Not pleased with GE's Tall Tub models
John and Terry,I agree the GE tall tubs are not what they are cracked up to be, especially when it comes to disposing of food wastes.
It was disappointing to take the sump apart and find that the food waste could not come in contact with the soft food disposer blade due to a perforated divider in the sump. Any food waste in the wash water (that makes it past the small openings in the sump cover) stay in the sump. During the drain cycle the little 40 watt drain pump must dispose of these wastes.
If you look at the so called "hard food waste disposer" blade you will see there is not even a shredder plate like in the tower models. It is virtually useless.
In the instruction manual, GE states to take off leafy wastes, like lettuce. They are right because they end up just laying in the bottom of the machine against the sump cover when the cycle is over. So do fried egg whites, pea pods, etc.
Occasionally one will slip through and block the pump opening keeping the dishwasher from draining properly, and I have to take the sump cover off and fish it out by hand.
I don't rinse dishes at all and found the tall tub models to be impractical. There is almost always garbage left in the bottom of the machine. The upper spray arm holes clog incessantly. Dried cat food seems to especially clog the holes in the arms. I give the GE Tall tubs a D grade of waste disposal.
As far as wash ability, though, I like it better than the tall tub Whirlpool. The Whirlpool I had could hardly touch dried on egg yolk and oatmeal on dishes in the upper rack. I only run the dishwasher every two or three days, so the food remains tend to be quite dried on.
However, the Whirlpool Tall Tub I had had large openings in the sump and was a real champ of disposing of virtually any food wastes I left on the dishes. I give Whirlpool an A+ on waste disposal and a "D" on washability of starchy dried on foods.
The GE tall tubs I have had remove most of the yolk and oatmeal, but almost always leave some remains so I give the Tall Tub models a "C-" on cleaning starchy dried on foods in the upper rack.
My GE power tower models usually leave no trace, so they earn an "A" in starchy/dried food removal for the upper rack. The power tower models, I have also clean small mouth jars much better than the Whirlpool Tall Tub and GE Tall Tubs. They also rid the machine of garbage, and the food waste disposer blade actually grinds up food wastes. ( On the newer models, I enlarge the openings on the sump cover to let in larger pieces of waste. (The older tower wash units had larger openings.)
I admit I give my dishwashers a tough challenge. I make most of your guys "Bob Loads" look like child's play. A typical load usually has dried on oatmeal, eggs, cat food and various other remains like baked beans or green beans, mashed potatoes, etc. If it doesn't slide off the plate when I tilt the plate over the garbage disposal, it stays on and goes in the dishwasher. Copious food wastes on the pots and pans are also normally present in most of my loads.
My GE tower wash dishwashers seem to be the best all around performers and almost always give spotless results.
My Reverse Rack Maytags run a vary close second and only get down rated a little as when I wash dishes with large amounts of dried-on shredded cat food, the food slivers somehow managed to slip through the filter mesh longwise and clog some of the arm openings. When none of the holes are clogged, the Reverse Rack Maytags sure give the dishes a good scouring.
I also give high performance marks to the old Whirlpools with the killer motor. Very good washability and great food waste disposing. The older Whirlpools are a really carefree machine.
Needless to say, the older Tall Tub GE's have been a disappointment to me.
It sounds like GE has improved the washability, according to their website info on the new Tall Tub Profiles models. Wes, has GE done anything to improve garbage removal in their new tall tubs? I hope so.
