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LOL, it is more fun than should be allowed! I love the look on people's faces when you open the door while it's washing and the top rack is still going a million miles an hour. Hey, no water left on top of your coffee mugs! I guess if spinning is good for the laundry, why not give it a go in the dishes!

Speaking of which, yes, I was naughty and gave it a spin ;-) LOL

That is a REALLY GOOD idea for using the heated rinse as a super-prewash. I'll have to cook-up something ultra-disgusting and give it a go!
 
And since the detergent dispenser and rinse aid are integral, a closed detergent cup SHOULD open up on that last rinse as the rinse aid is dispensed.
 
Nate I do think this one is a keeper. I had the very same dishwasher, in fact it was the first one I ever bought. The knob was a bit larger but other than that the same. I got that in 1971. I must say it was always a fantastic washer, better than my new GE tall tub that is for sure. You are also right about the spinning rack, no water let in most of the wells on glasses and cups. Thanks so much for sharing the fun with us.
 
But it's not green.

I dig the gray/green racks - to match the buttons, how cute!

Steve1-18 (a member here) took the cover plates off the timer in his D&M Kenmore and filed down the cam so that the sani-heat delay would trip in the main wash cycle as well as the final rinse. This modification and the resulting increase in run-time to a day and half made for some very, very clean dishes. I've thought about doing that with mine. This machine can do a fine job with dishes from one meal, or even a busy dish-day, but when we let dishes "build up" to a full load over several days, the KM has a tough time with dried-on soils.

The dispenser system you describe is pretty funny. I wonder if you take the tank and valve assy. out for a good cleaning and long hot tub in the sink if that would melt and remove any build-up in the valve & assy. Sometimes it works and sometimes, not but worth a try. Don't be afraid of working on that system, parts haven't been available for years and I'll win the "au-gratin" bet by default - hee hee.... Maybe a better bet would be to see how long it takes to sneak back into using the KitchenAid - I already know how long it took me! The next time you see a Danby countertop dishwasher on Craigslist, grab it. They are really fun to play with - another appliance Roger wouldn't use to...well, you know... Have fun playing with it - a must for any dishwasher connoisseur. Consider it a swig of Boone's Farm instead of Dom!
 
Great find Nate, I've never used a roto-rack before. That would be a great candidate for making a plex-glas door and video (hint, hint)! When you said Two full cups of detergent, I sure hope you mean two DW Cups and not 2 measuring cups of dishwasher detergent LOL.
 
Mike, the rack is moved by water pressure. A tube comes up the middle of the back of the tub, right under the rack. Some jets spray directly up to spray the contents in the rack, other jets spray at an agle and cause the rack to rotate because they hit the rungs of the rack. I'm not sure how many rpms it does. But I would say once the intertia forces begin, maybe 20 or so a minute. It all depends on how balanced in weight the top rack is. Also, I noticed that if it was evenly, heavily loaded, it seemed to spin a bit faster.
 
Nate, now that I think about it, I probably would have seen if I could put those glasses in the bottom rack under the big mixing bowl and if the height of the glasses and bowl didn't prevent the top rack from rotating, I'd have left them there. Probably raised the top rack to the high position too.
 
:-)

Dale: If your dishwasher performance is bad, there can be a lot of reasons why. What make/model is yours? Factors affecting performance (aside from detergent and its state of freshness, as you noted) include incoming water temperature (it needs to be 120-140ºF, and for my D&M, hotter is better), filter design and cleanliness, making sure the water pressure is sufficient so that it gets a full fill, making sure spray arms turn freely and the jets are not plugged, and so on. Let us know what you have and we might be able to help you out.

Bob: That's neat about the detergent cup--I hadn't thought of that :-) I need to get the rinse-aid dispenser to stop passively barfing Jet-Dry, and then we'll be good to go.

What isn't pictured are the cereal bowls and glasses that are hiding under the big bowl and the colander in the bottom rack, so I made sure to flex my BobLoading muscle ;-) The only thing that isn't "nested" is the saucepan in the lower-left, because the tines are so numerous and closely-spaced that it was just too pissy about fitting anything underneath.

Oh, that's another thing. Try fitting a jelly roll pan in the bottom rack on the far left or right. The 1/2" distance between the rack wall and first row of tines forces everything to bend inward, and then you're hosed. Grrrr. I wish they had made a more spacious layout.

I have to be careful with putting glasses in the bottom racks of these machines, though, unless they are very thick-walled--I've lost many an item to the patented "blast-and-bump" washing action.

Terry: How cool! I wonder what year this one might be? You're very welcome--just a little bit of clean dishes for holiday mirth :-D

Robert: LOL I will cut a Plexiglas door for this one and video it. I have to admit I'm intensely curious myself! And yes, that's two full physical detergent cups, not two measuring cups of detergent :-) (though, with our hard water, the difference might not be that great...)

Greg: :-P I love the gray racks too--I'm used to the butterscotch yellow that came later. That idea about filing the cam is EXCELLENT, though I'll have to work up the chutzpah to do it. I'd swear I remember my grandmother's 1983-ish D&M Kenmore with the Water Miser/Pots&Pans/Normal/Light/Rinse&Hold/SaniTemp/HotDry/CoolDry bonanza as having a spot in Pots&Pans where it would hang-out in the middle of the Light wash cycle and sit forever to heat, but I could be wrong. That Sani Heat option would be so much more appreciated in the wash than in the rinse.

We have some über-icky dishes accumulating that will feature the finest in dried-on soils, so I'll have to give it a whirl and report.

I'll try to go after the Jet-Dry dispenser--I think I know where it's leaking and what it will look like, and I'm already unmotivated to fix it. But, I need to repaint the unit anyway, so I may as well investigate. And thanks for the encouragement--there's nothing quite like taking comfort in the knowledge that it's bad now, but could be rendered completely dysfunctional and impossible to replace ;-) ROTF

I will keep an eye out for one of those Danbys! They sound like loads of fun.

Is the au gratin bet nullified if I mod the cam on the timer? ;-)

Can I call it a nip of Arbor Mist instead? :-P

Mike: Yes, the top-rack moves through water pressure alone, and a very freewheeling bearing in the middle. Bob's description was spot-on :-) It is a very substantial unit--and quite fun to heave around across Saltillo tile grout lines (argh!) :-)

I find that my rack spins at about 80-100 RPM--that's how fast I've clocked it when the door opens and it's just spinning down from being powered by the wash tube underneath. We're all amazed that it doesn't break things. When the dishwasher stops to drain, you can still hear the "whoom-whoom-whoom-whoom-squeak!" of the rack still spinning away.
 
Date and docs?

So, Sears cataloguers, any idea what year this is? And, does anyone have any documentation for a Roto-Rack, so that I can maximize my efficient loading skills and learn about all of its feature-packed goodness? :-) I'd be infinitely grateful for any info!
 
Nate, just guessing here but I am going to say 1973-74, wish I had some old Sears catalogs to confirm this.
 
Nate, this pre-dates our 1970 or 1971 Roto-Rack that went to the lake house. I've not seen a timer dial like this (with the rinse numbers on it and such).

I know on my 1980 D&M dishwasher, the Pots n Pans cycle slowed down the timer so that the main wash was 30 minutes. How do I know it wasn't timed delayed, cuz I just HAD to run the dishwasher empty right after closing on the house and before the water heater was even lit. The PnP cycle main wash also had the heater on to increase incoming water temp. It didn't do that on normal (again before water heater lit). This had one of those big fat dials on it. Was Sears' 2nd generation rectangular top rack edition.
 
Nate,
The Kenmore looks right at home in your kitchen I must say. What do the troops think of it?
Also I bet it works much better with hot water!!! :-)
Roger
 
Hi Roger!! :-D

LOL It's just ready to push that KitchenAid right out, I tell you! :-P

Frank and Will think it's fun. They like the faster cycle, but it's such a b-tch to move across that uneven floor. Mostly I think they're just humoring me, which is fine, too :-P

I had no idea Roto-Racks went back so far...check out this Sears advert from 1968!

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www.digitalpast.org
 
Nate, RotoRacks go back to the early 1950s when one of the D&M brand labels had an impeller dishwasher with a top rotorack which moved due to water currents. There are a couple of members here with top loading portable Kenmores with RotoRacks from like 1960 or 1961.
 
Nate, very nice kenmore, we had a portable in my first house that my ex-partners parents donated to us our rotorack turned at pretty good clip, it had yellow racks. I also had friends that one with green racks mentioning the color because i would guess it would help date them, the friends roto-rack turned really FAST. Like you said don't know if was quality control, or maybe the angle of the holes that hit the rack were at a slightly different angle, sounds like you have one of the roto's that runs on warp, Your machine is very nice. arthur.
 
Nate, the one obtained for the lakehouse had green racks and then one we got for Houston in like late 1972 or 1973 had yellow racks with white cutlery basket. The latter one was the built-in version of the portable one Greg has in Omaha. I really thihk yours dates back to 1968 or 1969. Both of ours were next to the LK models of their time. The first one had a light behind the big clear timer dial with temp lights on the panel and the latter had the smaller dial with the red indicator light and lights above the buttons. The temp indicator lights were much smaller and actually the tiny letters in the words were illumiinated.
 
The very last of the rotoracks looked like Greg's dishwasher, yellow racks, but also had a hot/cool dry switch to the right of the timer dial or to the left of it, depending upon model in the linie.
 
So, Sears cataloguers, any idea what year this is? And, does anyone have any documentation for a Roto-Rack, so that I can maximize my efficient loading skills and learn about all of its feature-packed goodness? :-) I'd be infinitely grateful for any info!

For you Nate, anything...

Fall/Winter 1969

7-5-2007-19-23-2--Unimatic1140.jpg
 

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