GE Dishwasher

[llmaytag]

Does anyone remember a GE dishwasher model that had a somewhat distinctive lower wash arm which actually had a smaller rotating wash arm on each side of a larger arm. I know they had such a model, and I suspect it was short lived. It seems to me that such a design could assure that water jets cover every surface if the wash period is long enough, however unless there are other jets on the larger arm, the center of the rack would get much more action then the perimeter of the rack. How did those machines perform?

 

[peterh770]

I think Frigidaire was the first to have a "whirly-gig" wash arm back in the 70's. I don't think it was long lived back then either.

I remember seeing a GE demo model with a plexiglass tank. Seems to me that the timing of the whirlygigs with the rotation of the entire wash arm was set so that you could see the same water patern in the demo. I doubt it was planned this way or even if engineering was aware. But a wash arm with only four spray holes in it probably had greater water pressure and better washing. Maybe the whirlygigs kept getting blown off, or the wash arm getting stuck -- either way, it wasn't around for long.

I'm sure you could find one on Craigslist or eBay to replace your WP, altho' I believe your dw is less confounding to you than the washer...

 

[jons1077]

Yes I do recall those...

I used to house sit for a lady that worked at my university. She had her kitchen remodeled sometime in the early 90's and had a GE dishwasher with the design you described. There was the larger washarm, had a rising tower in the center as usual, and two smaller "mini-arms" on the ends that were supposed to rotate as the larger rotated them around the tub. The idea of it was pretty good I suppose but it was very cheaply made. I remember trying to work on that washarm for a bit because I noticed the smaller arms were not rotating. They were somehow clipped on the larger arm with little plastic clips. They would very easily get stuck and not really work anymore. The washer cleaned well despite this but I just remember it not doing anything different that a normal wash system.

Jon

 

[aldspinboy]

Jon your right, My friend had one we did test loads in the machine and just was normal as any regular GE Tower spay arm if not worse . But they where fun to look at in the plexiglass demo models, later he's GE rotator little arms at the end GOT STUCK AFTER EVERY OTHER WASH! soo go figure, well it is still an interesting wash arm. I am really interested on how a SMEG dishwasher arms work in europe, it is in the same vane as the GE.. it has one twirly at the end of the wash arm( Do's anybody have one of these machines, like to here about them ) ? Happy holidays everybody. Darren k

 

[gansky1]

A client of mine had one of these Profile models, just replaced a few month ago when they changed all the kitchen appliances. My sister had one we put in her house five years ago, I found it behind Lowes. I rebuilt the pump and installed in their kitchen. We replaced it a month ago with a low-end Bosch. They never complained about it not cleaning well, I was always amazed that it could get everything in the lower rack clean despite the seemingly strange pattern of water movement. If there ever was a good test-kitchen for a dishwasher it was hers - never rinsed or even scraped most of the time. When I took it out, the plastic tub was brown - yes, brown - from stains and hard water. There were also two fruit stickers on the door of the machine that had been blown off dishes and stuck to the tub. No, the tub wasn't clean under the stickers ;-)

 

[johnb300m]

GE SmartWash!

The multi-orbital wash system that works harder and smarter, for you!
Our new house in 1996 came with one of these, a Potscrubber 1180. It was actually quite a good dishwasher. Our whirlygig wash arms were attached with metal clips, so they never really jammed. It also had the passive filter system in the rear of the tank. That worked quite well too.
It wasn't too durable of a machine as the temp boost button got stuck "on." Then my family decided to experiment with Electrosal Tabs, which created tons of suds, and actually started to dissolve the rubber boot that linked the pump and tank inlet.
That wash arm was so short lived, RepairClinic doesn't even offer it anymore. You're forced to replace it with a standard arm.

We got about 7 good years out of it, and replaced it with a nice, soil sensing Triton XL 6660. (mauahaha, 3 sixes).

 

[passatdoc]

My home built in 1988 came with a GE potscrubber 500 series with normal spray arms. A few years later, I had a water pump issue, and pending repair of the pump (which ultimately proved successful, the machine went another 10 years), I window shopped for a new machine in the event that the repair didn't "take". I remember looking at GEs and the then-current models of the Potscrubber featured the additional smaller wash arms. Never owned such a machine, but I remember seeing them in the store.

Post-script: the original GE survived through 2001, doing a mediocre job all those years. While it still worked, I chose to upgrade it to a mid-level Bosch in October 2001. The Bosch still works and cleans superbly, no repairs or any issues, ever. I use Jet Dry and Electrasol tabs (both of which are "recommended by Bosch" on a sticker inside the door rim near the controls).

 

[whirlcool]

When we got our new Maytag DW, they(Maytag) supplied a "Sample" sized bot of Electrosol Powerball tabs, and a nice large bottle of JetDry. In addition, they also provided quite a few $1.00 off coupons for these items as well.
To tell you the truth, our daily driver DW detergent is WalMarts house brand. We sometimes do buy Cascade Complete, when we can find the Fresh Scent flavor.

 

[favorit]

aldspinboy - SMEG orbital sys dishwashers

Despite the fact Smeg is an italian brand,here their DW aren't so common as freestanding units.
Mostly they come as built in or "design" DWs (i.e. the multicolor "50s look" series with mielish prices)

As I can read on ciao.it the orbital spray arms sys performs quite well. It seems that the weak part of those machines lies in the PCB ...

SMEG: Elettrodomestici dal design Made in Italy

Scopri il design e le performance degli elettrodomestici SMEG. Forni, frigoriferi, cucine e tanti elettrodomestici per impreziosire la tua casa.

www.smeg.it

 

[favorit]

just about "design" ... psychedelic washer

this looks like a pink vintage fridge with a sink on the top, yet it's a double door front loader

http://www.smeg.it/Catalogo/Product/LBL16RO.aspx?Req=12983619

 

[rpm]

When I worked at Sears clearance center in 98-99,a few of those dishwasher came in.They had all come back from the service department after being fixed.I thought they were very cool looking,but couldn't help but wonder if those little arms were prone to clogging?

 

[aldspinboy]

Thanks Favorit for the information... SMEG dishwashers are very nicely designed. Someone posted that sink washer here before, great for compact kitchens. I have seen that concept when joining the group here for the first time, in the cyber museum section at AUTOMATICWASHER. It is in the GE section there is picture of a sinkwasher compact machine made by GE pretty interesting. Check it out. And thanks to Robert i would have never known about it a wealth of information here on AW. Happy New Year everybody! Darren k