Dishwasher in 380FL?

**Brian_** · 11-22-2020, 09:42 PM

Hi all,

I have a 380FL coming and I am hoping to add a dishwasher to it, but I haven't seen any 380FL's that have dishwashers. Have any of you guys installed a dishwasher in your 380FL? If so, would you mind sharing your experience?

Cheers,
Brian

**huntr70** · 11-23-2020, 09:23 AM

Don't know where you are going to fit it.

The island isn't big enough, 2/3rds the size of the models that do have dishwasher prep.

**Brian_** · 11-23-2020, 05:18 PM

Thank you for your response. Today I saw a photo someone posted where they removed the plywood "wall" inside the cabinet on the side of the island. With the wall intact, it prevented you from seeing all the way through to the P trap and water lines. After seeing the wall removed, I do have some hope as there doesn't seem to be too much going on under there. The only thing I want to avoid is cutting new holes to reroute plumbing if I can. I guess we will see once ours is offline.

**zinman** · 11-30-2020, 11:21 PM

Brian_, did you do a search for best rated 2020 RV dish washers. I did this weekend for our Solitude 372WB and there are several "articles" rating the best based on size, desired location etc. That may give you a start on desired size and how much you may wish to spend on your project. Most I saw were 17.25 or 18" wide and would fit under a center island. Some were considered a "drawer" RV dish washer space saver. Others were slim line style. A few I noted were ...... Furrion, Westland Vesta, Edgestar and Frigidaire.. They also listed counter top models which I had never considered. Please let us know how you project turns out. I'm certainly interested.

**Brian_** · 12-01-2020, 11:34 PM

Originally Posted by zinman

Brian_, did you do a search for best rated 2020 RV dish washers. I did this weekend for our Solitude 372WB and there are several "articles" rating the best based on size, desired location etc. That may give you a start on desired size and how much you may wish to spend on your project. Most I saw were 17.25 or 18" wide and would fit under a center island. Some were considered a "drawer" RV dish washer space saver. Others were slim line style. A few I noted were ...... Furrion, Westland Vesta, Edgestar and Frigidaire.. They also listed counter top models which I had never considered. Please let us know how you project turns out. I'm certainly interested.

Hi Zinman,

Thank you for your response.

I did do some research on the best sizes and saw some of those that you mentioned. Unfortunately I still don't have my unit to know exactly what kind of space that I have under the island to know what will work.

I've seen a couple of photos, but nothing definitive. While the unit is being built I'm just trying to gather as much as I can so that as soon as it comes in I can get right to work. Our ETA was originally this weekend, then it got pushed out until late January, so we said screw it and went with FBP and will now be doing the Mor/ryde independent suspension. All of this will set us back to Feb/Mar, which doesn't leave much time before we plan to start traveling for a while.

As I do mods I plan to document them and will certainly post here.

Cheers,
Brian

**Tom Traveler** · 11-13-2021, 02:42 PM

Hi Brian,

Did you ever install a dishwasher in your 380FL? We are getting ours shortly and have the same goal. I am thinking of going with one of many 18" DWs available and adding to the left side of the island in the space available. I would have to rebuild the cabinet and extend the cabinet and countertop with similar material. It would leave about 12 to 14" to pass though in front of the hutch and still allow some limited access to the storage below the hutch counter. The upside is more countertop. I know the countertop will look a slight bit cobbled together unless I can find a perfect match in Corian, but it should work well functionally.

I would appreciate anyone's ideas or observations.

Tom

**Brian_** · 11-15-2021, 02:46 PM

Tom,

I did install a dishwasher. It was an extremely tight fit, but I did it without any real structural modifications to the island. I was able to get everything done by reusing what I removed under the sink and only having to buy an 8' Stile from Grand Design. I had them cut it in half to save me on shipping.

My process was basically pulling the doors off, removing any existing framing beneath the sink, modifying plumbing, and adding a platform for the dishwasher. When I say it's a tight fit, I mean the low-profile waste arms are literally making contact, albeit slightly, with the top of the dishwasher. I didn't have to remove the shielding though and that would have been plan B if it was too tight.

I'll caution you that although the stars aligned for me, you may not be so lucky. Then again, it could be even easier than mine. As we know, every island won't turn out to be the same dimensions and every drain hole will not be drilled in the same place. I got very lucky not having to reroute the drain below the floor.

I used this EdgeStar dishwasher and have nothing but great things to say about it thus far: https://www.lowes.com/pd/EdgeStar-21...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

If you go with the EdgeStar dishwasher, I spoke with a rep from the manufacturer and they recommend powdered Cascade and nothing else. Also, if you read reviews, people complain of problems that were remedied by using powdered Cascade. That's all I've used and we've had no issues. We don't even rinse the dishes well, sometimes not at all (within reason... we scrape chunks into the trash and let the dishwasher do the rest).

Also, if you do end up with similar plumbing to me, a very hard component to find is the ABS appliance wye with a hose barb for the dishwasher drain. I only found it on Amazon, and at the moment it is WAY overpriced, presumably because Amazon is out of stock and it's only 3rd parties selling it. You may give it some time so it comes back down to the $10-$20 price range I bought it in and you may want to buy a few and just return them if you don't use them. It took me 2 tries on the plumbing to get it just right.

Wye: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

In regards to the plumbing, because I know someone will bring it up, it's certainly not up to 'code'. However, neither was the AAV that came from the factory, at least not in my state. Let's not forget that this is an RV and not a house. Also worth mention is my wife and I are part-timers and we have spent over 2 months in it since the dishwasher install. Lots of dishwasher loads and of course regular daily use of the kitchen sink and we've had 0 problems.

I took video of the entire install, but I haven't had the time to upload anything to YouTube yet. When I do I'll update this post. In the meantime, here are the photos I have. I also added a couple of Wi-Fi leak detectors made by Govee under there, and all around my trailer, as well.