Maiden run of the KDI-17

[chachp]

 

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Well after a couple of painful challenges I have run the first real load of dishes in the Imperial 17.  I am impressed given how quickly it completes the cycle and the fact that it has no heating element.  My water comes in around 140 and really doesn't seem to cool down much.  There is a lot of steam when I open the door.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">On this machine I had the issue of the damaged base so the machine would not roll.  Until I can have it repaired I removed it and built a base with wheels.  This is also the machine that had a broken roller.  That sure was a pain to replace.  I had to peel back the side of the dishwasher to get to the screw because it could not be replaced from inside the dishwasher.  This is a bad design choice in my opinion and I think later models could all be replaced from inside the dishwasher.  Thanks to SteveT for sending me a replacement roller I'm now good to go.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Not exactly a Bob Load but on these one arm wonders once the top rack is full you sometimes have to run it with additional space available on the bottom rack.</span>

 

 

 

[toploader55]

One Armed Wonders

Yes Chach you're right.

These are great machines for top rack full and just plates in the bottom. I use my Regency as the "Utensil" machine when doing a lot of cooking and baking.

But you just can't beat an 18 series machine for BobLoading. In my opinion, you can't beat a 15-18 series for speed in completing a cycle and cleaning. (Big Blues are fast too).

 

[chachp]

KDS18

 

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I would love to get my hands on one of these.  Is it true they have some kind of Quick Wash cycle that bypasses all that water heating?  That would be great.  I can imagine having the benefit of the upper rack spray arm and the speed of no water heating.  Sounds like the best of both worlds.</span>

 

 

[stevet]

Nice 17!

Ralph,
That 17 looks great, even on the rolling dolly. And Yes they will still clean well when the water is nice and hot. Too bad it is so hard to pull the cover off the machine otherwise you could wrap some insulation around the tank to keep the heat and noise inside of the machine and out of the kitchen. I am glad the wheels worked to get back in business.

The 18 does have a short cycle but they never had a heating delay in any cycle. That came with the advent of the 19 series.

The short wash cuts out a prewash and rinse and cuts the wash to 8 minutes and also skips one of the after rinses leaving you with 2 after rinses with no sani delay.

What I always liked about any of the older machines was the ability to use a short cycle to skip the prewashes and once in the main wash, you could switch back to normal or Sani and get the extra wash time,and 3rd rinse with or without the sani heat delay.

On my 18, I have a contactor that will allow the machine to run the dual 700 watt elements so it will do all its heating at 1400 watts so the water really heats up more during the wash periods where heating is added automatically by default.
The original timers heated water in nearly every segment but I have a later timer which does not heat the water during the 2 first after rinses, just in the 3rd rinse. But at least I was able to get a timer 10 years ago.