KDI-15 Cycle Issue

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kenkuhl

kenkuhl

Member
Joined
May 30, 2015
Messages
10
Location
Granby, CT
I purchased a Coppertone KDI-15 from a family that had an old cottage in the Litchfield Hills of Western Connecticut.
The unit has worked nicely for 2 years. Recently the pump stops on the final rinse cycle and does not empty completely. If I manually spin the dial, it will start again at the last rinse and usually empties. Sometimes I need to do this twice.
I had an appliance repair lady suggest it might be the timer.
Thoughts anybody?
Ken

kenkuhl-2017061617270404249_1.jpg

kenkuhl-2017061617270404249_2.jpg
 
i don't know..

....but that's the exact same machine my grandparents had in their house till the day they moved when I was a teenager.
It was LOUD! Like the tour at Niagara Falls.
It washed 'ok' .... being a one arm wonder.
But dang, it lasted forever and only needed two repairs.
One was a new motor before I was born, lol.
And the other was a new door seal that I helped put in, sometime in the late 90s.
Because water was literally pouring out the TOP of the machine. Haha.
 
Timer issue very possible.

Does the pump stop completely and the timer not advance to the dry portion? If it advances to dry then the timer sounds like it is working correctly and you may have a problem in your drain line where it may be kinked or clogged so check that.
Or....
The original drain impellers were made of rubber and would eventually wear down to the point of not draining the water out completely. You can check this if you open the door right after a drain segment in another part of the cycle. If there is water in the tub, then you have found the problem. The newer styles were made of a more durable, harder material and lasted many years.
The Hobart Part number is 00-117011 and is $40.67 list There are well over 200 of them in stock in the Parts Distribution Center in Piqua, Ohio. You can purchase one at any local Hobart Branch or from the Hobart E-store. The link is below.

If you decide to do the repair yourself, you may want to purchase the 15 series service manual from the Ephemera site so you will see how the pump comes apart and get proper shimming dimensions for the shaft seal/drain impeller and the wash impeller.

 
The Filter?

When was the last time someone took the filter out and cleaned it. Had similar problem thirty years ago with a varicycle.
You need to lift out the spray arm, then use a LONG phillips screwdriver to remove three screws at the bottom of the inside of the filter.
A Magnetized screwdriver is helpful getting them back in.
Clean filter with steel wool, rinse well and re-install.
solved that problem for me.

Oh, and a truly wonderful machine!!!!!!!!!
Keith
 
Draining issues on a KDI-15 dishwasher

In addition to Steve's good advice watch the machine go through a cycle completely and each time the machine drains all the water should stop draining from the hose before the drain valve closes and the machine starts to fill for the next wash or rinse

 

If the machine is not draining fast enough you could have a blockage in the drain line the drain valve or quite likely damaged or broken drain impeller.

 

These early KitchenAid 15's actually had a hard Bakelite plastic impeller and it was easy for parts of the fins to get broken off and the machine would lose the ability to pump any longer.

 

The rubber drain impeller was actually the improved replacement design it was used on the16 and 17 machines also the rubber impeller can also become damaged or worn as Steve mentioned they never changed the drain impeller of the rubber design they were all the same.

 

It is very unlikely the timer is the cause of this problem unless in the final drain the machine is just stopping abruptly while draining in less than one minute.

 

There are no screws to remove the filter for cleaning, it just lifts out after you remove the wash arm. There are FOUR screws that hold the wash arm support in place but removing this will not revel any conditions that will keep the machine from draining, but it is the first step in taking the pumps apart to check the condition of the drain impeller.

 

John L.

 
For John L

Glad you liked my advice. What you said about listening as the machine went through the cycle is just how I foundthe problem with my Vary-Cycle.
One thing though. Unlike later models of KA dishwashers where you could lift off the spray arm and then lift our the filter, the earlier ones like the vari cycle weren't like that.
You had to lift off the spray are and then unscrew the filter from the inside.
The screen then came right out. And unlike later models, there was a plastice (for lack of better word) that fit over where the impeller was.
Still, it was an easy fix for a dw that I adored.
 
Well..

The house was built in '62 and I had never seen one like it before either.
The only difference I see between what I had and what is pictured above is that mine had four cycles
1)Utility/utensil
2)Sani-Wash
3)Normal wash
4)Rinse Hold
I see alot of you question what I am saying, but swear to God It had the screws.
I had to go to a neighbors to get a screwdriver that was magnitized so I could get them back in.
 
I think I know the answer to the mystery

Hi Keith, First of all the KA DW would have to have been newer than 1962 to have a sani-cycle, you probably had a KDS-15 which came out in late 1964, this was the first ever KA DW to have a heater and also the first to have a Sani-Cycle.

 

On this DW if you just lifted off the wash arm you could have used a long Phillips screwdriver and removed the four screws and lifted the complete wash-arm-support off with the fine mesh filter, sometimes the wash filter would seem to stick to the WAS but it was designed to easily lift off without removing the WAS or any screws.

 

All KA DWs from the KD-11 through the KD-22s used four screws to hold the WAS in place.

 

Hi Eddy, if the picture you used of the KD-15 DW is your DW, you have the coarse strainer in up-side-down.

 

John L.
 

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