What you are looking at
A leaking Almison dishwasher door is usually a gasket that has hardened and taken a set, and it leaks from the bottom corners first because that is where the water sits. A door that will not latch, by contrast, is usually a hinge or a spring that has let the door sag out of square. The two feel like one fault and are fixed in opposite ends of the machine.
What the machine is doing
- A trickle from the bottom corners of the door — Gasket. Water finds the lowest gap and the corners are where a set gasket lifts first.
- Water across the front of the door face — Usually the detergent dispenser or the vent rather than the seal itself.
- The door needs a shove to latch — Alignment. The strike and the tongue are no longer meeting square.
- The door falls open rather than staying where you leave it — Counterbalance spring or its cable. It also drops the door out of the seal line, which makes it leak as well.
- NEAR MISS: steam at the vent during drying — Normal on this construction and not a seal fault.
Where the fault usually sits
- A hardened or displaced door gasket — First, because rubber takes a permanent set from years of heat cycling and the corners go first every time.
- Hinge or counterbalance wear — Second. It presents as a heavy or a falling door and it drags alignment with it, so it is often mistaken for a latch fault.
- Latch and strike misalignment — Third. Frequently a consequence of the second cause rather than a fault of its own.
- Debris on the sealing face — Fourth, and the easiest thing on the list. A single label or a splinter of bone holds the gasket open enough to leak.
- Cabinet fixings loose — Last. A machine that leans forward in its housing changes the whole door geometry.
Work down this list
- Run a finger round the gasket for hard spots and gaps — It costs nothing and finds the most common cause on the list.
- Watch where the water appears during a cycle — Bottom corners, door face and vent are three different faults.
- Open the door halfway and let go — A door that falls has a spring problem, and that reframes everything else.
- Check the cabinet screws last — They are rarely the cause but they are the cheapest thing to correct if they are.
Steps up to the stopping point
- Wash the gasket and the sealing face — Warm soapy water and a cloth. Grease on a gasket stops it sealing as effectively as damage does.
Tools: cloth, washing-up liquidAbout 15 min
- Press the gasket back into its channel all the way round — A gasket that has crept out of its groove at one corner leaks there and nowhere else.
About 10 min
- Test the latch with the machine empty and the racks out — It should close with a light push. Anything more is alignment, not habit.
About 5 min
- Tighten the cabinet mounting screws — Only the ones that hold the machine to the worktop or the side panels. Stop here rather than opening the door skin.
Tools: screwdriverAbout 15 min
The hazard on this machine
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel — a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. The counterbalance spring inside a dishwasher door is under tension even when the door is open, and releasing a door skin without controlling it is how people lose fingernails. Never hold the door closed against the latch while the machine runs to test a seal: the interlock is a safety device and the test it enables is not worth what it costs when a hot tub opens.
When to call a technician
Call when the gasket is clean, seated and intact and the machine still leaks at the door, because the next candidates are the tub lip and the door skin alignment, and both are bench work. Call as well for a door that has dropped or that fights you on opening, since spring and cable work is done with the door under tension and is a genuine injury risk. If water is reaching the floor covering under the cabinet, treat that as urgent regardless of cause, because the joinery absorbs it long before you see it.
Nearest pages of this class
Scope of this page
This page is class-level guidance for an Almison dishwasher door and it stops there. It carries no gasket part numbers, no spring tensions and no hinge diagrams, because those differ between builds sold under this badge. A family- or model-specific page, where one exists, names the gasket profile and the door assembly for that build and is the better place to buy parts from. Cabinet joinery, worktop fixings and integrated door furniture belong to the kitchen fitter rather than to the appliance.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
