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I bought my Mom the 1967 version of the Lady Kenmore with the butcher block top and the color was Coppertone. It washed well and the roto-rack always produced clean glasses etc. She used it until 1978. I still have the butcher block top, I just couldn't see throwing out all of that thick wood.
 
Tappan Dishwashers

I believe when Tappan ceased making their own dishwashers, they became produced by D&M.  At some point in time, probably 1983 or 1984, they farmed out their dishwasher production to GE.  The house I began building in Houston in Fall of 1984 had a Tappan kitchen and the dishwasher was definitely a GE Potscrubber.  On Pots & Pans cycle, it had 3 post wash rinses, just as my GSD1200 did on Potscrubber & Normal Wash.  I went to a wedding reception in Houston in around 1982 or 1983 and the kitchen where the reception was had a D&M produced Tappan.  
 
3 after rinses in other brands

KitchenAid introduced a third after rinse in the KDS14 and only used it in the Superba models. With the 15 and up, it was a one gallon fill to allow for the Sani Rinse, if selected. It is always neat to hear the rinse agent injector in the 14 kick in the dose of agent and the water almost instantly takes on a slightly slower, muffled, gentle, wooshing sound. I never noticed that as distinctly with the 4 Way Hydro Sweep machines, perhaps because the water action was more spread out in the tank and in the 14, the rinse agent was injected during circulation while in the later Superba machines, it was injected at the start of the fill.
 
Whirlpool was the first manufacturer to build Tappan branded dishwashers after they stopped producing them; I have service manuals illustrating this. D&M took over in the late 70's early 80's (not sure of exact year). GE was next, and then Frigidaire I believe (there could have been another manufacturer between GE & Frigidaire, but not sure)

Whirlpool also offered 3 rinses on the SAU series of machines (early 70's). When the SDU models were introduced this was switched back to 2 rinses.

Wasteking & Maytag also had 3 rinses on mid-60's to mid-70's models (pretty much all models they made during that time frame)
 
Three final Rinses

Great information Alan, We had a WP SAU500 that we bought in 1975 that replaced the 1966 Kenmore [ D&M ] that came with the new Sears kitchen that my parents had installed in the family home in the fall of 66.

 

The WP DW did not replace the KM till late in 1977. My parents moved to a new house in 1975 and it came with a brand new Kitchenaid KDI-17 DW, My Mom took one look at it and said how is it going to work with only one wash arm ? She also did not like the messy filter design of the KA, so I said I could change it as I was working for a MT, WP,  KA appliance dealer by this time. I took the KA out and installed the new WP and brought the new KA back two the store and sold it to someone that wanted a KA DW.

 

In 1977 my Dads job transferred my Mom and younger Brother Phil to Minnesota. the housing market was poor and the house in Ohio did not sell right away so Dads company bought the house to facilitate the move.

 

When I heard that I went out to Ohio with a slightly used HG GE DW and grabbed the WP brought it back to Maryland and junked the now 12 YO rusty D&M DW. The WP never had a single problem for 10 years and worked great, when we Remolded the kitchen in 1988 I installed two new WP DU8000XR DWs that are still working great.

 

John L.
 
Fun! Thank You!

I recollect roto-racks and the heating-delay cycle. If you loaded them properly and used the heating delay, you could get really, really clean pots and pans.

My mom found a trick - she'd begin by advancing the cycle to the deep-heat rinse, put in warm, not hot water (portable, obviously) and set it to do the hygenic rinse. Detergent went in by hand.

By the time it had raised the temperature to where it needed to go, the machine had scrubbed things genuinely clean. She then did the rinses again with hot water and that was that - super cleaning.

And, yes, the roto-racks did break glasses regularly.
 
Many thanks, Gentlemen and best wishes for a Happy Friday

Am guessing that mine was not a D&M, since the consensus was that they were not great performers; the Tappan I had, however, was. Have owned this house for just over a quarter century, the former owner was here for three years, I rented for a year, so now we're at 1990. The people who remodeled the place were here for maybe 5. So we're at 1985, plus or minus. I CAN pin down the exact date, but I'll need to do more work.

It had two arms, but then one day when I ran it with he door open, there was a plastic cylinder with a tipped cap and a one-eyed slit that rotated, spraying water around the tub. It was a fun little octopus.

Does that help identify and help fix the year, more or less, when Tappan was made by either, Whirlpool, General Electric, DM, or Frigidaire.

I love this stuff, but my deep regret is that I junked the machine just a few years ago when the door latch finally failed after many band-aids, before I knew that Alan wanted it, alas, replacing it with one of his finds.

mickeyd-2020062609424907494_1.jpg
 
Mikes 1985 Tappan DW

Hi Mike, it sounds like you had a D&M-FD hi-bred design.

WCI had both FD and D&M DW plants and designs and they started to put them together in the 80s, They were better than the D&M machines, but WCI completely disbanded both designs when Electrolux took over ownership and they brought out a plastic tank DW that was European in design.

John L.
 
Hello John !

Forget to say that the one-eyed slit fist cylinder popped up off the lower wash arm. Hybrid it is then--it sure worked swell. On the Mega cycle it heated either the pre-wash and the wash, or both, then the final third rinse. The dishes came out brand spankin' new. LOL.

Alan is really interested in this machine. My hope is to find another one to send to him. It was a built-in; myself, I prefer the portables like your fabulous Frigidaire at the museum.
 

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