Dishwasher re-heat and other "hidden" features

[Cybrvanr]

Over in the Imperial board there has been some discussion over the performance of a new dishwasher over an older machine. Two things that caught my attention are the reheating of the water, and the automatic filter cleaning.

I have seen heating elements at the bottom of many dishwashers. I assume these only come on during the drying process. I was thinking though that this is how some machines achieve their "sanitize" cycles. Does this actually come on during the washing process to heat during the water, or is there a separate module for heating the water? If so, how can I tell which machines operate the heating element during the wash cycle.

The other is the automatic filter purging. This, I imagine is not only good so that the dirty food particles will be washed down the drain, and not re-deposited on your clean dishes, but also so that one doesn't need to clean the filter. Again, how can I tell if a machine has this feature when looking at them in the store displays.

Mom's about to make a decision on a dishwasher now that the carpenters are about finished with her kitchen upgrade. She's looking at a mid-grade Whirlpool, and I think these are the two features that would make the machine perform the best. She is looking at just putting the dishes right in without pre-rinsing. The only problem is that there is hardly any information about these features advertised. Also, how can I tell if the heating element comes on in my Fridigaire during wash cycles?

 

[DADoES]

Let the machine run for a few minutes into the cycle, then open it and check if the heating element is hot. Or, if you have a volt meter, take off the lower panel or toekick, check if the element terminals are accessible and use the meter to check for current on it.

Except for some of the Euro-designed machine, you'd be pretty hard-pressed nowadays to find a dishwasher that doesn't have a self-flushing filter of some sort. Even those may have a two-stage filter that strains the recirculated wash/rinse water, then flushes that part but has another manual-clean filter to catch larger debris from passing through the pump.

 

[frigilux]

If your Frigidaire (or any dishwasher, for that matter) has a 'High Temp Wash' button or a 'Sani Rinse' option (exact wording may vary), it heats the water using the element at the bottom of the tub.

I think your Mom's choice of a mid-line Whirlpool is a good one. They clean well and you can put the silverware basket on the door to make room in the lower rack for more items. However, the silverware sometimes doesn't come quite as clean when you opt to do that, especially if the basket is quite full.

 

[maytagbear]

To get more information--

Go to the manufacturer's website..they usually have fairly detailed information.

Or, get the exact model number of the appliance being considered, and call the manufacturer's 1-800 number.

I have found when buying new appliances that the 1-800 number agents are often much better informed about the products than some salespeople.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[appnut]

To answer both of your questions, if this mid-line Whirly is a "tall-tub" model, then it does purge the filtering process is electronic sensor detects a certain amount of food soil collected in its filtering (this would be during certain phases of the pre-wash & main wash aside from the normal draining/backwashing). Secondly, if the unit has a "high-temp scrub" or "wash temp boost" option, it will heat the water in the mainw wash cycle to 140 or 145 degrees when the option is selected. This WP would also heat the final rinse water to 140 degrees automatically and if there is a sani-rinse option, the final rinse water will be heated to 155 degrees. You can get the potential model number from your mom and go to the whirlpool web site, or get the model numbe3r and email me privately and I'll give you a litany of its features LOL.

 

[kenmore1978]

water heating

Often even vintage dishwashers would use the heating element to at least keep the water hot during washing and rinsing.

Like was mentioned, virtually any US made dishwasher from the late 60's to now have soft food disposers or self-cleaning filters, even the BOL models. My '88 Whirlpool heats the water during the wash and rinse periods for a fixed amount of time, but doesn't stop the timer. If the Hi Temp option is used, it stops the timer until the water reaches 145 degrees in any phase of the cycle, not just the final rinse as some machines do.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Make sure that your mom gets the WP without the full length door. The models with the Power Clean module not only filter out and chop up food soil, but hold it out of circulation until drain. They have a very fine filter as well as the soil separator. The models with the two full wash arms, one under each rack, will have this wash system. This system uses a larger pump than the tall tubs, the same pump that has provided very good cleaning results for many years.

The test for the WP dishwasher with the Power Clean module was to put a Big Mac in the lower rack and have the dishwasher eat it on the Super Scour Cycle without leaving a trace.

While some dishwashers just run an incredibly long wash and heat the water without any choice by the user, you are allowed to select water heating in various portions of the cycles on the better machines. NSF certified Sani Cycles have to heat circulating water to a certain temperature for a certain time. Old Frigidaire spray tube dishwashers claimed to reach pasteurizing temperatures, but mostly all that did was melt things during the dry cycle.

 

[Cybrvanr]

I got the model number from her. It's a Kenmore mode 74362. Oddly enough though, I couldn't get a picture of it up on Sear's web page to take a look at it

 

[appnut]

I can't find anything appliance related with that number.

 

[kenmore1978]

model number

That's not enough numbers. part of the model number is on the plate, part is stamped INTO the plate. There should be 3 numbers on the plate itself, a ., then more numbers stamped into the plate.