my Kenmore dishwasher Bob's load

[countryguy]

Crazy question maybe....but what are these 'purges' you are referring to? Just wondering if my new KitchenAid has these purges also.

Gary

 

[funguy10]

What do mean by"new dishwasher". What happened to the TurboZone from a previous post? And you're right about the cleaning preformence. Mine is 9-10 years old and still cleans like the day it was installed! We always use the normal cycle with heated wash. The sensor always shortens to one wash and it takes about a half hour to heat the water so the whole cycle takes about two hours. The machine is pretty quiet due to the QuietGuard sound insulation.

 

[appnut]

Funguy, it is the same dishwasher you're thinking about. Gary, for my TT, the purge is a 35 second fill (very partial) and a 15 second circulation of water and then it drains. Magic Clean says the load is being rinsed with that amount of water and it is also cleaning the filter, if needed.

 

[countryguy]

Thanks Appnut. I guess my KitchenAid does these purges also. When it starts, I hear the water filling for about 30 seconds, then circulates for a few seconds and drains. Also, during the wash cycle, it pauses for a few seconds (I'm assuming that is when it is 'sensing' how dirty the water is) and then starts washing again.

Gary

 

[appnut]

Actually that 5 second or so circulate after 55 seconds of fill (on my Elite) is sort of a "conditioning" of the tank. It's for people who have their water heater set at 150 or 160 and all that steam pressure would cause some sort of leaking if sudden hit with hot water (Magic Clean explained it something like that, sorry Leslie for thei misquote). AND it shouldn't drain after that short circulate, should keep adding water for the prewash. Purges happen 4-6 miinutess into the cycle and at about 12 minutes into the main wash cycle. The pauses during prewash and main wawsh are for sensing soil, water temp, and load size.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Serge, I am confused (happens a lot) about filling both dispensers for a cycle with one wash. If NORMAL is one wash and two rinses, what is the WATER MISER cycle? On my 1989 Ultra Wash, WATER MISER is two washes and two rinses. LIGHT WASH is what your NORMAL cycle is. I really like the water heating option. With starchy foods, I start the machine so that the water for the first wash is not more than 110/120 degrees so that the starch is not cooked on. The second wash heats to 150 degrees and everything comes out spotlessly clean. I use the no heat dry, but in the last 4 or 5 minutes I reset the option to give it a bit of heat at the end of DRY when the temperature of the tank is dropping. It makes a big difference in the results when I open the machine several hours later. Tom

 

[re563]

Very facinated with these discriptions you guys are giving here. Sounds like there is a lot of purging going on here. Having used some Kitchenaids from the 70's I understand the purge concept, but now seems like they (including kenmore now) do this alot

 

[maytagwc401]

On my Ultra wash dishwasher shown above, my Water Miser cycle does 1 wash and 1 rinse. This model is quite frugal for a non- tall tub american model. I think my normal cycle uses about 6.5 gallons of water ( 1 wash, 2 rinses).

 

[andrewinorlando]

One of the main reasons for the pause during washing/rinsing is to generate the higher pressure at startup that the upper wash arm needs to clean dishes/cups/glasses positioned in the corners of the upper racks. Some folks actually have thought that there is something wrong with their machine because it "just stops in the middle of the cycle"!! Sensing happens while the machine is running as it senses the pressure of the water moving through the dishwasher's pump chamber...as pressure drops it indicates a "heavy soil" condition, which will trigger a purge, and if needed, additional heat or rinsing. If pressure remains fairly steady, no purge is triggered. This is in contrast to the purely optical sensors used on other brands, such as GE's extra-clean sensor that can "see" the quality of the water moving through the pump and add time, heat, rinsing to the cycle. The higher end Kenmore Elites, Whirlpools and KitchenAids can also measure the size of the load in addition to soil and fill, set wash/rinse time, temp and cycle length accordingly.

So what happens if the sensor(s) malfunction? Does the machine default to a pre-programmed cycle or just give you back dirty dishes?