Machines of Ill Repute, Volume I - The later D&M Kenmore

roto204 · Dec 9, 2011

I have a soft spot for maligned machines the way some people really enjoy BOL models. Plus, to be honest, I love having something new to futz with every few months. Sure, I'll acknowledge that our KitchenAid was the best dishwasher we've ever had. But that doesn't mean it's not fun to explore others, even ones with some serious quirks.

Ever since the days of the Roto-Racks, I enjoyed the D&M design. It's a butt-kicker, and effective for what it is, although I always enjoyed Greg's bet (I've never gone in on it yet) that to know pain is to chuck a pot of rice or a casserole laden with potatoes au gratin into a D&M dishwasher full of dishes, and let it run all the way through the heated dry cycle. There's nothing like that little asterisk-shaped macerator to chew up all the food particles into tiny yiblets that evenly coat absolutely everything, and resist flushing with subsequent water changes.

When Sears started moving in the PowerClean/Whirlpool direction with their UltraWash line of dishwashers, I wondered what happened with the D&Ms that, at this point, had evolved into plastic tub machines. And, considering their forever-rust prone proclivities, plastic tanks were probably the most merciful thing that could have happened to them.

It was around this time, though, that other changes happened to the design--some good, some not so good, clearly designed to wring a little more magic out of a very aging configuration.

roto204 · Dec 9, 2011

A new take on an old "favorite"

While Electrolux/White Consolidated was clearly getting ready to move into a new direction with their dishwashers--namely, separate wash and drain pumps and performance that couldn't shift cereal from the far side of bowls in the top rack, or scrambled eggs from a non-stick pan placed in the bottom--they did a few things to rejuvenate the old D&M design that harkened from the mid-sixties.

The first move was a deeper bottom rack, and recessed door. Gone was the hollow, venting door that directed steam nicely up into the unprotected metal parts and control panel, or forced it via fan out the bottom so that the door panel rusted in telltale ways. Fan-forced drying was still featured (and worked pretty well), but the door was now molded plastic, with a deep inset that accommodated a now GE-like extended rack.

This was a selling point, and was touted to allow two full rows of dinner plates to extend side-to-side--and that they did. The capacity was nice, and as always, the absence of a spray tower is something I deeply appreciate. However, the singular flaw in the logic was having the recessed portion of the door extend only slightly more than a third of the way up the door. While plates and platters now found extended legroom, items like cookie sheets could not be loaded. They cleared the rack rollers above--and the spray arms--but hit the door liner just above the recess, and wouldn't allow the door to close!

So close!

On the plus side, the vile D&M swing-cup dispenser that was always broken (or two washes away from breaking) on the older machines was replaced by a much more civilized figure-eight, rotating lid configuration that had the cups cast into the door.

roto204 · Dec 9, 2011

New for the sump!

Let's check out what was going on below.

A departure from the tried-and-true stainless-steel wash arms led to plastic ones that needed help dodging the heat from the element, that now ran in a square around the bottom, rather than in a circle. Thus, metal plates were fitted to minimize melting. (I could tell this machine was not often used with the heated dry; many of these machines that were have partially melted arms.)

A newer, flatter sump meant less water needed for a full fill, but led to other unanticipated side-effects like bits of food debris that would lay on the bottom, rather than sweeping naturally toward the pit of a deeper pump sump.

You can see the large vent for the blower to the back-right.

Addition of a tinier, more energy-efficient motor (so tiny and less-torquey, in fact, that the pitch of the sound varied as water surged to-and-fro) meant the need to ramp the wash pressure by decreasing the diameter of the wash-arm holes. So, the holes--which had been steadily shrinking since the seventies--now reached a new small diameter.

Wash action was actually excellent in this during my testing, and all things being equal, I was quite satisfied (food trash in the bottom notwithstanding). But two issues arose from this configuration:

1.) WCI put a bull-honky "soil separator" (the large, white apparatus beneath the wash-arm and above the pump intake) in place, which supposedly centrifuged soil and flushed heavier particles down the drain. In reality, if it worked at all, only things with the density of gravel and neutron stars settled out before being forced up through the wash arm; the manual included explicit instructions to periodically twist the now thumb-operable wash-arm nuts off, and run the wash arms under the tap to dislodge chunks of food that invariably clogged the now tinier holes. When's the last time you were asked by the manufacturer to remove and clean the arms on a weekly basis? Of course, the documented bug becomes a feature.

2.) The macerator/non-filter configuration persisted, which destined debris for the wash arms like Barbra Streisand to musicals. Invariably, the corner jets suffered first, and coaxing a chunk of crud back out of the arm with only running water was tantamount to solving those little BB puzzles we had as kids.

On the bright side, this may be the only D&M design that didn't sport the standard carmine patina of rust around the bottom.

roto204 · Dec 9, 2011

Deeper is generally better

This top rack--part of the "Deluxe" and "Super" rack lineup now offered by Sears and WCI-Frigidaire--was arguably the only logical top rack ever offered. The Roto-Rack was fun, but some of the square rack designs either had bizarre loop-times, completely oddball removable sections--or best of all, both.

This rack was deep, had high sides to keep dancing plastics in place (always a good trick in a D&M, wherein your best bet for anchoring Gladware was a brick), and offered usable rows for glasses on both sides.

Note the thumb-twist on the middle wash arm--only the top had a non-quick release arm, held in place with an otherwise quick-release Phillips screw.

The nice, big wash arm did a good job of cleaning up top, and would have even dodged odd-sized items and cookie sheets in the bottom rack, if you would have been able to close the door in the first place.

roto204 · Dec 9, 2011

Overall satisfaction rating

Overall, this machine was pretty good. I had to install a KitchenAid drain check-valve to keep it from retaining too much water in the sump, which led to increased yiblet risk.

If you pre-scraped, this machine delivered; if you're one of those who expects a plate with half the meal left on it to come out spotless, you won't be disappointed either, but you may have to rewash the rest of the load in trade.

The soil "separator" did not change the wash performance or ability to deal with particulates of this machine any more than more-vintage D&Ms. And, like its older brethren, this machine was vulnerable to foreign-object attacks on its exposed impellers.

What finally took this machine off my playlist was its own plastic nature; in the absence of chlorinated detergent--even with super-soft water, multiple water changes, and otherwise good performance at cleaning itself--stains and that "less than fresh feeling" were a problem.

Still, very fun to play with--and an interesting attempt at addressing several outstanding irritations in the old design--including the porcelain and metal.

peteski50 · Dec 10, 2011

Kenmore Dishwashers!

This was the TOL of this same series!

peteski50 · Dec 10, 2011

Kenmore Dishwashers!!

I wouldnt saw quiet - but styled nice.

peteski50 · Dec 10, 2011

Kenmore Dishwashers!!!

These didnt hold up as well as previous models. Ashame they had lost a lot of quality by this time. And these were the last of them!

roto204 · Dec 10, 2011

High on style

It was a handsome machine--not loud, but no mouse, either.

"Self-cleaning filter traps food particles and drains them away to keep them from recirculating into the wash load."

If you believe that, I have a Gibson with Power-Spin-Drain to sell you ;-)