KUDD23 saves the day

[johnb300m]

A week ago, my trusty Tahoe Maytag dw (with the accumulator) was mercilessly killed by some power outages. Fried the interface control board.
No replacements were available for at least 3 weeks, thanks to COVID supply chain issues.
So I hit up LetGo, and found this KUDD23 in quite good condition for $50.
The mechanical controls were appealing after my mishap, it was a super quality dw for the price.
AND it sure beats hand washing with this spiffy historic toy.

Some takeaways.
- It really reminds me of the 23 series my aunts had when I was a kid.
- it’s my first PowerClean based dw!
- mostly classic KichenAid, really solid build quality.
- compared to all my mondern dws, LOUUUD, just like I remember as a kid lol.
- it’s quite an adjustment back to a standard tub. No more accommodating tall things.
No idea how my plates would fit if this model had the China guard.
- essentially 5 cycle combos with Pots/Pans, Normal, Rinse Hold, and with wash water heating on or off.
- seems to do a really great job washing, even with a Platinum pod.
- only a few very fine yibbles left on top of things here n there due to no top spray.
- dries very well! Even with just energy saver dry. Never even used heat dry yet.
- I added a couple modern touches.
- wine glasses no longer fit. Not sure I trust them with all that power anyway.

I plan on keeping it till the big kitchen remodel in a year or so.
I am as I got some sound damping pads to quiet it a bit.

 

[appnut]

John, congratulations on finding a good used quality machine in good shape. Looks very nice.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

Congrats on the purchase!

It looks like some of the tines on the racks fold down. That was my favorite thing when I was a kid. My mother would scream, "That won't fit in the dishwasher! It's too big! You'll have to do it by hand!" And of course the foldable tines allowed the 'too big' item to fit just fine.

No matter how many times I showed her she never made the connection between adjusting the tines, moving the silverware rack, etc. and being able to fit in supposedly oversized items.

 

[askolover]

I could fit larger items in my MT DWC7602 better than in my KUDI23.  But wash results were very similar most of the time. 

 

[cam2s]

Fantastic find. Looks to be in great condition. It’s always fun to go back to the roar and splashy drama of a vintage dishwasher. Surprisingly I haven’t missed the extra space in my Bosch tall tub compared to the Super Racks in my Potscrubber III. The lower rack has take some getting used to but there seems to be plenty of room for tall items in the both racks. Do you plan of keeping this long term or is it just a placeholder?

Cameron

 

[dustin92]

Looks very similar to the kdc-21 (I think) that the guy I take care of has- It will clean just about anything. I believe the drying cycle still uses a fan (I know 21 and 22 series do) and the energy saving options turn off the heating element for that portion of the cycle. Definitely not a quiet machine by today's standards but should do the job for many years to come.

 

[johnb300m]

Hi all!
Thanks for the accolades.
The D23 is chugging along.
To answer a couple questions...

No, it does not have any folding tines. I think it’s near BOL.

The initial idea was to keep it till the MT was fixed or a kitchen remodel.
Whichever comes first.
But it’s so well running that I think I’ll keep it anyway, stored, as a good backup.
Since these modern machines are so prone to blowouts.

It currently has sound of 64db when running empty, at 5ft.
I have some foam to add to the access panel. And some adhesive sound deadening material to apply to the tub and door. I’m real curious to see how much I can take the roar.

 

[johnb300m]

PB TEST

I ran the fabled peanut butter glass test in the KUDD23 yesterday.
Results were mixed.
Parameters:
Normal wash. Water heating on.
Cascade platinum pod in main wash cup.

I have to say, I expected more.
This KUD cleans quite well for such short cycles on everything else. I guess the upper corners are lacking in that power a bit.

Results came in somewhere in the middle between my abysmal old 2015 GE and the 2017 KA304 I had in the past, that left only a single pb blob.
I wasn’t really expecting perfection. Considering I did all these tests on Normal.
I could perhaps try this test again on Pots$Pans.

 

[appnut]

I'd be curious if you used "Soak & Scrub/Pots & Pans" with water heating on. And see if it's near perfect.

Of course, if memory serves me correctly, that's supposed to be a 3-degergent series of washes.

 

[johnb300m]

23 series BobLoad(r) entry, & update

Hey all.
I had a pretty grimy and packed dish load recently and it was too good to not document.
Dirty then clean pics shown.
Things were not too impossible, there were no baked or burned on soils in this load. Just very dirty n goopy. Also with some flour and egg mess from breaded chicken.
Ran it on Pots/Pans with a Grove soap pac in the main cup (they do a good job not sudsing up) and Walmart powder in the prewash.
After inspecting, everything was spotless.
Only the knife had a yibble on it because it got trapped in the basket.
I’m continually impressed by how well things on the top rack with concave areas get clean, even without a top level sprayer. Only 1/10 washes will I find a stray rice or tiny lettuce piece up there.

One of the upgrades I did, was get a nice stainless upper arm to replace the certainly plebeian plastic arm the KUDD came with. It looks so much sexier. And in fact seems to have bought me an extra 1/4in of height in the lower rack.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

KUDD23

Nice!

 

[cam2s]

It’s a shame whirlpool cheapen these out, expect on the Superba models. Did the new wash arm have any benefits in performance, besides the extra clearance?

 

[johnb300m]

Hi Cam,
Sorry for the late reply, it's been an action-packed few weeks.

Regarding the added performance? No....nothing noticeable as far as cleaning ability with the new SS arm. Just the clearance.
However, I did notice in a few GoPro cam clips I took, that because the SS arm is .... well, steel, the jets are more defined in their pattern than the molded plastic arm jets were.

 

[johnb300m]

SureTemp Water Heating

In another recent cycle I ran, I threw in my Weber iGrill probe into the wash to track the temp heating.
The manual claimed that Energy Saver Wash OFF, would heat the water to "an appropriate" temp during the main wash. I wanted to know what "appropriate" was.

I ran a LIGHT wash, heated wash, and a heated dry cycle.
Sequence? MAIN WASH - PURGE - FINAL RINSE - HEATED BLOWDRY

In the attached chart, I called out some various segments.

The main wash only got up to about 134F before it ended the segment.
I question wether they meant for it to reach about 140F, but with variability in old thermistors, it's possible it's working just fine. Even modern thermistors can have a tolerance of +- a couple degrees.

The interesting observation was the hot water coming in on the first fill, then the temp plunging well below 110F due to the cold tub and dishes.
I WONDER if this first fill temp dip is what some modern machines use as part of the "load size" sensing....
Although, with new machines' fill capacity well below the 2.25gal of the KUD23 series, IDK how well it would work with their shallow fills, and if not-hot-enough water fills them, reducing the "chill" effect upon first start.

 

[cam2s]

Does that option actually extend or pause the wash until it hits the desired temperature, or does it just heat to whatever temperature it gets to. I know this is a Whirlpool influenced unit but I thought that these still used mostly KitchenAid cycle logic with the static water heating on the models that actually had thermostatically held periods.

I had a Point Voyager based KitchenAid ,and on the Express cycle it would use the temperature of the first till to determine if there would be a prewash or not. I suppose the logic was that it would be faster to drain and refill the water than to use the heater to heat the water to the desired temperature.