montgomery ward "signature" mini maid dishwasher- anyone know who made this please?

[rollermatic]

don't think i

am going to run it with a load of disrty dishes "electronicontri" as i don't want to wear out that seal. am afraid that dishwasher detergent and dirty water from food might not be good for it. plan on running it empty with hot water on a semi reg basis to keep seal moist.

"tomturbomatic" not sure how durable it is. does seem to move a lot of water inside from the sound of it and i i like the fact that it has a 10 min main wash and a 8.5 min prewash and 3 final rinses but again i think that seal is it's weak point.

i did clean the interior of the tub with some bon ami and all water marks removed completely. now it really looks like new!

 

[rollermatic]

top rack simply

lifts out of it's track for easy cleaning of tub!

love the shiny interior!

think i am going to get a peice of plexiglass and cover tub opening and do a video of this one! it's just too unique not to!

 

[philr]

The drain hose clamps are the same as the ones used for the heater hoses on my Toyota pickups.

 

[combo52]

RUNNING DW WITH NO DETERGENT AND NO FOOD SOIL

Is probably the worst thing you can do to ANY DW, detergent and food oils help lubricate the seal and other vital parts of DWs. We have noticed that folks that per-rinse their dishes usually cut the life of the DW in half. Every thing needs to be done in moderation and with common sense, but no detergent can be as bad as too much, this is why you should always put some detergent in the first detergent cup when you run a full cycle in almost any DW.

 

[garyl]

Parentage?

I don't remember seeing one like this, but I tried to buy smaller dishwashers for people who lived in smaller apartments. I had a Kenmore 18" machine and it saved a lot of space in my small house. The older GE Mobil Maid top loader was also popular with my customers. It says "Made in Japan", but could that be the label was printed in Japan? I wonder if it could be a Hotpoint? They were different from the GE machines. That Harvest Gold color was definately late 60s to early 70s, but offered through the 80s by a few manufacturers, particularly dishwashers. They continued the color to go with kitchens that already had the color and the owner was replacing a 10 year old machine. Try sending pictures around, particularly to people who advertise vintage appliance parts like DavesRepair.com ([email protected]). Try sending them to John at Appliance Parts Center in National City. Good Luck!

 

[rollermatic]

thanks for the advice

combo52, i had no idea plain water would be worse than dirty dishwater with detergent in it. makes sense about the oils and fats from the food but i would think detergents would be a corrosive element on the rubber. but if you say so, you are wiser than i am for sure when it comes to this kind of info! i will take your advice and actually run it with some dishes!

garyl, is that appliance store the one in california? tried to look it up on the web tonite. thanks for the info. i had never noticed the "made in japan" on the name tag before. was too busy getting it tore down and back together and praying it wouldn't leak!

 

[rollermatic]

and i have dealt

with dave from dave's repair on several occasions, nice guy. he sold me some parts for my frigidaire rollermatics a couple years ago. i will e mail him with a pic! maybe he will have some info on this unique little dishwasher!

 

[combo52]

Montgomery Wards Mini-Maid DW

I too was very fascinated when I first saw one of these DWs in a customers house back in the late 1970s and thought it would be very cool to have one. It was differently Made In Japan and as many of you have said it looks like they borrowed some design elements from GM built DWs of the time, and of coerce MWs DWs were being built by GM during the 1970s when this machine has built.

 

I finely found one of these rare machines in the 1980s and when I got a closer look at it [ It was also in pretty bad condition ] I scrapped it. It like many things Made In Japan in an earlier time was simply a copy of American technology done badly. But I do think that it is great you found one Peter and shared it with us as otherwise it may have been forever forgotten in the history of major appliances.

 

Thanks again for sharing this with us, great memories.