit was the the outlet hose, which should go to the drain.  The dishwasher only needs water in and a way to get out.  It will do everything else, self contained. 

The other thing I have found, is sometimes, especially if its a built in dishwasher, you have to push quite hard down on the buttons to get it to go (in my experience) 

If you can't figure it, ask the landlord or letting agent. 

Good luck!

Don't be afraid to call your landlord/letting agency.  I could NOT turn on the hob (stove) of my first flat.  I was going out of my mind.  Turned out when they installed it, they hadn't plugged it in (yet they had screwed it in and it was impossible to plug in without completely uninstalling it).  So it really wasn't operator error.

Now, I have had other things be operator error since moving here....      As long as you can laugh at yourself it provides a good chuckle for the person who helps you out.   

Now, I have had other things be operator error since moving here....     As long as you can laugh at yourself it provides a good chuckle for the person who helps you out.  

Absolutley!  I blame the human factors on these things - we engineers should make things more intuitive!  But its always good to have a laugh at ourselves! 

we engineers should make things more intuitive!  

Magic Roundabout (Swindon)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Swindon-Magic-Roundabout.svg

Thanks everyone. It is definitely a combination of user error and poor engineering. If my letting agent were more responsive I'd have called them but I'm still struggling to get them to fix things that are genuinely broken.

I did find a valve behind a fake bit of wall. It is not in any place that a reasonable human being would ever think to look (hence I found it!) and eventually I got the thing to run. So I'm feeling pretty good about myself! Hopefully I'll be able to repeat the success down the road.

Is there any reason to turn that faucet off after using the dishwasher? It's a hassle to remove the wall, reach down into the space, etc… each time. I left it on. Hopefully that's not a problem.

Magic Roundabout (Swindon)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Swindon-Magic-Roundabout.svg

That is actually going to give me nightmares...I'm a bit intimidated by roundabouts anyway and that is terrifying! At least I know to just never go to Swindon now!

Thanks everyone. It is definitely a combination of user error and poor engineering. If my letting agent were more responsive I'd have called them but I'm still struggling to get them to fix things that are genuinely broken.

I did find a valve behind a fake bit of wall. It is not in any place that a reasonable human being would ever think to look (hence I found it!) and eventually I got the thing to run. So I'm feeling pretty good about myself! Hopefully I'll be able to repeat the success down the road.

Is there any reason to turn that faucet off after using the dishwasher? It's a hassle to remove the wall, reach down into the space, etc… each time. I left it on. Hopefully that's not a problem.

I would think you are okay to leave the valve open.  Ours stays open to the dishwasher.

I did find a valve behind a fake bit of wall. It is not in any place that a reasonable human being would ever think to look (hence I found it!) and eventually I got the thing to run. So I'm feeling pretty good about myself! Hopefully I'll be able to repeat the success down the road.

Excellent!!   

I don't really see much reason to turn it off (unless you have leaks or worse-  flooding).

Glad you found out how to turn it on!