thermador / waste king / thd 3600

[burke91]

Howdy guys, new to this great forum...

I bought an old victorian here in upstate new york and it has a great, old, mostly working and in good shape, thermador thd 3600 (roughly 1985). timing control, cycle selector, drains, pumps, heating element, all works. however, at some point, the entire detergent dispenser (cup on the inside of tub and bi metal plus other parts inside the door) was removed. i guess the old owner either just threw detergent in in the prewash or stopped the cycle, opened the door and added detergent at appropriate times of the cycle. i am looking either to find and old compatible dishwasher (waste king or thermador of similar style) that doesn't work because of bad motor, rot, other electrical, etc.. and get the dispenser parts or failing that, just part out my dishwasher..

thx..

if anyone has a manual or repair diagram it would be great.. thx..

dan b

 

[rp2813]

Dan,

Before you go to the trouble, there's a thorough analysis on the THD 3600 by one of our resident dishwasher authorities that is well worth reading.  The link is below.

 

As you will learn when you read through the thread, both Nate and I tried to love this machine, but his initial post describes perfectly how it treated us, so there was no love lost when it got kicked to the curb back in 2011.

 

My $0.02:  Don't bother trying to find the dispenser and instead look for a more capable dishwasher of similar vintage, such as a KitchenAid with model suffix anywhere from 18 to 24.

 

Whatever route you choose, best of luck, and welcome to the forum.

 

Ralph

Machines of Ill Repute, Volume III - The Norris Industries Thermador/Waste King

You remember this thing, don't you? :-) Ralph bequeathed it to me when his heart went ISE-yonder. I took it in, because it was PRETTY (how many of us have been guilty of that?), and I loved the way the door latched shut with a *click!* even before you nudged the sliding lock lever. ...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[washer111]

Ralph:

Digging through the archives, it looked as though you were thoroughly impressed with the Thermador until Dish-washing detergent's had their formulas changed, or someone added liquid dish-washing soap to the machine.

 

Having read the thorough analysis (and saved it to my Mac's hard disk for future entertainment/enlightenment), it seems as if the machine "performed" on the Steam cycles, but not so well on the Regular Washes...

 

But, whatever you choose to do, you have found a welcoming group that will endeavor to assist you wherever you need help. I wish you the best of luck if you choose to persist with your very own "Thundering Thermador."

 

[whirlcool]

And for what the original owner probably paid for that Thermador, they probably could have bought a Miele!

 

[rp2813]

Oh yes, we both fell victim to the Thermador's steamy attributes and seductive good looks, particularly since we fabricated stainless-look panels for it, and I was taken in by remarks from others who stated the THD 3600 would take the chrome off a trailer hitch.  We sincerely wanted to believe that in this machine we had found the holy grail of cleaning ability, and after the work we did to revive it I convinced myself that the results I got from it were the best anyone could expect from an automatic dishwasher. 

 

The reality was that, as Nate stated in his "Ill Repute" trilogy, the machine only delivered satisfactory results when a steam cycle was selected, which was both an expensive and risky option to use on a regular basis. 

 

After my disastrous experience with phosphate-free detergent, things were never the same, even after I went back to phosphates after stockpiling phosphated Cascade powder when it was quickly disappearing from store shelves.  The love affair was over when the non-steam cycles produced streaks and film on everything, and the noise factor could no longer be justified.

 

I happened across a very nice ISE clone of a 22 series KitchenAid on craigslist, and the Thundering Thermador got bumped out of the kitchen in short order.  Peace and quiet, along with clean dishes (not to mention ease of loading them), returned to the household.

 

Nate couldn't resist giving the TT a chance, still understandably attracted by its good looks, so he took it off my hands.  He was naive and still under its spell because he hadn't been relying on it for over a year like I had.  His "Ill Repute" report reflects just how quickly his relationship with the TT deteriorated, and was also similarly terminated by a pristine and well-priced KitchenAid machine.

 

 

 

[combo52]

Thermador-WasteKing DWs

Hi Dan Welcome to the site and congratulations on your new house project.

 

As an appliance technician for almost 40 years that has worked on at least 100+ TD-WK DWs I would fully agree with Ralph and Nate's assessments about your newly acquired [ otherwise cool ] DW.

 

TD-WK DWs were one of the least produced DWs and parts are NLA and scarce. They were often plagued with repair and performance problems. My advice would be to set a timer when you start the DW and go back and add the 2nd shot of detergent at the proper time and see how much use you can get out of this DW. You likely have many things to work on in your new house and the time and effort it may take to fix the DD on this DW will only be a short term victory as other difficult to repair problems will occur sooner than later, as the DD was only one of this DWs many weak points.  John.

 

[william637]

If you open the door to add detergent...

I have a waste-king (of late 70's / early 80's vintage), and a steam waste-king (basically a re-badged version of what you have). Both have a similar issue - water gushes from under the door if you open the door during a cycle and then re-start it. Still not sure what causes it, but it is a pain in the ass.

Both of my machines are in the basement and are really just part of my collection - I can't imagine making them daily drivers. If you have space, I would recommend keeping it, just because they are somewhat rare - and the steam thing is kind of fun. If you end up wanting to get rid of it, please email me...it may be worth the drive up there just so I have spare parts for the machines I already have.

-Mark

 

[combo52]

WK-TD DWs that leak under door

When any DW is opened when running with really hot water in it cooler room air fills into the machine, then when the door is closed and the machine immediately started the very hot water being thrown into the cooler air causes the air to expand rapidly and blow out any escape available. On WK-TD DWs the main vent is under the door so this rapidly escaping air will sometimes blow some water out with this rush of escaping air. When I interrupt the main wash cycle on my 1987 WP Power-Clean DW and close the door and let it restart immediately a huge rush of hot air blows out of the control vent, but no leaks.

 

As mentioned by many WK-TD DWs were not all that well designed and built machines, but you can eliminate this leaking after opening the door during a cycle by re closing the door and waiting 30 seconds before latching it and causing the motor to start running, this brief waiting period allows the cooler air in the tank to be warmed by the hot water and dishes in the machine thus avoiding a rapid pressure buildup that causes the machine to leak.

 

[volsboy1]

You can use those Finnish auto dispenser  but I think I know a guy who has all this stuff for one.. I love those dishwasher's

they were always one of my favs I have only seen one.My Aunt had one and it cleaned good but this was also in the 80s and 90s

when they had real detergent.Most everybody I have ever talked to hates them.She had it for about 14 years so that is a

very good dishwasher compared to now days.We are replacing them every 4 years or so and my L.G. is about to be thrown out

and it is a year and a half years old but it won't clean.

 

[volsboy1]

Oh sorry here is a link..

http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/part-model/Thermador-Parts/Dishwasher-Parts/Model-THD3800/1085/0130000?blt=05