All Hail, SPACEPIG: The 64 GM Frigidaire SPIN TUBE Dishwasher in Paul-err, Turquoise

[mickeyd]

This will take a few days: the restoration, performance, surprising discoveries, etc. In the meantime, enjoy the first video--there will be more, and the story as it unfolds, but first......

Dear Spacepig, I never knew you were a woman. How wonderful. Not that there's anything wrong with being a man, but there was something about your name that shouted, "MALE!" Forever, I thought you were a dude. I don't know if was that hilarious Mel Brooks comedy, "Spaceballs." or what, but it was a real joy to learn so late that you are... Jeannine ! I can't thank you enough for linking the sale of this exquisite machine last April. There will be gratitude!

So.... on a freakishly weathered Good Friday, with fog that was nothing less than biblical, I set out after the Spin Tube. Less than a tenth of a mile into it, I literally could not see anything beyond the windshield. The funny although macabre thought was, what if I died in this, and my people would say: He died in that horrid Good Friday fog, chasing after another washer--poor bastard— we told him those washers would be the death of him. Chuckles. So I turned around and went home.

Next morning all I could think of was wonderful Peter, Paul and Michael, ( members rollermatic, turquoisedude, and dishwashercrazymike) and their dueling threads almost ten years ago, celebrating this unique machine. How it featured a spring-loaded filter that went up and down, how it had to be properly loaded for stellar performance, how different it was from all other dishwashers. And it was a GM Frigidaire. What else WOULD it be?! And now I actually have a chance at something so rare. So I HAD to GO. Alas, the encounter did not go well, but when I called on a whim later in the week it was still there and available, exactly the opposite of what they had claimed would be the case, earlier.

I know that's not fog down there, but who's paying attention?

 

[mickeyd]

Dream cleaning

Can never get over how everything shimmers and shines as if the service just came out of the kiln, or how ever it is that dinner ware, etc. is manufactured or flys off the assembly line. A greatly cooled down heating element from earlier models, this one does not over bake the clients.

 

[mickeyd]

When you read that the tube rotates at 500 something rpm's, close to that of vintage WP/KM washer spin speed, little wonder that it cleans so well. Dishwasher arms I've seen spin at nowhere near that rate. And the wash is 8 minutes, followed by this unusual maneuver after that.

 

[mickeyd]

Pretty girl or boy, I haven't made up my mind yet,

if it's a he or a she. Maybe I will refer to the DW as an "it" to make non-washer people more comfortable.

 

[combo52]

GM, FD Spin Tube DW

Hi Michael, glad to see your new appliance , I have only worked on a few of these interesting DWs and that was long ago.

 

We have one of the last Custom Imperial versions over in the DW line-up that I have not gotten around to hooking up and playing with, I often think about how fun it will be to run some dirty dishes through it some day soon.

 

Let us know how you like this cool DW and keep the before and after videos coming.

 

John L.

 

[mickeyd]

The night I got it home it was unseasonably warm

and I worked on the Frigidaire out on the deck. I got into the wonderful flow state for hours, stopping only to watch the Newshour, eat and have a few bourbons and chocolate, but they never got finished. A built-in model, the machine had been hard-wired and hard plumbed, with the inlet, copper and roughly hacked off. The first thing I did was attach a new cord and fire it up.

Because the machine is pre-ground, my attaching the green ground wire caused many problems, the outdoor GTF kept tripping; this went on and on, until finally, I left the green ground wire loose and free, and all was well. Lying on the deck, so close to the mechanicals, the first clang of the drain solenoid was wild and crazy; even the bats and the crickets were startled. Walking into the kitchen to see that it was 2 in the morning, I was delighted, because that was the first time I had done that kind of work in ages, 4pm to 2 am, with a trip to Lowes for the cord, dozens of attempts to get the wiring right, scrubbing out the rust in the deep basin beneath the filter, and the rusted filter itself. Just working and reflecting, and on and on. Can't wait for everyone to hear almost alarming clang in the next video.

You can see the ground wire in the upper left corner of the pack of gasket sealer

 

[mickeyd]

The fill inlet had me very disappointed: how am I ever going

to fix that?! I had accomplished all my testing using the garden hose to clean, fill, and spin that almighty tube. The "lid switch" is so accessible once the machine is no longer built-in, but manual filling wasn't going to do at all. My BF was in SC for Easter visiting his lifer military brother, and he, a plumber, asked me to send him a pic of the inlet. Immediately he said, "OH, Mikey. that's a piece of cake; all you need is a shark bite, whereupon he sent me a pic and I was off to Lowe's again, in disbelief that this seeming disaster was an instant fix.

 

[mickeyd]

One of my all time favorite lyrics is:

"Success is counted sweetest by those who never succeed." Funny, funny, funny!

Just beautiful. And then of course, the Jon LeFevre doctrine that all dishwashers used a standard washer fill hose, a miraculous discovery I learned in DC, so simple, so easy, so unexpected. Who woulda thunk?

And that shark bite doesn't even require tools; the backward teeth just lock and grip so fast. Hence the name, I guess. it took seconds to install.

 

[mickeyd]

Well Hello, JOOOOHHHNNNN

I see you up there just now--before I conjured you. You were first. How cool; telepathy rules!

Got a ton more to show and tell, but I think I'll knock it off for now at one o'clock in the morning!

 

[turquoisedude]

Well now!!

Funny you should be mentioning an epic drive in bad weather to get a dishwasher... It's about a year ago that PhilR and I were bravely (OK, not so bravely....) battling through a wicked snowstorm to pick up a turquoise dishwasher in Cincinatti... But I digress.

 

Mazeltov!!  This looks wonderful!  The additional top spray-arm that became standard equipment in the 60s versions of the Spin-Tube definitely adds to the cleanability of these machines.   That's a great trick with the SharkBite fitting for the water valve.  I've scrapped a couple simply because my weak hands couldn't deal with the extraction and reinstallation of an old permanently-connected copper supply tube. One really does learn something new every day!

 

Congratulations on your new toy!!!  

 

[mickeyd]

LOL, ever funny aqua man!

Luckily this had been previously extracted and was sitting all pretty in the garage, so my weak hands didn't have to do the hacking. You were one of the reasons I went after this machine in the first place, but then I greedily hoarded it all to myself.

 

[mickeyd]

For all lunch time dish lovers ~

Here are some shots snapped over the course of the Spring, Summer, and Fall.

 

[rinso]

The spin tube Frigidaire dishwashers were unfairly maligned until users learned to operate the machines more precisely "by the book," AKA the owner's manual. The most common misuse was loading dome-shaped objects turned over, on the lower rack. By 1966, Frigidaire abandoned the design for a more conventional wash arm configuration, which had no food particle filter.

 

[mickeyd]

It's counter-intuitive, I agree

But when you place the domes or pots and pans on top, directly over the 500+ rpm spinning tube...why....they get virtually SANDED! Or along the sides of the bottom rack--spotless! Wish I had a pic, but the other day I had a large metal spatula that was caked with burned-on pan fond from bone broth, thinking offhand when I loaded: drat, this willl never come clean. It did--herculean deglazing ;'D

 

[mickeyd]

Home made cycle chart~

`
`

EVENT....................STOPWATCH

1. DRAIN.................1:00
2. FLUSH................2 "
3. FILL....................3
4. WASH.................11........8 minute wash !
5. DRAIN................12
6. FILL....................13
7. POST WASH.......15........2 minute post..... No pause or flush before this event as is the case with all other fills.
8. DRAIN.................16
9. PAUSE.................17
10. FLUSH...............18
11 FILL.....................19
12. RINSE................20
13.DRAIN.................21
14. PAUSE............... 22
15. FLUSH................23
16. FILL....................24
17. RINSE.................28........4 minute second rinse
18. DRAIN................29
19. DRY................??? LOL

Then, I lost the place during the dry, because I opened the door and goofed up the stop watch, but I think it's about 20 minutes, with the drain solenoid giving it's final bling-blain-clang during the 36th minute, or about a third of the way through the DRY cycle, for a last minute draining of the glorious rinsage liquors.

So, everything--well, almost, 16 out of 19 events-- takes a minute. I love that; it just marches on like a Swiss Cuckoo Clock, hahah.

 

[mickeyd]

There will be leakage,

but not catastrophically so, although too much drippage in four spots to let it go. Many here would take everything apart and make a new gasket, but just the very idea of that is way too stressful for me. The massive gasket surrounding the monster pump was the biggest one I've ever seen, and the relief was that rust only showed on about maybe a quarter of the circle.

Instead of an impossible teardown, I made a nice bead necklace extending a little beyond the rust. I would like to show you, but the left side of the DW is nicely tucked under the 3 inch lip of wet bar counter, and I don't want to pull it out and tip it over just yet, so I slipped the phone underneath and was able to catch some of the sealant bead.

 

[hippiedoll]

CONGRATULATIONS!!

On getting a Frigidaire spin-tube dishwasher. Never knew much about dishwashers, let alone about a spin-tube dishwasher. That is so cool!

WOOOOOO HOOOOOO...
D

 

[mickeyd]

Hello, Christina. I'm long overdue.

The last time I was here a lot, you had your new 1-18, and when I saw your sweet video, I had a Chris Farley moment. You remember those funny skits he did on SNL where he played the slow-witted interviewer and he'd ask Paul Mc Cartney, really silly questions.

Well when I watched your vid, I asked: "Christina, umm, is that blouse I just saw go under in the 1-18, uh, umm, isn't that the one you're wearing uh uh umm in your avatar.? And you say, " Yes, Mike it is." And I say, "Awesome," giggling with relief that I got it right. And you give the perfect Beatle Paul deadpan grin.

Do you uhh ummm .......remember, LOL

Wonderful ! Glad you're still here.

XO

 

[spacepig]

Hi Michael,

Yes indeed, I am definitely female! There is a bit of a story behind the "spacepig" name, and it has nothing to do with the Spaceballs movie

I'm so glad that you were able to pick up this dw after all, and thankful that you shared the journey with us. Seeing these old appliances end up in good homes makes me feel better about the inordinate amount of time I spend online looking for sales ads!

As for the gender of your dw, perhaps you can have one of those gender reveal parties that seem so popular now, and debut the name of your new family member. If you decide to do this, might I suggest a facebook watch party so we could all join in. I'd definitely be there

Jeannine