GE Potscrubber 2400

[sngencarelli]

Hi Everyone!

A little background.. I've had a few different dishwashers over the years..

In my first home (early 2000's) I put in a Bosch which was great (although I never cared for the european style filter) and which I eventually gave to my sister and then when she remodeled it went to my cousin. They sold their house last year and it was still running strong. I had replaced the Bosch with what I thought was my dream dishwasher - a Miele LaPerla. That had every bell and whistle available at that time but it wasn't without it's problems.. I would also say that it didn't clean as well as the mid-range Bosch.

I moved into a new home in 2014 that had a GE Profile dishwasher which did a good job. I moved into an old farmhouse in late 2015 and I redid the kitchen and put in a mid range GE. Like the GE Profile that preceded it, I was in the market for a dishwasher that had a hard food disposer.

Recently I've started getting nostalgic for the dishwashers of my youth.. Even with a hard food disposer in my current GE, the fine mesh filter requires frequent cleaning. I find small particles of food on my dishes. Maybe I'm looking back at the past with rose colored glasses but I miss the older dishwashers - The KitchenAids which were made by Hobart, etc. Dishwashers which weren't stingy with water and which completed a cycle in 45 minutes or less. No filters to clean. Clean dishes every time. I'd love to have a party and not have to wait 2 hours for a cycle to complete so that I can do a second and third load.

I know this has been covered before - many people are in the same boat.. Pining for the dishwashers (and detergents) of yesteryear. I had been looking for a local vintage KitchenAid and recently came across a GE 2400. It is free to a good home and according to the current owner, in good working condition. It has a single row of touchpads and the VF display. The interior looks good and has the blue colored racks which look to be in fine condition. It has custom panels installed but if I picked it up, I'd make my own panels to match my cabinets.

Any opinions on this model? I'm not sure how it lines up with what I believe is the TOL 2800 and the Hobart KitchenAids.

Thanks in advance!
Scott

 

[vacerator]

Hello Scott;

Our late model Profile, if that is late anymore, also has a mesh bottom tub filter.
I rinse most dishes, so don't have the issue. I notice though when I do not rinse, or leave food on dishes, the turbidity sensor which is an optic sensor activates eaxtra purging, and or adds an additional rinse to the cycle.

 

[volsboy1]

I have had one of those G.E. dishwashers like that. They are great dishwashers that last forever.I have had three of them from the 80s up to the mid 90s . Mine was a 2800 hundred had push buttons and where the dial was a no touch timer clock to see what cycle it was in and how long left.
The first thing I did was replace the shade pole motor that was in it with a more powerful yet less energy hog motor (Cap Start motor).A lot of the older G.E. had just a wire for a soft food disposer. I also replaced that while doing the motor. The new blades normally come with the pump motor . I got mine off of EBay for 30 bucks shipping it takes 10 mins to change it out it that's easy.
I also love the Hobart KDS 21 dishwasher from Kitchenaid. Another great cleaning dishwasher that last forever and can grind anything up is a 1994 -98 Maytag Jetclean EQ PLus. That was a fantastic washing dishwasher full size wash arm on the very top celing. Has a bobble head tower in the center. It could clean just as good as a Old Kitchen aid.. One thing I didnt like about the Old Kitchenaid was they put a real hard food disposer in it and the entry would get blocked by a pea. The Maytag sucks it all down and grinds it up during the drain cycle. I was stopping up my Kitchenaid all the time cause I dump food in my dishwashers. Cakes and everything go from the table to the dishwasher no rinse ever.

 

[imperial70]

Dumping cake into the dishwasher

Is kind of okay. But if it has frosting.... frosting is a form of grease. Made with shortening or butter. That can lead to septic or sewer problems with giant grease balls somewhere down the line. Plates should be scraped. Grease should be wiped off as best as possible. If not for the dishwashers sake for your neighbors and friends down the road.

 

[combo52]

Frosting [ and other small amounts of grease ] in DWs

Even if you put a 1/2 cup of frosting in every load of dishes the detergent, hot water and emulsifying effects of being run through the pumps will allow the oils to stay suspended and carried all the way to the treatment plant.

 

If you did not put it in the DW you would just put it down the disposer anyway.

 

And more importantly, Dishwashers NEED oils [ to protect parts of the DW and dishes themselves from corrosion and etching ] DWs also need sugars to soften water for better cleaning And DWs need acids like tomato & orange juice and vinegar from salad dressings etc to function properly and have a long life span.

 

John L.

 

[bradfordwhite]

combo

John, coming from you it sounds like a dishwasher is a living, breathing being that needs to be wined and dined every so often.

 

Are you implying that those of us who are vegans and pre-rinse are indirectly abusing our dishwashers? 

 

 

Is dishwasher abuse a new thing?

 

I think once a month I'll need to order out some lasagna and pizza and just put it all in the dishwasher along with a pint of Haagen daz Irish Cream Brownie ice cream for dessert.  No one's going to accuse ME of starving my dishwasher of high cholesterol goodness, no sir.

.

Umm, to set the mood I'm going to light two candles and put them on the counter above the dishwasher, have some soft music playing, and turn off the ceiling light while the dishwasher's filter is happily dealing with all the grease.   

 

 

[bradfordwhite]

Grease in disposal

 

".... frosting in every load of dishes .....If you did not put it in the DW you would just put it down the disposer anyway."

 

No, greasy items don't go in the garbage disposal.  That includes meat, grease, butter, dressings, frosting, large amount of salad dressing, etc.

 

It will ultimately end up sticking to the inside of the disposal (and smelling) or to the walls of the pipes and causing a clog.  

 

[tolivac]

Aren't dishwasher detergents degreasers by nature since there are other foods that contain grease besides cake frosting.So the detergent along with the hot water breaks up and dissolves the grease and flushes it down the drain.Maybe---only to collect on the insides of the drain system piping.

 

[combo52]

Dishwasher Abuse

Hi Keith, Yes rinsing dishes before loading is DW abuse, many operating manuals do warn against the practice now.

Back in the 80s we did a study of WP DW owners and found that customers that rinsed everything off dishes prior to running got about 1/2 the life out of their DWs compared to owners that just used the appliance as designed and intended.

Show ME A DW Manuel From The Last 40 Years That Suggests Pr-rinsing dishes.

Don't Vegans have any oils in their diet ?

Small quantities of oily things can go in a disposer and SHOULD, again oily stuff protects the blades and main water seal from corrosion.

The operating action of a disposer keeps it VERY clean I am sure you could eat out of my disposers, they are always clean if you put your fingers in there and they never smell.

Even if you are vegan and not grinding bones and fatty scrapes you are likely eating oranges, lemons and grapefruit and the rinds should be going in the disposer, along with coffee grounds potato peelings peach pits and on and on.

I just put a 22 pound turkey carcass down our vintage National-KA disposer in just over 90 seconds [ after making soup and picking the bones ]

John L.

 

[combo52]

GE GSD2400 vs GSD2500-2800

The GE 2400 DWs were a later series than the earlier GSD2500-2800 DWs The earlier machines were more ground breaking for sure as they were the first DWs GE ever built that really started to compete in terms of performance with, WP, KA and MT, even mid to late 60s WH DWs were much better performers than anything GE had to offer at the time.

 

The GSD2400 DWs can still be a fun machine, its biggest shortcoming was the black shaded pole motors [ although the later 2400s started to use the permanent split capacitor PSC motors which were more powerful quite and far more efficient.

 

John L.

 

[askolover]

I have to keep harping at Tony for pre-rinsing dishes!  The only things I rinse are cereal bowls with milk in them that will stink, starchy things that might dry before being washed, and cat food dishes so the whole load doesn't smell fishy.

 

[bradfordwhite]

Hi John L.

I do in fact remember going to an appliance show room in the mid 90s and the sale person specifically stated that the manufacturers DON'T recommend pre-rinsing.
I thought that was totally weird.

I tried it one time and put plates and pots that had been used to make spaghetti in the dw. The inside of the white plastic tubbed DW ended up with a tomato red sheen on it after the wash. It didn't come off. Which I find rather disgusting.

Dishwashers are good if you have a family and are going to wash daily a full load.

For me, the DW was only running once a week which meant:
1. whatever was on the dishes dried on and didn't come off, and
2. Frequently used items would be in the DW, which was awkward because I'd have to remove them, sort of wash them so I could use them, and put them back in the dw. Not practical.

The last dw I bought was a brand new bisque TOL Frigidaire in 1999. It looked very nice and had a unique reversing motor that washed one rack then the other when the motor reversed.

That got sold with the house, but it looked stereotypical nice by my standards.

It takes me 5 minutes at the end of the day to wash the pre-rinsed and soaking dishes I've used, they always come clean with little water, no electricity, and air dry wonderfully.

Garbage disposals? NO ! All food waste gets frozen, thawed, and then added to a worm bin outside to be composted into new, rich garden soil. It would be criminal to put food waste in the garbage. All that rich food matter going to waste. Besides, on septic, one is not to use a garbage disposal.

Everyone I've known who had a GD ended up with a smelly, leaky, mess hanging under their sink with clogged drain lines. They are disgusting and and for those that are delusional. I've seen numerous homes where there is a wire under the sink that used to be connected to a disposal but someone got smart and removed it to put in a normal drain.
Seen stainless steel sinks crack at the lip and leak because the weight and vibration of the GD over stressed the sink.
And then there is the plugged up pipes with all the gunk from the shredding.

My own parents have two in their home. One of them has literally rusted stuck and only buzzes when the switch turns on. The other stinks and leaks with a hole rusted from the bottom plate into the motor compartment and out the bottom. yuck.

But each to their own. If you have a system that works for you, that's why we have choices.

 

[DADoES]

 
I don't prerinse anything (scrape, yes), may have a lag of 2 to 4 days before running a load, and I have one of those despicable DishDrawer thingies.  *Rarely* have a cleaning failure.  Surely a *real* dishwasher can clean this kind of material if a DD can do it, LOL.

A detergent formulation with bleach handles those tomato stains.

 

[bradfordwhite]

YES

".... with bleach handles those tomato stains."

 

This is something I learned in late 2016.  Bleach is miraculous with tomato based staining.  Just a small amount (1/2 teaspoon) of bleach on a paper towel and then just set the towel on the surface with the stain and let it sit for a couple of minutes.

It just disappears..... but don't breath the bleach as it will also wipe out your upper respiratory system. 

 

Still, the subtle smell of a teaspoon of bleach in a freshly cleaned toilet, or after wiping down your sinks with a sponge that has some bleach on it....... I don't know.   It's refreshing.

 

.

.

As for trying a dishwasher, I've seen these countertop models.  Would like to get one.

 

 

[combo52]

Disposers and Dishwashers

Hi Keith, thanks for your thoughts but none of them address any reason for not having and using a DW and disposer.

I once went on vacation for 10 days and had forgotten to run the DW that was filled with filthy food covered dishes, they had even started to mold pretty badly by the time we came home, I just turned on the DW as usual and everything came out spotless as usual.

As Glenn mentioned using a detergent with bleach as needed will make tomato, coffee and tea stains disappear.

Disposers actually help keep drains clean with the rush of surging rush of water and the scouring action of ground up particles of food rushing down the drain.

The 2nd picture you posted is often what drains can look when you don't have a disposer, as is the case in your picture.

Disposers can be very good for the environment and for septic systems, where we live the waste from the sewage system is made into fertilizer and sold to offset costs of treating the waste water. And the organic waste that goes into the septic tank at the country house keeps the bacterial action healthy and the affluent just feeds the lawn and trees, nothing is wasted at all.

The worst thing that can be done with food waste is bury it in landfills where it will never do any good and still creates very bad for the environment methane gas.

There is nothing wrong with hand washing and drying dishes, and there is nothing wrong with composting food waste and using it in your garden, but for me a prefer to have cleaner dishes and drains as well as using all that time for other things like restoring major appliances.

My life time goal is to help as many people as possible get great results out of their appliances while protecting the environment as much as possible.

John L.

 

[tolivac]

When my drain plumbing was redone with PVC piping they installed a Moen disposer-use the thing all the time.No problems.If you are getting disposer drain line clogs--is your disposer old?The shredders in these wear out leaving large,stringy pieces in the lines.New disposers shred the waste more completely.Agree with John-if you have a good disposer----USE IT!!!