What F-3 means on your Dacor dishwasher (dacor dishwasher f-3)
Dacor dishwasher f-3 is the EDW/IDW platform’s electrical/heater failure: during a wash or rinse portion of the cycle, the control board expects water temperature to climb within a defined window of time, and f-3 fires when that rise is never detected. The WPS architecture on this platform reads temperature as part of its water-sensing function, so this problem can originate either in the heating element itself failing to add heat, or in the sensor failing to register a rise that is actually happening. Because heated wash and rinse performance is central to how these dishwashers clean and sanitize, Dacor’s manual treats a missing temperature rise as a problem worth halting the cycle over.
Symptoms
Before assuming F-3 is the problem, check the behavior of your Dacor dishwasher against the symptoms below, because several unrelated dishwasher problems overlap here.
- F-3 appears partway through a wash or rinse phase rather than at the very start of the cycle.
- Dishes come out cooler than expected and food residue may not fully wash off.
- The cycle may run its full length before the problem is flagged, extending total run time.
- No warmth is noticeable at the tub door or water draining from the unit during what should be a heated phase.
- The problem can recur consistently on every cycle if the heating element itself has failed.
Common causes
More than one thing can produce F-3 on a dishwasher, so the causes below are ordered by how often they turn out to be responsible on a Dacor dishwasher.
- Failed heating element — the element is not producing heat even though it receives power.
- Heater relay failure — the relay that switches power to the element has failed to close.
- WPS temperature sensor failure — the sensor is not registering a real temperature rise that is occurring.
- Wiring failure to the heating element — a loose or corroded connection interrupts power delivery to the element.
- Control board failure — the board itself is not commanding the heater correctly despite healthy components downstream.
Troubleshooting steps you can try
Start at the top and work down your dishwasher: the checks get progressively less likely, and the point at which they stop being safe for a dishwasher is marked.
- Feel the tub door partway through a cycle to check for any warmth during what should be a heated wash or rinse.
- Check whether dishes come out with visible residue, which suggests genuinely reduced heating rather than only a sensor misread.
- Power-cycle the dishwasher at the breaker and run a short cycle to see whether f-3 recurs at a similar point.
- Note whether the problem happens on every cycle consistently, which points more toward the element itself.
- Avoid running a sanitize-specific cycle repeatedly while f-3 is present, since it depends most heavily on confirmed heating.
Parts a technician may replace
Depending on what the diagnosis shows, a technician may inspect, test, or replace the heating element, heater relay, wps temperature sensor, and control board. The right part for your Dacor dishwasher is matched from its model and serial number, and confirming which component failed keeps the dishwasher repair to what it actually needs.
When to call a technician
F-3 requires testing the heating element, its relay, and the WPS sensor to isolate which is failing, which is technician work involving the control board. There is no urgency at Medium severity, yet a dishwasher that repeats F-3 after these checks deserves a technician’s eyes. Your dishwasher is repaired by an independent third party, not by the manufacturer, with 30 days of cover on our labor.
Related help and Dacor resources
Still seeing the F-3 condition on the dishwasher? Schedule a dishwasher visit, or work through our other dishwasher problem pages. www.dacor.com has the factory data for your dishwasher.
