xpanam
Well-known member
Says Mobile Maid were it would say Power Shower? What is the blue disk on top of the cover? Never saw one like this before. Hope someone saves this!
Rare Mobile Maid dishwasher
- Thread starter xpanam
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It's not-quite-a-BOL. This is probably an SP203W or X, ('62 or'63, maybe even as late as '64). The round blue thing is the cheap machine's version of the Power Shower. A spray of water from the "Power Tower" shoots up at the disk and gets diverted over the tops of the dishes in the upper rack. That said, I have no idea how this machine performed compared to its more expensive siblings; possibly quite well and you're right, you don't see lots of these around.
also
notice how the front cover rises up to surround and include the hose/uni-coupler assembly. On many models, the front stops an inch or so below the tub gasket, allowing space for cycle buttons and options. This does look entirely BOL, but fun.
Also, while it's hard to decipher the picture, I think this is the rack system where you actually load the bottom first, entirely, while the top rack is sitting on your counter. Then install the top rack and load it up. Very cumbersome, not the way we eat or dirty up dishes or anything.
Maybe that's why it's still around for someone else to own? Too weird/cheap a machine to really use all that often?
I am not picking on Mobile Maids,I have two that are GREAT. But the higher end racking systems, that lift up with the top, are far more reasonable machines to use.
But if I didn't have my 2 already and this came up locally, I'd buy in an instant. The GE spray arm/tower system of this era cleans everything I give it.
notice how the front cover rises up to surround and include the hose/uni-coupler assembly. On many models, the front stops an inch or so below the tub gasket, allowing space for cycle buttons and options. This does look entirely BOL, but fun.
Also, while it's hard to decipher the picture, I think this is the rack system where you actually load the bottom first, entirely, while the top rack is sitting on your counter. Then install the top rack and load it up. Very cumbersome, not the way we eat or dirty up dishes or anything.
Maybe that's why it's still around for someone else to own? Too weird/cheap a machine to really use all that often?
I am not picking on Mobile Maids,I have two that are GREAT. But the higher end racking systems, that lift up with the top, are far more reasonable machines to use.
But if I didn't have my 2 already and this came up locally, I'd buy in an instant. The GE spray arm/tower system of this era cleans everything I give it.
Not that rare - there's been one for sale in Drummondville (between Montreal and Quebec City) for nearly a year now that I have been resisting and I think there is still one in the Albany area craigslist from a summer home...
Is this a wash-arm machine then? My grandmother's looked exactly like this; same colored dial, brown unicouple & trim and the tiny cover-open button next to the unicouple hole. Her dishwasher had the bowtie impeller and no 'splash disc' on the lid - could it have been the BOL and this one is the next up in the line as you thought, Ken?
My grandfather relented to buying this, probably after much needling. As usual, another kitchen gadget that was a "must have" and then sat unused for decades. It's a good thing there was no QVC or HSN on television back in my grandmother's day or she'd have surely bankrupted them. Sure was a fun house to spend summers in with an attic full of all the gadgets and appliances one little boy needed to shape a life
My grandfather relented to buying this, probably after much needling. As usual, another kitchen gadget that was a "must have" and then sat unused for decades. It's a good thing there was no QVC or HSN on television back in my grandmother's day or she'd have surely bankrupted them. Sure was a fun house to spend summers in with an attic full of all the gadgets and appliances one little boy needed to shape a life
Greg, this a wash-arm and tower machine. The blue disc on the lid acted like a deflector to shower water downwards, in the interest of preventing 'yibblet' accumulation no doubt. I wonder if GE claimed 'three-level washing' for this model...
From having seen these machines when they were new, odds are it does not have a full wash arm, but a short pipe roughly the same size as the bowtie impeller with an angled hole at each end which was to mimic the water distribution of the impeller. The design of the lower rack doomed it to failure. The machine was a bitch to load because, unlike the circular lower rack with an open center area in the impeller machines in which you could pivot plates into position through the opening in the upper rack, this lower rack either had to have the top rack removed to be loaded or you had to carefully load the lower rack from the outside in. In the machine like this that I had experience with, the detergent cup was a white plastic funnel on the front of the tub. That means no prerinse and a reduced temperature wash. This machine was GE's apotheosis of the Sears loss leader machines that, as John said, were figuratively nailed to the floor. Unfortunately, this had wheels so it moved. It was sold to people totally ignorant of what a dishwasher should be and do. If it sold for $50 NEW, it was not worth the money. It is possible that it is a model with a wash arm, but that top rack with that lower rack is a non-starter.
They could have dumped water in it to water test it; gives you an idea of the seller's ingenuity.
They could have dumped water in it to water test it; gives you an idea of the seller's ingenuity.
It's an SP-103C, one up from the BOL
Greg - yeah, your granny had the BOL BOL, this one is the next one up. There's cut-sheets on these models in Ephemera. Once GE switched to blue Plastisol from pink in the portables the bow-tie impeller was gone, never to return.
Paul - I have to check, but they didn't call this AFAIK a three-level, they implied it though. The deflector disk was the Power Shower consolation gimmick that they called a "Shower-Flo"
Lemme see...
Greg - yeah, your granny had the BOL BOL, this one is the next one up. There's cut-sheets on these models in Ephemera. Once GE switched to blue Plastisol from pink in the portables the bow-tie impeller was gone, never to return.
Paul - I have to check, but they didn't call this AFAIK a three-level, they implied it though. The deflector disk was the Power Shower consolation gimmick that they called a "Shower-Flo"
Lemme see...
