Maytag Performa Dishwasher

[spacedogb]

Hey everyone,
There is a Maytag Performa dishwasher in the house I am purchasing. Can someone give me some information on it? I have included a pic of a convertible model but mine is actually built in

 

[whatsername]

Don't know much about these but I've always been a sucker for anything with a heat delay light ¯&#92_(ツ)_/¯

 

[spacedogb]

Heating Delay

I have never had a dishwasher with a heating delay so I'm kinda looking forward to trying it out. Sad it will soon be pulled out and sent to Habitat for Humanity

 

[Chetlaham]

Performa

Is this the machine with the drain solenoid?

Personally, anything with Performa on it is a sign to run, not walk, away from what ever holds that name. Performa was Maytag's half baked attempt at budget appliances that helped run the company into the ground. Maybe this machine is better, but if anything like the washers it is junk.

 

[spacedogb]

I'm not sure about the drain solenoid. I don't close on the house until the 15th but as soon as I do, I'll test it out and let you guys know.

 

[askolover]

If it's set up anything like my Jetclean, the heating delay won't kick in unless the water is below a certain temperature.  In the 20 years I've owned mine, the light has only come on maybe 3 times....twice when I had used lots of hot water and it wasn't fully reheated yet when it filled and once when the detergent foamed up a bunch for whatever reason.  But my water heater is set somewhere around 150 so it had no reason to delay and heat the water.  That looks like a Magic Chef dishwasher to me.

 

[appnut]

This is like the equivalent of a Maytag MDB4000.  No it doesn't have a drain solenoid.  It may not have as good a filtration as its siblings.  A slightly lower "hp" pump.  Vinyl rather than nylon racks.  But you still may be quite surprised it cleans fine.  Pots & Pans with water heat SHOULD cause the heating delay to happen earlier in the main wash than normal wash & water heat on. 

 

[spacedogb]

I was able to get inside the townhouse and check some things out. I turned on the dishwasher and ran a cycle. The cycle does not stop to heat the water. I just continues the cycle while the water heater is on. Here are some of the positives I noted. The water gets to 145f-150f in sani cycle, racking allows for a good arrangement of plates, and it seems to clean well.

 

[askolover]

I'd like to see the inside, the wash arm design, etc.

 

[spacedogb]

Requested pics

 

[johnb300m]

Ohh very nice.
That's the horizontal mechanism maytag. The solenoid drain.
With some kind of passive filter in the middle.

 

[askolover]

it certainly doesn't have the "jetclean" wash arm does it?  I'll bet it could be fitted with one though.

 

[johnb300m]

You do not want the Jetclean arm in here.
This is a mechanism similar to GE where it grinds up food and only partially separates it. So food particles would very quickly clog that Jetclean arm and tower.

 

[Chetlaham]

Looks familiar

Wash arm is very GE esque. Big holes spaced far apart. I'm with john, a jet clean arm will clog up due to the lack of direct water filtration.

 

[combo52]

These were introduced to compete with cheap GEs FDs and WPs clean wash DWs.

Maytag should never put their name [ or the Jenn-air Name for that matter ] on these cheap poor performing and poor durability DWs, this is one of many products that put MT out of business.

 

[mark_wpduet]

what does

heat delay mean? I saw a water heating light on the panel.....I guess I'm drying to understand what's so great about delaying the water heating in the dishwasher? If that's what that means.

 

[DADoES]

 
Heat delay means the cycle progress is stalled while water heating happens.

 

[Chetlaham]

Heat delay

A thermal hold. The timer motor will pause in certain parts of the cycle and not move until the water reaches a certain temperature say 140*F.

Combo is also spot on again. These were made to compete with other BOLs, but it was simply one of those things that helped ruin Maytag's name. And FWIW if Maytag had simply taken out the blower and heat delay they could have easily gotten down the cost to the point landlords and builders would have considered these over GE. But rather they designed it as though it was headed for the average working family but with a wash system headed apartments.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Useless Junk!

These VILE excuses for a DW bear NO resemblance to a true MT Jetclean of the same era which worked quite well. Get it out of your house. No good can come of using it.
WK78