It only took me 5 years....

[turquoisedude]

Despite hubby's constant reminders about the 1961 Whirlpool and the 1957 Whirlpool dishwashers both being in various states of disrepair (and taking up valuable space in the bar area of the basement in Ogden...) I found myself waiting for the JB Weld on the 57 Whirlpool to set, so I figured 'Damn, it's time I did something with that GE Princess dishwasher of mine....
It's currently my longest running dishwasher restoration project and the reason why I joined automaticwasher.org in the first place!
So, let's set the Wayback Machine to 2007; August to be exact. I found this turquoise GE dishwasher on an eBay auction in Toronto.[this post was last edited: 2/12/2012-22:37]

 

[turquoisedude]

Now at the time, I was thrilled. I knew we were moving, so I figured this dishwasher was going to be joining the turquoise Kelvinator range and refrigerator set that already graced the 'White House' kitchen in our new home.
But I was (as my late grandmother would say), "green as grass" as far as appliance restorations went...
Despite my enthusiasm, I had no flipping idea what I was getting myself into...

 

[turquoisedude]

So, when I got the machine, I realized that I had some serious work to do... This cabinet was seriously damaged and when I finally did get the machine back to my former Mountain Lakes home, I realized that there was no cover for the tub...
Not the best of situations, to be sure.

 

[toploader55]

OMG.

That's our first Dishwasher. Love them.

 

[turquoisedude]

Well, there was an argument or two about whether the bits and pieces of this machine should be moved to the house in Ogden when we moved in November of 2007. It won (the 1941 Westinghouse refrigerator, the 1956 McClary Refrigerator, the 1977 Kenmore range and 1975 Admiral refrigerator lost...) and the poor Princess got stored in the 'cold room' in Ogden (aka the 'dishwasher dungeon') until fall of 2011.
After seeing how well Phil welded the cabinet of the also-messed-up 57 Whirlpool dishwasher cabinet, I figured I had nothing to lose if I tried to enlist his help again with the GE cabinet.
It was worth the gamble! [this post was last edited: 2/12/2012-22:20]

 

[turquoisedude]

Phil was able to able to rebuild the base to what it used to look like - it was solid and stable once again!

 

[turquoisedude]

Now, I knew there were some wiring issues... But having restored a 1956 and 1955 GE pull-out dishwasher, I knew I could tackle this 1959 Princess.

 

[turquoisedude]

That connector block was not as daunting as I thought. It's not pretty, but by golly, it works!

 

[turquoisedude]

Knowing that I got the connector block back together again, I figured it was time to try out the other components of the dishwasher. First test was, of course, the timer.
It passed the first test, but something I didn't anticipate, the way I hooked up the timer to the power supply, I was also powering the calrod heater. If there had been a hidden camera in the basement, it would have shown a panicky me randomly unplugging and sniffing at electrical connections... Ah well..

 

[turquoisedude]

So now it was time to test the motor. The wiring for the 1959 model was surprisingly similar to the 1955 and 1956 models. It was only AFTER I got the power hooked up that I remembered I actually have wiring diagram for this one... D'OH!

 

[turquoisedude]

It doesn't show on this photo, but that bow-tie impeller was spinning nicely here! Better still, it would pause and reverse for draining at the appropriate time. So, the machine was electically sound and should, in theory, work just fine!

 

[turquoisedude]

The last thing I did before heading back to Montreal was to test how well the tub fit in the re-welded cabinet. It was just fine, thank you!
So, I should be doing a water test soon (we're away in Ottawa for Winterlude next weekend and no, I won't be able to pick up the 54 GE Mobile Maid at this time,alas).
I also have to figure out what to do about a cover for the dishwasher but I had a -thought (inspired by Mike's - dishwashercrazy's - 'Hollywood Dishwasher') - why not just put a pleixglass cover on this one?
Stay tuned....

 

[dishwashercrazy]

Way to go Paul!!!

Congratulations so far on this restoration project. Knowing what is ahead of me with my own G.E. Princess with the poor condition tub seal around the top of the tank, I can not imagine what you are going to do about your seal. But I have confidence that you will come up with a solution, that blends with the Plexiglas cover.

I do still have a cover here which has your name on it. I am really sorry now that I was unable to bring it along when we visited last June. I should ship it up to you now. Lets talk more. BUT, on second thought, I do not believe that the profile of the older style cover that I have, is the same shape as the one that was used on the Princess models.

Thanks for sharing this project with us.

Mike
[this post was last edited: 2/13/2012-00:25]

 

[aldspinboy]

Wow Paul that machine is going to be great !

The door latch is to cool.

Where are you going to put that one...

That might sound different being that it slides in the cabnet then the top load model you have..

Best of luck on the restore and I hope your healing.

 

Best

 

Darren k

 

 

[circlew]

With the exception of ours being white, that is just like the first dishwasher we had. Mom got it for a Christmas present in either '57 or '58; I'll have to look through some of the pictures to find out which. It lasted until early '71, when it developed a leak due to rusting in the tub bottom. That's when we got the KitchenAid KDI-16.

Best wishes for getting yours back into good working order.