ovrphil
Well-known member
Here's a Magic Chef - I don't know anything about them, but am very curious as to the build quality and overall performance?
Magic chef dishwasher - $25 (Jonesboro)
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Build quality and performance
Performance was good if you didn't do the Gansky Challenge and put a pan of au gratin potatoes or a bowl of rice in there and let it run through the heated dry ;-)
It's filterless, with a macerator to chew-up the bits of food that are larger than small Volkswagens. Clogged wash arm holes are a frequent phenomenon, so get good at pre-scraping. A properly scraped load, even if very soiled, will likely come clean.
These machines need copious amounts of hot water to perform well.
Depending on the wash arm configuration, they generate a lot of pressure, so no putting plastics in the bottom rack. And sometimes, you'll find them flipped over in the top rack as well.
A major issue due to the pump intake is foreign objects like glass or olive pits, which enter the pump and break vanes off the impeller(s). The unbalanced impeller vibrates and eventually compromises the carbon-porcelain seal, causing a leak off the motor.
You'll frequently find broken glass and/or bits of the impeller lodged inside the wash arms. The impellers and seal come as a kit and are very easy to install. These machines are simple to work on, especially in the later units that had the two-piece clamp ring under the sump, rather than the bolt-in pump module.
Build quality is typical D&M, which is to say "your mileage may vary." The porcelain is thin and easily compromised, and rusted sumps are de rigueur for these units. Rack rusting is also a frequent problem. The detergent dispensers frequently break, and allow the covered compartment to hang ajar. WCI addressed this in the later polypropylene machines by completely scrapping this type of dispenser design.
All that said, if you find one in minty shape, it will likely serve you well. They wash well, hold lots of dishes, and sound nice when they run.
Performance was good if you didn't do the Gansky Challenge and put a pan of au gratin potatoes or a bowl of rice in there and let it run through the heated dry ;-)
It's filterless, with a macerator to chew-up the bits of food that are larger than small Volkswagens. Clogged wash arm holes are a frequent phenomenon, so get good at pre-scraping. A properly scraped load, even if very soiled, will likely come clean.
These machines need copious amounts of hot water to perform well.
Depending on the wash arm configuration, they generate a lot of pressure, so no putting plastics in the bottom rack. And sometimes, you'll find them flipped over in the top rack as well.
A major issue due to the pump intake is foreign objects like glass or olive pits, which enter the pump and break vanes off the impeller(s). The unbalanced impeller vibrates and eventually compromises the carbon-porcelain seal, causing a leak off the motor.
You'll frequently find broken glass and/or bits of the impeller lodged inside the wash arms. The impellers and seal come as a kit and are very easy to install. These machines are simple to work on, especially in the later units that had the two-piece clamp ring under the sump, rather than the bolt-in pump module.
Build quality is typical D&M, which is to say "your mileage may vary." The porcelain is thin and easily compromised, and rusted sumps are de rigueur for these units. Rack rusting is also a frequent problem. The detergent dispensers frequently break, and allow the covered compartment to hang ajar. WCI addressed this in the later polypropylene machines by completely scrapping this type of dispenser design.
All that said, if you find one in minty shape, it will likely serve you well. They wash well, hold lots of dishes, and sound nice when they run.
MC Dishwashers
Were a rebadged D&M at this time. The KM was of the same design. While these machines could clean well they could easily become clogged or broken by food or glass debris. Maytag much improved the MC when they converted it to a far superior Jetclean design. It should be noted that after 1984 Kenmore also scrapped this mediocre machine for the WP Poweclean based Ultra wash.
WK78.
Were a rebadged D&M at this time. The KM was of the same design. While these machines could clean well they could easily become clogged or broken by food or glass debris. Maytag much improved the MC when they converted it to a far superior Jetclean design. It should be noted that after 1984 Kenmore also scrapped this mediocre machine for the WP Poweclean based Ultra wash.
WK78.
What are...D&M and MC, please?
Design & Manufacture??? and Magic Chef.
Design & Manufacture??? and Magic Chef.
D&M Magic Chef DW
Nate thank you for your always insightful DW comments, I am always amazed at how much information you have picked up about DWs.
I do differ on a few points however having worked on them for 40+ years.
D&Ms pumps were the worst pumps ever to rebuild, the motor shaft was often so rusted that you ended up gringing the shaft or replacing the whole motor, D&M was about the only DW maker that used a motor with cheap sleve bearings [ on a vertitcle shaft motor ] which is why they had so many seal failures. The other problem in rebuilding their pumps was no two were ever the same and each had to be shimed to work.
I don't think that D&M DWs had any more water pressure than many other DWs with 1/3 or greater HP motors. Thier lower wash arm was much more poorly designed however which lead to objects being thrown around. A lot of D&M DWs in the 1970s actually had such a cheap lower wash arm that they would split at the side seem and throw water out under the DW door.
Most DWs built during this period needed lots of hot water, D&M did have the advantage of building many models that actually heated the water to 145-150F during both the main wash and finel rinse with the pump running so if in fact your incomming water was not hot enough these machines could out clean GEs, KAs,MTs and a few other makes.
Nate thank you for your always insightful DW comments, I am always amazed at how much information you have picked up about DWs.
I do differ on a few points however having worked on them for 40+ years.
D&Ms pumps were the worst pumps ever to rebuild, the motor shaft was often so rusted that you ended up gringing the shaft or replacing the whole motor, D&M was about the only DW maker that used a motor with cheap sleve bearings [ on a vertitcle shaft motor ] which is why they had so many seal failures. The other problem in rebuilding their pumps was no two were ever the same and each had to be shimed to work.
I don't think that D&M DWs had any more water pressure than many other DWs with 1/3 or greater HP motors. Thier lower wash arm was much more poorly designed however which lead to objects being thrown around. A lot of D&M DWs in the 1970s actually had such a cheap lower wash arm that they would split at the side seem and throw water out under the DW door.
Most DWs built during this period needed lots of hot water, D&M did have the advantage of building many models that actually heated the water to 145-150F during both the main wash and finel rinse with the pump running so if in fact your incomming water was not hot enough these machines could out clean GEs, KAs,MTs and a few other makes.
D&M
Establihed in the UK in 1982? But this dishwasher looks 70ies-like... Also they seem to work more on industrial design rather than household items...
Establihed in the UK in 1982? But this dishwasher looks 70ies-like... Also they seem to work more on industrial design rather than household items...
ovrphil
Well-known member
Thanks Nate and John - I thought it was a D&M, but didn't really know. It might be a good unit for a while - the claim is that it wasn't used. I have lived here long enough to know that talk is very "open to interpretation" around these parts. 
Meanwhile, I'll poke around on aw.org ..we'd like to use something other than this basic Whirlpool in this apt. We wouldn't be allowed to replace it or would it make sense for us, but a portable is the next hope. I see Kenmores, Kitchenaids, Maytags and some GE's(older potscrubbers). We'd like a little older looking unit - I think that's what attracted me to this Magic Chef.
Just wondering - what impact does 15 years of idleness(if true) do to a dishwasher? Is it like a car, where you would have to replace parts to make sensibly useable?
Meanwhile, I'll poke around on aw.org ..we'd like to use something other than this basic Whirlpool in this apt. We wouldn't be allowed to replace it or would it make sense for us, but a portable is the next hope. I see Kenmores, Kitchenaids, Maytags and some GE's(older potscrubbers). We'd like a little older looking unit - I think that's what attracted me to this Magic Chef.
Just wondering - what impact does 15 years of idleness(if true) do to a dishwasher? Is it like a car, where you would have to replace parts to make sensibly useable?
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