Anyone know what year this model falls in to? It has an early 80s silverware basket and control panel but has a mid 70s interior. Seems to be in great condition for its age?
Can anyone tell my anything about this dishwasher?
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jakeseacrest
Well-known member
My aunt had the same one except her has 4 buttons: Power Scrub, Normal Soil, China Crystal, and Rinse and Hold. Hers was bought in 1974 or 75. Her silverware basket was green though. I must have used that machine 100 times
We had the exact DW growing up. Ours was purchased in the Fall of 1976 as a portable in avocado and built in after a few years. I cannot remember when it was removed, I believe in the late 80's. It was removed due to the sump area rusted out. I fixed it a few times with auto body filler, but it got to the point was to far gone. It was used a lot, at least once a day for our family of 7. It could really clean well. the potscrubber cycle had a 30 minute heated second wash. I would put the broiler pan or baked on lasagna pan in and it would come out spotless. We never pre rinsed anything just scraped food off and loaded it. But it was noisy, motor ran from the Start of the cycle until the dry cycle started.
With the shaded color it predates 1977 for sure. I do find that Potscrubber console in a 1978 GE catalog as a convertible dishwasher - portable now, built-in later. Model number GSC445.
lawrence
lawrence
I'm a GE fan and I will tell you that these dishwashers were cheap, poor performers. GE must have made huge profits on these machines because they were everywhere at the time and were popular with builders. They should pay you to take it off of their hands.
Great info! 
Predates 1977... the grey silverware basket and detergent cup throws me off. The machine could very well be pre 1977, however I always assumed everything of that vintage and earlier was green.
For those who used this machine, how was it at drying? Did ok with 120*F water on Potscrubber?
Predates 1977... the grey silverware basket and detergent cup throws me off. The machine could very well be pre 1977, however I always assumed everything of that vintage and earlier was green.
For those who used this machine, how was it at drying? Did ok with 120*F water on Potscrubber?
Poor performers
Guess I need a schooling on these lol. My understanding (though I am very humble) these cleaned like any other standard GE, if not a bit better because they used 16 gallons of water per cycle. Only down fall I know of is the plastisol liner, however considering it appears to be in near mind condition I could get a few years out of it. While not perfect, if a person was careful not to scratch the linear, these lasted just as long as a modern machine of about 6-8 years?
Guess I need a schooling on these lol. My understanding (though I am very humble) these cleaned like any other standard GE, if not a bit better because they used 16 gallons of water per cycle. Only down fall I know of is the plastisol liner, however considering it appears to be in near mind condition I could get a few years out of it. While not perfect, if a person was careful not to scratch the linear, these lasted just as long as a modern machine of about 6-8 years?
They used a lot of water, but if you have ever seen one of them operate without the lower panel in place and sitting on a shop floor, you would see something very disturbing. The machine uses a turbine-style pump with a great deal of clearance between the turbine and the surrounding pump chamber. When the drain valve lever flips, a rush of water goes out, but about a quart of water remains to sully the next fill with water from the previous fill. GE spent some money to overcome this problem in some later and more expensive models by connecting a second drain pump to the bottom of the main pump chamber to suck out the water after two of the water changes.
aux. CircuClean Pump
I remember in the mid 90s when they added that 2nd auxiliary drain pump.
Very peculiar.
They would run it after the main flapper drain valve closed.
Why not omit that totally and just have the little pump do it?
The dual drain scheme never made sense to me, and just seemed to add cost.
They didn't rectify it till the Triton XL machines with the flapperless pump chamber.
I remember in the mid 90s when they added that 2nd auxiliary drain pump.
Very peculiar.
They would run it after the main flapper drain valve closed.
Why not omit that totally and just have the little pump do it?
The dual drain scheme never made sense to me, and just seemed to add cost.
They didn't rectify it till the Triton XL machines with the flapperless pump chamber.
I tried coffee grounds in a 1200 and a 2800-D
(That's the Twenty Eight Hundred with the nut.case detergent dispenser sensor).
Anyhooo, put in a full load of coffee grounds and by the time either machine got to main wash, they were all gone. None anywhere. Even removed the filter in the back (those who maintain it's just a 'passive' filter and useless really ought to spend some time examining them).
So - yes, GE left too much water in the sump until the second pump came along. But - it's pretty damn clean water.
I've a similar model sitting in the garage, waiting it's turn to be played with. From what the previous owners said, it cleaned really well and even the stemware in the top rack came out clean, as long as one didn't block the Tower of Power (no Power Shower).
My guess is, three pre-rinses and 150F heated wash and final rinse make a big difference.
(That's the Twenty Eight Hundred with the nut.case detergent dispenser sensor).
Anyhooo, put in a full load of coffee grounds and by the time either machine got to main wash, they were all gone. None anywhere. Even removed the filter in the back (those who maintain it's just a 'passive' filter and useless really ought to spend some time examining them).
So - yes, GE left too much water in the sump until the second pump came along. But - it's pretty damn clean water.
I've a similar model sitting in the garage, waiting it's turn to be played with. From what the previous owners said, it cleaned really well and even the stemware in the top rack came out clean, as long as one didn't block the Tower of Power (no Power Shower).
My guess is, three pre-rinses and 150F heated wash and final rinse make a big difference.
Carry over water
Not disturbing (desensitized lol). Most GE machines from the mid 60s to the lower end models still sold today have several cups of carry over water. This machine has Id say more like half a gallon, but that can be significantly reduced with the new style pump body.
Not disturbing (desensitized lol). Most GE machines from the mid 60s to the lower end models still sold today have several cups of carry over water. This machine has Id say more like half a gallon, but that can be significantly reduced with the new style pump body.
Rear Passive Filter
YES. What Panthera said.
As kids, our new house in '96 had a Potscrubber 1150. It had the Whirlybird wash arm and the passive filter in the back.
That thing actually did a GOOD job washing anything that wasn't too burned on.
Very little, if any, crud was ever left in the tops of cups. It did have the Power Shower arm too, which helped.
It also had the big, loud, HOT shaded pole motor, LOL.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!
Nevertheless it was a perfectly cromulent dishwasher with good loading and cleaning. Thermal Hold Temp Boost option and even a Water Saver cycle for partial loads.
Potscrubber actually only used 10.5gal.
Normal only used 8!
It was pretty economical even back then.
Kept it for 8yrs until too many light plastic parts broke.
That's when we upgraded to the opulent Triton XL 6660, that my parents still miss to this day (never hear the end of it).
YES. What Panthera said.
As kids, our new house in '96 had a Potscrubber 1150. It had the Whirlybird wash arm and the passive filter in the back.
That thing actually did a GOOD job washing anything that wasn't too burned on.
Very little, if any, crud was ever left in the tops of cups. It did have the Power Shower arm too, which helped.
It also had the big, loud, HOT shaded pole motor, LOL.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!
Nevertheless it was a perfectly cromulent dishwasher with good loading and cleaning. Thermal Hold Temp Boost option and even a Water Saver cycle for partial loads.
Potscrubber actually only used 10.5gal.
Normal only used 8!
It was pretty economical even back then.
Kept it for 8yrs until too many light plastic parts broke.
That's when we upgraded to the opulent Triton XL 6660, that my parents still miss to this day (never hear the end of it).
GEs and detritus
The machines with the back-wall filters are phenomenal performers. Alas, this isn't one of them.
They're okay once you master loading the top rack. With most of these, I gave up trying to wash tall tumblers above, because they'd end up with debris spritzed into the glass, and never subsequently removed.
The Power Shower really helps. Rinse aid, if an option, helps even more. It seems that the sheeting, surface-tension-breaking action of rinse aid really helps shoo particles off of items to which they'd otherwise tenaciously cling.
They are good pot/pan/bakeware scrubbers, no doubt. But if you throw a lot of garbage in the machine, there will be some hanging out. Sometimes you get lucky, and it's just plastered on the tank. Sometimes, not so lucky. I avoid this by scraping off excess food soil, and making sure that tiny things like breadcrumbs get mostly dusted off first.
Machines like the 1200/2800 series and their kin (or any in the filtered category) are in a class apart, but for these filterless models, I thought the water consumption was disproportionate to the performance. For all that drama, you should get something better than "just okay" at the end of the cycle.
Filteress machines are just serial diluters, and I would readily take on a wager with anyone who'd like to run a rice-dish casserole through one of these, and commit to the heated dry. ;-)
The machines with the back-wall filters are phenomenal performers. Alas, this isn't one of them.
They're okay once you master loading the top rack. With most of these, I gave up trying to wash tall tumblers above, because they'd end up with debris spritzed into the glass, and never subsequently removed.
The Power Shower really helps. Rinse aid, if an option, helps even more. It seems that the sheeting, surface-tension-breaking action of rinse aid really helps shoo particles off of items to which they'd otherwise tenaciously cling.
They are good pot/pan/bakeware scrubbers, no doubt. But if you throw a lot of garbage in the machine, there will be some hanging out. Sometimes you get lucky, and it's just plastered on the tank. Sometimes, not so lucky. I avoid this by scraping off excess food soil, and making sure that tiny things like breadcrumbs get mostly dusted off first.
Machines like the 1200/2800 series and their kin (or any in the filtered category) are in a class apart, but for these filterless models, I thought the water consumption was disproportionate to the performance. For all that drama, you should get something better than "just okay" at the end of the cycle.
Filteress machines are just serial diluters, and I would readily take on a wager with anyone who'd like to run a rice-dish casserole through one of these, and commit to the heated dry. ;-)
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
LOL!!!!
I actually had a BOL 1999 GE that would make that exact noise while filling up with soiled dishes. It scarred everyone the first time it made that noise. Probably the worst dishwasher I ever owned. It had no filtration of any kind and no power shower, limited water usage and a long 35 minute dry that backed everything on. It was the last of the shaded pole motors. The drain solenoid shaft started leaking and then the timer went only after 5 years of use.
GE's of that era were the lowest point of quality and reliability in decades. One of the 90s apartment complexes around me has plenty of GEs of that area and the majority seems to get scrapped for that same issue, mainly water leaking around the drain solenoid shaft.
LOL!!!!
I actually had a BOL 1999 GE that would make that exact noise while filling up with soiled dishes. It scarred everyone the first time it made that noise. Probably the worst dishwasher I ever owned. It had no filtration of any kind and no power shower, limited water usage and a long 35 minute dry that backed everything on. It was the last of the shaded pole motors. The drain solenoid shaft started leaking and then the timer went only after 5 years of use.
GE's of that era were the lowest point of quality and reliability in decades. One of the 90s apartment complexes around me has plenty of GEs of that area and the majority seems to get scrapped for that same issue, mainly water leaking around the drain solenoid shaft.
GE Quality
This surprises me, really. Because other than the WP Durawash in my last apartment, every apartment I've been in has had a BOL GE or Hotpoint variant, with no filter >:-[
All from the early 90s and early 2000s. They seem to annoyingly last forever, LOL.
And yes, the ones with NO filter are mostly pointless. They're just degreasers.
But if it has that rear filter, they work quite well!
Some of them with the weird, hoop-like racks now have an active filter ring under the center of the wash arm. Those work decently too, as long as the small filter nozzle doesn't clog.
But the genius behind the rear filter is it used the entire back wall of the machine as a feed. Lots of flow-through.
I miss those.
This surprises me, really. Because other than the WP Durawash in my last apartment, every apartment I've been in has had a BOL GE or Hotpoint variant, with no filter >:-[
All from the early 90s and early 2000s. They seem to annoyingly last forever, LOL.
And yes, the ones with NO filter are mostly pointless. They're just degreasers.
But if it has that rear filter, they work quite well!
Some of them with the weird, hoop-like racks now have an active filter ring under the center of the wash arm. Those work decently too, as long as the small filter nozzle doesn't clog.
But the genius behind the rear filter is it used the entire back wall of the machine as a feed. Lots of flow-through.
I miss those.
GE of the late 90s and earlly 2000s
The quality of major components went down hill around that time, and if you ever look at the pump seal or overall design its apparent. GEs from 1983 to the early 90s often made it 30 years easy and then some. Ive seen them disposed of from renovated apartments. Inside stained, racks beaten, detergent cup might not latch (easy fix) but everything else still running flawlessly. Got plenty of free decent appliances 6 years ago that way. The ones from the late 90s on the other hand all seem to losing seals within 10 years.
The filters made a huge difference. In fact they would imo outperform most of the ones today.
The quality of major components went down hill around that time, and if you ever look at the pump seal or overall design its apparent. GEs from 1983 to the early 90s often made it 30 years easy and then some. Ive seen them disposed of from renovated apartments. Inside stained, racks beaten, detergent cup might not latch (easy fix) but everything else still running flawlessly. Got plenty of free decent appliances 6 years ago that way. The ones from the late 90s on the other hand all seem to losing seals within 10 years.
The filters made a huge difference. In fact they would imo outperform most of the ones today.
