KDS 17-A

a440 · May 22, 2011

I found a beautiful hardly used Kitchenaid KDS-17A Convertible. (KDS-57A)

The Gentleman that I bought if from bought it new for his mother during the 70's. She did not use it much because when it was loaded with dishes she could not push it to the sink. 

I have a question....

It will cycle through every cycle without any issues. It won't however do the sani heat pause rinse. It does pause and you hear the hissing of the heating element then go into the final rinse. It just won't go to "Sani". It is as though you are just doing a normal wash. One thing that I noticed is that I don't think the "Bladder Overflow Switch" (or whatever it is called) is not working correct. Would this not give the timer the notion to NOT go into the heating cycle? Like a safety switch that thinks there is no water in the tub?


It has been ages since I used a "single-arm" Kitchenaid. I forgot how much force that one arm had! 

I will take pictures soon and put them in the thread.

Any advice I would be grateful for.

Brent

combo52 · May 22, 2011

KDS-17 SANIHEAT CYCLE

Hi Brent there is a thermostat that stops the timer from advancing till the water in the sump reaches 180 degrees. If the timer is only pausing briefly and the water is not 180 in the sump either the thermostat is bad or in some cases some one may have bypassed it. It should be easy to fix, let me know if you need a thermostat, It could also be a bad timer, the way to check would be to see if the sani-heat thermostat is closed when it is less than 180 degrees.

stevet · May 22, 2011

Things to check

Brent, John has hit it on the head with the thermostat being either bad or bypassed, but with such little apparant use, it should not have taken out the thermostat but who knows for sure until you check it. The sani heat stat is connected to the wires that say the number "86" on them. The High limit switch is marked with "87."

However, let's start with the basics and of course I have to ask if you are selecting the "SANI" cycle which will cause the machine to pause and heat the water to 180 degrees. If you don't select that specific cycle, it will pause a short while in all the other cycles escept rinse and hold and you would still hear the "sizzle" from the element in the sump and then it will finish the cycle.

The next thing is how much water is in the sump at the end of the last fill? It may not be as high as the wash fills or the previous rinse fills since the final rinse usually had a shorter fill time and therefore less water in the sump. It is conceivable that if your incoming water was already decently hot and there was too little water in the sump, the 1400 watts that the heating element puts out, could possibly heat the water really fast and then close the Sani stat and let the cycle resume. The water should be above the element and probably IIRC, covering at least the bottom of the tank though mot all the way up the filter screen to 1/2 inch below the wash arm hub. Maybe you just are not getting enough water out of the faucet as some have built in restrictors and you won't get enough water flow.

And to address your concern about the water level pressure switch.. Hobart never used it as a device to determine whether the heater should come on or not. It was simply used as an overfill protection device. The water inlet valve has a restrictor washer which limits the flow rate thru the valve to a specific amouth so that under the right conditions, the timed fill plus the fixed water flow would provide the dishwasher with just the right amount of water every time.As long as water is entering the machine, that would indicate that the switch was good. If you want to test it, pour in at least 1.5 gallons of water and then hit the rinse and hold cycle. If you hear water going in, it should stop in a shorter time than it would normally do and it will be really filled up inside the tank and it should stop filling. That will tell you that the pressure switch is good.

a440 · May 22, 2011

Interesting guys!

Thanks John and Steve for your knowledge input.

I can't find anywhere on this dishwasher a "thermostat" type of device like I would find on my "18" model. 

It does get enough water for the last "Sani" Rinse. 

As far as the "thermostat" am I looking in the wrong place? I can't find this part anywhere.

Thanks so much for your suggestions.

Brent

a440 · May 22, 2011

About the fill..

I have adjusted the screw to the lowest possible fill and it does not make a difference.

It still fills towards the judgement of the timer. 

I thought this was odd. I actually had to lesson the amount of fill from the sink so it does not overfill. I adjusted the screw on the "bladder fill switch" and nothing happens.

Brent

combo52 · May 23, 2011

KDS-57 CONVERTABLE KA DW

The thermostat is mounted on the outside of the sump, you may have to turn the DW on its side to find it. If the machine is over filling you need a new fill valve as Stevet pointed out the valve regulates the water flow. You could also time the fill periods and check them against the cycle chart inside the main door, in case the timer is running too slowly [ very unlikely ].

a440 · May 23, 2011

You guys are awesome!

John and Steve,

Thanks so much for your advice about the thermostat! It was the issue of it not going into the Sani Pause.

I have a second KDS-17 in storage and I took the thermostat off of it and put it on this one. Now it goes

into the Sani Pause and when Happy with the temp goes into the final Sani Rinse.

Can't thank you enough!

Brent

KDS 17-A

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