Dishwashers in the art may be provided with special features for performing washing cycles other than the conventional. For instance, a dishwasher may be equipped with extra washing arms for locally washing and rinsing goods in a certain section of a washing compartment of the dishwasher. A user of the dishwasher may thus activate one or more extra washing zones in the washing compartment by manually lowering a foldable extra washing arm in the machine in order to clean goods located in the extra washing zone associated with the foldable washing arm. In order for the dishwasher to be alerted that the user manually has lowered the extra washing arm, so that the extra washing arm can be operated appropriately, a mechanical sensor or detector must be activated, an output of which is provided to the dishwasher for washing arm control.
A further special feature which dishwashers have been provided with in the art is overfill detection. Thus, in order to detect whether the washing compartment is filled with an excessive amount of process water, due to e.g. a faulty inlet valve or inferior water filling control, overfill sensors are required. Typically, the overfill sensors are embodied in the form of pressure sensors for determining amount of process water in the washing compartment.
Thus, in order to detect these operational states of prior art dishwashers, additional sensors are required.