A project completed - 1950 Westinghouse Wash-Well automatic dishwasher

[turquoisedude]

I've had this dishwasher for quite some time... I acquired it from a fellow automaticwasher.org member in Arkansas, had it shipped to another fellow automaticwasher.org member in Ohio, then finally brought back to the house in Ogden, QC back in 2022. I began the restoration in 2023 and there was PLENTY to do...

Just about all the wiring in the machine was nice and crispy, the timer drive motor was seized up, and so was the drain pump. But the biggest challenge was the drain boot between the dishwasher tub and the pump.

 

[turquoisedude]

The timer was an easy fix - swapped the old motor out and new one in. The pump was salvageable! It needed a good cleaning out and lubrication but it came back to life. The drain boot replacement was a bit more of a challenge... I managed to substitute some standard plumbing fittings but the design of this machine was such that a solenoid was used to pull the pump away from a drive wheel in the main motor when it was not draining. My new 'boot' was less flexible than the original one and soon resulted in a failure... The original solenoid burnt from the strain and a new heavier duty one did not do much better...

 

[turquoisedude]

So the machine sat for another year before I really started working on it again. I had time to figure out an alternative method of driving the drain pump. I added a sewing machine motor, powered by a DPDT ("reversing") relay so the new motor would run when current flow to the original solenoid was cut. Convoluted, ugly, and noisy, but it works!

 

[turquoisedude]

I decided to repaint the front panel white again. Pink was not offered in 1950 and I'm a bit of a purist... And a bit OCD... LOL. It was time for a test of the machine at last!

 

[turquoisedude]

I hit a couple of minor issues... a leak in the water supply to the tub due to a loose connection and the control knob no longer was advancing the timer actuating arm. I had somehow lost a bolt holding the ribbon-like control strap that connects the knob to the timer arm... Got that fixed today and Woo-Hoo - I call this project "DONE"!

 

[turquoisedude]

And some video proof...

 

[luxflairguy]

That's great Paul but all there is sound! NO vidfeo. I grew-up with that dishwasher! Greg

 

[turquoisedude]

Hmmmmm.... I wonder if that was because the sound on my phone was off when I uploaded the video.... let's try this again!!

 

[Unimatic1140]

I had that dishwasher in my kitchen for about 3 years Paul and really liked it. It was one of the better cleaning impeller dishwashers, this and the Hotpoint impeller cleaned the best. It was also very quiet as I remember.

 

[sprog]

I love your creative approach to problem solving!

 

[114jwh]

Great job Paul and very nice dishwasher! What a project you started out with and to end with such a well done finished project - I admire your perseverance! I'm with you on the white vs pink - it looks perfect. Thanks so much for sharing.

 

[gansky1]

Nice work, Paul, you have a beauty there.

 

[peteski50]

Great job Paul
Best of Luck
Peter