For Jon Charles re: GE SU-60P

[tomturbomatic]

Jon and I have related widely differing performance memories of GE bowtie impeller dishwashers. Today, as I was reading through some copied articles from old Consumer Bulletins, I found a possible answer in the dishwasher ratings reported in February, 1960. They tested two samples of this machine and reported that washing results were fairly good in one and only fair in the other. "The differences in washing results were found in the two impellers which were identical except for their "leading" edges. The impeller having sharp leading edges was more effective in washing than the one with somewhat blunt leading edges. If the dishwasher performance is not good, let a serviceman check to see if you have the preferred impeller.) Machines which have the preferred sharp-edged impeller (the later design)...warrant an A-Recommended rating.

 

[paulg]

Makes sense

One of my appliance repair books places leading-edge wear of the impeller as the cause of reduced washing ability in those machines. One must inspect the edge carefully - perhaps with a magnifying glass.
I am surprised that all manufacturers didn't have a sharper edge on the impeller during that time.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Dulling of the leading edge is one of the reasons that aging Bakelite impellers affect washing performance negatively. That is also related to why Robert's Westinghouse Roll-Out with the metal impeller washed so well.

 

[bajaespuma]

How about an illustration or two? Here's an impeller (would this be considered sharp or blunt{looks like the leading edge is kinda blunt to me}?) and a SU-60P.

 

[bajaespuma]

I'm wrong; that's actually a SU-40P, but they used the same impeller.

 

[jetcone]

WOW TOM!~

Amazing find there ! We definitely had the blunt impeller. Ken has photoed it perfectly! It had a flat edge, who knew that would make such a difference- my whole childhood would have been different ! LOL