It came with the new house so....

[philr]

Barry, I haven't hooked up my Maytags yet. I gave a WU601 to a friend but I still have another one waiting to be connected next to the WU600 so I can compare them!

I wasn't aware that Samantha used a WU600 in an episode of Bewitched! I'll have to look for that episode! I currently have the Frigidaire Custom Imperial Spray Tube dishwasher at home, just like the one she had in the early seasons of Bewitched and a similar 1964 refrigerator.

 

[bwoods]

Maytag RR appearance

It was Season 8, Episodes 21 and 22 (a two parter) "George Washington Zapped Here."

 

[philr]

Thanks Barry! Will look for that!

 

[philr]

Got it, a WU-600 in Harvest Gold!

 

[askolover]

That's a Maytag dryer in the background...Sam calls it a "washer/dryer" but it's obviously a center dial dryer

 

[bwoods]

open machine

There's a scene where Samantha quickly opens the machine to show the inside to Martha Washington, in Part 2 of the episode. A YouTube video of the episode is out there of it but its no good as the bottom of the screen is cut off and (I assume they taped it off of a TV screen and didn't center the picture) and you can't really see in the machine. But the actual episode shows the full interior, for a brief moment.

 

[philr]

Will look for that, I have all the episodes.

 

[philr]

Here are some appliance shots from that episode, the WU-600, a harvest gold gas dryer (can't tell the series but it doesn't seem to be a 806). It seems that they also had a few Westinghouse-inspired paintings on the wall!

I don't know what's the brand of the side by side fridge or the wall oven.

 

[combo52]

Cool Photos Phil

The MT dryer does appear to be a Gas DG806, the ref is a Kelvinator and the wall oven and cook-top are Tappan, interesting the Westinghouse Appliance photos framed on the wall.

 

[whitetub]

It's funny how they put black tape on the Maytag name, on the dishwasher and the dryer. I wish we could still buy these appliances, brand new. Martha Washington was lucky to witness these marvels.. lol.

 

[bwoods]

great screen shots

Good screen shots, Phil. I never even noticed the Westinghouse appliance renderings on the wall. You have a good eye!

 

[turquoisedude]

Good news about the WU404!

I had a look at the rear of the tub and there is a vent port as described; I did a little messing around with the fan and found it had gotten stuck.  During last night's test wash, I felt hot air blowing out through the door vent, so methinks I got pure dumb lucky here!!  A heated dry was the only way to go last night with nearly 90% humidity here... But it seems to work now, so YAY!  

 

I also found a supply valve to the dishwasher (it's all permanently connected copper pipe - THAT's gonna fun when I remove the dishwasher for the installation of new floor tiles...); it wasn't quite open all the way.  I opened it up fully and during last night's run, the detergent opened at least partially in the main wash phase of the cycle.  A little more tinkering will be required, I think.    I will need to pop the front panels at some point soon anyway - I think they'll be undergoing a colour transplant.  Unless I suddenly decide that the '58 Spin Tube needs to be paired up with other Frigidaires... LOL 

 

But so far, to say the machine has been exposed to seriously hard water all its life, it's doing a pretty decent job of cleaning!  I'll continue to observe, though... 

 

[kenmore71]

Forced air drying in the Maytag RR machines first appeared in July of 1978 with the WU100, 300, 500, 700, 900 machines. I have the documentation from "Let's Talk Service" if anyone wants proof…..

 

[bwoods]

no proof necessary

We trust you, Mark!!

 

[gansky1]

Proof -

I believe you, too! I'm kinda surprised it was that late in the 70's, how interesting. My mother's aunt bought a TOL Maytag around 78-79 for their new house "in town" when they retired from the farm (also had a TOL Maytag there) and I remember watching for the burst of steam laden air when the fan would start.

 

[combo52]

Forced-Air Drying In MT RR DWs

Really helped a lot, before they added a blower MT was besieged with complaints about drying performance by customers that had had a KA, a Whirlpool and even a GE DW before they got the MT, [ D&M-KM DWs were also lousy at drying ]

 

MT RR DWs drying problem was the vent in the door was too small and not high enough on the door, so little if any drying took place unless the heater was still on, and what really made matters bad for many users was having the SWB in the top rack, if you didn't remember to pull out the top rack first and unload and remove the SWB all the water in the webbing in the basket would shower the items in the lower rack. MT redesigned the SWB several times trying to minimize this problem.

 

In some ways it was a shame that the MT RR DWs were discontinued , they were one of the last of many unconventional DW designs that were built in the post WW2 period, sometimes you just can't win with a different idea in this world.

 

But for MT it was a great decision to change to a conventional design machine, DW sales nearly doubled in just a few years for MT after they abandoned this unusual and widely hated design [ by most of their customers ].

 

[turquoisedude]

Well, I'm just running the KDS54 for the first time this evening... Let's see if it outwashes the 'Tag.... 

 

[appnut]

The KA couldn't if it was full of nothing but pots pans prep bowls and stock pots.  Those are my loads many times. 

 

[bwoods]

"hated" ???

Very odd that such a "hated" dishwasher would be in production for 19 years, ha. Manufactures don't market a design for 19 years unless it is popular.

What is your data point, Combo52, that Maytag Reverse Racks were hated by "most of their customers?" Please share that data source with us.

I think you are the only one who hates the Maytag RR because it is a superior design and overall machine to the pedestrian Whirlpools.

Maytag Reverse Racks were a premium machine like the Hobart KA, with a premium price. Sadly, economics took its toll and Maytag cheapened their machines by getting rid of the fired-on-steel porcelain tubs in '91 and went to a conventional dishwasher with a plastic tub like other manufacturers were doing.

As I have mentioned many times on this site. My families' first dishwasher was a Modern Maid (D&M. It had some issue, but "lousy" drying was not one of them. In fact it more-or-less "baked" the dishes. They came out of they drying cycle quite dry and quite too hot to handle for while.

 

[combo52]

Oh Barry. Maybe I should've said highly disliked , lol

I worked with Maytag for many years and I have far more experience with customers and dishwashers than you will ever have. I have literally talked to hundreds of customers about their experiences with this and many other dishwashers I found very few customers that really liked this machine none were too disappointed when we replaced with a different brand DW either.

 

I attended dozens of Maytag sales meetings and it was a constant selling job to sell and resell this dishwasher to customers because it's unusual design.

 

Maytag could have easily built a reverse rack plastic tub machine and brought the cost down but THEY made the decision to abandon it and sales took off after that the facts are facts the price did not come down that much if at all on MT DWs dishwashers after the change they were still charging premium prices.

[this post was last edited: 8/21/2015-09:17]