Just when you thought you’ve seen it all on marketplace

[combo52]

Domestic dishwasher and washing machine inlet valves

Hi John, I don’t know where you got that picture number one I have never seen an inlet valve that looks anything like that on any domestic washer or dishwasher valve in the past 50 years.

Here is a picture of a three year-old KitchenAid dishwasher inlet valve, which is typical And is virtually identical to every other major brand, this valve is broken open because it froze this winter during a cold snap so you can see the diaphragm inside, you can also see the Robert Shaw name on the valve.

This valve came from one of our customers and we are in a hard water area. Typically, we see nothing in the screens , screens will not filter out minerals. Otherwise you could’ve just have a filter to filter out hard water. It just doesn’t work that way that’s why you use chemical water softeners to remove minerals.

 

[johnb300m]

Hmmm.
I’m going to do something John, that certain people here don’t do.
“I stand corrected!”

Very interesting to find that these appliance valves are indeed mini versions of pilot valves.
Right from the RobertShaw catalog.

 

[combo52]

Reply number 20, John I appreciate your integrity as people who know me on this site. They know I’m also quick to admit when I make a mistake it has happened to be sure.

I also learn things on this site nearly every day, even though I’ve been repairing appliances for over 50 years I don’t know at all by any means and I find out clever things and new solutions to problems on this site.

I just wish more of the repair people And serious collectors and people who are seriously interested in appliances would come back on the site, but they’ve been driven off by the children here, there’s been discussions about how to moderate this site. It’s going to happen.

John L

 

[qsd-dan]

"This problem is never caused by mineral buildup"

I replaced valves on washers and dishwashers where the screens were plugged up badly. The Maytag 906 washer I scored for free couldn't pass one drop of water through either valve as both screens were plugged solid. I ripped the screens out with pliers, hooked the lines back up, and both valves worked normally. Of course, I replaced the water valve with a genuine Maytag unit during the restoration process.

 

[agiflow]

John when is the next time you will do a Whirlpool/Kenmore teardown ? Would like to come and see that. I want to be able to keep my 74 KMR 70 series going for a long time

 

[maytaga806]

I would have thought with how much time Jerome spends here that he would know this by now. Exactly Bob, what other brand has a white plastic tub with a silverware basket on the door? This is an early 2000s point voyager. Notice how it’s a tall tub. Powercleans were not tall tubs. You can always tell by how the detergent dispensers are on the very side of the door stacked one above the other unless it’s a Kenmore elite or KA with a stainless interior which are very rare now.

We did have a point voyager with a restricted inlet valve had to replace it, and when we got it used the pump was totally plugged. It had a ziploc bag stuck in the feed tube. How on earth someone let a bag get in the dishwasher is beyond me. The entire stainless interior was coated in a white cloudy film from their terrible hard water. Those food chopper assemblies are a pain in the rear to reassemble. Indeed very sensitive to clogging. I don’t think I’d ever want to own one again because of that and also the immense control board failures all of those voyagers had even though I really loved the machine and it was comparable in some respects to the Powerclean and always reminded me of being the tall tub version of one minus the capability of being able to chop and fully dispose of food bits.

 

[Marky_Mark]

Although Point Voyager dishwashers were introduced around 2001, the sump inlet cover/screen in the photo above would suggest that this is one of the last versions of the Point Voyager (Tahoe).  I imagine it might be around 10 years old.

 

[maytaga806]

Oh yes that’s a way to tell the age of one other than the control panel. That sump/drain cover was updated as this one has in this photo. So yeah probably a 2012-2014.

Here’s the second pic of it. Like brand new still.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

whirlpool

I had a point voyager that would bake crud in the glasses. My mom hated it and wished it broke down.

 

[johnb300m]

There was a brief moment of time where cleaning in the upper rack of Point Voyagers was weak.
This seemed to correlate with the time when detergent manufacturers were eliminating phosphates as reformulating their detergents.
I think PV dishwashers might’ve been harder hit in this time frame.
Once the detergents were ironed out the PV dishwashers seemed to wash fine again.
Maybe there was also a software change at the time? Who knows.
The several PV machines I’ve encountered, worked perfectly fine.

 

[Chetlaham]

@maytaga806: Thanks for the pics. Did you get my email that I sent you yesterday in regards to the Point Voyager?    

 

[DADoES]

 
<blockquote>GELaundry4Ever:  I had a point voyager that would bake crud in the glasses.  My mom hated it and wished it broke down.</blockquote> You selected this dishwasher of question and paid for it?  You didn't replace it when it proved to be unsatisfactory?  Why not?

 

[combo52]

Early whirlpool built, tall tub dishwashers

Or PV for short, as many of you know, I had one of the first KitchenAid tall tub dishwashers. It was a little bit disappointing, especially in the corners of the upper rack, it was still far better than any dishwasher I’d ever use that had a pop-up tower in the middle of the lower rack that didn’t even begin to clean in the corners.

Whirlpool made several slight design improvements, which made them work better as other experts on the site have noted.

The only main thing I would’ve changed on the point Voyager machine. It should’ve had a removable trap that was easier to get to catch large and hard objects That protected the grinder.
It did have an effective trap, but you had to remove screws and do some disassembly to get to it. It tended to get blocked with in organic objects. It’s a plastic large fruit pits, broken glass, etc. to protect the grinder.

I have NEVER seen a clogged grinder on a point Voyager machine it absolutely does not happen. I’m tired of people saying you have to take the machine all apart and clean the grinder screen. Yes this happens but it’s only when the grinder mechanism is broken. Otherwise, it is never necessary in the life of the machine.

There are videos all over the Internet of idiots saying you have to take this machine apart, showing pictures of clogged grinder screens, and they’re not addressing the real problem. The grinder or the drive teeth are damaged. It is never necessary to clean the grinder, I have never had to do a service call on a dishwasher to clean the grinder screen. If it’s clogged, there’s something that needs to be replaced.

John

 

[panasonicvac]

I think my KitchenAid is one of the PV models. I'm sure I've said this many times already but it's been my most favorite and best dishwasher I've ever used. I love it so much that I'd fix it up for as long as I possibly can.

 

[maytaga806]

Chet, can you resend it please?

I just got done deleting thousands of emails!! So I probably accidentally deleted it.

 

[maytaga806]

About the point voyager chopper, Our chopper was working the entire duration we owned it but when we got it used I think the chopper wasn’t working because it looked like it wasn’t fully attached anymore when I opened it up to unclog the sump so yeah. The metal screen behind it was very plugged with all kinds of little food garbage so that’s exactly why, the chopper came off somehow rather the previous owner tried to fix it and gave up or something. After I put it back together I could hear it working and after that it never got clogged again. I loved that machine a lot. Never pulled out a dirty dish from the top rack ours worked excellent and I believe it was one of the latest revisions whirlpool did for that series.

Look at this though, I have never seen a point voyager with a SLIDING DISPENSER? I thought whirlpool started making these in like 2018? It couldn’t have been replaced with this as the opening for the dispenser would have been too long to fit this in for the normal rectangular dispensers these Maytags always had. And also I’ve never seen a black top control panel on one of these Maytag top controls they were always silver if the exterior was stainless.

 

[maytaga806]

So it must of been maybe like an early 2015 around the time whirlpool redesigned the Maytag dishwashers one of the last final Maytag point voyagers. Very nice dishwasher, gorgeous.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

to dadoes

The point voyager my mom had came with her house and she hated it.

 

[maytaga806]

That doesn’t answer the question Jerome.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

question

My answer is NO. I didn't buy the dishwasher. It was already there when my mom moved in 2007.