Machines of Ill Repute, Volume VI: Return of a Classic

[washer111]

Oh My Word...

Nate has finally triumphantly (okay, with a machine like *that* lets make that disheartenedly) returned to his comical series... 

 

I spy a key difference on this machine... That control panel looks slightly devoid of any timer knob. 

 

Could this be the much lusted-over, rapid-advancing, steaming, thundering and at even more hated older brother of the original, "Thundering (and at this point), Dundering Thermador?"

 

[rp2813]

Devoid of any timer knob

I know!  I wonder if it's a 4600. 

 

Rapid schmapid.  The incoming water is still going to be cold after the machine just sits there spitting and hissing for 45 minutes.

 

"Absolutely no one will be seated during the horrifying steam sequence!"

 

[jetcone]

She

pretty!

 

[combo52]

The Great Wall Of Dishwashers

Hi Nate, Ralph, Kevin, Jon, Bob and others, The GWODs will house 22 DWs, they are just piled in place for now, but I have roughed in the electrical circuits and drain plumbing already. Electrical supply is often the biggest limiting factor in trying to install nearly 100 appliances in the museum. In the GWODs I have 7 120V 20 AMP circuits and one 208V 20 AMP line for the 1966 LKM 180 Degree DW that Kevin got for us. The way I am setting it up will allow one DW to be run in each tier at a time. as each tier will share one circuit.

 

I would still like to find a few additional DWs even though I already have 22 DWs. A poppy FD would be great, A Tappan with the revolving drum wash system would be cool as well. I am debating putting my Gas Preway DW in the line-up, I could get gas to it fairly easily.

 

The spiral staircase is completely installed and leads to the museum kitchen. This kitchen will house the worlds largest collection of COMBINATION Microwave-Thermal- Self-Cleaning ovens in the world, there are already 8 different ones there representing almost all the major designs that were built, including one gas-convection-microwave Self-Cleaning Range. There will also be an additional dozen or so early and interesting MW ovens and a 1/2 dozen cool and unusual cook-tops.

 

You can also see in the picture with the staircase in the background a rolling steel staircase which is there to allow the loading and use of the top row of DWs.

 

[appnut]

I'd already noticed no timer knob but was waiting for total reveal. 

 

[appnut]

John!!! Woo hoo!!!  Not sure I'll be able to make it up to the top tier.  Glad it's the least desired one.  (Watch those be my favorites). 

 

[roto204]

Good eye, guys. ;-)

 

[roto204]

Picture it

*does best Sophia Petrillo*

Building materials resale store, Sicily, 1929. I was a buxom young woman...

So a rogue visit turned up a familiar sight, which caused me to swoon, since this is only the second Norris Industries Thermador (okay, Waste King/Thermador, but that's too much to type, so let's call it a "Thermador" for now) we've encountered in our travels--Ralph's THD-3600 being the first.

Roger and I cracked our knuckles and rubbed our hands with delight, while David seethed and vowed to have me sleeping in the yard.

As you'll recall, our experiences with the THD-3600 were...not positive. And I had always wondered, deep down, if the 4500/4600 suffered the same issues that the 3600 had demonstrated.

Since I have held onto Ralph's owner's guide and installation manual all this time, they acted as tiny, magnetic beacons that caused another Thermador to find its way home to us. As it turned out, it happened to be the exact model I needed to test my hypothesis.

She was dirty, but in overall good shape. The door gasket is hard as stone, but seals just fine, so I'm willing to overlook that for the moment. Here she is as we found her:

 

[roto204]

...and here she is

...after some serious wiping-down and toothbrushing:

 

[roto204]

Notice!

The first pic. Isn't that silver highlighting a little gold? Isn't that panel more almond than white?

It's not your imaginations, and it's not artifacts of digital photography, folks.

After I did a test run on the unit, I noticed that the kitchen smelled awfully familiar.

Oh, that's right:

 

[roto204]

Ew

The environment from which this machine came was SO smoky that the panels were discolored evenly, and the motor--when warming up--exuded that patented Eau d'Ashtray.

Picture it, again: The stale yellow sunlight streaming through tinged glass and dingy drapes, highlighting smoke curls that waft across the ceiling, and stretch like clouds to the floor. I can see the avocado-shag carpeting now, and the ghost outlines behind the pictureframes.

When you get cigarette smoke into the motor of a built-in dishwasher that's behind cabinets and a kick panel, THAT is impressive.

 

[roto204]

Happily

A good scrubbing-down with Gain-scented Mr. Clean stripped the olfactory enhancers, and restored the THD-4500 to its original lustre:

 

[roto204]

Dispensers

Well water only in the main wash, or...?

 

[roto204]

Hidden timer

Hiding, all cute-like, where anyone'd put it: Underneath the overflow float.

 

[roto204]

Oops

Like I said, it has needs. Like a new seal around the heating-element post.

When I first ran it, water dripped gently off the wire, but did that stop me? No. We've lived dangerously before.

 

[roto204]

And...

...no kick panel. Damn it!

I'm hoping to come across one, rather than rig something up that will look somewhere between awful and just mildly stupid.

 

[roto204]

More to come, but to wet your whistle...

I'm going to publish my full article (with pictures!) Sunday, but to tide you over, here's some of the good stuff--the rest of the pics are on tap for the article features. It'll be à la Consumer Reports, only bitchier.

Thermador THD-4500:  The door latch demonstrated
Starting it up!
Washing
Drain
The legendary steam phase begins
Listen to the sizzle of the steam generator

 

[roto204]

JOHN!

I LOVE that wall of dishwashers idea! And I cannot count life as complete until I see a gas Preway, I've been dying to get to see one for years! They sound tremendously exotic, even if they do set the kitchen rug on fire.

 

[roto204]

Other assorted and sundry issues

The unit came with a double water-valve like the built-in KitchenAids, but one of the valves had grown weak, and water only dribbled in enough to fill the sump. I had a new single-solenoid generic valve in the box, so I installed it; it sounds healthier now, but is still underfilling (consistently) by a couple of quarts. If I add that much to each fill, it sounds happy; otherwise, with the default fill, you can hear the system cavitating periodically, which causes a really cool fireworks-show sound in the machine as the water collides with the tank in high-pressure fits and starts.

I think this valve needs to have the restrictor enlarged or removed to allow the machine to fill to a level that makes it happy.

 

[rp2813]

Nate,

I still have the lovely dark maple access panel cover that matches the cabinetry from whence the 3600 came . . .

 

After seeing the pictures, I must admit that I'd have fallen as hard as you did for such rare beauty, in hopes that its higher model status would right all the wrongs of the 3600. 

 

Alas, after hearing it wash, I know it thunders as much as the 3600 did.  A kick panel would make little difference.  I hope it does a better job of cleaning.  That's not asking for much, considering the performance of the 3600.