cyclemonitor
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JCP
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79
JCPenny Portable Dishwasher in Grand Rapids
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cyclemonitor
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2011
- Messages
- 581
JCP
79
79
The GE convertible, the Hotpoint and the J.C. Penney are one and the same. Even the cycle knob and the knob on the door latch are the same one. They just put different trim on them as they came down the assembly line.
Even after GE had converted their built-in models over to the Permatuf tub, from the Plastisol, they kept porcelain for their convertible model, for a while. Some of you might remember the exact date better, but I think they continued the porcelain line through the early eighties, for their convertibles.
Pre-rinsing was not necessary on the their machines with the soft-food waste disposer, even back then. My families '73 GE tower wash gobbled up lots of garbage. It didn't leave nibblets or residue like our previous D&M built Modern Maid, which often left messy grit on dishes. Which, unfortunately, became baked-on grit at the end of the cycle.
Even after GE had converted their built-in models over to the Permatuf tub, from the Plastisol, they kept porcelain for their convertible model, for a while. Some of you might remember the exact date better, but I think they continued the porcelain line through the early eighties, for their convertibles.
Pre-rinsing was not necessary on the their machines with the soft-food waste disposer, even back then. My families '73 GE tower wash gobbled up lots of garbage. It didn't leave nibblets or residue like our previous D&M built Modern Maid, which often left messy grit on dishes. Which, unfortunately, became baked-on grit at the end of the cycle.
HP Portable DW
This model does use the SAME pump and motor that even the best GE DWs of the time period used, so it does have a small disposer blade that will grind up bits of food and redistribute it through the wash chamber. These DWs can and do produce acceptably clean dishes if not overloaded with food waste, they relied on the many water changes to get rid of any food particles.
Sandy you are correct about door gasket problems of the HP line, This DW does have a porcelain tank and door and while they did not rust out in the aggressive way that the GE plastisol tub machines did they were still no stranger to some rust issues in the sump and at the lower inside edge of the door.
Reliability of this and GE DWs in general was quite good, certainly better than MT DWs and believe it or not at as good as KA DWs. That is not to say that the two later machines were not better built and had the potential to be repaired and end lasting longer, but in a good home the GE-HPs had fewer service calls in the first 10-15 years of ownership.
One thing to keep in mind was that MT did build a very reliable washing machine for a long time, best in the industry from about the early 1960s-into the early 1980s when WP passed them with the DD washer. They did this with the washer partly at the expense of great performance however. But when it came to MTs great performing DW and there good performing dryers, neither of these MT appliances ever achieved top reliability as there were several other brands in both categories that always out did them in the reliability area.
This model does use the SAME pump and motor that even the best GE DWs of the time period used, so it does have a small disposer blade that will grind up bits of food and redistribute it through the wash chamber. These DWs can and do produce acceptably clean dishes if not overloaded with food waste, they relied on the many water changes to get rid of any food particles.
Sandy you are correct about door gasket problems of the HP line, This DW does have a porcelain tank and door and while they did not rust out in the aggressive way that the GE plastisol tub machines did they were still no stranger to some rust issues in the sump and at the lower inside edge of the door.
Reliability of this and GE DWs in general was quite good, certainly better than MT DWs and believe it or not at as good as KA DWs. That is not to say that the two later machines were not better built and had the potential to be repaired and end lasting longer, but in a good home the GE-HPs had fewer service calls in the first 10-15 years of ownership.
One thing to keep in mind was that MT did build a very reliable washing machine for a long time, best in the industry from about the early 1960s-into the early 1980s when WP passed them with the DD washer. They did this with the washer partly at the expense of great performance however. But when it came to MTs great performing DW and there good performing dryers, neither of these MT appliances ever achieved top reliability as there were several other brands in both categories that always out did them in the reliability area.
danemodsandy
Well-known member
John:
I wish I still had my old GE convertible/portable to show you. I never knew the exact year, though the GE help line once told me it was from the second half of the '70s. It had the plastisol liner AND it said "PermaTuf."
Leaks at the bottom of the door were a problem from first day to last. I can't even remember how many times I resprayed the lower access panel after grinding off the latest crop of rust. No amount of latch adjustment, new gasket or new anything else ever helped.
It was also an indifferent cleaner. Not the worst ever (that dubious honor belonged to a BOL Hottie that was in an apartment complex I lived in during the later '70s), but nowhere near what a really good DW like a KA could do.
It spent most of its working life built in, until I gave it to someone needing a dishwasher very badly, at which time it was re-converted to its portable configuration.
I wish I still had my old GE convertible/portable to show you. I never knew the exact year, though the GE help line once told me it was from the second half of the '70s. It had the plastisol liner AND it said "PermaTuf."
Leaks at the bottom of the door were a problem from first day to last. I can't even remember how many times I resprayed the lower access panel after grinding off the latest crop of rust. No amount of latch adjustment, new gasket or new anything else ever helped.
It was also an indifferent cleaner. Not the worst ever (that dubious honor belonged to a BOL Hottie that was in an apartment complex I lived in during the later '70s), but nowhere near what a really good DW like a KA could do.
It spent most of its working life built in, until I gave it to someone needing a dishwasher very badly, at which time it was re-converted to its portable configuration.
rinso
Well-known member
Sorry to disagree, Sandy, later GE's did indeed have both. The GE's with only the soft food disposer, didn't do a good job of keeping food particles from being re-deposited on dinnerware during washers and rinses. It just masticated them into smaller bits. A load of dishes with traces of mashed potatoes on them would result in dishes coming out with a gritty feel. A good food filter in the water stream during wash helps situations like this.
I believe it was the very early eighties when General Electric introduced the passive filtration system, and made a good thing even better. My parents never had a grity deposits on thier dishes from the '73 filterless machine. When I loaded it, baeing a typical teenager, I left virtually everything on the dishes, when loading them, much to my mom's disliking.
My Aunt had one of the last Ge Potscrubbers made, I believe, without the passive filter. The Postrubber 900, from about '85 or '86, the highest model without having the filter.
They never had a dishwasher before so I dutifully instructed her and my uncle on how to load and use a dishwasher, including a directive to never rinse them off, ha.
They never ever had a grit or residue problem, and are still using the same dishwasher today.
The biggest difference I notice is in the shine factor. Filtered machines or those with extra final rinses seem to produce dishes that appear to be shinier because there is less of the microscopic particles, invisible to the naked eye, that remain on the dishes. Overtuned bowls, etc. also seem to collect more food particles in the unfiltered machines.
If someone is getting gritty dishes from mashed potatoes in a GE tower wash, even without the filter, It's not because of the dishwasher itself. They may have very hard water, water that is too cool, low water pressure, or using an ineffective dishwashing detergent or blocked washarm. Or any of the combination above.
In the eight years or so my parents had the Filterless GE potscrubber, I proably put in a couple of tons of mashed potatos over the years. (Especially every year at Thanksgiving. That's what made my Aunt decide to get a dishwasher so late in life, after having Thankstgiving at our house and being amazed at how our GE could clean my mom's good china and all the pots and pans. It took her several years to finally talk my Uncle into buying her one though.) [this post was last edited: 9/3/2012-15:37]
My Aunt had one of the last Ge Potscrubbers made, I believe, without the passive filter. The Postrubber 900, from about '85 or '86, the highest model without having the filter.
They never had a dishwasher before so I dutifully instructed her and my uncle on how to load and use a dishwasher, including a directive to never rinse them off, ha.
They never ever had a grit or residue problem, and are still using the same dishwasher today.
The biggest difference I notice is in the shine factor. Filtered machines or those with extra final rinses seem to produce dishes that appear to be shinier because there is less of the microscopic particles, invisible to the naked eye, that remain on the dishes. Overtuned bowls, etc. also seem to collect more food particles in the unfiltered machines.
If someone is getting gritty dishes from mashed potatoes in a GE tower wash, even without the filter, It's not because of the dishwasher itself. They may have very hard water, water that is too cool, low water pressure, or using an ineffective dishwashing detergent or blocked washarm. Or any of the combination above.
In the eight years or so my parents had the Filterless GE potscrubber, I proably put in a couple of tons of mashed potatos over the years.
(Especially every year at Thanksgiving. That's what made my Aunt decide to get a dishwasher so late in life, after having Thankstgiving at our house and being amazed at how our GE could clean my mom's good china and all the pots and pans. It took her several years to finally talk my Uncle into buying her one though.) [this post was last edited: 9/3/2012-15:37]
rinso
Well-known member
Still disagree. Check old Consumer Reports tests of these machines, their experiences mirror mine. Over time,I have owned four of these machines which were often included in new houses I purchased. (they also lasted forever, and seldom needed repair) My first GE Potscrubber with the passive filter did a great job and was a big improvement over the non-filter models. (PS: I think I should win this disagreement anyway, cuz I'm probably the oldest one on AW and I'm very sensitive. ;O)<--and yes, my nose really IS this big!
tecnopolis
Well-known member
...just like the one in this thread.
www.automaticwasher.org
GE 2 Speed..........with MiniWash........
Before I start this post, I want to take a moment to THANK all of you who sent emails in regards to my mothers recent passing.........Also a SPECIAL THANKS to those of you who sent cards and notes......they were a great comfort during a most difficult time......THANK YOU and now on with my new...
www.automaticwasher.org
HeHe. You're not that much older than me EuGene, but you probably are wiser. I bet my nose could give your nose a run for the money, though.
Seriously, we never had any grit or film on our dishes from the '73 Potscrubber. Yeah, once in a while there might be a little flake of something that we'd find on a dish, like every dishwasher I ever had. But is was rare.
But I wasn't exaggerating too much about the mashed potatoes, because my mom made them a alot. We had a big family gathering almost everything Thanksgiving so the the little Potscrubber had its work cut out for it. I kind of liked to show it off too, being an arrogant little teenager, and put a lot of gunked up dishes in there. When I got done loading it, I would push the door in, and there would be mashed potatoes, green bean remnants and gravy puddles laying on the door that had fallen off the dishes. My mom would just turn her head because it made her sick.
I would call them into the kitchen to look before I shut the door and started it. None of them had a dishwasher and most of them lived by wives tales and thought all dishwashers were a waste of time because you had to rinse evey speck off foood off dishes.
So needless to say, they were duly impressed, and that is why my one aunt got "converted" and worked on my uncle for several ypears until he finally broke down and got her that Potscrubber 900. My other uncle and aunt still didn't get a dishwasher, not because they weren't impressed, but my uncle insisted they wasted water.
My hobby wasn't performance testing dishwashers, back then, like it is now. So the only non-filtered GE models I had experienced, on a regular basis was our family's and my Aunt and Uncle's. Now our water was soft, and my dad had it hot, so maybe that made a difference.
So I really don't look at it as whose right or whose wrong. We just happend to have a Potscrubber, and fortunate enough, I guess, to have the appropriate conditions for it to do a sterling job.
My mom was very, very meticuluous and cleanliness, and that is the reason we got rid of the Modern Maid, because it frequently left grit on things. If our GE had done anything less than near perfection, my mom would have heaved it out the door as well.
The reason they got rid of it in the early eighties was the racks had a lot of tines that had broken off and there was and there was some small rust that had started under that Plastisol liner (I hear that was a common problem.) But it was still washing fine at the time is was removed.
Seriously, we never had any grit or film on our dishes from the '73 Potscrubber. Yeah, once in a while there might be a little flake of something that we'd find on a dish, like every dishwasher I ever had. But is was rare.
But I wasn't exaggerating too much about the mashed potatoes, because my mom made them a alot. We had a big family gathering almost everything Thanksgiving so the the little Potscrubber had its work cut out for it. I kind of liked to show it off too, being an arrogant little teenager, and put a lot of gunked up dishes in there. When I got done loading it, I would push the door in, and there would be mashed potatoes, green bean remnants and gravy puddles laying on the door that had fallen off the dishes. My mom would just turn her head because it made her sick.
I would call them into the kitchen to look before I shut the door and started it. None of them had a dishwasher and most of them lived by wives tales and thought all dishwashers were a waste of time because you had to rinse evey speck off foood off dishes.
So needless to say, they were duly impressed, and that is why my one aunt got "converted" and worked on my uncle for several ypears until he finally broke down and got her that Potscrubber 900. My other uncle and aunt still didn't get a dishwasher, not because they weren't impressed, but my uncle insisted they wasted water.
My hobby wasn't performance testing dishwashers, back then, like it is now. So the only non-filtered GE models I had experienced, on a regular basis was our family's and my Aunt and Uncle's. Now our water was soft, and my dad had it hot, so maybe that made a difference.
So I really don't look at it as whose right or whose wrong. We just happend to have a Potscrubber, and fortunate enough, I guess, to have the appropriate conditions for it to do a sterling job.
My mom was very, very meticuluous and cleanliness, and that is the reason we got rid of the Modern Maid, because it frequently left grit on things. If our GE had done anything less than near perfection, my mom would have heaved it out the door as well.
The reason they got rid of it in the early eighties was the racks had a lot of tines that had broken off and there was and there was some small rust that had started under that Plastisol liner (I hear that was a common problem.) But it was still washing fine at the time is was removed.
danemodsandy
Well-known member
Wasting Water
That was one of the biggest canards about dishwashers back in the day - that they somehow used dozens or hundreds of gallons of hot water to deliver their results.
The average usage was actually twelve to fourteen gallons, which is far less than most people will run down the sink drain hand-rinsing the same number of dishes a dishwasher can hold.
I think this got started because many midcentury miracles did waste resources - frost-free fridges used more electricity, air-conditioned cars used more gas, etc. But dishwashers were pretty blameless, and delivered more sanitary dishes than many a housework-hating housewife was willing to deliver into the bargain.
It angers me that dishwashers have been such a target of environmentalists. They saved water instead of wasting it. That wasn't good enough - now they have to "wash" dishes in an inadequate amount of water to do the job. Never mind that improperly washed dishes can make people sick or spread an illness throughout a family.
That was one of the biggest canards about dishwashers back in the day - that they somehow used dozens or hundreds of gallons of hot water to deliver their results.
The average usage was actually twelve to fourteen gallons, which is far less than most people will run down the sink drain hand-rinsing the same number of dishes a dishwasher can hold.
I think this got started because many midcentury miracles did waste resources - frost-free fridges used more electricity, air-conditioned cars used more gas, etc. But dishwashers were pretty blameless, and delivered more sanitary dishes than many a housework-hating housewife was willing to deliver into the bargain.
It angers me that dishwashers have been such a target of environmentalists. They saved water instead of wasting it. That wasn't good enough - now they have to "wash" dishes in an inadequate amount of water to do the job. Never mind that improperly washed dishes can make people sick or spread an illness throughout a family.
Agree!
Whats more, if you look on YouTube, people are posting "Stop Using your Dishwasher, use it as a Drainage rack" and people ACTUALLY listen to this crap!
Apparently, the home user can wash dishes in just 2-3 gallons of water (each time) - yeah, like that saves energy "I only use 3 gallons of water washing my dishes, the dishwasher uses at least 9 to do the same job." HINT HINT: Washing 3 times (or more daily) will use the same, if not more than the dishwasher! Ever heard of the China/Crystal-Energy Saver Wash (or Light Wash)?
Whats more, if you look on YouTube, people are posting "Stop Using your Dishwasher, use it as a Drainage rack" and people ACTUALLY listen to this crap!
Apparently, the home user can wash dishes in just 2-3 gallons of water (each time) - yeah, like that saves energy "I only use 3 gallons of water washing my dishes, the dishwasher uses at least 9 to do the same job." HINT HINT: Washing 3 times (or more daily) will use the same, if not more than the dishwasher! Ever heard of the China/Crystal-Energy Saver Wash (or Light Wash)?
rinso
Well-known member
Sandy, very well put. Even dishwashers that guzzelled water by comparison to today's machines and BOL machines of the day, still ended up being far more efficient than doing dishes by hand and did a much better job of cleaning as well. However, I often wonder what the real gain is with Energy Star models that have to run for hours with their tablespoons of water, to get dishes clean.
