A gorgeous new Whirlpool is coming my way!

[mark_wpduet]

Appnut -

I'm guessing Auto clean on my Maytag is the sensor cycle? That's all I use and it works great. Mine doesn't have a vent either, which I found ODD because I thought dishwashers needed a vent. If my dishwasher had a fan, I would LOVE that..I've never EVER used a dishwasher that had a fan. I never use the drying cycle either, I just prop the door open and let them dry on their own which is pretty fast.....With heated dry, there is always water left in gaps so I just never bothered with that.

 

[washerdude]

The pumps are no longer made by Askoll? On my Kenmore all the pumps are made by Askoll and those are made in Mexico. By the looks of that pump it just looks like a generic model.

 

[murando531]

Well today has been an awesome day!! The dishwasher got here right at noon, as expected, and it was even strapped in its box onto two pallets to keep it stable. I appreciated the extra thought to make sure it got here in perfect shape, and it did.

I spent quite a while making sure every thing possible was leveled, centered, and installed perfectly, and proceeded to cook homemade chicken alfredo for the husband and my friend who is here for a couple of days, and already washed every dish I dirtied except the big stainless steel skillet in a maiden run: Sensor cycle with no options and no heat dry. Estimated display time was 2:35 but it ended up being around 2:10 or so, and everything was spotless and the stainless interior sparkled like jewelry!!

I have pictures, but with all the hecticness I couldn't take as many as I wanted, and right now I'm on my phone so I'll upload and give many more details tomorrow. Bottom line for now: I am beyond impressed!!! The machine is gorgeous, inside and out, all my dishes fit beautifully, some better than both the Maytag and the PowerClean, it is UNBELIEVABLY quiet, but when you press your ear on the door you can hear a good deal of water action going on. The load washed wasn't fully packed but had enough to make use of space, and we made sure to leave them filthy. At the end, not a spot was found, and the filter was clean as when it was new out of the box.

I do have one concern that I just discovered, however, that I was hoping to get some input from those that have this removable filter design Whirlpool/Kenmore/KitchenAid: when I removed the filter, there was water remaining in the sump about halfway full, just above the optical sensor. I'm not sure if that means water is back flowing through the check valve because of how far it has to go to the drain, or if it's possibly just water draining from dishes/the tub and wash arms and such and collecting in the sump. Then again, it could be that I'm not used to being able to see the absolute bottom of a dishwasher so easily, and it's a normal amount of residual water. Most dishwasher until now have always been closed systems that required tools to disassemble, but upon taking apart machines like the Point Voyager or the dreaded GE Nautilus we had, there has always been a good amount of water that is just hidden by the sump grate and such. So, my question is how much water is normally left in the filter sump after a wash? The water seems crystal clear, and the dishes were clean so I'm sure there's no real issue, but I just want to be sure before I go through pulling it back out to route the hose a different way. Thank you so much for any help!

 

[NObr]

Hey Andrew, Hoe is the performance of your dishwasher. I am planning to buy a new one as my old one got damaged while we moved to Toronto. I am planning to go to Best Brand Appliances in Toronto, I've seen their website ( http://www.bestbrandappliance.ca/ ) and they seem to have a variety of items. Which dishwasher would you suggest? We are a family of and would be using the dishwasher almost every day. Please help me on this.

 

[washerdude]

Water in the sump

Water in the sump is normal. It keeps it there to prevent the seals from drying out and cracking. When we got our Kenmore 15113, I was very worried that there was something wrong too, but then again, there's a little door in the drain line where it connects to the sump which would prevent back flow. IMO, this is normal, nothing to worry about. P.S Congratulations on the new dishwasher! Just by reading that post I can tell you are very pleased with it! Keep us updated on it!

 

[iheartmaytag]

The water in the sump is like said above, to keep seals from cracking.  My manual also said that it was to keep the sensor wet.

 

My Kitchenaid doesn't have a "sensor cycle" but the sensor operates on all cycles except the one hour wash.  So Heavy, Normal and Light the sensor is operational.

 

Great that your new dishwasher arrived in time to give it a holiday workout.

 

P.S. 

I must be the only one, but I actually liked the tiered rack on my Maytags.  You could put a cookie sheet, or cutting board on one side on the bottom rack, but still get your tall glasses on the top rack on the other side.

Neither of the Maytags I had had adjustable racks to this feature came in handy.

 

 

 

 

[logixx]

You're not the only one - I like tiered racks as well.

 

[murando531]

Picture time!!!!

Hope everyone is having a nice holiday so far. I figure since we've done a bunch of family stuff today and now we're waiting to go to Waffle House at midnight with my husband's family (a tradition for some reason, I don't ask questions), this would be a perfect time to finally sit down and post photos and first impressions thus far.

Since the uploader isn't a fan of the photos from the iPhone 6S, I imagine because of size, I'm going to try bulk uploading a few at a time, and then the ones that need more detail will get uploaded solo.

First up, just photos of the machine in general. This is in-between a night of homemade chili and breakfast/lunch dishes, so I tried to get shots of both racks and the interior and exterior. And a couple of puppy Jamey are thrown in. The finish on this beautiful machine has a great reflection to it.

A side note: The handle bar on this is quite hefty. I mean, I'm talking could-be-a-weapon-in-a-zombie-apocalypse material. Unfortunately, try as I may, I couldn't get the left side to completely sit flush. I'm not sure if it's the handle or if the front panel is ever so slightly off, though by sight it looks perfect, but the only way it can be noticed is if you look directly down the front of the machine. From just looking though, it looks just fine. After the ordeal of getting it, I was not about to make a fuss over such a small detail when the rest of the machine has turned out beautifully.

 

[murando531]

Now for high resolution single photos.

I'm loving these "premium rack glides". It's not ball bearings, but it almost feels like it. There is no wiggle to the rack when pulling it in and out, and the glides themselves are quite sturdy. The height adjuster is also nice, though I usually will probably leave it in the high position anyway, unless there happens to be a huge pitcher or something needing washed up there.

 

[murando531]

Another cool feature that is new to me, the rack stops now flip open for removing the rack. No more struggling with those stupid plastic clips that produce plastic shavings everytime they're popped out. They have a nice solid "thunk" when opened and closed, another plus to the "feel" of the build quality of this machine.

 

[murando531]

Here we have the inside of the TotalCoverage spray arm. There are three gears that I can see, but only one that protrudes far enough in the middle to rotate against the stationary pinion. It takes around 15-20 rotations before the spray jets change, from what I can hear by pressing my ear against the door. This thing is so dead silent that in order to tell what's going on, you have to sit directly in front with no ambient noise whatsoever.

What is interesting is that when the lower arm is active, its speed varies. For the first ~20 rotations you'll hear one rhythm, and then suddenly the rhythm will slightly speed up and you'll hear a more aggressive spray against the door. From putting the arm against the water faucet and from what can be seen from WP's demo, it looks like the majority of spray jets are open at one time, so I'm thinking that when it speeds up slightly, it's concentrating down to a handful of jets for a time, which sends more pressure to the outmost holes, which are the main drive for rotation.

 

[murando531]

Here we have the nice "electric blue" display. It has a nice glow that emits from the underside of the counter when it's running. Honestly, I have no complaints about 2.5 hours on a Normal cycle. I think the Voyager had almost that same cycle time, but there was also no time display. I think having a display is what makes people more aware of the long durations in the first place.

Then there is the mega "put all your burnt on crockery and soak it out" cycle. By default it's about 7.5 hours, with all available options, 8:15. Keep in mind, this cycle prewashes for nearly five hours, but most of it is soaking. And keeping the water just warm enough for any prewash detergent to work/soils to melt. I can't see myself needing this ever, but one day I may try and give it every filthy thing imaginable to test it out.

 

[murando531]

And that's all I have for now. Other thoughts, let's see...

Again, the silence of this thing. It's quiet enough that it's hard to tell it's on, and yet has just the perfect noise level when you sit in front of it that you know there is some decent water movement inside. With no dishes at all, when you press your ear to the door it sounds like the water is beating the crap out of the interior, and both arms seem to have a nice rotation speed, around the same as a Voyager or PowerClean.

Also, despite the motor "rating" of 22 min. on, 10 min. off, there is no pausing that I can hear aside from typical sensing pauses. It runs continuously, and is only off when draining or filling of course. It shifts the diverter valve every five minutes or so at first, and then longer in-between during the main wash and final rinse. The pattern under normal settings seems to be Upper-TurboZone-Lower-Silverware Spray, pausing at the TurboZone and Silverware for around 5-6 seconds in-between each shift. I'm wondering if the ratings on these motors are for "dry" running only, as in if they were just plugged in naked straight from the factory and run full throttle. Evidently, Whirlpool has possibly engineered it with better cooling/lower intensity/what-have-you that allows it to run longer, but it seems to have plenty of pressure, so I'm not complaining. If it does its job well, what's to gripe?

From what I know so far, I'm impressed. The machine is gorgeous inside and out, has everything I've ever wanted as far as cycles and loading accommodations (though the lack of Top Rack Only and Rinse Only cycles is odd, but it doesn't concern me), and seems well built to last quite a while. I'm planning to put it through rigorous testing with the next several loads, but I'm much more confident now after "seeing" it work.

My biggest concern is the longevity of the diverter valve system. It seems like a lot of shifting for each cycle, but they've also been using this system for a while now in all their brands, except Maytag of course. Maybe they've worked out bugs and it will prove to be a reliable little mechanism.

 

[murando531]

Last thing I promise...

This is the current water level in the sump. I know there will always be water, and should always be water, left over, but I expected it to be just above the lower "ring" the the filter sits into. That's what it appears to be in repair videos/cleaning tutorials I've found trying to get the correct idea.

It's probably perfectly fine and normal, but I just wanted to be 100% sure so I'm not having to worry that dirty wash water is back tracking into the clean rinse. Again, I'm sure there is always this much water or more left over in a PowerClean/Voyager/any dishwasher without a removable filter system, but it's almost completely out of sight. Perhaps I'm just not accustomed to seeing the absolute bottom of the machine to where all the water is centralized.

Bottomline: I just REALLY don't want to have to pull it back out after getting it installed perfectly level and symmetrical, haha. Again, because of the distance needed for the hose to reach the drain, the drain hose itself had to be detached from the loop brackets on the left side, but I did push the hose up the side as far as possible to still create any loop at all, and I know it probably goes 1.5-2 ft up from the floor, just not as high as the loop bracket would have it. The PC and Voyager never had a problem with draining or backflow with this setup, and the hose makes it's full arch over the top of the cabinet interior and loops down to the drain.

 

[johnb300m]

Fascinating stuff. Great posts!
I'm impressed by your description of the forceful action from those tiny pumps.
That silverware spray bar is impressive.
But the fact that you had to install your own metal grab bar is pretty crappy.
But it seems like it has other great aspects to balance it out.

 

[a440]

Looks very nice!  Sounds like a great machine.

Love the puppy picture!  So cute.

 

 

[midcentnurse]

Congrats on an awesome new machine that's interesting to think about longer wash times on new machines to work better with new detergents. I notice that in things progressing together. I wonder how our early 90s frigidaire is liking new detergents. It cleans well enough though.
A switch for upper rack only is essential for me though. I was thinking about the new GE artistry series. I wanted SS but we have white now and it works and the GE has a SS handle.. Anyone else have any experience with the artistry series?
Merry Christmas from 75 degree Louisiana!

 

[henene4]

That amount of water seems perfectly fine.
Though I still don't get why on earth one would have a 100 percent exposed optical sensor. It's probably the most sensitive part about the whole machine!

 

[murando531]

And clean!!!

Wasn't a full load by any means, and I didn't want it all sitting for much longer since we'll be gone all day, but the plates had some decent dried on chili slime, with spoons to match. This was just Normal cycle with no options, but there isn't a speck left on anything. The door is spotless, silverware clean, and the filter, which is surprising to me, is clean as a whistle. I expected at least a speck of pepper or two, but no. There is also a little less water left in the sump this time, just about a quarter way up the optical sensor, but I also propped the door open right after the clean light came on, so I'm thinking less water drained down into the sump and more evaporated up and out. So I'm thinking there is no cause for concern at all.

One thing to note that surprised me was how quickly the detergent cup popped open. I don't think it was even two minutes into the first fill that I heard that muffled clunk-snap sound. I opened the door a couple minutes after just for curiousness, and the pac was nearly dissolved already. I like that a lot actually, because my concern with the PowerClean was that the detergent wasn't getting enough time to work.

Now, after the holidays my plan is for us to cook like crazy and really test it out, so I'll have to give plenty of photo updates!

Merry Christmas!

 

[appnut]

It should have waited about 5-8 minutes into the prewash before it decided to dispense the detergent.  That actually indicated very light soil., which based upon what I saw of the load, didn't surprise me.  Any of that was hardly having the dishwasher do more than think ho hum, very boring.  Very light soil.