POD - 8-20-2015 Tappan Dishwasher

[turquoisedude]

Dang, I want one just like this...  Yes, I know a Tappan dishwasher like this probably cleans dishes as well as a refrigerator would as well, but dang it... I want one... 

 

Tantrum over.  Going back to unpacking boxes.

 

[frigilux]

Paul-- I know what you mean. Looking at the interior, all I can think is, "Could there be a worse design for loading flexibility?" On the other hand, I love the look of the control panel. It would be fun to have one simply because they're so rare. An ideal collector's item.

Aside: That was a tantrum? Your partner should count his blessings, LOL!

 

[tomturbomatic]

One of those switches was for the night light. Aside from the operating light on the early KitchenAids and the Apex (I think one of the white rectangles beside the dial was the "ON" light and the other was the cover open button) and the lighted dial on some Hotpoint and GE models, the Tappan might have been the first drop door front-loading dishwasher to have a light shining down on the control panel, not a lighted control or dial. I know that Kenmore had lighted control panels on top loading portables as did WP, but I think this was the first DW with this luxury feature. What a shame it lacked the most basic feature: cleaning.

 

[gansky1]

What is the small blue box on the front of the rack here? Detergent dispenser?

 

[eronie]

tappin

How did these machines work? Spin tube?

 

[appnut]

Greg, yes that's he detergent dispenser.  My Godfather's family had the low end model of these in the new house they bought in 1963.  Our house had the 1961 O'Keefe & Merrit brand of the low-end that got swapped out with the Waste King in our old house before we moved in.  If you filled the dispenser too much, not all the powder would be dissolved by the end of the last rinse.  It had a big black bakelite cylinder in the bottom of the tub (hence the hump in the middle of the bottom rack) that had baffles at the back.  As the cylinder  rotated, the baffles threw out the water in it.  Imagine tires on a car driving down a highway while it rained.  That's about the sound of it too.

 

[peteski50]

Tappan Dishwasher!

We had family friends that had one from 1963. Quiet machine.
But they always pre rinsed so couldn't judge performance! I remember the big timer dial that light up. They always had some type of service problems with this unit. I cannot recall what. But after 18 years in 1981 it was replaced with a reverse rack maytag and they always complained about the new machine being real noisy. This was opposite the norm where when most people get a new DW it is actually more quiet than the old!
Peter

 

[tomturbomatic]

That detergent dispenser was divided into two sections. In the first wash the cylinder spun in one direction which washed the detergent out of one side of the dispenser while washing dishes on one side of the machine. In the second wash, the cylinder turned in the opposite direction flushing the detergent out of the other side of the dispenser and washing the dishes on the other side of the machine. Tires do, indeed, throw water, but the aren't so great at washing dishes. While this machine is said to have two washes, it has, in actuality, two half washes or two half-assed washes. The rinsing was accomplished in the same two stage process.