GE TT
No doubt about it; GE's TT dishwashers are second to none. Here's some questions answered:
- Water pressure: this machine uses the same water pressure whether it's on China or Cookware cycles. The water pressue is not extremely powerful, but it's stronger than what I hear about Whirlpool's TT machines. Things won't be knocked loose by the water. Where this machine makes up for it is in coverage and wash time. It has at least 22 jets that all spray out in a fan pattern. It's the most jets i've ever seen in a GE. So there's tons of moderately gentle water flowing around, gently scrubbing the toughest pots and pans, while giving tender care to your china. GE TT's have true 6 tier water coverage; two levels per spray arm. Lower arm washes the lower rack as well as the micromesh filter. Middle arm washes the top rack, while two drive jets spritz the lower rack [really helps with silverware]. And the top arm sprays down at the upper rack and with a jet that sprays at the walls.
Temerature: The GE Triton XL series and Profile series all have CleanSensors that monitor soil and water temperature. They also have the beefiest heat coil in the industry currently, that i've seen. It'll rapidly heat up that first cold fill to at least 95deg. Depending on soil content, in all cycles, from what I gather, all wash portions are heated to a min. of 120deg. Added Heat I highly doubt, will heat the final rinse to the sanitizing temperature of 155deg. I believe only the AntiBacteria cycle will do that, and hold that temp for about 15 minutes. I think what added heat does is ensure the main wash and last rinse are a min. of 140deg.
Of course, I am not completely positive, because the CleanSensor raises or lowers heat depending on how dirty it thinks the dishes are. I think Added Heat just adds a minimum setting and overrides the sensor if it thinks the water should be cooler.
What's nice is GE's machines all do a minimum of 2 rinses, preventing that gross "one rinse" syndrome that Whirlpool loves to pull. A vast majority of the cycles we run is simply "Normal" wash. It's quite variable and will adjust to full or partial loads as well as light to heavy soil. Most of the time, since my parents prerinse everything, the Triton XL will not even do a prerinse, but do a main wash and 3 rinses, using just 5 gallons of water.
The difference between China and Normal is really temperature. Otherwise, in the manual, the cycles seem to be identical, while China runs slightly shorter and cooler, but seems to adapt quite well to a heavy soil load. China, from what i understand from a GE online infomercial, washes at a cool 128 degress. Even with Added Heat, i cannot see the computers allowing China to go all the way up to 140. The China/Crystal dry cycle i also know is much gentler because things are left more damp than on a Normal cycle dry period.
Yes, the drain pump in these dishwashers is sorta loud because it's bolted directly to the subframe, which resonates all the vibration. Like Bosch, they should've isolated the motors more with rubber. The main wash motor, which they call their "QuietMotor" is FENOMINAL! It's powerful, virtually silent and quite energy efficient while drawing just under 2 amps! It doesn't have a horsepower rating that i've seen, but i doubt it's weak. It's made in Germany and the U.S....so GE will never have issues with loud or fried motors like Whirlpool seems to be having with their chinese motors. GE is "General Electric" and i've always fundamentally loved their motors, even their loud 1st generation dishwasher motors were bulletproof. I know 25 year old machines with those motors still running strong. I can only bet that their QuietMotor is going to be the same, if not BETTER.
