How to properly load Kenmore Ultra Wash?

[dustin92]

How do I load our 90's Kenmore Ultra wash dishwasher properly? It cleans great most of the time, but some items, depending on where they are placed in the racks, don't always get clean. Where should I put plates, bowls, pots and pans etc, and what direction should they face? Pictures would be helpful, THANKS!

 

[tomturbomatic]

As long as you don't put anything over the tower in the lower rack or let tall items block the upper wash arm, there is not a whole lot to the philosophy of loading it. If the lower rack on your model bulges out in front, you can't place tall narrow items at the front of the lower rack and expect the best cleaning because the wash arm does not extend completely under that part of the rack. I have neither a picture nor a thousand words. Sorry.

 

[yogitunes]

I have two of them, both with and without the center tower........

I can and have tried the Kenmore test of baking a cake, placing inside, and after a normal cycle, the plate was clear, and all traces of the cake gone!....a NUMBER of times........

that being said, you can BOB LOAD the hell out of these machines, and you should get great results everytime.....this has been one machine for me that is foolproof.....scrape off the big stuff, and shove those dishes in there almost anywhere, they will come clean, at least for me it always has......I've had this same machine since brand new in 1988......

 

[dustin92]

I haven't and probably won't try the cake experiment,(it seems like a bit of a waste), but it does seem to do well with leftovers lol. I don't block the tower or spray arms, I load all the long utensils in the center of the top rack, cereal bowls and dessert plates on the left of the top rack, cups and glasses on the right. I usually load dinner plates to the back of the bottom rack, and pans etc. to the front. I try to load the silverware basket evenly, and don't let anything extend through the bottom. It just seems to me like sometimes things could be cleaner. I have put bowls with chocolate ice cream residue in the top rack and when they come out, they still have brown streaks. Last night we had an egg casserole, the pan came clean but the dinner plates and knife used to cut it came out with egg residue still on them. Burned cheese came out of a casserole dish perfectly the night before.

 

[yogitunes]

I only did the cake experiment, because is was a challenge by Sears at that time, if it would not clean everything out of the machine at the end, I would get the machine for free, although redundant, getting a free machine that doesn't clean.....but more along the lines of the performance of this machine.....

were not going to go into the ideas of water temp, detergent, and cycle used.....this you have already checked out.....

but I am concerned something is not operating inside correctly....and something in the UltraWash module may be plugged up or blocked, possibly not allowing full water flow......

you can always remove the bottom basket, and unscrew the lower wash arm, using a popcicle stick, or something similar, to trigger the switch and start the machine with the door open, just to make sure you are getting full force of water up thru the port.......

these modules/motor/pump are so simple to remove its not even funny......basically remove a hose, backflo, and turn four clips...and pull out from the topside.....

not normal for one of these machines, but something as simple as a block holes in either wash arm can hinder performance......it could be something so simple your not realizing or seeing yet

let us know how your making out!

 

[dustin92]

The wash arms are clear, and it sounds like the water is spraying from both arms. I had the wash arm and impeller cover off yesterday to check things out. Everything looks ok in there.

 

[dustin92]

I am usually running the normal cycle with the water heat on, and using either finish gelpacs or finish powerball tabs with some lemishine.

 

[yogitunes]

I know this may sound odd....and only because I had to work on one the other day.....but this was a built in model, and the fill valve had a screen in it, which of course was plugged up, and not allowing enough water into the machine for the time allowed.....

once cleaned out, it filled to max everytime....just a thought

 

[appnut]

Well try pots & Pans sometime for really crusty stuff.  It will run for another hour at least lol.  Are yo putting detergent in both dispenser cups (the open o9ne and closed one? 

 

[dustin92]

I have run the pots and pans cycle occasionally for some nasty things, and it did fine. I am using both dispensers, the gelpac/ tablet and a little lemishine in the main cup, and some cheapy $1 gel in the prewash cup with a dab of lemishine. (Our water is hard and the dishes get cloudy/ crusty in short order if the lemishine/ finish power up is not added) I ran a load tonight,(powerball tab) and everything was spotless. I did check, and the powerball tabs are actually the old formula "Electrasol" with phosphates.

 

[tomturbomatic]

The performance in mine fell off and I checked and it was not getting enough water so we replaced the inlet valve and it resumed washing beautifully. Mine is a portable and I knew that full fills were two gallons so I measured what drained out and it was less than two gallons so that confirmed that it was underfilling.