Does this mean all wash towers are bad?

[peterh770]

It appears that the spray from the upper wash arm is rather anemic. Would the WP be better?

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[peteski50]

GE!

I think this is the worst design GE dishwasher they ever made. Their is so much space taken up that easy loading would be almost impossible. Why didnt they just go back to the potscrubber2 design? And I think the Whirlpool is a thousand times better in capacity and loading conveince as well as cleaning!

 

[gansky1]

It looks like the supply of water is more than the arm can handle, I would imagine very little pressure gets through to the upper reaches of any taller items in the upper rack.  Wonder if this is a "me wash you long time" dishwasher, that would be the only way things will get clean.  Splash water around for three hours and soak the dishes clean - electrically!

 

 

[strongenough78]

Yeah that design doesn't look very effective for the top rack at all. My GE made Hotpoint doesn't have the wash arm for the top rack, just the wash tower, and it works great.

 

[a440]

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">Blah!</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">Did you notice that turd looking thing floating from the back near the sump area while it was filling?  </span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">I never really considered the upper wash arms all that strong.  Even on the KDS-18 and such.  I always</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">found that they were really just a "constant rinse".  The vintage dishwashers are quite stronger than this thing, but</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">not by much.</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">I think the real washing power is from the lower wash arm.</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">That turd thing is freaking me out!</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">Brent</span>

 

[a440]

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">When I look at it again it looks like a dead roach!  LOL!</span>

<span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: medium;">I guess a roach is better than a turd...</span>

 

 

[danmantn]

My first $199 WP dishwasher was super basic and lasted 7 years before the pump started leaking. I had no idea of how it worked until one day i opened the door and the middle thing was stuck n the "erect" position...totally flipped me out...like a monster had invaded my dishwasher. Lol

I hated the center cone design as i could never wash anything really large, like a Crock pot insert, etc.

 

[mixfinder]

What Goes on Behind Closed Doors

I have this dishwasher, purchased from Second Use, seconduse.com in Seattle for $25.00.  It is quiet and does a super job.  I often place casseroles and roasting pans on the upper rack and they come out sparkling.  My only issue is is the telescoping spray nozzle that pops up during wash to feed the upper wash arm occasionally stays in the upright position requiring a push to send it back down so the lower rack can be pulled forward for unloading. A small inconvenience for a cheap, silent and effective dishwasher.  My inquiry in another post about my daughter's Kitchenaid dishwasher was to help me decide if it was worth bringing the Kitchenaid back from Dallas in the trunk of my car to replace the GE.

 

[dj-gabriele]

That looks like a very inconvenient design!
Even on my aunt old dishwasher, where the upper spray arm is fed via a Venturi tube, it comes from the ceiling of the machine and not from the bottom! So you don't waste any space.

 

[stevet]

Take it or take it!

If you want to replace the GE machine with the Kitchenaid, I would say it is a definite YES!!!

I think you will be more than ecstatic with the performance and results from the Kitchenaid over the GE in the picture. It is no where near as intimidating to dishes and such as the Hobart designed machines or even the WP Standard tub clones but it does a good job and certainly will hold more than the GE ever can.

I say "TAKE IT!

 

[mixfinder]

Give and Take

More to consider.  I'll let the God of things vintage and valuable make the decision.  If nothing else has shown up and there's still an empty trunk I'll load er up.

 

[joeekaitis]

My sister's Frigidaire had a top-feed upper rack wash arm. Always thought it was kind of a hit-or-miss way to wash the contents of the upper rack.

 

[mixfinder]

Share and Share Alike

Didn't Frigidaire make a dishwasher that alternated water from the top and then bottom spray arms without them both going at once?  I have a friend who bought one in the 90s that's like that and it also has a setting for just washing one rack.

 

[frigilux]

Kelly---You are correct that later model Frigidaire dishwashers adopted the Euro-feature of alternating rack washing. Mine did a great job on dishes/glasses/flatware, but needed a little pre-scrub help with really grimy pots/pans. The nice thing about that feature is you often get an Upper or Lower-rack only wash option for half-loads. And it allows the manufacturer to use less water per fill, since it doesn't have to feed both wash arms at the same time.

My current machine, an LG, also alternates between upper and lower racks, but it's so quiet I don't notice the alternation. It was very obvious with my Frigidaire.

 

[cleanteamofny]

This is why I got hot that my pots and pans did not come clean on the top rack like with older dishwashers made in the 80's and late 90's!
A true dishwasher should be able to clean on both racks no matter what, but as you know, we like our dishwasher to be so quiet that dishes comes out shytie (somewhat) clean.......

 

[mayguy]

The only DW I liked with the tower was the Maytag Jet Tower.

 

[llmaytag]

Wash Tower

I never understood how an upper wash arm could deliver a reasonable wash unless it was fed from a hard pipe or hose, as opposed to simply squirting a jet of water into the inlet. I used to have a WP model with the plastic lower wash arm (with two square jets and three round jets on each side of the arm) and a center two-jet tower. It actually did a great job.

About a year or so ago I replaced it with the last of the short tub WP with the full upper wash arm, (fully piped/hosed, no center jet/tower). It works well, but not as much better as I expected, (much quieter though). Anyway, one day looking at the lower wash arm, I realized that the two closest-to-center jets are quite far apart, though one is angled inward. Curious, I did a test with a tall glass loaded in the center of the lower rack and sure enough, not wash action.

 

[llmaytag]

Wash Tower - 2nd pic

Second pic - after running a rinse for a while with the glasses in the bottom center. Apparently no spray inside the glass.

 

[llmaytag]

Wash Tower - 3rd pic

The console, just a rinse. (Sorry for the basic pics....I used my Blackberry camera and the lens is probably dirty.)