Did the Hotpoint factory ever make GE appliances?

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

Chetlaham

Chetlaham

Well-known member
Platinum Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2013
Messages
4,240
Location
United States
Or visa versa? I ask because I came across a model GSD400YK in an apartment complex dumpster near my awaiting disposal. Much to my surprise even though the machine was completely Hotpoint by design (tank, racks, detergent cup, ect) it was branded GE. I am aware that in the 70s the Hotpoint side started putting in GE pumps and spray arms, but never logos to my knowledge. In addition, the machine appears to be from around 1985-87, after Permatuf started and plastisol ended.

Here is the manual:

http://www.geappliances.com/search/older-pdfs/49-5402.PDF

Anyone know the history of these critters? Or why they were made?
 
This always seemed odd to me. Hotpoint was part of GE, but was not their sole household appliances distribution arm. Hotpoint and GE were both making the same types of products. Not the same as one division making light bulbs and another making locomotives.
 
Hotpoint was advertised as a subsidiary of General Electric. The Calrod unit united them. The rest of the lines, until near the end, remained distinct. Hotpoint's top loading portable dishwashers were GE made once GE went to the wash arm machines. I don't remember seeing a Hotpoint top loading portable dishwasher during the impeller era. I'm not saying they did not exist; I just never saw one. SteveD would probably know.
 
Tom, there was a Hotpoint-badged top-load portable dishwasher in the age of the impeller BUT it was a D&M machine!  I believe Mike (dishwashercrazy) in Peoria has one.  
 
Well, I said I had never seen one. Hotpoint dishwashers were not that rugged. Moisture (and suds if a poor quality detergent was used) could travel down the tube for the motor shaft under the impeller and kill the motor. Friends who had Hotpoints usually replaced a motor before giving up on the machine. I wonder if the D&M Hotpoint had the double wall tub like the D&M Westinghouse TL portable dw.
 
A relationship similar to Whirlpool/Kenmore

Hotpoint was used by GE in the decades before it was totally assimilated, to test market innovations like ovens with rotisseries, front-loading dishwashers, very pimped-out and built-in refrigerators and freezers and governor-controlled speed switches on washing machines. Someone on this site also said that the huge capacity GE dryers began as Hotpoint units, but I haven't seen any evidence of that although it's conceivable. I think there was some give and take. There were Hotpoint TOL cooktops with built-in grills that were badged GE and as said above, the calrod units all came out of Taylor Avenue.

 

It's an excellent question and worthy of a photo essay and an academic style investigation. Maybe later.
 
Hotpoint

Was kind of like Oldsmobile...GM tried out their new ideas on the Olds, if it worked they adapted it to the other divisions...The OHV Rocket V8 engine, the Hydra-Matic drive.ETC,Hotpoint ranges were always fancier and had all sorts of features GE ranges didnt have..Re Rotiseries, automatic plug in griddles,adjustible oven shelves for broiling,hidden bake units..one thing they should NOT have tried..lol,until I joined this site I always thought GE was a cheaper brand than Hotpoint.
 
Ah?

yes of course, my grandma hat a late 50's Hotpoint fridge that seemed very deluxe to me.
Cadillac and Olds both debuted ohv V8's in 1949 of 303 and 331 cubic inches respectively. Both were relative to Kettering's design.
Olds did introduce a lot of firsts to the industry to the mass market, but many were exclusive to Cadillac first, if Chrysler didn't beat them to it. Sealed beam headlights, electronic ignition for example. Solid state ignition in 1972 for Chrysler, 1975 for GM.
The Olds diesel should have ended with Olds prototypes. Chrysler scrapped it's turbine program after 1964.
 
Yes, lots of innovative stuff went to Olds

Cadillac has always tended to get the tested and tried stuff as standard, but the first introductions of (for GM) radical new stuff was frequently at Oldsmobile.

Makes sense - just as we always check the GMC dealer here for parts for our Cadillacs first, so did Cadillac/Olds share a lot of the same assembly lines.

Horrors!

Did I just say that?!? Yup, I surely did. Before all the usual suspects dump their loads on me, (and not the good kind), you might want to look into the wiring problems the 2005 Malibu/2005STS share and just where they come from. Hint: It's not parallel universes.

 

Much as I like some things about the Cadillacs we've had (not counting our '89 Fleetwood Brougham de Elegance, biggest piece of steaming ..... in the history of GM), the days when Cadillac was a stand alone automaker ended before the LaSalle faded into history.

 

I've been confused as to Hotpoint's status in the hierarchy over the years, too. Right now, they're the obsolete (read: reliable) mechanical technology, absolute simplest (read: reliable) GE products. At one time, though - they were quite the jet job. Every GE dishwasher manual I've read from the '70s through the '80s covers both trade names for many models and parts so, obviously, there was some overlap. Today, of course, it's transparently obvious - as clear as buying a Maytag and bringing it home to sit next to the exact same machine from Roper or Estate or Kirkland but pretending it's 'better' because it cost 3x as much.

 

 
 
Yes Panthera,

I saw some 70's harvest gold Hotpoint appliances on old game show re runs, and they were trimmed out with wood grain like they were t.o.l. GE's.
I've had problems with GM car's too. My '98 Malibu headlights didn't want to turn on when it was below 10 f. until it warmed up. The security light came on at will. Then the climate control selector quit. When I complained to the zone office, they told me a three year warranty was good, because they've been building cars for over 100 years. That was the old GM. I don't know if I trust the new GM either. Stepson works for Ford now anyway. We support family.
GM began multiplexing wiring harness circuits with Cadillac back in the 80's.
There is so much wiring in a vehicle today, it is confusing. I've seen some blueprints.
 
Actually,

The multiplexing works OK, as long as you have good grounds. Chrysler has improved on it, but it was OK. The big problem with Cadillac was the use of totally underdimensioned connectors for heavy draw modules (the infamous climate control module which would burn up on the Fleetwoods is a great example) and the running of wiring harnesses without protection over rough metal joints.

I had a '98 Malibu. Loved her. Everyone else was not so impressed. Kept telling me to expect this, that and the other problem which mine never had. Parents lent it to the grandkids while I was out of the country and they killed her. No, she didn't like the cold. Had to warm her up for at least 15 minutes in sub-zero weather before anything electronically controlled was happy.
 
Great info! :)

I can understand the confusion. Before I knew much about GE, I remember spending hours trying to figure out why I was seeing porcelain hotpoints older than plastisol tubs. I assumed that the porcelain came after the plastisol and then that was replaced by permatuff, but now I know that the porcelain tubs were made in a different factory then the plastisol and permatuff in Louisville. Im guessing that at some point the Hotpoint factory started useing the GE label, assuming that no porcelain production took place at Louisville.

Does anyone know what year the Hotpoint factory close btw? 1991? I've seen porcelain Hotpoints with serials made as late as 91 before they went to full permatuff in 92/93.

My best guess regarding the porcelain tubs continuing to exist 9 years after the full permatuf transition is from the bad rap given to permatuf from the 70s when GE's TOL model 1s were giving a bad reputation. Though I do wonder if that really effected builders and landlords as in my experience its been 50/50.

Where I live I have a unique vantage point ;) There are tons of rental apartments built from the mids 60 to the late 90s all with on site maintenance. Aside from seeing the units (inside) first hand, most of the properties have disposal areas where the appliances to be hauled away are left in a pile or dumpster. With that said I've seen every BOL and MOL plastisol, permatuff and porcelain GE/Hotpoint/RCA known to man. Both brands would "tango" off one another in my experience. But even more interesting has been seeing the failure points for each machine. Ie, later version filter flos had more outertub leaks than did earlier versions, and when GE went with that yellow rubber for their sump boots it looks like it did not hold up as well in their Potscrubber machines- caused by (guessing) from the fact GE never shut off the heaters in the mainwash when the temp went over 140*F. The things you notice lol ;)
 
One thing not mentioned is that Hotpoint and GE had totally separate dealer networks for many years. It was only after Hotpoint became GE's "builder" brand, that many long time Hotpoint dealers began selling GE appliances in addition to Hotpoint.

Not all Hotpoint production was at 5600 W. Taylor. Range production was moved to Cicero in the late 40's, and dishwashers and water heaters were made in Milwaukee.

Below is an ad for a very early Hotpoint automatic washer.

 
I doubt there was much difference in price between comparably equipped GE & Hotpoint models. However, beginning sometime in the early 80's, Hotpoint didn't seem to offer much in the way of TOL models. That is why many Hotpoint dealers began to also sell the GE brand. For example, Swallen's (a large appliance/general merchandise store) was a long-time Hotpoint dealer (in addition to many other brands); they began selling the GE line to offer fancier models after Hotpoint scaled back on them.
 
Don't know about impeller era

Have Hotpoint service manuals from the 1960's for their under counter and top loading dishwashers.

The 1967 top loading portable dishwasher is almost exactly same as my GE Mobilemaid with a few minor (mostly cosmetic) differences.

Back of these service manuals state "Hotpoint - General Electric Company, and show "Chicago, Illinois".

General Electric - Hotpoint division apparently at one time did have production in Chicago, but much if not most all plants may have been closed.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...0315_1_two-plants-plant-officials-ge-employee



http://www.geappliances.com/search/older-pdfs/90-3030.PDF



https://books.google.com/books?id=o...v=onepage&q=hotpoint chicago illinois&f=false

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=hotpoint+chicago+illinois&start=20

And so it goes.....

Hotpoint was a *BIG* appliance name in Chicago and rest of Illinois for that matter including both sales and service. Since GE branded major appliances all refer to Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky one wonders if indeed the plants were separate.



 

Latest posts

Back
Top