1975 Model Dishwasher Ratings from Consumer Reports

[reactor]

CU test loads

Cameron, in answer to your question, CU stated their test load consisted of 19 different foods. These included: (for the glassware), tomato juice, orange juice and milk. For cups and saucers, coffee. For the dinner, salad and sauce plates, they used lasagna, beef stew, spaghetti, vegetables, peanut butter, cheese spread, oatmeal and soft boiled egg yolk.

The dishes were allowed to sit in the dishwasher overnight so the food wastes would dry on.

 

[reactor]

CU test loads

Cameron, in answer to your question CU stated their test load consisted of 19 different foods. These included: (for the glassware), tomato juice, orange juice and milk. For cups and saucers, coffee and for the dishes--lasagna, beef stew, spaghetti, vegetables, peanut butter, cheese spread, oatmeal and soft boiled egg yolk.

The dishes were allowed to sit in the dishwasher overnight so the food wasted would dry on.

 

[washerlover]

What a shame the poor Wards Signature machine ended up last on the list. Does anyone know who the manufacturer was of these machines?

 

[appnut]

The Montgomery Wards was a Frigidair dishwasher.

 

[combo52]

Consumer reports 1975 dishwasher test

I remember well when this report came out My parents got the SAU 500 whirlpool dishwasher in 1975. It was a very good machine. I ended up with the machine three years later when my parents moved in my father‘s company was buying the house so he wasn’t getting top dollar for it and I swapped it out for a builder model GE quickly before the house was sold.

The whirlpool and maybe some of the other machines would have tested better if they could use the pots and pans cycle, Maytag went from a top rated dishwasher to a bottom rated machine when they put to a shorter normal cycle, Consumer Reports was just testing the machines on the cycle rated as normal by the manufacturer, Maytag also never had better than average durability in the dishwasher. They had too many problem areas.

I always wondered about that test with lasagna noodles as the Maytag and the KitchenAid would also have been left with noodles laying in the bottom of the machine. I don’t think they ran the same test on all of them. I have no doubt that the DNM and even the GE’s probably would’ve eliminated the noodles as would have the Frigidaires , whirlpool did have by far the best design with the small, removable cup type trap, it was super easy to lift it out and dump it in the disposer or the trash, compared to trying to pick up those noodles in the bottom of the Kitchenaid or Maytag, etc. the whirlpool design was actually superior.

The Frigidaires and wards dishwashers were not rated last, they weren’t rated at all. They disqualified them because of a safety defect in the door latch design.

John

 

[reactor]

CU tests

John, CU used the same load for all the machines. I am sure the machines, softened the noodles enough that the remnants got pulled through the pump at the drain portion of the cycle. After being softened by moving hot water for approximately 45 minutes, I am sure they lost much of their structural integrity.

You are restating what the reports says, I don't know why. Well actually I do, you are jealous the Maytag got a higher rating and are attempting to find some way to denigrate it. Yes, it did state that the Maytag had a average repair rating, zi think we all saw that.

Yes, I stated very clearly that the Frigidaire/Wards were not tested after the safety defect was found. But you are correct, that some people reading this still stated they came in last, when they didn't. They just weren't tested.

Once again you bring up the one year that Maytag moved the normal cycle designation to the center of the cycle dial,basically, giving the normal cycle one wash and two rinses. To, if course, reduce the the listed energy/water consumption.

Consumer Reports reported that year that the dishes on the Maytag "appeared clean," but the dishwasher was downrated because when they examined the dishes under a microscope they found microscopic food residue. Maytag changed the normal wash back to the full cycle and the following year and it went back to its usual rating in the top group. However, that has nothing to do with this post.

As in your other comment you stated this because your jealousy of the Maytag getting a higher rating and your usual attempt to build up Whirlpool, because you like it, by denigrating other machines. I have never seen an adult with a neurosis about a dishwasher before, ha. I had just been waiting for you to comment on this post with your usual Whirlpool is so great scenario. You did not disappoint.

"Whirlpool had by far the best design with the small, removable cup type trap."
(your quote). No, they did not. You obviously are stating your Whirlpool biased opinion, not a fact.

Garbage being left on the filter means every drop of wash and rinse water is being filtered through food wastes, as evidenced by CU results, and their confirming photograph. I don't consider that the best design, I don't think anyone else does, either. With that being said, for people who are more meticulous in thorough scraping and/or rinsing of their dishes before loading, that is not an issue.

I have had several Whirlpool/Kenmore dishwaserd over the years. In one of my early apartments, built in 1980, I had a very similar Whirlpool only it was BOL, or very close, a builder's grade machine.

Actually, I liked it very much. I solved the problem of messes on the filter by taking out the removable tray, permanently. Not being one to rinse off food wastes (that's the dishwasher's job) I found it rather sickening to see much of the wastes lying in the bottom of the machine after the cycle. Removing the trap solved the problem, and the dishwasher never had any issue disposing of the wastes in the three years I lived there.

I was confident enough in Whirlpool quality that I suspected the pump would never jam, and it never did. Although I don't rinse, and rarely scrape dishes, I did make sure nothing hard or very large, waste-wise, went into the machine.

Yes, I think it goes without saying that most, if not all the machines, would have improved wash quality if they were operated on their Pots and Pans cycle. That's why they put a Pots and Pans cycle on their machines.

 

[petek]

The fact of the matter when it comes to CU's testing is that the results have to be repeatable in case a manufacturer who receives a low score take exception to their findings and possibly take legal action. So every machine has to be filled with dishes according to the manufacturers instruction and every dish, pot, fork loaded into it has to must have the same measured amount of food soil upon it in order to make the testing fair and equitable They choose to use the normal cycle because that is what most consumers are going to use. There isn't the time or budget I'm assuming to run the tests on each machine using each of its cycles.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Well, I would sure like to have the actual publication as in magazine this is from... I have a buying guide I think from 1974 and according to it, the Frigidaire product of GM cleaned the best...

 

Given the two major factors as in reliability and performance, I think I would choose the General Electric, fighting for the underdog rather than jumping on the Kitchen Aid is the best band wagon everyone else seems to...

 

But, then again, with the way these K/A's show up on the used market decades later, I would at least make that my choice there, buying vintage...

 

Seems as though over the years, manufacturers make all their machines look-alike for some reason when the main reasons crop again, for lack of imagination on new designs and these main factors are what people want a good appliance for...

 

 

 

-- Dave