The Mechanical Restoration of the Youngstown Dishwasher

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The Youngstown must pass that one to be classified as a daily driver!!

DOES IT! The Fist of Jetcone comes down hard, ouch.

Ummmm I think it will win enough points for drama and cuteness alone. Besides if I adjust the "circuitry" so the cycle runs 90 minutes instead of nine, it will have no excuse for not getting things clean. We will see. I can tell just by looking at it, it’s going to have a very limited capacity. But that's OK I have the Frigidaire, KitchenAid, Apex, James and Westinghouse dishwashers hooked up and ready to go to take up the slack. No leftover dishes in the sink that couldn't fit in the dishwasher in our house! It is odd carrying dishes downstairs to wash them, but its all part of the fun.
 
carrying?

Round laundry basket lined with a large garbage bag...
Does WONDERS.

Targay (well in the beginning of summer) had this plastic thing that looks kinda like a woven straw ladies bag for that purpose.
 
Looks like things are shaping up great Robert.
SO little work for a dishwasher this old!
Do you know or not if the "holding tank" is working okay?
What is the temp of the holding tank as far as the water?
Oh....
Also, the Jamestown guide that you put on the site said to use several detergents. One of the detergents was "Chat." Have you or anyone else heard of it? I just love the name. Was it any good?
Thanks for the progress pictures.
Brent
 
Here is the latest update on the Youngstown.

The drain valve and water valve are now fixed and working perfectly. So last night I took apart the pump to see why it was leaking through its shaft. As I suspected the pump seal is pretty corroded and needs to be replaced. I found a seal in my "stash-o-seals" that fits but it’s meant to seal oil not water. While it helps and slows the leak down considerably, it still has a slow drip. But since the motor is coupled to the pump via a rubber coupler, there is no danger of the dripping water getting into the motor for now I will put a little rag down and move forward. I will be on the lookout for the proper seal though. Also the sleeve bearing in the pump is a bit worn and causes the pump to be nosier than it should be.

So I revved up the dishwasher last night. Very interesting machine. It opens the fill valve and starts the motor, pressure slowly but surely builds up in the pump and it starts to spray through the Jet-Tower. After 20 or so seconds of filling the Jet-Tower starts to rotate. After 60 or so seconds of filling there is enough water pressure going through the pump to activate the pump pressure switch and that starts the timer motor moving which closes the fill faucet valve and the cycle continues on.

Now here is a question for all of you out there who remember seeing Youngstown dishwashers years ago. In my machine when the tower is rotating it seems to slow down and speed up throughout the spray cycle. When it slows down you can feel vibration running through the machine, then the vibration stops and the Jet-Tower resumes full speed. Is this something you all remember with this machine, or is this a defect? I have a feeling it is a defect that I will have to fix, but I wanted to check with those of you who remember this machine first. Also how noisy do you remember this machine to be?

I believe there could be two reasons for this:

#1 Air is somehow being sucked into the pump and when it builds up enough air it is being expelled through the Jet-Tower.

#2 The Jet-Tower simply sits on a pointed shaft, maybe the point at the top of the shaft has worn a bit.

I'll be interested to hear what you guys think. Also Brent you asked about the water heater tank. Unfortunately it’s not heating so for now I bypassed it, but I do want to try and fix that too after I get the spray action working properly. I think the heating element has opened up.

I took some pictures of the seal and will post them later.
 
Just Guessing...

I would have to guess #1, Air. I have very low water pressure at my house and the GE PowerShower does this if it doesn't have enough water....

duetboy
 
Does the spray tower have any sort of bearing or glide at the bottom of the tower? Perhaps it's slowing down because it's not moving smoothly on the bottom of the shaft? Is there a perceptible vibration in the tower itself? (if you can even see that with the water shooting all over the place)

Have you tried stopping the tower from spinning to isolate that out of the equation?
 
Robert

I remember turning the Jet tower when Mrs Cusano wasn't looking and the machine was empty. It sort of rattled like a bad bearing on a Kenmore or KA machine but when it came on with water it spun quickly around with no noise except the sloshing of the needle sprays and it turned continously, so fast it was hard to see the corners of the Jet Tower or that was caused by the spray hitting the glass it was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away!
Jet
 
The neat thing about the spray tower is at the bottom of it is held in perfect center alignment by two small streams of water 180 degrees apart. No bearing needed down there, and there is no visible vibration in the tower itself.

I spoke to John L. tonight about it and he also thinks since he's seen this problem with other dishwashers is if the pump seal and sleeve bearing is leaking like it is, it also is likely taking in air since the seal only leaks when the motor is off. Taking in small amounts of air will cause a momentary drop in pressure every 10 seconds or so.

Looks like I might have to replace the motor/pump assembly with something else. I'm going to try and find a new seal first. I hate to have to do that but this DW is too cool not to have the proper flow of water through the Jet-Tower!
 
GREAT pictures Robert...how cool! Love the water spraying up on the glass!

It's like live-water action...except for your dishes! Increase the cycle time and you're set for ages!
 
Robert,
That looks so darn cool!
Looks like it had lot's of power as far as the spray goes.
Sorry about the tank heater, but I bet you find a way to fix it. Does the heating element just pull out of the tank? Was not sure if you got that far yet.
This is such a fun machine!
Can't wait for you to get it all fixed, and do the virgin dish test!
Fun!
Thanks Robert!
Brent
 
Gotta love any appliance with a window in the door (lid)!

How cool is that?

Great pics! Thanks for sharing.

I hope you can figure out what might be wrong with the spin tube and that it will be an easy fix.

Hopefully the hot water tank will also be an easy fix.

Mike
 
Jon the Jet-Tower lifts right out of the dishwasher, its simply sitting on a Washington momument shaped post.

Well I fixed the heater tank last night, turns out the heater was fine, the contacts on the thermostat were burned and needed sanding and cleaning...

10-8-2005-08-46-58--Unimatic1140.jpg
 
Wow a porcelain tank is revealed as well as the heater itself and the thermostat, which turned out to need work. Very different than the heater tank assembly in the Apex dishwasher.

10-8-2005-08-49-20--Unimatic1140.jpg
 
All fixed now, and I measured the temperature of the water after its was heated (only took about 10 15 minutes to raise the temperature from 135 tap hot water to 180. The temperature got to 182F water, the dishes are going to say ouch!

Its a 1250 watt heater and it draws 9.75 Amps when its running.

10-8-2005-08-51-12--Unimatic1140.jpg
 
Robert,
That is so cool.
I am glad that it was needing so little.
I don't remember if you posted this or not, but what is the temp that the tank holds the water at? Looks like with all of that insulation, and the outer cover, it would do a good job of keeping the heat in, and not cycling on all that much.
You will be cleaning your nasty dishes in no time!
Thanks for the pictures.
Brent
 
Hi Brent, its suppose to be set at 180F, there is an adustment on the thermostat so you (the service man) can regulate the temp. So the 182F reading I took is close enough.
 
182!

Hi Robert! Wouldn't it be better to ramp the temp down to say 155-160 so that glassware won't become etched? Mark
 
Hi Mark, nope 182F for now, before I tinker with the machine, lets see how Youngstown meant it to wash first. I didn't realize that water that hot could cause etching, oh well our glasses from Target can be etched to their hearts content.
 
etching

"Wouldn't it be better to ramp the temp down to say 155-160 so that glassware won't become etched?"

Etching is not just a temperature factor, it's also a result water hardness(soft) and amount of detergent used issues
 

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