Samsung dishwasher dispenser doesn't open until partway through rinse cycle

Question

We have a Samsung DMR57LFB dishwasher that is about 6 years old. The past two weeks or so we noticed a new problem -- soap on the glasses after the dishwasher was finished. So I watched during the 2 hour 14 minute complete cycle. During the 1 hour 30 minute wash the soap dispenser stayed closed. It then opened about 5 minutes into the rinse, with 40 minutes remaining in the complete cycle. That left unrinsed soap on the dishes.

My understanding is that when a dishwasher starts a complete cycle it first rinses the dishes, drains,and then starts to wash, at which point the soap dispenser opens. I guess we could manually open the dispenser at that point but I'd like to fix this if I could. The soap dispenser seems to operate fine, but just get the control signal late.

Any suggestions on what to try to find and fix the problem? I'll try pulling the plug on the dishwasher to see if that resets the control board.

Answer 1

It would be helpful to know if this is a new problem or a new unit. The first thing that comes to mind is "Are you sure you are putting the dish washing soap in the right dispenser"?

I looked up the manual to your particular model here:

Samsung Manual

You can see on page 18 and 19 it differentiates between the two dispensers. The behavior your are describing is what I would expect from the rinse aid dispenser.

I also once had issue with dishes blocking the latch from opening completely. For instance, placing a sheet pan parallel to the door. The door would open slightly and the dishwasher tab would not dissolve properly until the rinse cycle.