GE Steam Dishwasher

[bajaespuma]

Nice to see GE is back in the appliance business!

Or are they? Is this a Haier made product? I will say, after their Potsrubber nightmare machines, GE always had IMHO some of the best designed upper racks in the business. Very roomy and clever as this one appears to be and they've addressed my biggest pet peeve: draining the bottoms of glassware. I appreciated this post, both for info on the GE and all of the info on the LG. Although I though GE manuactured the LG dishmachines and dryers in this country.

 

[andrewinorlando]

This GE is not a Haier made machine. Those look vastly different.

Eugene, I have to agree, the LG is a great cleaning machine, but my former GE 9800 cleaned just as well as the LG. The LG is, however, much quieter, holds more, is more efficient, easier to load, and has that delightful third cutlery rack. It's also a very solidly built machine. The interior is as shiny as glass...just beautiful. And that lighted interior is pretty nifty. Personally, I think it even dries pretty well, too, despite not having a drying heater.

My LG needed to have its controller replaced because, LG determined, it was never programmed correctly, so it did not heat in the Normal cycle....basically got up to 93 degrees in the main wash and that was it. New controller solved the problem and I was very, very impressed with LG's service. But it's been a very reliable machine. And very quiet!

 

[johnb300m]

we have a GE TT6200 in our rented townhouse at school.
They clean VERY well. I'd be hard pressed to get any other brand than GE at this time. Their TT 6 level wash system is light years ahead of what they used to make.

IIRC, GE's programming always heats the main wash to 140F. With their giant Calrod heater, they can boost the temp of the 1.2gal tank pretty dang quick.
The SaniRinse in the Anitibacteria cycle is only 15-20min, longer than a standard final rinse.
I think this is one feature that is nice and able to allow GE to have much shorter wash times than their counterparts.

And YES, I love my 45 min. Normal wash, which comes in at a mere 5.5gal water use.

 

[johnb300m]

steam

oh, and yeah, i think steam is a huge gimmick.
But GE had to jump off the cliff to or be left behind....because......well.......we all KNOW steam is better.

 

[estesguy]

The gimmick is

The Smart dispenser is the main gimmick here. It boost's the cost of this machine considerably. I have a GE PWD7300, that has operated flawlessly since installed in 2001. I am fully capable of putting soap in the dispenser and closing the dispenser door after loading the machine. This ranks right up there with rain sensing windshield wipers. How lazy have we become nowadays?

 

[iheartmaytag]

STOP

I love my rain sensing windshield wipers. It isn't lazy, it's safety. You don't even have to take you hands off the cell phone while driving. The wipers come on when they are needed. As an added bonus, when the wipers activate it turns on the headlights to be in compliance with the new law "Wipers on Headlights on."

As for the smartdispense. I do think it's a gimmick and a costly add on. The GE profile washer has the dispense drawer that addes $650, but what a bunch of tubing to go nasty on you in a few years. I will just add my own detergent--just to keep it simple; I'll use the Cascade/Dawn packs.

 

[countryguy]

If rain sensing windshield wipers are a 'safety' then why are you talking on a hand held cell phone while driving?

Gary

 

[iheartmaytag]

If rain sensing windshield wipers are a 'safety' then why are you talking on a hand held cell phone while driving?

I was being sarcastic--"Safety" so you don't drop the phone, of course.

 

[andrewinorlando]

And sometimes when you're talking on the phone and it starts to rain, you might forget to switch the wipers on!! It's nice that the car does it for you......

 

[countryguy]

I thought it might have been sarcasm but with some people you never know BTW my IS250 also has the rain sensing wipers. I love them in the summer but hate them in the winter with the snow and ice. They just don't seem to know when to wipe.

Gary

 

[johnb300m]

i'm not sure the "smart dispense" is a gimmick per se. But it definitely is a luxury, not a necessity.
GE's marketing claim is that many dish loads need more or less soap (usually less) based on the load soil.
We all know people love to pre rinse, so the dishwasher can decide how much soap to use, therefore pumping less chemicals down the drain and saving money on soap etc. It will also take into consideration your water hardness.
Now, will the soap savings pay for this machine? ha, probably not.

 

[johnb300m]

big blue spray arm

i just thought of something. that big blue arm might have a function.
what causes a good amount of noise in a dishwasher besides the spray?
the water falling back to the tub.
that's why dishwashers with sump suds lock sound so silent.
maybe the idea is for the water to hit that wash arm first, having less distance to roll back into the tub, to dampen the splashing noise????

interesting concept.

 

[launderess]

Never hear water when it reaches the bottom of my Kenmore 18" dw (made by Frigidare), however that does not mean your theory is incorrect.

Most noise one hears is from the motor, water hitting sides and top of the inside,pump and the built in waste disposer.

My unit does use a good amount of water, and therefore assume any water hitting the bottom of the tub would merely fall into water.

L.

 

[pturo]

How can "steam" clean any better than the hot water that makes the steam to begin with? Why call it out as a function?
Steam cleaning makes sense for items that you cannot fit in a dishwasher like sidewalks and buildings and shrinkable things like dry cleaning, and wallpapered walls.
Marketing gimmick for dishwashers, in my opinion. Besides, when I open my dishwasher at the end of the temperature boost rinse cycle, there is plenty of steam coming out that flash dries the dishes.(Saves money instead of using the heat dry cycle)
The steam washing machine I get, textiles are different than ceramics, glassware, and metals that do not shrink. It would be great to put my cashmere sweater through a steam cycle in a washing machine to freshen it and clean it, but a dirty lasagne pan? What would steam do better than the hot water that created the steam in the dishwasher to begin with? Water boils at what, 212 degrees, how could the steam be hotter when it is realesed into the cooler air?

The function of a cycle should fit the form of the item needed to be cleaned.
But that's just me.

 

[appnut]

Phillip, Waste King & Thermadore had Steam Machine dishwashers in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They did a pretty incredible job too!!

 

[launderess]

Steam

Same principle one sees in those infomercials trying to sell "steam cleaners" for domestic housecleaning. Steam is very effective in loosening and if the pressure is great enough, removing all sorts of muck and grime, with very little effort required.

Steam dishwashers were an answer to the tough problem of stuck on foods, pre-enzyme containing dishwasher detergents.

Unlike the steam one sees upon opening the door of a dishwasher or coming out of the vents (which is nothing more than the condensation caused by hot or very hot water meeting the cooler air outside the unit, a chamber full of steam (in theory), should melt off or at least greatly loosen burnt-on, baked-on, dried-on and otherwise tough foods from dishes.

 

[DADoES]

Steam contains much more heat energy than boiling water. Water boils at 212°F, true ... but MORE heat energy must be applied to change it into steam (steam is actually an invisible vapor). The water droplets one sees when steam hits a cooler surface such as a pot lid, or wafts through the air, is water condensed from the steam.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Better latent than never.

tech-tawk.

Steam is more effective in heating than hot water is in that there is a great deal of energy to be relased (exothermic)as the vapor condenses back to a liquid.

Ice cubes cool well because the process of going from solid to liquid absorbs a great deal of heat (endothermic).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_heat

 

[launderess]

Steam Power

Is what started the "Industrial Revolution".

Locomotives, power plants, factory equipment,ships, and the lot, anything formerly powered by oxen, persons,wind or even water was now powered by steam.

Bringing this on topic, commercial laundries were some of the first businesses to harness steam power, hence the term "steam laundry".

Today, while most machines in a laundry will have their own motors, eliminating the need for all those belts and such from central power, a central steam boiler still provides steam for heating dryers, irons, water in washing machines, finishing equipment and so forth. Tis far easier to maintain and operate one central boiler than, many scattered about. Of course then as now one has to know how to handle such beasts. High pressure steam is not something to fool around with.

L.

 

[pturo]

We are talking about a lot of different thermodynamic issues here.
Heating a room, doing laundry, or running power equipment is not the same as cleaning a pan in a 23/32 inch space with enzyme detergent and hot water vs steam.

I guess the question is does the steam cycle enhace the cleaning enough to benifit the extra cost in producing the steam, which must take extra energy.

Perhaps the test is taking two similaryly encrusted pans (this never happens, but whatever) and "steaming one" with one of those steam machines and not the other, and placing both in a non steam dishwasher, but one that heats water to sanitize.

The other variable to measure is does the tub of a steam dishwasher get hotter than the water it heats during the hottest wash or rinse cycle?

I am no expert, but seems to me unless the steam is under great pressure and directed at the mess needed to be cleaned, it cannot clean any better than the hot water that produces it.