UK Hoover Dishwashers of Yesteryear...

[rolls_rapide]

Much has recently been posted of Hoover automatics and twintubs. However, can anyone supply information about Hoover dishwashers prior to 1989?

I once came across a 1960's advert for the Hoover "Autojet" dishwasher, with circular baskets - but can't find it on the internet now.

 

[matchboxpaul]

Don't lay claim to being the initial provider of the image - can't remember where I stumbled across it either - only a small copy unfortunately.

Only ever saw one of these in the flesh. It was sat outside a house in my village waiting for the council to come and collect - probably late 80's.
Like all Hoover machinery from the 60's and 70's, in my opinion, a very stylish looking piece of kit. Love the metallic silver facias. Anyone got a better pic or know the model number?
1960's through mid 80's Hoover dishwashers included 4804, 4805, 4808 & 4809 - then 4824 & 4834, then D7014 & D7016.

 

[74simon]

Hoover Auto-Jet

This machine (model 4804) was reviewed in Which? magazine in December 1968, and was chosen as a best buy - it was the best at washing (along with a Bosch at twice the price), and was rated highly on other features too. Which? noted that it had been in production for about a year before their tests, so it must have been introduced sometime in 1967. Presumably this was Hoover's first dishwasher.

It was built in Italy, so I wonder if it was a badge-engineered machine from that country. I'd love to know if that basket rotated!

Incidentally, did you know that the MD of the Colston company, Charles Colston, was the MD of Hoover UK until 1955? The Colston was meant to bring the luxury of a dishwasher to the average household, much like the Hoover 0307 did for washing machines, but the little Colston didn't seem to be as successful as he'd hoped, and Colston was bought out by Rolls around 1962.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Thanks gents

Back in 1986/87 I was looking through the various manufacturers' dishwasher brochures. One of them was for the Hoover "Crystaljet" with blue trim. Quite a nice looking machine. I never cared for the Ariston models ("Aristella"?). Anyway, I ended up purchasing a Zanussi DW400 from Clydesdale electrical store. It had a freebie of two large packs of "SUN" detergent. The machine lasted 7 years.

I often wonder what the Hoover machine was like to live with. Can anyone give details?

 

[chestermikeuk]

Hoover Crystal Jet

The pic is the Hoover 4804 machine as Simon states and it was first produced in October 1967, I would love to see this in action!!! it has two spray arms which rotate with the force of the water , BUT, the basket also twirls round in the opposite direction to the water spray!!! How FAB is that...

It has three programmes which are:
1. 60dC heavy soiled dishes & pans
2. 50dC Lightly soiled dishes & pans
3. 60dC rinse only, Hoover specified using a little powder to avoid smells etc..due sto the hot water temp..

The all in one basket moves around by the use of a drive belt on the upper arm, via a drive shaft at the rear left of the machine...I wonder if it was a hoover washer belt???

Dont have a pic of the Hoover but picked up a Colston table top last year, must have been a boom back then but seriously short of space for todays modern household..

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/chestermikeuk/album?.dir=414cre2&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/chestermikeuk/my_photos

 

[74simon]

Thanks for the link to your Colston pics Mike, it's lovely to see it! Is it very noisy? We had an uninsulated Husqvarna dishwasher for a few years, and the sound levels compared to our new(er) Hotpoint tabletop are remarkable! I was offered a Colston a couple of years back, but it was in Australia - the owners had emigrated and taken it with them. I just thought the combination of the postal fees and the shipping of a delicate old appliance halfway around the world was a bit much really.

That Hoover sounds great fun! Looking closer at it, I do love that console too, and I am thinking that one would match my HMDL very nicely! Not that anyone's likely to find one in a hurry though... and Google doesn't turn up a single spare part for any of the machines you listed, Paul.

Rolls_Rapide: my mum both had a Crystaljet Deluxe (with the dark facia) followed by a standard Crystaljet with the grey facia when we moved down to England in 1989. I must admit I didn't pay much attention to them though - not even sure what it was that made the deluxe a deluxe!

Si

 

[rolls_rapide]

Thanks for your replies.

In 1998, I had a Candy-based Hoover "Optima" D840 myself. It was quite a good dishwasher, if a little noisy. It had a two-speed motor, and I always left the "Super Wash" switched on. Candy machines had their version of it, known as HPS - High Performance System, or some such name.

The old Hoover "Autojet" with the rotating basket sounds very interesting; a bit like the dual wash system of the early Hoover Keymatic washing machines. I dare say that the basket drive system might have incurred a high failure rate.

I googled for "Hoover Autojet", and one of the few results led me to a Patents site which had an old patent for rinse-aid with 'anti-redeposition properties', invented by Lever Brothers (no doubt later sold as "SUN"). The main test machine they used was the Hoover, in addition to Bosch, Miele and Indesit. The Hoover appeared to have the edge, in terms of rinse-aid dispensing capacity.

The old Colston looks very nice... does it still operate?

 

[bpetersxx]

Now that is a good countertop DW

Why can`t manufacturers make them like this

 

[keymatic]

Hi Rolls Guy, I remember when my parents Hoover Crystaljet dishwasher was delivered back in 1985, i was with them when they purchased it from the department store "Allders" one saturday afternoon. It was always situated in the utility room, alongside the purple Hotpoint liberators. It was quite good to have a dishwasher back then, stopped the arguments over who would wash and who would wipe !! I managed to keep the pamphlet from that very saturday when the were choosing which one to have..Cheers Keith

 

[keymatic]

....cont brief view of the inside as well !!
Keith

 

[rolls_rapide]

Keymatic

I do believe that is the brochure I was thinking of! Many thanks!

I had picked up a whole bundle of different makes: another was the SERVIS "Secret Compact" (remember that one?), which was like a Fisher & Paykel "Dishdrawer".

I always loved the sparkling dishes and glassware depicted in the brochures. To this day, I still love the way that everything comes out of the machine sparkling.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Hoover Crystaljets

Right here goes another memory...!

I seem to remember around the same time (1986-1989), there was a top-end Hoover model that had a push-button control panel, with a mechanical (rotating) programme progress indicator (like a clock hand).

This springs to mind because in 1990, I worked (slaved, more like!) in Currys as a trainee. There was a Currys own-brand "MONDIA" dishwasher, which was the spitting image of the (now discontinued) top end Hoover. (Hoover had just switched to the models that matched the "Logic" range of washers). This "MONDIA" was made in Spain, I think; as was the Hoover.