GE 2800 Dishwasher Production Session

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andrewinorlando

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Oct 18, 2004
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I thought this was very cute, and I remember the actual commercial so well from many years ago. The sound is not very good, and the clip is a little long (10 minutes). But it did bring back many memories. Came so close to buying this machine.

Appnut, this one's for you baby.......

 
I love that machine! I still kick myself for not buying one 23 years ago. For some reason, that commercial always stuck with me....now we know exactly how it was made!!
 
My brother still has that machine is his kitchen

And it was purchased in 1986

I had one, and sold it to get my KA, but the one I have now is from a seller in MA....Got it on Flea Bay
 
Bobby, yes they had the multi-orbital wash arm. The top rating is why I chose the GSD1200 rapid-advance timer version. Was an awesome dishwasher
 
As good a machine as it was, the plastic tub and wash arms didn't sit well with me. That's why I'm an older KitchenAid fan. Porcelain and steel.
Bobby in Boston
 
For Nate!

Yes, I am now the owner of a genuine GE Twenty-Eight Hundred. Here's what happened:

Last Thursday, The Mighty Kitchenaid made a sound a lot like a UFO taking off. Or landing; not sure which. Anyway, it completed its cycle, or so I thought. When I unloaded, I noticed once again that it didn't seem to be cleaning as well as it used to.

Friday, I snagged a Corningware loaf pan at the Goodwill and when I went to put it in the MK noticed that it was full of water. Crap. Not a good sign.

I poked. I prodded. I messed around underneath. The motor would try to start but just trip the thermal protector switch.
Well. I had some decisions to make. Should I try to fix the MK? I probably could, but by the time I figured out exactly what the problem was, ordered parts and installed them I'd be without a dishwasher for a good while.

I don't want to be without one for more than five minutes.

Off I went to check craigslist and came up with a couple of possibilities; this one and an Amana. Never heard from Mr. Amana, so Keith and I went down on Sunday to pick up this 2800. It was pulled out of a house that had just been sold, part of a pre-sale "upgrade" to (ick) stainless appliances.

(Oh, there were plenty of dishwashers available on craigslist, most of them soulless modern things with sleek designs and lots of touchpads. This one has The Dreaded Touchpads, but it also has a buttload of chrome on it, which makes up for it.)

Cost: fifty bucks plus another 12 for various installation parts.

So. Looks like I still have some decisions to make:
1. Figure out what's wrong with the MK and try to fix?
2. Save parts from the MK and send it to the krusher?
3. Just keep the GE until it, too, you-know-whats the bed?
4. Start looking for another MK to replace the old one?

My guess is that the MK will meet its Maker, but I'll continue scouting around for something else cool, like a KA Patrician.

In the meantime, I really can't complain too much about this 2800. It's got a "Systems Monitor" (oooh!) that gives me WAY more information about what's going on than I really want. It'll remember my favorite cycle for me. It works reasonably well. It's got chrome. It's fairly quiet (sucker's got more fiberglass insulation than I've ever seen before.)

So that, in a nutshell, is how I got the 2800. Questions from the audience?

veg

7-3-2007-10-53-46--veg-o-matic.jpg
 
*Hand raised in the 7th row*

"Mr. O-Matic, will you be leaving it in the white panel, or will you be staining the panels to match the cabinetry?"

Lawrence/"Mr. tagBear"
 
YAY Veg!!!

VERY nice, Veg! I think you made the right choice to dodge the Amana. Well, actually, in either case, you would probably have ended up with a GE, but this is way better.

*beep! beep!*

As Bob noted, once you learn to load the GEs with the multi-orbit arms, the sky's the limit and they clean like champs. I think you'll probably grow to like it, and I am right there with you in the fact that I shall not be sans-dishwasher for more than five minutes.

When my KA succumbed to a broken-glass barrage, I had it out in five and had the old GE back in (cue blood-curdling screams), before Roger and I restored the D&M Magic Chef that permanently took its place. Like I said, never sans-dishwasher :-)

I saved all the parts from my KA and heaved the rest in to the trash when no one was looking. In retrospect, that was dumb, and I should have saved the machine, because it was a KUDS22, and most Cadillacs have less chrome and pizzazz.

Nevertheless, sleep on it for a couple of nights, and decide how much you like/miss the KA; I don't remember what yours looks like, but it might be worth it. In the end, though, you can't save everything, and if it's a booger, it's okay to move on. We will still love you in the morning, we promise...and this time, we mean it, and will feed you breakfast, too.

That's my $0.02. But congrats on a kick-ass find! Between that and the Electrolux, you'll have a spotlessly clean house and time for a cigarette and a martini in no time! :-D
 
Yes, Mr. Tagbear: I will be keeping the panel white. My plan (should I ever get off my lazy duff and do it) is to (gasp!) paint the oak cabinets white!! People always look at me in horror when I say this, but truth of the matter is, I just don't like oak.

Mr. TotoRoto: Thank you for the kind words. What the heck is a multi-orbit arm? From what I remember (which ain't much), it was just a normal crappyasss plastic GE wash arm down there. There's supposedly one at the top of the tank, too, but I've never bent down far enough to get a looksee.

That top rack is definitely going to take some getting used to--it has lots of space with no prongs to interfere with biggish items.

I'm just afraid I'm going to get a call from Tom saying all I had to do was release the lateral cog, give the pinion splayer a couple of good turns and then tighten up the tee nipple and everything would be fine. Be just my luck.

I'm attaching a picture of the Mighty Kitchenaid. I can't call the new dishwasher "The Mighty GE" because each time I say it I throw up a little. So I'm calling it "The Mighty Twenty-Eight Hundred." That helps keep lunch in the down position.

veg

7-3-2007-14-10-39--veg-o-matic.jpg
 
...then...

Then you notice that there are a lot of areas that the jets don't automatically reach. Sure, you can offset the holes to compensate for this, but you always have some dead space and are restricted by a fairly set wash-pattern.

The multi-orbit arm is mounted on a geared mechanism that varies the center of the arm constantly, so even though it's a normal wash-arm, it's jogging around an eccentric orbit (think of the center point of the wash arm orbiting in a circle, kind of in a hand-cranked drill motion). To illustrate this, here's what the wash pattern would look like with a multi-orbit arm. Because the center of the wash arm is constantly moving in its own orbit, the wash arm now covers an ever-changing area, and so (hypothetically) can clean much more effectively because the jets can pass through--and reach--all different places.

7-3-2007-14-44-50--roto204.jpg
 
VEG, it's a phenomenal dishwasher. Get over it!! I had a friend who had had nothing but KAs since 1955 and when she moved to town with me in 1986 (transferred together), she bought a GSD1200 just like mine a month later in 1987. She said she loved it more than any KA and her last one was the KDS19 that took forever because of heating. Too bad the thing didn't circulate water while heating, but that's a Hobart type of KA. I'm surprised how much mine held and I'd mentally put the load in a KA like yours and I'd still have room in the GE. In some ways I miss my GE, but I love my new modeern dishwasher. It's taken every BobLoad I've thrown at it and is toe-to-toe with the GE and holds even slightly more. As stated above, ya can't save everything and I just didn't have the space to store the GE. I almost cried when it went out the door. I truely believe the multi-orbit design wasn't a gimmick. I could hear the water pattern hitting the door change during the long main wash. But Terry warned me in Tuscon this spring I was on borrowed time with my machine. And maybe he did some "karma", but 2 weeks after I returned, it started doing some strange things. I'd had the same dishwasher for the past 23 years essentially between the current and last house. I was ready for a change. And every machine has it's pluses and minuses.
 
So, Bob, what kind of modern dishwasher did you wind up getting? You must miss that GE1200....they were unique and had great "personality"! Does the new one clean as well as the old GE?
 
I got a Kenmore Elite, next to TOL. A fairy godmother wanted to get me a new dishwasher. In some ways I miss it and other ways I don't. As I've said above, it's taken every BobLoad I've thrown at it and cleaned it well. Drying performance has even surprised me. I had a couple of mugs in last nights load which I hadn't used since the new one came in. The concave tops never dried in the GE, even on PotScrubber and heated dry. These werre bone dry with normal rinse temp and heated dry. Even surprised me. Disposeable plastics come out dry with sani-rinse and heated dry. Surprise there too.
 
Bob

Does the Kenmore dry with just a heating element like the GE, or, does it use a fan dry?

Even though the GE did not have a fan assist dry like my KA, it still did an excellent job drying the dishes.
 
I've even played belt-drive Maytag for a couple of loads. All platss of various sizes and cereal bowls in top rack; pots, pans, and a glass or two in the bottom rack. It was fun!!
 
I have the same basic dishwasher and Bob. It dries with the heating element only...there is no fan. It seems to be a good dishwasher although the motor in mine didn't last one year. I did put an entire cake in the back to see if the "Turbozone" would actually clean the pan WITH an whole cake on it. Sure enough it did! Everything else was clean too. Maybe that's what killed the motor??? hehe

Jon
 
I made fried rice for 1st time in my life, complete with "scrabling" the egg in an untreated skillet. The egg was a scortched mess and I had my doubts. The "zone" got rid of it all, even I was shocked. I don't think my GE could have done that. The "zone" even removed some burned (non-stick spray) stuff on some pyrex. So "gasp", better than my faithful GE.
 

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