What your JennAir is doing, and what it usually means.

Dishwasher will not drain

A cycle that finishes — or stops — with water standing in the bottom of the tub. Four of the five things that cause this are outside the machine or free to clear, which is why this one is worth ten minutes before it is worth a visit.

• Standing water at the end of every cycle
• You can hear the pump trying
• It drains if you run it again

Dishwasher is not cleaning

The complaint that most often ends without a part. Which rack is failing, and whether the film wipes off, are the two answers that decide almost everything — and both of them are free to establish.

• Grit left on the dishes after a full cycle
• A white film on glassware
• One rack clean and another not

Dishwasher is not drying

Everything comes out clean and everything comes out wet. On these machines that is usually not the heater — it is the rinse aid, the way the load is stacked, or the cycle that was actually run.

• Plastics wet and everything else nearly dry
• Water pooled in the bottoms of cups
• A whole load damp at the end

Dishwasher will not start

A panel that ignores you, a machine that accepts a cycle and never begins it, or a completely dark front. On a fully integrated machine the controls are hidden along the top edge of the door, which is why so many of these are not what they look like.

• Buttons that do nothing when pressed
• A cycle selected that never starts
• A front with no sign of life at all

Dishwasher is not filling

A machine that starts, makes the right noises and never puts any water in — or puts in so little that nothing gets clean. Half of this is under the sink rather than in the appliance.

• A cycle that runs with no water sound at all
• Filling very slowly, and washing badly as a result
• An error after a few minutes of trying

The dishwasher smells

A smell that meets you when you open the door. It is one of the few complaints on this site where the answer is almost always something you can do yourself in twenty minutes.

• A stale smell every time the door opens
• Worse after the machine has stood a few days
• A smell that comes back within a week of cleaning

Refrigerator is not cooling

The most called-about symptom on this site, and the one where the first question answers most of it: is the freezer still cold? On a combination cabinet that single answer moves the diagnosis from expensive to ordinary.

• The fresh-food side warm, the freezer still frozen
• The whole cabinet drifting a few degrees
• Running constantly and never getting there

The refrigerator is freezing food

Lettuce with ice in it, milk with crystals, things at the back frozen solid while the door shelves are fine. Almost always a control or an airflow problem rather than a cabinet that is simply set wrong.

• Food at the back frozen, food at the front fine
• Everything in the crisper turning to ice
• The cabinet colder than its own setting

Condensation inside or around the door

Water beading on the inside walls, damp down the middle of a French door, or moisture on the outside of a glass cellar door. In this climate some of that is the room rather than the appliance — and the difference is worth knowing before anybody is called.

• Water on the inside walls or shelves
• Damp down the mullion between two doors
• Moisture on the outside of the glass

Water or ice from the door has stopped

No water, a dribble instead of a flow, or ice that has stopped arriving. One valve and one filter usually feed both, which is why fixing one so often fixes the other.

• Nothing from the water dispenser
• A weak flow that used to be strong
• Ice stopped at the same time

The interior lights have stopped

A cabinet that is cooling perfectly and is dark inside. Usually a small repair — and occasionally the first visible sign of something worth catching early.

• One section dark, the rest lit
• All the lights out and the cabinet still cold
• Lights flickering or coming on late

Freezer is not freezing

Ice cream soft, packaging pliable, or a column sitting ten degrees above where it should be. On a pair of columns the cabinet beside it has already told us half of what we need.

• Ice cream soft when everything looks frozen
• The column warm and the one beside it fine
• The temperature swinging through the day

Frost is building up

A sheet on the back wall, ice on the floor of the cabinet, or frost that returns within days of being cleared. On a frost-free cabinet that means the defrost circuit is losing, and it gets worse rather than stabilizing.

• A sheet of ice on the back wall
• Frost that comes straight back after clearing
• Water underneath the cabinet

Wine cellar has drifted

A cabinet a few degrees off, one zone right and the other wrong, or a cellar that has started to hum differently. This appliance almost never stops — it drifts, and it does not tell you.

• One zone holding and the other not
• A display and a thermometer disagreeing
• A new noise or vibration through the racks

The ice maker has stopped

No ice, less ice, or ice that has gone cloudy and soft. An ice maker does three things and "no ice" is the outcome of a problem in any of them — which one decides whether this is plumbing, cleaning or a repair.

• Nothing in the bin for days
• Producing much less than it used to
• Ice that has gone cloudy and soft

A burner will not light

Clicking with no flame, a flame that goes out on its own, or a simmer that will not hold while the high flame is perfect. On a dual-stacked burner that last one is its own diagnosis, because there are two rings of flame under one grate.

• Clicking and clicking with nothing lighting
• It lights and then goes out a minute later
• The high flame is fine and the simmer will not hold

A cooktop zone has stopped

One ring dead, one stuck on full, or one that will not hold a setting. On a radiant surface those are three different parts, and the cheapest of them is the one that fails most often.

• One zone dead and the rest fine
• A zone that only runs at full
• A zone that cycles oddly or will not hold

An induction zone cuts out

A zone that stops mid-cook while the others carry on, an error that appears with a big pan and not a small one, or a whole cooktop that shuts down after twenty minutes. In a Miami island, most of this is air rather than a part.

• One zone stopping under load and restarting later
• A zone that will not start with a particular pan
• The whole cooktop shutting down after a while

The cooktop glass is cracked

A crack across the surface, a chip at an edge, or a spidered patch under a zone. This is the one page on this site with a single instruction at the top of it rather than a list of things to try.

• A crack running across the surface
• A chip at an edge or a corner
• A spidered patch where something was dropped

The downdraft has stopped pulling

It runs, it makes the right noise, and the kitchen still fills with steam. Or it will not rise out of the counter at all. This maker invented the downdraft and there are more of them here than anywhere — and five things can stop one, of which three are outside the machine.

• Running but no longer clearing the cooktop
• Not rising out of the counter
• Noisier than it used to be

The oven is not heating

A cavity that stays cold, or one that takes an hour to reach a temperature it used to hit in fifteen minutes. On a double oven, which cavity is the first thing that narrows it.

• The oven stays cold and the display looks normal
• Preheat takes far longer than it used to
• One cavity of a double oven works and the other does not

The oven temperature is wrong

Everything browning too fast, cakes sinking, a roast taking half again as long. Before any part is considered, this needs a number — and these ovens have a calibration adjustment built in that is free to use.

• Consistently browning too fast or too slowly
• Baking that has changed without anything else changing
• The display saying one thing and the food saying another

Problems after a self-clean

A door that will not unlock, an oven that will not heat, or a control showing a code it never showed before — all appearing within a day of a cleaning cycle. Common enough to have its own page, and worth understanding before you run the next one.

• The door still locked hours after the cycle
• No heat at all since the clean
• A new code that was not there before

The microwave runs but does not heat

Lights on, turntable turning, timer counting down, and the food exactly as cold as it went in. That is the high-voltage side, and it is the one appliance in your kitchen that genuinely cannot be opened safely with the power off.

• Everything looks normal and nothing gets warm
• A loud hum or buzz while it runs
• It heats weakly, and worse than it used to

The microwave will not start

A panel that responds and a machine that never begins, or a drawer that will not open at all. Most of this is the interlocks doing exactly what they are for, which is correct behavior that looks like a breakdown.

• It accepts a time and nothing happens
• The drawer will not open or will not close
• Completely dark with no response at all

Nothing works since the power came back

A storm week symptom, and one where a large share of the calls we take are appliances that are perfectly well. Modern machines notice an outage and tell you about it afterwards, and telling you is not the same as being broken.

• A display showing a code that was not there before
• An appliance that will not run a timed function
• Several appliances behaving oddly at once

A control panel has stopped responding

The panel lights up, shows what it always shows, and does nothing when pressed. Two free things account for most of this, and the third is a measurement rather than a guess.

• Buttons that do nothing when pressed
• A padlock symbol on the display
• Some pads working and others not

There is water where it should not be

Water inside a cabinet, under a machine, or across the floor. In a kitchen where almost everything is built into cabinetry, where the water is matters as much as how much of it there is.

• Water on the floor in front of an appliance
• Water standing inside a refrigerator
• A damp cabinet base nobody noticed for weeks

It is making a new noise

A hum that was not there, a click with a rhythm to it, a rattle that comes and goes. Most appliance noises are normal; the useful ones are the ones that changed, and describing the change is most of the diagnosis.

• A hum or buzz that has appeared recently
• A rhythmic click or knock while running
• A vibration that comes through the cabinetry

The appliance will not turn on

Nothing at all: no lights, no display, no sound. On a built-in kitchen the first three things to check are not in the appliance, and two of them are in the breaker panel.

• Completely dark with no response
• It worked yesterday and not today
• More than one appliance affected

How to reset it

One of the most searched things about this make, and one of the most misunderstood. There is no reset button on most of these appliances. What there is is a power cycle, and a handful of feature resets that do very specific jobs.

• Looking for a reset button that does not exist
• A filter light that will not go out
• A machine that needs restarting after a storm

Diagnostic visit

We read what the appliance is reporting, then measure before saying anything about the repair. On a built-in kitchen that also means working out how the appliance comes out before anybody touches it. The fee is credited toward the work when you go ahead.

Dishwasher drain & pump repair

Water standing in the tub at the end of a cycle, or a machine that stops and will not restart. Three of the four usual causes are outside the appliance, which is why this visit starts at the sink rather than under the machine.

Dishwasher wash & filter service

Dishes coming out gritty, filmed or still dirty on one rack. This is the repair that most often ends without a part — and the one where South Florida water is doing more of the work than anything mechanical.

Dishwasher control & door repair

A panel that will not respond, a machine that will not start, or a heavy paneled door that has stopped closing square. On a fully integrated machine the controls are hidden along the top edge, which changes how any of this is diagnosed.

Refrigerator defrost & cooling repair

A cabinet drifting warm, frost building where it should not, or a column that runs constantly and never quite gets there. This is where most refrigeration calls land, and it is the band the expensive one is reached by eliminating.

Sealed system & compressor repair

The largest figure on this site and the only one quoted last. Recovery, leak location, the repair, a new filter drier, evacuation and a charge weighed to the plate. Reached only after everything cheaper has been measured and excluded.

Refrigerator water & dispenser repair

Water on the floor, an ice maker that has stopped, a dispenser that dribbles or nothing at all. One inlet valve and one filter usually feed both, which is why this is one job rather than two.

Door, gasket & alignment repair

The cheapest thing on the refrigeration list and the one that imitates the most expensive. A tired seal produces a cabinet that will not hold temperature, condensation, and a compressor running far longer than it should. On this make it is often the cabinet panel rather than the appliance.

Freezer frost & drain service

Frost winning against the defrost cycle, ice on the floor of the cabinet, or water underneath it. On a frost-free column any of those means the defrost circuit is not doing its job, and it gets worse rather than settling.