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GE dishwasher lights flashing? Most dishwasher brands have designed their lights and sounds to alert you to a problem. This article discusses four potential causes behind the lights flashing and beeping. Most causes are related to the door, or electrical issues.
Your GE dishwasher will beep and flash its lights when you open its door mid-cycle. That’s an alert to remind you that the machine is in use, and water or heat will come rushing out. Those alerts are also triggered when the machine is reset and turning off, its door latch is faulty, or it suffers a power surge.
Once you read this guide, you’ll be able to figure out what’s wrong with your GE dishwasher. You’ll discover what’s causing the beeping and flashing lights and what you can do to fix it.
Why Does My GE Dishwasher Beep With Flashing Lights?
If your GE dishwasher has its lights flashing while it beeps, here are the causes and how you can fix each of them:
Dishwasher Has Been Reset And Is Turning Off
About this: Nothing much happens when you turn on your GE dishwasher. Typically, you’ll push a button, and the control panel will light up immediately. However, the resetting and turning-off process can sometimes involve more things going on and take a few moments longer.
What’s happening: When you reset your GE dishwasher, the appliance will take up to 90 seconds to turn off. As that happens, the Start or Start/Reset light will blink continuously as the dishwasher drains all remaining water and goes through its shutdown procedure.
Even though the lights are flashing, you should not hear any beeping when this process happens correctly.
How to fix it: In this case, there’s nothing wrong with what’s going on. The flashing lights let you know that the machine has been reset and is preparing to turn off.
You shouldn’t interrupt this process at all. Instead, wait for 75-90 seconds, and the blinking lights will stop automatically.
Read: Why GE Dishwasher Won’t Start Just Beeps?
Door Opened Mid-Cycle
About this: Many things happen simultaneously inside a GE dishwasher’s compartment during a wash cycle. Firstly, thanks to the spinning wash arms, you have hot water and detergent spraying all around.
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Secondly, there are stages when the compartment fills with steam (for cleaning) and very hot air (for drying).
Because of that, you should keep the dishwasher door closed until the appliance is done washing.
Doing so will protect you from having water and detergent splash all over your kitchen floor while also protecting your face and hands from heat rushing out of the dishwasher.
What’s happening: Another reason your GE dishwasher flashes its lights and beeps is that you’ve opened its door before the wash cycle has been completed.
The flashing lights and sounds warn you to close the door and remind you that the dishwasher is still hot inside.
How to fix it: When your GE dishwasher flashes its lights and beeps for this reason, there’s nothing malfunctioning in your appliance. Instead, the dishwasher is doing its job to warn you about the door being open during the wash cycle.
So, you can stop the alerts by shutting the dishwasher door and allowing the cycle to complete as it should.
Alternatively, you can cancel or stop the cycle so that it’s safe to open the door and reach inside.
Read: 5 Reasons Why GE Dishwasher Not Draining
Faulty Door Latch
About this: The door latch on your GE dishwasher plays two crucial roles. Firstly, it keeps the door shut tightly whenever you close it. As a result, the door maintains a tight seal that prevents water, steam, and hot air from escaping.
Secondly, the door latch also tells the dishwasher when it’s safe to begin the wash cycle. That’s possible because the latch has switches inside connected to the appliance’s main control board.
When you close the dishwasher door, those switches send electrical signals to the appliance, so it knows it’s safe to begin.
Conversely, the door latch also tells the dishwasher to stop whenever you open the door mid-cycle.
What’s happening: When your dishwasher door latch becomes faulty and stops working as it should, that can lead to the flashing lights and beeping that you hear.
Firstly, a faulty or damaged latch can’t keep the door shut perfectly. As such, the door might open by itself when the machine is running, even if you never touched it.
Secondly, malfunctioning switches in the latch will mistakenly signal to the dishwasher that the door is open, even when it isn’t.
In both cases, your dishwasher will flash its lights and beep to let you know there’s an issue.
How to fix it: Unfortunately, a faulty door latch can’t be repaired. Plus, it’ll become a big nuisance as it repeatedly triggers your dishwasher to beep and flashes its lights.
So, the quickest and most straightforward solution is to replace the door latch with a new one. That way, you’ll minimize downtime and get back to your regular dishwashing habits.
Read: Should You Use Dishwasher Detergent Substitute’s?
Power Surge Or Other Electrical Faults
About this: Power surges and other electrical faults are a big problem for all household appliances, especially your GE dishwasher. Some faults are harmless and only cause minimal problems.
However, severe faults can significantly affect your dishwasher and its components, causing it to behave weirdly or not function at all.
Electrical faults are hard to predict, though they can be caused by thunderstorms, lightning, and power surges from your local power supply.
What’s happening: The final reason your GE dishwasher is beeping and has its lights flashing is that it has suffered a power surge or other electrical faults.
This can cause your appliance to display erratic behaviors, such as beeping and flashing its lights for no clear reason.
How to fix it: A power surge essentially causes your GE dishwasher’s components to get confused. So, resetting the appliance will give those components a chance to start over without the issues it’s facing.
You can do that by disconnecting your GE dishwasher from its power source for a short period. This process is often called power cycling.
Firstly, disconnect the dishwasher plug from the wall socket. If your appliance is hard-wired, you’ll have to shut off its circuit breaker instead.
Then, leave the dishwasher alone for at least a minute. Any retained electricity inside will fade away, clearing the appliance’s memory and giving the components a chance to restart.
After the minute passes, power up the dishwasher and start it as you usually do.
Read: Why Is Dishwasher’s Detergent Door Not Opening?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Below are a few frequently asked questions to help you troubleshoot your GE dishwasher:
How Do I Reset My GE Dishwasher Control Panel?
Some GE dishwasher models have a dedicated reset button on the control panel that you can press. But if that button doesn’t work, you can use power cycling as described in the previous section above.
Why Won’t My GE Dishwasher Door Latch?
Your GE dishwasher door won’t latch if there’s a foreign object stuck in the door. The same will also happen if the door latch is damaged.
Can You Open GE Dishwasher During Drying?
No, you shouldn’t open your GE dishwasher door during drying. At this stage, scorching air is trapped inside the appliance that will rush out when you open the door. Meanwhile, if you do that, the machine will beep and flash its lights.
Can A Power Surge Damage A Dishwasher?
Yes, a power surge can damage your GE dishwasher if it’s severe.
How Do I Protect My GE Dishwasher From A Power Surge?
You can protect your dishwasher by investing in a surge protector for it. Alternatively, unplugging it during thunderstorms would be another quick and easy solution.
GE dishwasher lights flashing and other troubleshooting
For additional troubleshooting tips on GE dishwashers, read GE Dishwasher Troubleshooting Guide.
