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johnb300m

johnb300m

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Hey all, long time periodic lurker, first time poster.

My parents' awesome TritonXL GE dishwasher from 2003 seems to have kicked the bucket. It wasn't draining. I checked hose lines, cleaned filters, even replaced all the check valves....and it just hasen't solved the issue.
So they're fed up (I would fix it more, it's awesome) and my dad went out on a whim and ordered a gdt550hgdww.
It's a new model GE with top controls and their 500 wash system.
It washes half racks at a time, with long cycle times....but it seems well built and it has a boat load of features they'll like. Including TWO silverware baskets.

I was trying to read reviews on new dishwashers, all over Lowes, Home Depot and GE's websites, and it seems like these reviews are ALL over the place.
People love their machine or HATE their machine. GE, Maytag, etc etc.

Most common complaints are things not getting clean, from soap cups being blocked by the front silverware baskets, to dishes not drying at all, to water leaking inside the doors. Maytags seem to have issues with the rack holders breaking off. Control boards going out, etc.

Are these reviews legit? Or is it just a slew of ignorant, troglodites who don't know how to use appliances, and just beat the crap out of their stuff?

The gdt550hgdww looks like a GREAT machine. Will my parents have good years of use with it, like the old 2003 Triton XL?
I told them to get the 3 year extended Home Depot coverage plan. It was only 60 bucks, and I don't want to go over there and fix it constantly if they have a lemon.

Cheers :D

http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SpecPage&Sku=GDT550HGDWW
 
johnb300m, go with your gut.  Read reviews carefully, you can tell who the lunatics are writing them sometimes. Enjoy your GE dishwasher.
 
It is similar

to the one my landlord installed at the Condo I rented. It is quiet, I will give you that.

But..........

I could not use powder as the wash spray was to weak to dissolve it. I had to go with the Cascade paks.

Took over 3 hours to do a load on normal cycle with hot dry and STILL the dishes came out wet.

Had to clean the cup sized filter every other load otherwise things on the top rack would not come clean at all.

Had a rather cheap closing mechanism that consisted of a diamond shaped piece of grey plastic that wedged itself in a cutout on the frame. I doubt it will withstand many openings/closings.

I was not impressed at all but I rented and had no say so in the matter. Now I am a homeowner and it came with a contractor grade Frig unit that is a noisy beast but I am shocked, in a good way, at how well it cleans.
 
I've owned 4 dishwashers since we bought our first home in 1987. The first one was a builder grade GE and I never had any complaints with it during the 7 years we owned the home. When we moved to our current home in 1994 there was a BOL Whrilpool that the sellers installed in 1991. It was fast and loud, but it always cleaned very well. By 2005 the racks were rusting thru pretty badly so we bought a MOL Maytag. That dishwasher was terrible. It never cleaned well, there was always some food left on at least 1 or 2 dishes. The racks started to rust thru just after the warranty period was over and the door latch also broke right about the same time. I was still able to close the door and operate the machine so I just left it broke, I wasn't interested in investing any $ on this POS. I bought some "re rack" on Ebay and was able to cover the rusted spots on the racks for a while. Finally, in Jan of this year I bought a GE GDF520PGDWW. This dishwasher is quieter than the Maytag, has nylon coated racks so I hope I won't have rust issues for a long time. The normal cycle with heat boost takes the same 134 mins. that the Maytag did, but the dishes are always spotlessly clean. I never rinse, just scrape off the dishes and I also put the pots and pans in the dishwasher. I use Finish Powerball paks or Cascade Platinum, but the Finish Powerball paks work better in my opinion. I would agree with Ben about the door latch, it could be a better design, but since I'm aware that this could be a weak point I just don't latch the door unless I'm going to run it. As far as the filters, I clean them about once a month, it only takes a few mins. We run the dishwasher about very 2 or 3 days, and even with the unrinsed dishes sitting for a couple of days they always come out clean, All in all I'm much happier with this GE than I ever was with the Maytag and would recommend this machine without hesitaion.
 
Thanks everyone.
Update: My parents had to fast switch to a front control GDF540 model. Similar features. Dual silverware baskets, but can't have the flat front with handle. They have a corner drawer that would hit it.

I was also wondering how dependent these machines are with peoples' individual water quality?
Maybe people have crap water heaters, and very hard water in their area?
I know the phosphate-free soaps have wreaked havoc on dishwashers as well. In fact, I wonder if the non phosphate soap helped the Triton's demise? It was full of sludge, which I cleaned out.

It does seem that the soap cups in these new GE machines are too deep, and water pressure does not flush them out.
If my parents have issue with that, I'm sure my mechanical engineering skills will come in handy tapping a new little hole in the middle wash arm to flush out the cup ;)

Machine arrives to my parents' on Friday for me to install.
Updates to follow.

Cheers.
 
That deep detergent pocket is designed to hold a pac/pod. Specifically, a Cascade Platinum pac, which is what GE recommends. I strongly recommend you convince your parents to use them. I have the PDT750.

I am looking forward to John's (combo52) review, which, judging by the teaser in his post above, should be a humdinger. Make some popcorn and fasten your seat belts, kids.

OK, John; we're ready when you are!

(Aside: I accidentally added the photo to a new frame, which explains the deleted post below. My bad!)

frigilux++8-31-2015-21-30-0.jpg
 
Well, hopefully the newer GE's are better than our circa 1999 model.. We had a low end potscrubber that literally did not clean dishes at all... If any speck of food went in on the dishes, it would for sure come out in 1000 pieces, all splattered on the rest of the dishes. Grr. Everything had to be completely pre rinsed. We left that awful thing in our old house when we sold it. Since then we've had a 1998 Kenmore Ultra Wash (thought it was pretty good, didn't need to pre rinse), and now a 1997 Maytag Jetclean (Best dishwasher I've used so far! Never pre rinse anything, even cooked on food- all comes out spotless and super hot!) The problem with your GE was most likely the drain valve solenoid- the valve may have been leaking slightly and caused the solenoid to corrode and stop working; I repaired a friends GE Triton Eterna series that would not hold water- the valve was stuck open, so all the water was drained as fast as it could fill. Could stick closed just as easily.
 
Solenoid or not to solenoid

Thanks Dustin!
The old unit is a Triton XL tall tub with the dual pumps.
If the new drain check valves are working, I'm wondering if the water valve is leaking into the machine, or even if the drain pump is only working intermittently now.
Or maybe there's more crud in the drain pump, or the boot.
Who knows!
Either way, my dad wants no part of it, and already ordered the 540.
 
Dustin92 I say the same thing about my Maytag from 1998/99. My dishes take at least an hour after the dry cycle for me to touch them. They are broiling hot!
 
I've used a few different older GE dishwashers. One was from the late 90's and the other from around 2006-2007 or so. Both cleaned really well, though I usually ran them on Pots and Pans all the time. I haven't tried any of their newest ones. I picked a Frigidaire Gallery for my new dishwasher laster year. I love it.
 
There goes Frig

again promoting PODS!

Told ya folks, he's gone over to the dark side of things!

washman-2015090108415909384_1.jpg
 
Ya gotta give me this one, Ben! You've noted a couple of times that your GE required the use of a Cascade pac.
😽

I'm still waiting for John's take on the GE dishwasher he installed in his kitchen. While mine cleans even the crustiest pans very, very quietly, I have one word for it when compared to my beloved 2008 LG or the Maytag prior to that: Flimsy.

He's undoubtedly been under the hood and can give us that perspective, as well.
 
You're right frig

BUSTED!

But I used the PODS due to necessity, not out of pure choice!

I was dragged kicking and screaming every inch of the way!

My shrink says I need to "get with the times" and accept change positively. Then he tried to talk me out of using my beloved SQ. It was then I left the office and never returned.

I celebrated recovery by doing a load of wash in the SQ using full fill and liquid A&H.
 
reply to the above post:

We NEVER use the heated dry on our Maytag, just run it on the normal cycle with Sanitize on and Temp sense on and the dishes come out scalding! I just prop the door open a couple inches and by the time they are cool enough to handle, most everything is dry. Or just leave them until morning with the door closed, since we usually run it in the evening.
 
Oh, the GE I repaired had a single pump with a flapper valve to switch from wash to drain. Not sure of what might be wrong with yours, having two pumps. Maybe a clog or buildup somewhere?
 
Well over the years We've had a BOL Hotpoint, replaced with a KA replaced with a GE2800 ( loved that machine...) Another GE ( basic, but serviceable..) a Whirlpool ( HATE HATE HATED it!  went back to the store in weeks...) and Finally another GE that I love and cleans anything I toss at it.

 

I'd be hard pressed to decide on a new machine at this point, the current GE is 8 or 9 years old and I will keep it running as long as possible.  Odds are I'd go for another GE - MID or close to TOL
 
Further Training/Troubleshooting Material

More goodies on troubleshooting GE's current dishwasher systems.
Very interesting.

 
Install, Maiden Voyage!

SO! This friday I set up the GDF540. As a mechanical engineer, it was easy to tackle, but....it did take me about 2 hours! It was a bit complicated, and more of "some assembly required."
GE did not attach the counter clips, nor did they attach the drain hose extension.
The rear leg threads were tapped all crooked, so the rear legs don't sit flat on the floor. That was annoying.
BUT, the rest of the machine seems quite well made.

Pictures included of the cleaned load.

Comments:
- It's certainly quiet. There's almost no motor noise from the wash pump. It makes a faint DC current whine, but it's barely noticeable with the kick plate on. The drain motor is the familiar groan they all make.
There's a different sound for when it switches between lower and upper wash action. But it's nowhere as annoying as Frigidaire's old system where the middle arm got its water from the ceiling.

- Loading will be a learning curve for my parents. The layout is different. But we were impressed how much you can actually get in it, even with the slightly smaller racks.

- The silverware baskets sure are different. And the soap dispenser totally encroaches upon the lower basket. If you notice, one basket has a handle. The other does not. It seems best to put the one with the handle on the bottom, in order for soap to clear. Which is too bad, since it would make more sense to have the handled basket on the top for ease of pulling the top rack. Oh well.

- There's hardly ANY room underneath. It's SO low profile. And the door is lower to the ground, which helps interior space. But if you have standard 'man' hands like me, it's best to do all the hookups, if possible, BEFORE you push the machine back.

- Maiden voyage was run on AutoSense with Heated Dry. It honestly didn't take as long as I thought, or heard people complain about. The load was a mixed load with some dinnerware and non-stick pots and pans.
Took about 70min or so wash. Did 2 pre-rinses, main wash, and 2 post rinses. No idea how long the dry took. We went to bed.
Everything WAS clean in the morning. Only one issue. Where two bowls were touching, some crud got stuck. But as long as there's space between all items, everything came clean. The spray DOES sound quite forceful, from each alternating arm. More forceful than what it sounds and looks like from Whirlpool's alternating systems.

- Drying performance was noticeably different from the old 2003 machine. All the dishes were dry, but the interior does leave a lot of moisture, including the silverware racks. But the silverware was dry. Just not the baskets.
It's BEST to unload the lower rack first of course. Then top.

- I inspected the fine filter and there was a thin film of gook on of the quadrants, but it was no big deal. The rest was clean. I instructed my parents to just check it once a week, and rinse it out as needed.
To my surprise, they were elated that it was easy to remove and clean. Instead of calling their son to take it all apart to clean ;)

- Other complaints I saw online were from water dripping from the exhaust vent. After the cycle in the morning, there was noticeable condensation around the vent. And it could leave some drops on the floor when you open the door. But nothing too different from our old machine when heat boost was used. (shrug).

Overall, we're impressed and I think my parents will enjoy it. I rather liked it too.
Now here's to hoping it lasts for a few years, problem free.

johnb300m-2015090517180600333_1.jpg

johnb300m-2015090517180600333_2.jpg

johnb300m-2015090517180600333_3.jpg
 
I'm glad the purchase has worked out well. 

 

It seems that with many "maligned dishwashers," user stupidity plays a HUGE role in poor results. On US machines, I understand purging the hot water line can be hugely beneficial. As is the type and quantity of detergent used. 

 

I speak this from experience with the supposedly crap F&P DishDrawer. 4 years on, no mechanical failures and dishes are clean (they are *never* pre-rinsed, complete waste IMO). None of the failed pumps, blocked drains, dirty dishes, computer-board failures that the reviews carry on about.

Yes, it does have filters, although running hotter cycles keeps them clean. The drain for the DW is cleaner than for the kitchen sink. I have run without the drain filter in place. The machine does dispose of soft foods. Makes some interesting noises with rice (LOL). 

 

Please let us know how this machine continues running in the longterm. It will be interesting to hear if the machine is reliable and continues producing good results. 
 
Detergent Cup issues

Well it's been 1 week my parents have been living with the GDF540, and they're really liking it.
(This model is now discontinued by GE btw :/ )

There's just one glaring issue.
The detergent pods, like many have said online in various reviews, often get stuck in the soap cup.
It just seems like not enough water gets to it. And if the pods are moist, they stick in the cup.

I'm thinking the next time I'm over, of tapping a little rinse hole in the middle spray arm to splash at the soap cup.
We'll see how that does.

Despite that, they say it's cleaning very well thus far.
 
I've never had a detergent pac/pod fail to dissolve in my GE, but the silverware rack isn't in front of the dispenser as it is on your parents' machine. Mine has a different wash system/wash arm configuration, so that may play a part, as well.

The lower wash arm on mine looks like this:

frigilux++9-11-2015-11-30-20.jpg
 
Quad Blade

Frig, when I get my own house in the next several months, after I save money from the W/D purchase, the DW will be next. And I TOTALLY want one of those quad blade Profiles.
Your reviews have been very reassuring.

Then again, there's the idea of getting a 500 series GE, and just twisting on some quad blade upper arms to both the top and bottom. They're only $20.
MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!! It's aliiiive!
 
New GE dishwasher model GDT 514

I have been testing this dishwasher in my house for about a month and done about 12 loads in it so far.

First impressions it's impressively quiet although the drain pump is very annoying as a pulse is on and off and I can hear it in the office in the next room over.

The racks feel cheap and I can't stand the almost black color of them it makes it very hard to see to load the racks themselves are very sparse and don't hold much compared to the K DSS 20 KitchenAid that I had.

Most items come out clean but about one and four dishes have to be rejected because they are particles on the glasses in the corners of the upper rack absolutely don't get washed the X arms are stupid they're not long enough to get into the corners.

Overall if it were the only dishwasher I had I might get used to it but the performance is just not there it just doesn't have enough water Force to dislodge particles were two dishes are touching slightly drying performance is nonexistent. The problem is when you compare it to the performance of my 1987 whirlpool there's just no contest and this GE dishwasher will not be here long.
 

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