My Kitchen Upgrade thanks to Dishwashercrazy and Varicyclevoice

[chachp]

This past weekend I had the great pleasure of having Todd (varicyclevoice) and Mike (dishwashercrazy) for the weekend. We had plans of talking dishwashers, looking at photos and eating lots of great food. Well Todd just happened to have with him a few parts for my ailing KDS-17A so we (or I should say they) had a great time taking it apart cleaning it up, putting in back together and most importantly upgrading my kitchen.

My Kitchen Aid has had an issue with a very tiny leak which Todd diagnosed as a Seal and it was also very loud which he diagnosed as bearings in the motor. He brought replacement parts which they replaced and now it purrs like a kitten. I can’t believe how quiet it is compared to how it was. We wrapped it with additional insulation before installing it and that made a huge difference. My Boschmore was demoted to the utility room and my KDS-17A was promoted to the kitchen and I couldn’t be more thrilled. We actually had such a good time we forgot to take pictures. We did get a few though that I thought I would share.
What we discovered when we took out my current dishwasher was old fittings so we replaced all those with current fittings, and replaced the fittings I used in the utility room for the second dishwasher.

<span style="font-size: small;">One thing led to another and after a trip to Ace, a trip to Home Depot and a few curse words I now have my KDS-17A as my daily driver and what fun I am having. That thing cleans like crazy and in about half the time of my old machine. I’ll post a bob load or two as I have them.   Here is Mike cleaning the bottom and checking for leaks.</span>

 

[chachp]

Here is the new motor they put in.

The new motor

 

[chachp]

And..

This is what I have now:

 

[chachp]

This is what came out

The Boschmore:

 

 

[chachp]

Not quite a Bob Load

But close:

 

 

[kakidd]

Beautiful

That machine makes my heart flutter!! Brings back so many memories of my childhood with this very machine. I would remove my Bosch in a heartbeat if I could find a KA 17 or 18 in good condition. Nice loading by the way!

 

[chachp]

Thank you sir!

The 17 Series has always been one of my favorites but I would love a 15 series Varicycle.  Maybe one will come my way someday but this one sure fills the need.

 

[firedome]

They are around!

Someone on here was giving one away last week... Plus a guy on eBay is selling reconditioned 17 thru 19 series machines. They have their minor deficiencies, but I love our 17s, and as Tom or John says, quiet is over-rated... I just LOVE listening to that whooshing of the 4-Way HydroSweep and the 40 minute cycle time!!

 

[swestoyz]

Very Nice - and what great guys for visiting and helping out with your KA! You couldn't have recruited better help

Jealous of your brushed chrome panels. I unfortunately only have the top panel for my KDS-17A.

Ben

 

[revvinkevin]

Brushed Chrome???

 

I had a KDS-17 that I gave to a friend of mine, those panels are stainless steel!

 

Hey Ralph, congrats on getting the KA working and installed in the kitchen, it looks GREAT!

 

Kevin

 

[swestoyz]

Brushed Chrome???

They're both shinny to me

 

[revvinkevin]

 

And shiny is a VERY GOOD THING!!!!! 

 

Kevin

 

 

[chachp]

I am blessed

to have these friends.  Todd actually sent me the stainless panels a couple of years ago for my birthday.  They are not perfect, but for that age who wants perfect.   And you are right, I counldn't have asked for two more knowledgable people working on my KA.

 

And, I agree I love hearing the water moving around in there.  With that quiet purr of the new motor I now get to hear the timer clicking and the water moving.  Lots of "Rinse and Holds" these past few days.  LOL.

 

[dishwashercrazy]

Whenever two or more are gathered, a Wash Party happens



Ralph (and Ben), Thank you for the kind words.

Todd and I certainly had a grand time at your home this past weekend, Ralph.

As most of us have come to understand, whenever one tackles a project, especially when plumbing is involved, a simple job is blown into an all day ordeal. But these are labors of love, when we take on a project like this to install a vintage dishwasher in a modern kitchen. You should have seen the kitchen and utility room floors at about 6pm Sunday - there were tools strewn all around, new and used parts, plumbing items, and water covering that space. Fortunately, as Ralph is showing in his first photo, the removal, cleanup, and reinstalling of the pump was fairly routine. The tub of this KDS-17A was in remarkably good condition with the pump removed, so only minimal scrubbing and cleaning was required.

Shown is the relocated Boschmore in the utility room, with it's new Trash Compactor cousin that we found at the North Little Rock Habitat Store. (Ralph or Todd can correct me or add more information.)

 

[dishwashercrazy]

An additional challenge we had getting the KDS-17A into the opening was the tile floor here in the kitchen. As we were positioning the machine into place, following final electrical, water supply and drain hookups, it became immediately evident that the dishwasher was too tall to fit. Retracting the leveling legs completely was not enough, so we removed all four. Still, there was not enough room because the top tub lip was slightly raised. We carefully pressed the lip down some, and finally while tilting the machine forward, it slid past the tile, and dropped into position. We were all thrilled to be running the several test runs of the machine to insure that all leaks were, in fact, corrected, and that all other connections were complete.

 

[dishwashercrazy]

With appolgies, here is a photo of Ralph and Todd, as dinner on Monday evening was being prepared. (My camera obviously was positioned on the wrong setting for inside flash pictures.)

 

[dishwashercrazy]

Silhouette sunset Monday evening taken in front of Ralph's home.

 

[dishwashercrazy]

NOW, my personal THANK YOU to RALPH:



The Trip that Todd and I took to Conway, Arkansas to visit Ralph, had a secondary purpose, for both Todd and myself.

Todd was bringing back a TOL GE Dishwasher (Todd or Ralph, please fill in the details).

I was taking ownership of Ralph's 30" Youngstown SpinTube Dishwasher. Visit Ralphs Discussion thread, which talks more about this dishwasher, plus at the very end, is a link to Ralph's aw.org photo gallery highlighting the opportunities I will have with the main circulation pump. I have a machine that could possibly be a donor for the pump.

And one final bonus - Ralph has a very large collection of vintage magazine ads, mostly for dishwashers. So this was a real treat to take just one more journey back in time to revisit so many vintage dishwashers made, some extending back to the 1920's. I selected a few to add to my own growing magazine ad collection, in my quest to document many of the dishwashers in my collection, or to document the early evolution of the dishwasher.

RALPH: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR GENEROSITY AND LOVE!

Mike

Youngstown Front Loading Dishwasher

Well I just bought this little number off of Craigslist and will be picking it up on Saturday. This will be my biggest challenge I suspect. I say that because I believe this is a gravity drain model however he made it sound like it also had a pump on it that was not connected so I'll just have...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[mickeyd]

Move over Maytag Man

Here comes Mike and Todd!

 

You're a lucky guy, Ralph.

 

Great story with all the details and wonderful pix--AS USUAL, Michael!

 

So nice to see the faces.