1964 KitchenAid Hobart Wash Quality

[dadion]

Hi,

I have a 1964 KitchenAid Hobart, and I've noticed that the wash quality has degraded noticeably in the last 6 months.

We have hard water (250ppm of calcium), and I will be installing a descaler to mitigate this, but what I need to know is how to address the degraded wash quality.

Even if we use a dishwasher cleaner load and a then a CLR load, with no dishes, only about half of the dishes come out clean.

Any ideas?

Dadion

 

[stevet]

May be something as simple...

As a bad wash arm support keeping the arm from turning properly and distributing the water. Or not enough water getting into the machine especially considering the hardness of your water.
Your Model number is needed since you could have a 14 or 15 series machine and they are completely different in their design.

Fill us in on the details and we will be glad to help you out.

 

[dadion]

Hi Stevet,

I'm really sorry I've taken this long to get back to the forum; we've had to change renovators, and getting a reliable one via word-of-mouth has been my life for the last few weeks.

The model number is KD 1 - 15C.

Disassembling, scrubbing and reassembling the round thingy at the bottom also seems to make a slight difference, but the problem will reassert itself not too long after doing so.

Regards,

Dadion

 

[awooff]

Poor wash quality on old dishwasher

Ive had this happen as well and fixed it by installing a new fill valve on the dishwasher which is cheap and easy.

-can further this by adding a half gallon of water after the machine takes in water on a fill - if its short on water, the sounds of sloshing water will intensify after adding the water. Also wash results would be improved after doing so.

 

[bradfordwhite]

hard water is awful.  It will gunk up parts, not only in your dishwasher, but any other appliance using that water.  Toilet, shower, washers,  .... plus if you bath in it.....

If it does this to your dishwasher, what's it doing to the dishes and clothing.

 

I've seen dishwashers where the lime and heat has worn away the pump parts so the circulation was minimal.  Also, the lime will restrict the holes in the wash arm preventing water flow and increasing pressure on the pump.

 

[dadion]

Aiwoof, thank you for your information; do you know where I can order the fill valve?

Bradfordwhite, you are absolutely right; if the hard water is affecting the dishwasher, it's affecting other things as well. I've installed a descaler that should correct things, but I still have to deal with the dishwasher.

Thank you both,

Dadion

 

[dadion]

Aiwoof, we used the water trick, and the washing quality improved; thanks again for the advice.

I couldn't find a fill valve, but I did find this:

https://www.repairclinic.com/PartDetail/Water-Inlet-Valve/WP4171000/3378

Is that part the one I need to order?

Regards,

Dadion

 

[bradfordwhite]

That's a valve you could use but....

Holy SHMITT that's expensive.

 

Before replacing it, I would try taking it off and cleaning it.  It may be plugged with calcium or other stuff

 

 

There are different kinds of valves, some that can thread to a washing machine hose and some that get attached direct to the plumbing.  

 

Pictures would help figure what you have.  Also pics of the inside of machine to see how bad the deposits are.

 

What did you decide for the water treatment system?

 

[dadion]

Hi Bradfordwhite,

We had our usual fix-it guy come in; he looked at the machine, finding that sufficient water was getting into it, but that hardly anything at all was coming out of the (spray arms, I think they're called?). He advised that we need a new pump kit, but get this, that his boss said he was no longer to work on the machine. So now I have to find someone else to work on it ... ahhg! Either that, or get a Bosch that will last, at most 15 years, whereas the KitchenAid can be fixed, and is older than me.

On another note, as for the descaler, I went with the Scaleblaster SB Max Pro, since it is designed to work with water that has twice the GPG that I have. The idea is that, since this technology is not widely understood, more power is better than less. It went for around $600 US, before shipping and taxes. If you're going to get one, the trickiest part is wrapping the wire around the pipe; you need to make your own spool, wrap the wire around it, and THEN wrap it around the pipe. Interestingly, we almost immediately noticed a slight increase in water throughput, even though the literature states that it can take up to 90 days for the improvement to be noticed.

Sorry for the paragraph, and thanks for the help.

Regards,

Dadion

 

[hippiedoll]

"But get this"

"his boss said he was no longer to work on the machine..."

Hmmmmm...
I wonder why??
/

 

[bradfordwhite]

You are the brave one.

There's no thought that I cherish more than wrapping live electrical wires around my water pipes.

I guess I need to thoroughly check out what this electrode calcium release device does.

I'm a traditionalist I guess. If one has bad water I prefer to aerate it in an open tank thats vented outside, filter it, then soften it.

It sounds like the appliance repair people are amateurs. I hope they didn't charge you, I mean surely they knew what they were walking into before coming to the house, right?

.
Is this the same product?

 

[jeff_adelphi]

Snake oil warning!

After reading several reviews of these devices, I believe the only thing they can remove is money from your wallet.

[this post was last edited: 12/6/2019-10:47]

 

[awooff]

Repairmen and money

A new pump kit installed would be a couple hundred dollars at least - which is worth their time.

Your machine does not need a new pump of any sort. A plugged water inlet valve and hard water is your problem.

Ive had a terrible time w repairmen actually breaking appliances under warranty just to keep a job and get a paycheck.

 

[steved]

Scaleblaster

We have one of these gimmicky contraptions, seemingly a con, but the silly thing apparently works! Don’t ask me how. I installed it and promptly forgot about it. Within a few weeks, the mineral build-up on my shower head all but disappeared. Also, the hard water film on the shower doors and around the faucets had cleared up. I bought mine on eBay for $50, wouldn’t spend much more than that. Its completely safe, there’s a transformer that the coil attaches to. My sister has really bad water that eats away at the chrome finish on faucets. She installed one and has noticed a significant improvement as well. Still can’t figure how it works.....

 

[ozzie908]

Scalewatcher in th UK

I had one at my old house as all new plumbing was installed I was even able to have the cheapest model as we had no hot water tank.
Apparently they demagnetise the calcium molecules making them unable to stick to each other I think it must have worked as we never had any limescale around the shower and the kettle was pretty clean so I bought one for this house and fitted a few weeks ago its strange but the water in the shower feels silkier and can get away with less shampoo also the shower doors don't get white dried water marks so even if its a gimmick it saves me having to clean the shower as often and that suits me just fine