Whirlpool DU1050 / Clean light flashes 7 times

Cmattson, This problem has been a real pain for owners of this model as well as us techs who repair them. There are a lot of things to check to get to the right problem. First, the water entering the dishwasher should be no less than 120 degrees. During the first 8 minutes of the initial wash cycle, the heater should be on. You can check this by dropping the toe panel and doing some tests. The element will be in the rear, so it can be difficult to get at unless you can pull the unit out some. Make sure the wires to the heating element are on. With a meter, you should be able to verify that the heater is receiving 120V during the first 8 minutes. The main board monitors the thermistor to see if there has been a rise of 4 degrees with water that enters below 110 degrees and 2 degrees with water that enters above 110 degrees. If it does not see this, it will drain and flash the clean light. The element itself should ohm out at 10 to 35 ohms. Other things you might have to check; The heater runs on the nuetral side of the door switch so you want to make sure the d/w is level and the door is closing properly. If the left door switch is not making contact, the element will not heat. Make sure all the harnesses are on tight on the control board. I have found in most of my calls on this problem it was a faulty heater. I've only had one case of a faulty thermistor. Best of luck on this..