Saving my KDD-22

[rp2813]

Pete, thanks for the offer of posting a picture but I'm not familiar enough with KA pumps to know what's funky and what's not. You speak from experience, and that's good enough for me.

I think the fact that your 23's pump isn't like what you'd see on an older KA is a good indicator that Whirlpool's influence was in full swing by the time that series debuted.

I'm guessing the 22 series machines are so hard to come by because so many of them are still in use, which is a good thing. Maybe I'll get lucky and a local remodel job will produce a perfectly good KUDS22 on CL at some point.

After reading your comments and Steve's about the 18 series (not necessarily on this same thread), I now have an understanding for why Steve was considering going after the KUDS22 in Daytona Beach in order to outfit it with 18 series guts. That sounds like an awesome combination, and if I ever get my hands on a WQ KUDS22, I may pick up an 18 series so I can convert mine too.

I could wring my sister's neck for getting rid of her KDS18 when I repeatedly told her not to. The machine was fine; her water supply wasn't. Last time I talked to her she admitted to realizing in hindsight that there was nothing wrong with her Superba. As one would expect, it disappeared from the curb it was kicked to almost immediately.

 

[VintageDW]

Tell me more...

rp2813, can you point me to a thread that discusses combining the KUDS22 and KDC-18? The thread I found, Steve mentioned putting the top washer of the 22 into the 18. There is a KDC-18 and KUDS22OT2 locally. How do you determine if the model has the "WhisperQuiet" feature (the local machine is actually several hours away).

 

[rp2813]

Steve mentioned using a KDS 22 Whisper Quiet tank to turn into a KDS 18 on thread #31506 further down in this forum. I believe he has done it once already using a KDS 20. You would have to get details from him, or perhaps there's a thread in the archives where he documented the process.

Scroll down or use this link for #31506:

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?31506_20

 

[rollermatic]

oh well

a lot of us here share those "curb" stories it seems like. i threw out a newly restored perfectly great kds-17a to the garbage in 1998 and replaced it with a cheap $139.00 hotpoint! all because i was ending a 10 year relationship!

and when i sold the house later a beautiful vintage frigidaire flair double wall oven also went to the curb! this was before i discovered my passion for appliance collecting!

thank God i now have another flair and a bunch of kds-17a's!!!

but it still makes me sick to think what i did!

 

[estea]

update and a moment of silence for my KDD-20, please...

welp, went back to Habitat ReStore to check on the KUDI2I as a replacement machine/upgrade, but just couldn't pull the trigger, as further inspection revealed the racks were mismatched (the lower rack was a different color and didn't fit properly), the lower wash arm was heavily corroded, and there was a large amount of broken glass in the bottom of the tub. Just didn't feel right.

I did see a Whirlpool DU930 that looked suspiciously like my mother's machine - and my mother is the only woman I know who actually praises her late-model dishwasher - sitting nearby, looking like it had never been installed. Called my mom and confirmed that yes, it was the same model, and soon found out from the manager that it had been removed from someone's lake/getaway condo ("wrong color/not stainless") and was barely used, if at all.

$35 and a day later the DU930 is installed and purring through its 3rd load of dishes. I realize it's a poor substitute for the KDD-20 - I don't think we'll ever love an appliance more! - but if it's anything like my mom's, it'll be fine for us.

Thanks for all your help and input.

Anybody want I should pull some parts from the old one??

Estea

 

[retropia]

I'm not familiar with the DU930 model, but Whirlpool has made some very good dishwashers. May you enjoy many years of automatic dishwashing enjoyment with your low-mileage Whirlpool.

 

[rp2813]

Estea, you may want to start a separate "parting out" post to check for interest in any parts from your KDD-20, but it might just be time to let it become a Prius.

It sounds like you got a good deal on a decent machine. Mom knows best! I would say that you'll get many years of service from the Whirlpool. Longevity has everything to do with properly using and caring for the machine, and you already know how to do both.