We have an older (mid/late 80s?) Kenmore dishwasher in our house - it was here when we moved in. The dial has A B and "Miniwash" settings. We've always used the A setting as it is first. But I've been wondering, what does the B setting do? A shorter wash? It's running in B now and seems to be behaving the same as usual.
Kenmore Dishwasher Dial Settings
- Thread starter JohnTIZ
- Start date
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B is probably Normal. A is for Pots & Pans. Are you able to post a picture of the control panel? Are there push buttons for various cycles or is there just heated dry & air dry?
pierreandreply4
Well-known member
sometime b also means econo cycle i remember since near the end of the 80 in my old home the kitchen was redone and the dishwasher replace by an 80 90 inglis whirlpool dishwasher and the cycle dial had a for normal high temp wash and pots and pans b stand for Econo cycle and c stand for rinse and hold cycle and a picture would help as well
OK that makes sense, going by the photo of the panel. Then in order to go "econo" mode I have to select it both where the silver buttons are as well as the correct dial position. Oddly enough last night when I ran the dial in B mode I did not have that silver button selected so I'm not sure what cycle it was in but the dishes came out clean. I'm sure this old machine is an energy hog but I hate replacing something that still works with something that will break every 2-3 years.
cycla-fabric
Well-known member
Looking at that control panel, it looks like the machine was made by Whirlpool Corp. The vent above the cycle selections is a dead giveaway for their machines that they made in the 70's & 80's.
Doug
Doug
mrb627
Well-known member
Timer Knob
And you used to have to set the cycle then push the timer knob in to start the machine. At the end of the drying cycle, the knob would pop back out.
Fun.
Malcolm
And you used to have to set the cycle then push the timer knob in to start the machine. At the end of the drying cycle, the knob would pop back out.
Fun.
Malcolm
pierreandreply4
Well-known member
not on the 80 inglis whirlpool dishwasher i had in order to start the cycle i had to pull the knob in order for the cycle to start in a way thats strange but not anymore since the one i have now is electronique
mrb627
Well-known member
Hmmm...
You may be correct. My memory is fuzzy. I never had one of these dishwashers so I don't have direct experience with it. I knew that you had to do something funky to get it to start, though.
Malcolm
You may be correct. My memory is fuzzy. I never had one of these dishwashers so I don't have direct experience with it. I knew that you had to do something funky to get it to start, though.
Malcolm
Kenmore!
This is a real nice dishwasher - definatly a whirlpool - would love to see interior!
This is a real nice dishwasher - definatly a whirlpool - would love to see interior!
OK, here we go. If yo have B button pushed in and turn the dial to B position, you will get a prewash, main wash, and two rinses. That would be referred to as Normal Wassh cycle. Button B pushed in and the timer dial moved mini-wash, you will get the main wash and two rinses. That would be referred to as light soil or low energy cycle. Now, with the two buttons over A The left button is for Pots and Pans. If this machine follows teh standard whirlpool cycle sequence, A with Pots and Pans button selected, you will get a PreWash that will heat the water to a certain temperature, then a rinse, then the main wash and will be eated to a set temperature; after the main wash will be the two rinses. The 2nd of those two rinses will also heat the4 water to a set temperature. While the machine is heating the water on the Pots and Pans cycle, it will continue to circulate the water and wash the load and the timer will be paused until the temperature is set. The left of the two buttons over is for Heavy soil. It's the sequence of the Pots & Pans cycle, but no cycle delay for heating wateer. So its Prewash, ri8nse, main wash, and two rinses. There is another little cycle between the two words "off" on the dials. Taht is a rinse & hold cycle to prewash a partial load dirty dishes and hold them until you are ready to run a full load through a complete usual cycle. If the machine is functioning properly, this is probably the best cleaning dishwasher ever made, particularly with the Pots & Pans cycle. The joke is that it would take the chrome off a trailer hitch or the chrome off a truck bumper. Would llvoe to see a picture of the interior.
I've got a Whirlpool of similar vintage, with the A, B, and C, marks on the control. I've got to pull the timer apart and see if I can fix it, but talk about taking the chrome off a bumper... I have the unit in the basement to clean stuff i don't want with my dishes, waste baskets, floor scrubber tanks and such.
Before the holidays I pull apart all my exterior lights and wash them in the machine. all my exterior house lights and lampposts have white glass chimneys in them. These I usually do in my main dishwasher but this year I put them in the basement machine and hard to believe but the machine took off quite a bit of the white coating on the chimneys in some areas. Luckily I could position these to the back and in areas where they would not be noticed, but man what a scrubbing this machine does.
Before the holidays I pull apart all my exterior lights and wash them in the machine. all my exterior house lights and lampposts have white glass chimneys in them. These I usually do in my main dishwasher but this year I put them in the basement machine and hard to believe but the machine took off quite a bit of the white coating on the chimneys in some areas. Luckily I could position these to the back and in areas where they would not be noticed, but man what a scrubbing this machine does.
Looks similar to
...the control scheme of a circa-1978 Whirlpool with its A=Super Scour, B=Super Wash, C=Short Cycle configuration.
...the control scheme of a circa-1978 Whirlpool with its A=Super Scour, B=Super Wash, C=Short Cycle configuration.
Many thanks to everyone especially appnut for the info on this machine. I printed that off to keep by the machine. Yes it does produce a spotless load on A + Pots & Pans. And seems to take hours to complete. Only complaint is some items in the utensil rack sometimes don't get cleaned.
Oddly enough we thought it broke a few years ago when water started squirting out the bottom. So we turned the water off to it and went back to handwashing. A Sears tech. told us it wasn't worth fixing. An independent tech. who was out to fix our washing machine last year looked at it and said it was probably just the hose came unconnected. Sure enough he was right. There was nothing wrong with machine all along. Felt silly for the moment but happy to get it going again.
Again many thanks for the advice/info, everyone!
Oddly enough we thought it broke a few years ago when water started squirting out the bottom. So we turned the water off to it and went back to handwashing. A Sears tech. told us it wasn't worth fixing. An independent tech. who was out to fix our washing machine last year looked at it and said it was probably just the hose came unconnected. Sure enough he was right. There was nothing wrong with machine all along. Felt silly for the moment but happy to get it going again.
Again many thanks for the advice/info, everyone!
And seems to take hours to complete. Only complaint is some
A +Pots & Pans, remember it's delaying progeress through the cycles so it heats the wateer in the prewash (1st fill), main wash, and final rinse. Those heating delays can take 20 to 30 minutes each depending upon your water heater temp and water cooling down in the supply pipes. As for the utelsils not getting clean, try nort to put pots and pans and big items such as that at the front of the lower rack cuz that will block the water getting to the basket on the door. Put your large dinner pots and similar items in the front. (Although, it just occurred to me your utensil basket may be in the bottom rack and not mounted on the door--which is the case for the Whirlpool produced Kenmores in the U.S.) Just make sure your mixing items in the baskets and not letting them all nest tog4ether with identical items only in the same compartment.
And you are very welcome. Glad I could contribute to the problem solving.
[this post was last edited: 2/11/2011-21:56]
A +Pots & Pans, remember it's delaying progeress through the cycles so it heats the wateer in the prewash (1st fill), main wash, and final rinse. Those heating delays can take 20 to 30 minutes each depending upon your water heater temp and water cooling down in the supply pipes. As for the utelsils not getting clean, try nort to put pots and pans and big items such as that at the front of the lower rack cuz that will block the water getting to the basket on the door. Put your large dinner pots and similar items in the front. (Although, it just occurred to me your utensil basket may be in the bottom rack and not mounted on the door--which is the case for the Whirlpool produced Kenmores in the U.S.) Just make sure your mixing items in the baskets and not letting them all nest tog4ether with identical items only in the same compartment.
And you are very welcome. Glad I could contribute to the problem solving.
[this post was last edited: 2/11/2011-21:56]
