Sorry I have to disagree Scott. I kept the cord, cut the wires back and installed an new box purchased at HD and all has been well for a few years now. If it was the power cord itself as you say, it would have just happened again.

Adding my info here: my Bosch is direct wired; no junction box, just connectors. Tonight the unit stopped and I knew there was a problem. Removed the plate and found that the neutral connector (not the hot one) was melted. I believe the cord is the issue...likely too much amperage for the Bosch line. I'll be doing the outlet/plug fix tomorrow.

Mine just fried. Bosch 3 years old dishwasher. I had an electrician come and put in an outlet and I bought a kitchen aid mostly because I am fed up with dealing with Bosch. Just out $1600 but hoping the kitchen aid will last me 15 years now that I have a regular outlet. Nothing was wrong with old house wiring either. Bosch should probably do something about this.

Rob Bison

Almost three-year-old Bosch 800 series dishwasher junction box adapter caught fire, terminal block melted and dishwasher non-responsive after service. Upon investigating discovered this is a common problem as documented above. Perhaps issue is related to US voltage 120-volt standard (drawing between 15-20 amps and associated heat), as compared European 220-volt standard (drawing between 10-15 amps). Bosch should issue a recalled order due to risk of power cord / junction box overheating and catching fire.

I doubt the problem has anything to do with with amperage or voltage, the USA and German made units are both UL/CSA tested and approved, I i think it is all to do with the fussy, cheap red plastic terminal block being unable to maintain proper clamping pressure on the house supply power cable over time thereby causing shorting and overheating. Reviewing the photos upthread some show hot/black wire connection burned, others the white/neutral and maybe one with both melted which leads me to believe the poor clamping pressure is the cause. I will say again the inability of Bosch/BSH Appliances to admit to themselves at least that their supplied junction box is garbage and either reengineer it-supposedly something Germany is great at-or ship the USA sold DW with plug cord installed as they appear to do in Canada, is ridiculous.

I still don't get why this isn't a recall issue.

Disappointed there's nothing else we can do but keep power to the dishwawsher cut off until we need it and be there during the whole cycle. I get the impression if we don't have it hardwired in and instead have a plug and plug that itnto a wall socket won't help either.

This has nothing to do with experts. If you read the 700 posts, you will seem many people had the dishwasher installed by professionals with the same result. This is a poor product design that Bosch has failed to take responsibility for.

Just had our box get fried after 7 months, installed by Lowes - they opened a service ticket

ket - will see how it goes

HU58914144 ask Lowes to demand from Bosch a free plug in cordset and that they pay for Lowes to replace Bosch's junction box with a plug receptacle and be done with Bosch's garbage junction box. This should be reported to UL and CSA whichever approval is stamped on these boxes.Ridiculous Bosch has not replaced these with a junction box that works as intended/designed without shorting out.

I have not personally experienced this, but it's a result of poor product design indeed!

@venmar: "HU58914144 ask Lowes to demand from Bosch a free plug in cordset"

A quick check of a few Bosch dishwasher installation manuals shows that the appliances are shipped with a cord and plug. The junction box is a separate purchase.

@wdccruise-Not sure where you're getting that info and maybe different models get shipped with different cables/boxes but I just checked my own manual and the junction box and also a cord w/plug cable are supplied simply because there are two types of installation. Some will have an outlet and some will just have hardwire as I did. Every dishwasher I've ever installed came supplied with both. Installation: Type A) Hardwire connection-connect supplied cord to DW, then connect other end's flying leads to JB feeding into box from one side, next feed House-side hardwire into box on other side, make connections. Type B) Outlet connection-connect DW side then feed the flying leads of that cable into the supplied JB. Next feed the supplied wire w/plug's flying leads into the other side of the JB, make connections and plug into your wall outlet.

Ours came with the junction box for hard wiring as well.

FYI to new buyers: Maybe Bosch dropped the junction box to reduce cost, because most houses had outlets, or to discourage its use but a junction box is an optional accessory for all these models:

• 100 Series – SHXM4AY55N
• 300 Series – SHSM63W55N
• 800 Series – SHXM78Z55N
• Benchmark Series – SHX89PW75N

That's great, perhaps they saw the class action law suit coming their way and finally addressed it. Unfortunately, that doesn't help anyone who has yet to experience a fire or smoldering JB due to the faulty boxes on previous models.

We have a new Bosch that was installed in April . Our DW's are hardwired. He installed this one with the junction box. The receipt added the Bosch junction box.

This DW replaced a 15 year old Bosch that was installed without a junction box .The same installer is coming Saturday to install a new wall oven and I will question him.

Trapped, look forward to what the installer informs you with.

@Trapped: "Wdccruise, where did you get that information?"

Open at the linked spec sheets.

These Bosch dishwashers having junction box problems apparently have a power connection socket on the dishwasher that may be proprietary to Bosch, somewhat similar to the power socket on a desktop computer.

The various models may include either a power cord or a junction box kit as the provided power-connection method. The other connection method is available as an accessory. What is needed depends on what is provided on the household wiring, a standard 120v receptacle or a hard-wire (typically a bare Romex cable).

The cord is used if a standard 120v receptacle is provided (no hard-wiring).

The junction box kit is used if a 120v receptacle is not available ... hard-wiring is the provided household power.

Thanks Dadoes. I was confused last night when I posted because when I googled the model number for the part that was to be used for a plug in, the junction box picture from B.B. popped up. This morning, I put the model number for the part on A. and it pulled up the cord.

Another beauty photo for Bosch files. An inch of insulation on the hot (black) line from the panel was melted off with some fused to the red connector.

venmar, I think, nailed the problem.

Since the problem is not the connector at the dishwasher but the defective junction box, I plan to cut the cord, add an HD plug and plug it into a GFCI equipped receptacle box.

The dw was installed by the p.o. in 2016 but we have no idea how often it was used.

Hi Everyone,

I have a similiar issue with a Kenmore Elite model 630.12923313. It must to 8-10 years old and I believe to be made by Bosch. Last week the inlet valve started to leak and we called call a tech who replaced it. While we where sliding it back into the opening, it would act strange, turning off when it got so far and on again when pulled out. I checked the connections behind the machine and the inside the junction box and i did not find any loose connections. After some fussing with the hoses the problem seem to go away.

Yesterday, while the machine was running i smelled something burning. Opening the junction box i did found the white wire had burnt.

Searching the web i did find a recall on this model for this exact issue, but not for the serial number that i have.

The question I have is, would it be safe to buy a new junction box from Home Depot and tie the wires together with wire nuts. I dont know enough about DWs to know if the new inlet valve would have anything to do with it.

Thank you for any comments.

Leading 630. on a Kenmore (dishwasher) model number is the manufacturer code for Bosch.

And another one:

Bosch has agreed to pay for the repair, but still....

(The model was not included in the large recall; it is from 2017, just a few months after the last of the bad ones were supposed to have been shipped.)

Scary

Mine started smelling hot, and popped the circuit was nearly on fire when I pulled it. Smoldering.

The root cause and the culprit is this particular junction box, not related to any DW issue. It''s happened to other brands DW too besides Bosch DW all using the same junction box. I'm surprised it happened for this many years and still no recall or filing a lawsuit claim against the product with this burning issues which almost catches a house fire in many cases.

This just happened to us over Thanksgiving. We started our approximately 5-year-old Bosch dishwasher just before going to bed as we always do, my husband went back into the kitchen to get a glass of water and said he smelled burning plastic. We opened the cabinet under the sink and smoke started pouring out. Cut off the dishwasher and cut power before locating the junction box, black and smoking.

Of course, our particular serial/model number is not covered by the recall, it's just a few digits off. Obviously they will only expand the recall as far as they are forced to. This week I sat on hold with Bosch for over an hour, trying to see if a repair or cord replacement was possible even at our expense... all the time listening to the announcement that I should check the "Bosch Power Cord Recall" website. I finally hung up.

We have purchased many Bosch appliances for our homes over the years, no more. Our two kids were asleep upstairs. This is a potential tragedy lurking in too many kitchens. I'll be doing dishes by hand until I settle on another option.

Ours was hard wired and completely burned up as well. I ended up calling an electrician to put in a regular plug and bought a kitchen aid. Which we love even more than the bosch. I wont’t go back to Bosch, and they had terrible customer service when I talked to them.

@rachel oliver: "our particular serial/model number is not covered by the recall"

What is the dishwasher's model number?

This happen to me too and I posted about it in this thread about a year or so ago. But I agree, their customer service is terrible, I also have a Bosh drop in stove which works fine but nothing to write home about for the price and reputation it has. I am also done with Bosh.

Mine is SHX65T55UC/07.

Found my junction box smoking hot tonight. Also a Bosch SHE878WD5N/11

Wires on either side OK. Appears the connections were loosening up over time.

Almost caused a fire. We had smelled this in the past. Again , looks like the white wire(carries the same current as the blackwire) must have come loose. Definity could have caused a fire.

Strange design!

was getting a burnt smell pulled dishwasher. my junction box looks exactly like yours…

This is brand new for last month, i knew it was plastic burning from the smell and doing the installation i found this junction box to be really bad. looks like i was right… bought a new one but wil prob try to get a different connection. I have young kids and i dont need a fire.

Happened today on an SHP865WD5N/10 purchased in December of 2017.

Bosch is sending a replacement part but Im on the hook for install.

Just discovered this after finding that our Bosch 500 lost power. Really concerned that this is such a common issue. Very dangerous. Will be calling Bosch and our electrician tomorrow.

Same as all the others!!!!

They should be sued for how they have mismanaged this faulty install

they should be sued for this faulty installation part - very dangerous

I'll add another one. This just happened. Nov of 2022 our GE dishwasher leaked causing a ton of damage in our kitchen. After months of no kitchen and living with subfloors with two little kids, we finally got our kitchen back this past July. 7 Months later and this. I don't think my insurance would be too happy to help out with another kitchen. The irony is I looked long and hard for a dishwasher that doesn't leak. I guess I should have thought about it catching fire.

Here's another one...Dishwasher stopped working. Installed by Home Depot 8 months ago. Bosch gave us name of repair person to fix it. They came out 5 times replacing just about all the parts on the dishwasher and it still didn't work. They finally looked at the junction box and saw below. We then had to have Home Deport come and replace the junction box cause they did the install. Repair person comes back out and still doesnt work. Bosch responded, "sorry, we wont replace cause it's the junction box, not the dishwasher."

The matter is with Home Depot now duking it out with Bosch.

Interesting thread. Our 20 year old Kitchen Aid DW smoked badly 2 weeks ago and probably was a couple minutes from flaming. Had we not been there to turn the breaker switch off out in the garage the acrid smoke from the smoldering PC board with lots of plastic parts would have ruined every bit of carpet, drapes, and upholstery in the entire house. But lucky for us, no house fire, just a small amount of smoke damage. Others not so lucky (search "Whirlpool dishwasher fires" if you want to understand how unsafe their different brands of dishwashers are (includes Kitchen Aid, Maytag, and some Kenmores)).

Bought a Bosch 300 replacement. Old installation was hardwired (meaning a 4 foot section of 12 gauge Romex cable was attached to the old Kitchen Aid with wire nuts. The cause of the near fire was the fact that most manufacturer's PC boards that handle 10-15 amps of current cannot reliably OVER TIME handle that high of a current safely-eventually their relatively cheap boards will wear out and start to fail-generally with a small amount of arcing at first. Kind of like a small hole in a dam that leads to a huge flood. I had a circuit board failure on a GE oven-luckily the circuit trace open circuited and did not smoke or flame. Another case of a cheap circuit board being asked to handle large currents.

I too added a wall mounted receptacle in a convenient spot under the kitchen sink very close to the Bosch's power cord outlet. Still with me? Sorry, I'm an engineer and don't know how to keep things short-here's the important part: I installed a 20 amp dual function AFCI/GFCI receptacle (Leviton brand, $32 at HD) in hopes of avoiding damage should the Bosch fail sooner or later. AFCI is critical (Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter); it detects very low level arcing that you will never hear-especially if you go to bed and run the dishwasher-and quickly remove power from the failing appliance. This is (as Leviton's lawyers probably demand) to "help" reduce the risk of fire. GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interruptor-aka "GFI") performs its age old task of removing power in the event it detects 0.005 Amps of leakage current; it is designed to "help" reduce the risk of shock or electrocution from that leakage current going through you and me.

My guess: AFCI was invented to cover a new type of hazard coming from appliances now having electronic control boards that are inadequately designed to handle large currents needed to run heaters in dishwashers and clothes dryers as well as most any appliance having a larger motor. A secondary concern is the small power relays that are mounted on the control boards-they have very little safety margin (the Kitchen Aid used a 10 amp relay to operate a heater that required at least 10 amps)-over time that is a failure guaranteed to happen.

Bosch's junction box was a $30 option at HD and I wanted nothing to do with it-and that was before I learned anything at all about all the JB's failures. Good engineering practice told me to do the job right with the best parts I could find. When the Bosch fails-not if, but when-my hope is the Leviton receptacle will do its job. Oh yes, as found at other sites that delve into the Whirlpool/Kitchen Aid control board fires, neither the fusible link on the my control board nor the house circuit breaker tripped to remove power and lessen the damage. My best guess is that the current draw while the board was smoldering was below the trip current for those two devices.

Bottom line for me: most "modern" home appliances have a high risk of failure over time. I will make sure that every circuit that powers an appliance in my house has an AFCI/GFCI for protection to life and home. I installed a second one for the garbage disposal and will do the kitchen appliance circuit next. The house is 20 years old and for whatever reason only has GFIs for the bathroom circuits. At $32 bucks a pop that is pretty cheap insurance.

Note: dual function AFCI/GFCI circuit breakers are also available and may be a better choice for your house. I did not go that route because our breaker panel is in the garage which gets quite hot in the summer and I don't want to have failures due to the heat (my understanding is there are electronic devices in both types of AFCI/GFCI units). If the breaker panel were inside the house I would put the upgrade in the breaker panel, as that adds extra protection for the wiring from the panel to the appliance-something the receptacle version does not do. The dual function breaker unit typically runs around $70-$80.

Back to the Bosch junction box-none of the pictures of damaged boxes shown here surprise me-thanks for showing them. In a way, those poor things are being asked to do a tough job and if anything is wrong-either with their design or their installation-then problems are likely. Kind of like trying to run a marathon every month in 125 degree weather-sooner or later even the best athletes will fail.

I designed and built high end factory automation hardware for a company that never took short cuts-I don't think I could live with myself working for an appliance manufacturer, especially after seeing how they try to avoid any responsibility for their unsafe products.

Suggestion: never leave any heat generating appliance running with no one at home or with the family asleep. Good luck!

I had the same issue !!! Happened after 6 months! Our dishwasher started to show error E27 (insufficient voltage), found this thread, and bingo, junction box was burned. i will order a cord and install a gfci outlet

Bosch SHXM88Z75N

I re-read this thread whenever Houzz sends me update notices, just amazingly ridiculous Bosch is still usung this dangerous junction box RED PLASTIC FANTASTIC cable clamp system, for anyone using or reusing this junction box simply cut off the spade connectors on the Bosch cable and connect the wires with the house power cable wires with wire nuts as is normally done in a regular junction box-problem solved- without having to source the plug in cable from Bosch as well as installing a plug receptacle under your sink.

@HU-983214688 wrote: "My guess: AFCI was invented to cover a new type of hazard coming from appliances now having electronic control boards that are inadequately designed to handle large currents needed to run heaters in dishwashers and clothes dryers as well as most any appliance having a larger motor."

I believe the NFPA started on the AFCI crusade to deal with zip cords under rugs slowly deteriorating until arcing occurred. A secondary benefit would deal with poorly torqued screws on receptacles, etc., although in practice fires within boxes should be constrained from spreading. (Both copper and aluminum cold flow, so torquing to spec is important.) In principle, appliance hazards such as that of this thread would be caught by UL or alternative safety testing organization. Certification should be withdrawn for appliances routinely exhibiting defects of this type and not given to appliances repeating the same mistake.

OIt'sOOO

Our less than 2 year old Bosch dishwasher stopped working several weeks ago. I removed the junction box that was installed that was included with the dishwasher and same thing. Terminal box melted and looks like a fire in the box. Scary!

Just an FYI, I got a new cord and had an electrician install it. He immediately removed the middle part and just connected the wire with wire nuts. He said things like that often fail and wire nuts rarely fail.