POD - August 12, 2009

[turquoisedude]

Wow - we had the same dishwasher when I was a brat, but in a portable model! It replaced the ol' Viking top-loader in 1979 and it was in use right up until my father sold his farm in Western Ontario in 2006...
The machine cleaned wonderfully, but I think it may have been one of the noisiest damn dishwashers I have used and that includes the MobileMaid!! lol

 

[frigilux]

Boy howdy, it wasn't exactly frugal with water, was it? 17.5 gallons for the normal cycle? My LG, by comparison, uses 3.6-5 gallons and cleans very well. Not in 60 minutes, granted.

A cool---and you're right, noisy---vintage machine!

 

[turquoisedude]

Oh boy, I remember reading about the water usage of the GE Potscrubber in the Consumer Reports magazine - they rated it as the most expensive machine to use in terms of overall energy costs because of how much hot water it went through! I think a KitchenAid model was the 'Recommended Buy' back in '79 but around here, the KA ran like $850 and we were able to pick up the GE from Eatons (thanks to employee discounts) for $480.

 

[scott55405]

That sounds about right Frigilux. I don't know if it's only BOL models, which I had in a few rentals, but it always seemed to me like GE/Hotpoint dishwashers of the past spent an inordinate amount of time filling and draining. KAs and I suppose others used a lot of water too, but they didn't seem to change as often.

My aunt, also on a farm, had a portable GE for years and was pleased with its performance. She replaced it with a KA Superba portable at the end of its life.

The new dws mostly do a good job from what I've seen/experienced and are good for the environment, but at some point I wonder about the tradeoff with those never-ending cycles. To me that cuts into the convenience factor of having a d/w after a while.

 

[kenmoreguy64]

We had the machine on the right in our house in Denver, which we built in summer 1977. My mom previously had left a built-in KDS-17 in Michigan, which she loved. The builder's appliance supplier didn't carry KitchenAid and to get another comparable Superba was going to cost too much $$ so my folks went with the Potscrubber 950 instead.

We loved it. Surprisingly, even in water stingy Denver, we never complained about that water use, but we never rinsed our dishes and it never failed us. What my mother missed most about that machine was the forced air drying, which we could hear running. When we came to Charlotte and our house had a 1983 Potscrubber 900, we were sure the fan wasn't working, until we learned it didn't have one.

Mom still misses fan drying to this day. I enjoyed the machine as every once in a while when nobody else was home, I'd reverse the panels and put the Almond away in favor of Coppertone, Avocado, etc. and see how long it took for anyone to notice. One time we went overnight before someone saw the gold.

 

[andrewinorlando]

Those were about some of the finest dishwashers GE ever made. To this day, I never understood why they abandoned that three spray arm design in favor of the dopey pop up tower. Those machines could clean anything, and left no deposits behind.

 

[peteski50]

GE

Yes I like these model with the 3 spray arms as opposed to the tower. Amazing that when a company comes out with something good they screw up a good design. Why they never kept enhancing the design is beyond belief. But typical for USA industry.
Peter

 

[gansky1]

But it did have forced air drying!

Under the Power Saver caption, it mentions that you can turn off the heat during the forced air drying cycle.

Looks just like a KitchenAid - it's uncanny isn't it? This heater module is at the front of the machine instead of the back like KA.

 

[gansky1]

Ok, I'll post pics of the whole machine...

This is one of the many, many cool dishwashers at John Lefever's warehouse in Maryland. I took these over July 4 weekend when we were out there. Sorry about the glare, but it was up at eye level and the lighting wasn't great for no-flash snapping.

 

[gansky1]

controls left

 

[gansky1]

controls right

 

[gansky1]

lower tank

 

[turquoisedude]

OOH! A China/Crystal cycle!

That was the model that had some kind of aeration system to 'soften' the water spray wasn't it??
IIRC there were Inglis (alien-universe Whirlpool) models that had a two-speed motor for a less-intensive china/crystal wash.

 

[gansky1]

Now this is way cool - check out the telescoping feed tube for the center spray arm. This allows for tilt - adjustment of the upper rack.

 

[gansky1]

upper rack

 

[gansky1]

upper rack adjustment - Dial-a-Level

 

[gansky1]

Door liner

 

[gansky1]

How it works

for the motor-heads

 

[gansky1]

Yeah, in the last picture you can see a small, clear hose coming out of the pump intake (black plastic elbow piece on the right side) that is connected to the switch on the panel that allows air to be drawn in which "softens" or aerates the water.