Looking for a Hobart-Kitchenaid Dishwasher

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I Stand Corrected!

You're right -- it's an 18 series so you have the upper and lower rack wash arms as well as the shower from the top.

 

Definitely don't dump any oil into it!

 

I'm pretty sure the bottom should be exposed just like with a built-in.
 
I hope at some point I can find a stainless steel insert for it.

I appreciate the replies! I just hope nothing happens to keep me from getting it LOL.

I dunno why I am so excited about this ... I've got my first 3 loads of dishes planned out to see how much easier it will be to load this compared to my Edgestar DWP60ES 6 place counter top dishwasher I have now...

That edgestar is a great little counter top unit and now the one they make that replaced my model has a heated dry option so it heats the water too.. I wanna redo one of my base cabinets and make a space to put the edgestar in above a drawer so that will be in my main kitchen space so when its just me I can do a few dishes right away and the KitchenAid will be in the pantry plumbed in so I can load my pots and pans etc up... The edgestar works great for glasses and flatware but not so much for my all-clad pans or mixing bowls.... My KitchenAid 7qt mixer bowl won't fit in it. The next thing I want to replace is my sink.. I'm gonna see if I can find a deep cast iron single or oversized basin sink next.
 
You May Need:

A faucet coupling to connect the hose assembly to your faucet.

This is a small metal piece that screws onto your faucet in place of the aerator that is almost certainly on the faucet now. The hoses' plastic coupling pushes on to the faucet coupling. Pushing downward on the ring of the hoses' coupling releases the hoses' coupling from the faucet coupling. The button on the hoses' coupling is so that you can draw hot water even if the dishwasher is connected to the faucet; press the button and hold your teakettle, etc. under the coupling.

Hardware stores carry the faucet coupling; unscrew your faucet's aerator and take it with you to help the salesperson match the right size and threading. These are not an exotic part; a reasonably well-stocked hardware or DIY store should have what you need.

Also, to answer one of your questions upthread, the bottom of the dishwasher is open; there is not a cover over the bottom. When you tip the dishwasher onto its side, you'll be looking at the area under the machine, where you will see the motor, etc.
 
Congrats!!!

My MIL had this exact machine, it's one of Hobart's best - hope you get it and that it lives up to you expectations Josh! Welcome to the club (from a happy 2 x 17 1 x 18 KA Series owner!) Roger in NY
 
Joshua

It looks like you found yourself a very nice Superba. Is there a Habitat (for Humanity) Restore in Dickinson or nearby city/town ? They are a great resource for
very reasonably priced recycled appliances and building materials.
 
Dickinson is a branch of the Bakken Artery lol Everyone has to have brand new and what not, but instead of donating their stuff, they just have it disposed of.. All the older appliance shop owners are shutting down because 1, they have oil wells and 2, because they don't want the business anymore.. All you can get now is brand new stuff.:/

.. Well 24 hours and 6 gas stops later, I got the machine, loaded and unloaded... I've updated the photo album that was linked above with new pics... ... It was worth the $25... not much more than that for right now...

The constant rinse arm is busted, if I am seeing that correctly... The middle rinse arm doesn't spin all the way around with out hanging up on the broken plastic that holds it and the top is a bit more gone than I thought, and its loose... The cutlery basket is broken in spots..

I was going to complain about the front wheels but I tightened those...

Ok, I live in a basement apartment.. SON OF A B is that machine heavy.. it took three of us to get it down my cement stairs...

I put waster in it and So far I haven't seen any drips.. I plugged it in after letting it set for a while and it went bonkers, but I pulled the handle all the buttons reset, I did a cancel drain, it went through each cycle for a few seconds had the dry light on for about 30 seconds then it shut off.. I dont have the right coupler.. im going to assume since mine is too small its gonna be the one used for garden hoses? I wanna hear water flowing through this before I go to bed...

Oh, the handle latch on the door is uncomfortably loose, the cord winder cord doesn't stay in place and the plastics on the back are broken and partly missing...

There was a random white clip laying on the bottom, i took a pic of it.. not sure what it goes to. The paint on the DW is a bit banged up... theres rust on the front and in one of the pics you see a random wire...

Also, if you look at the pump pics, there might be an issue.. :/ not sure what I am looking at.. I almost crushed my hand trying to get the pics so I said enough with that... I need a floor hoist to work on this thing...

Please excuse the mutterings .. I am completely exhausted... I drove a little over 1k miles in under 24 hours on 4 hours of sleep...
 
You'll Be Fine:

After you've gotten some rest, you can deal with one thing at a time, and you'll get the machine back in shape little by little.

The first thing, obviously, is a coupler. After that, you can assess each issue in turn, and we'll help.

Please do not throw in the towel because of parts that are broken or missing. Some parts are harder to find than others, but sooner or later, they all surface. Get familiar with using the Super Shopper forum to put out BOLOs on stuff you need.

One last thing: Things may look daunting at this point, but you have actually already done the hard part. Just finding a dream machine is very difficult sometimes, as you know.

Congratulations, and let us know if we can help.
 
Looks good!

A little TLC and you will be washing in no time. I wonder if the china guard can be mended with some sort of epoxy. I bought a Superba Monterey (21 series) last summer--made after Whirlpool aquired Hobart, but still very much like a Hobart built dishwasher. I have it in a utility room off the carport and it has come in so handy as a second DW. I used it last night after a marathon grilling session and am, as always, blown away with how well it cleans!

Good luck!
 
I've already found a constant rinse arm and I think I have an upper basket lined up.. I want to take the basket off but I wanna run the washer a few times and make sure moisture is put back in the plastic because I don't want it to break.. I'm off to ace hardware to see if I can find the coupler .
(since this didn't post before I left, Ace Hardware calls the coupler a Large Dishwasher Quick Connect. I got the last one on the hook if you can believe that!)

I won't throw in the towel... After I just simply wiped it down this morning, I was already pleased with my purchase.. I got rid of the smell of her garage.. Bleh!

I'm gonna buy a cheap sander and do some large grit sanding, then fine grit and redo the oil on the top. I just still honestly can't get over how heavy this thing is..... I'll post some pics when I get back from the hardware store.

Oh, I spent a whole whopping 7 dollars and bought anything related to kds-58 and 18 in the literature section. I've had a print service print them for me so I have paper.

(This is after I came back)

I noticed when I hooked the water up and ran a rinse only cycle, I heard a lot of thudding in the inside as the water started to pump.. I kept opening the dishwasher and I don't think my bottom arm is moving at all.. Do I need to oil anything?
 
Make sure that the dishwasher is filling up sufficiently. There was a thread with photos to show how high the water level should come up to on the pump screen, but I can't seem to find it right now. One thing that I had to do when I got my KDS-58 was remove the water-saving disc in the faucet quick connect that I bought... once I did that, then the water would fill to the right level.

One thing I noticed from your pictures is that you appear to be missing the course filter. It's a plastic filter that snaps into the pump base to prevent large items from getting down into the pump, such as a stray utensil.

 
The picture of the stray wire hanging down... is that hanging under center of the bottom of the front panel? If so, it could be a wire going to one of the detergent dispenser bi-metals. You can take the front panel off by removing four screws on the inside edge of the door. While you're in there, you should take a look at the condition of the back side of the detergent dispenser to see if it is leaking. I had to change a couple of O-rings in mine when I got it... very easy to do, and costs only pennies.

Here's a thread I started after I changed mine.

www.automaticwasher.org

More progress on my KDS-58C

With some great advice from this site, I've now been able to change the o-rings in my KDS-58C's detergent dispenser as it was dripping and had shown evidence of it doing so for a little while. Was able to drive out the pins with a punch and hammer after a little squirt of WD-40 on each, and...
www.automaticwasher.org www.automaticwasher.org
 
Ok, with me asking about oiling stuff... LOL.. when I would move the arms freely they had a lot of drag.. The bushings were dry... Even in water they were dry...

I remembered seeing a post somewhere about a wash with olive oil in the water... I now can't find it and don't recall what it was for.. I ran 3 cycles with some random stuff, a stainless tea kettle, a fryer basket, a plastic lid and some other random stuff that was sitting in my furnace room and were coated with dust in and out... Nothing was getting clean.. water wasn't reaching stuff.. this proved the arms weren't moving... I was thinking there has to be oil or something in these bushings.. That post came to mind yet again so I grabbed some cooking oil and dumped a third of a cup in the wash water, let it run and I sat next to it reading the service manual and all of a sudden i hear a woooooosh and a whirr and you could hear the alternating sound of water as the arms spun... Now everything slides in and out smooth, the trays don't drag and the arms spin freely...

On that note, I have to replace either the guard on the middle arm or the entire basket... Also, my flow-thru fan doesn't seem to work.. Theres no air movement at the bottom of the door above the service plate and I don't hear anything kick on... I'll take it apart and see if it just needs to be oiled..

I do want to take the pump motor out and go have it serviced just for good measure.. I am going to get rid of the cord winder and put a heavier duty cord on because that cord gets too warm for my personal comfort. And I'll probably put new hoses on the inlet and drain.
 
The bakelite hub

On the Hydrosweep lower arm could be worn out or broke.  The thudding you heard was likely the wash arm jumping up and hitting the lower rack. When this happens the majority of the water is deflected back into the wash tank never reaching the arms.   Also any water spraying from the lower arm cleans only part of the rack as it won't turn.  My mother's KDP 20 developed this issue.  A new lower wash arm should fix it, it did in her machine.

WK78 
 
As far as the middle arm goes, all I really need is a new support.. ... I took the rack out, and figured out that with the parts that are broken on it, it makes it bind up with the arm... I broke the other leg free and the middle arm spins freely... I don't need the whole rack just the support.. I've got the constant rinse arm on order but I'm gonna have him hold that until I find out whats wrong with the dryer.. I'm gonna take that off tonight if I can hoist up the machine and take the part with me to work tomorrow to test it... I should find a ceiling crane for this machine...

I am absolutely in love with this machine... The more I monkey with it the better it seems to work... It sounds like the one mom had when I was a kid.. I could lay down on that cement floor and fall asleep listening to it... It brings me such a calm to sit there and listen to it work.. I love hearing the timer advance :-)

Oh, the detergent doors all work, I haven't taken the panel off yet to see whats back there but they open on their own.. The RA dispenser works too.. I filled her up with some jet dry.

The one thing I truly am in love with on this machine is the cast iron tub.. They don't make them anymore and its a shame... The tub retains a lot of heat so as the cycle progresses it only gets hotter... The tub also gives the machine a nice warmth too..

This was totally worth the trip yesterday... I hope I get many many years out of this machine...

Oh, Check my photo library again, I put more pics in.

With my working at a vacuum store, I hear bearings starting to go all the time and have gotten used to the way motors should sound... This motor doesn't sound bad, but I think it needs a bearing service in the next year... Is this a serviceable motor?
 
Whirlykenmore, I think you are right.. I should replace the hydrosweep and the post it sits on... :/. Does that thing just sit in that hole or what does it do? What is the barbed part for?



You may want to turn the sound down... but... from watching other videos, I can't hear their timer as loud as mine... Is that normal ? LOL
 
Flo-Thru Drying unit

I suspect that the motor bushings on the drying unit haven't been cared for. This was often over-looked and the motor would seize. If memory serves, the bushings are surrounded by wicking that holds oil to keep the bushings oiled. It dries up over the years and the fan can get noisy and may stop. The wicking needs to be re-saturated with a non-detergent motor oil commonly referred to as turbine oil. Zoom Spout oil is a good choice and the bottle has an extendable spout to reach into tight spaces. Don't know if you're familiar with turbine oil or not. Don't ever use detergent oil, such as your basic 3 in 1 oil, on fans or other devices with high speed spinning rotors. The detergent will varnish on the shaft and cause binding in the bushing.

After the Flo-Thru dryer is operating again it may be noisy because of worn bushings but at least you will know it's running.
 
There are even more pics now... (https://plus.google.com/photos/1125...ms/5915566306275734625?authkey=CKiBydi_2LOoQA)

Anyone know how that stupid air diffuser is supposed to be set up? I don't get which side of the round disc is supposed to be up... Since the dome of the disc was down, I decided to flip it over and see what happens... Doesn't work right now anyways...

I was monkeying around with the blower motor and decided to check the switches because I noticed the Energy Saver one pushed easier than the others... The Service manual said to start at that then go to the motor.. I took the panels off and was playing with the switch and noticed how there was no resistance... I took the switch apart and the copper part that completes the blower heater circuit was bent past functioning.. I bent it all back together and it works.. As far as the blower, I dunno I was messing with stuff and put all back together and it started working. It is out of balanced and grinding but at lest I know its on. I'll 'borrow' a zoomspout from work tomorrow. :-)

I found a leak.. The valve on the drain leaks.. not a large leak but a few drips every time it opens and shuts the valve. Nothing major..
 
My Energy Saver dry button also pushes in much easier than the rest of the buttons... I'm thinking that is normal. However, the blower motor should run in the dry cycle regardless of whether or not the button is pressed; the button only controls whether the heating element comes on or not during drying.

Glad you like your machine. I love mine too since I got it. They are heavy, aren't they? The last dishwasher I installed I was able to wrap my arms around and carry it into the house by myself... not this one! Even with a furniture dolly I barely made it up the three steps into my kitchen by myself.

I love the sound of the sani heater when it kicks in during the last rinse... sounds like somebody put the kettle on for some coffee or tea!
 

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