UltraWash Three stage Filteration? Huh?

[lowflow]

OK... so I get the point of the filter in new dishwashers, I just don't get how either they work or how they get away by calling them three stage filters.

1) Water flows over the coarse/Med lower filter and into the fine mesh and then gets pulled into pump.

2) The upper assembly large filter drains right into the fine mesh center and then gets pulled into the pump.

So what's the point? I get having a pre filter for the mesh, but why the coarse one AND the med one?

No matter how I look at it, there are three "filters" but water only ever passes through two them and one is always bypassed or serves no purpose.... I just don't get it. I also dont get why they just dont put together better marketing and animations on how their products work to generate interest in their tech and process for why it "cleans" better. I've seen some European and Indian marketing AND manuals that did a much better job than the US-based companies.

I'm also amazed at how the food seems to disappear. Since I have a new DW I have been good at scraping, but I left a few things I missed. Curly pasta disappeared, rice disappeared, the bay leaf is a trooper and just won't fade away (still in the basin area).

 

[thomasortega]

I've moved to the US and until today I still don't understand why a "self clean" filter that is actually nothing more than a mini disposer.

My whole like I used dishwashers with regular filters and everything dissapeared. I used to check the filter only once a month only to make sure it was clean, and it was always clean.

Eventually, probably less than once a year, a big piece of something, like a huge mushroom slice sits on the bottom of the dishwasher. So what? It won't kill me if i have to grab it and throw it in the sink.

now the "three stage" filter.... Darling, that's pure marketing... It won't surprise me if in a couple fo years the manufacturers launch a 18-stage filter, with the mesh half milimeter finer on each stage. and the finally they will launch a "revolutionary" filtration system so moder and well designed it has only two stages.

Remember the razors? One blade safety razor (actually two if we consider both sides), then Gillette launched 2 parallel blades (ok, a lot better than a "safety razor that looks like a hoe) then they launched 3 blades and discovered the wonders of marketing with 4 and impressive 6 blades and the razor head looking like window blindings. Come on, we need to cut the hair, period, shred it in tiny bits won't make any difference.

Then Philips/Norelco entered the game.... the revolutionary .... "ONE" Blade. (the worst part for me was admit that thing works amazingly well. and retire my old Philishave)

 

[lowflow]

LOL. I am also old enough to use a safety razor (and still do). Nothing really safe about them and new ones my beard just choked to death!

I know, and agree. I just know there is some engineering argument in favor of it, that it does help in some fashion since the pump doesn't immediately die, but maybe I am too geeky. I want to know how it works in there, the water flow, and why I cant seem to see only two stages working together ever and one of the stage being utterly useless.

 

[vacerator]

I think

the first stage filter is the grid at the back, or front below of the lower wash arm to catch big things, say you break a glass in the machine, etc.
It is easily taken out to be cleaned of large debris, and if anything has gotten past it and lodged in the small sump under it.
The second being the one after that, and the third being the one after the pump so the wash water is kept clean.
I saw one youtube video where a GE profile of last decade vintage had gummy build up from sticker material, etc. on the wash pump impeller.
That's why I rinse dishes, and remove stickers off new ones.
My kids called me one day saying their later model Kenmore 9aka Kitchen Aid wasn't washing well. There was two baby bottle nipples in the round strainer below the wash arm.

 

[super32]

Almost sounds like one of the Bosch made Kenmores.

 

[thomasortega]

3 stage:
1) coarse: things that should never enter the pump (bones, broken glass, etc) they'll be at the bottom of the machine after the cycle ends.
2) medium: things that can enter the draining pump but would clog the spray arms. (rice, pea, etc. (it flushes when draining)
3) fine: things that could clog the spray arms but too sticky to be drained (fibers, etc) (some of them may end up drained, but it's better to clean the filter manually just in case.)

 

[johnb300m]

Triple Filter Systems

Here's a little engineering lesson.
Many of you are right. It's a bit of a marketing gimmick.
I've attached a visual drawing which I hope helps understand the basic layout of these removable filter systems used in many popular brands today.

These systems all have 3 common components.
A coarse strainer that protects the drain receptacle, and is located above the micro fine screen filter cup. (AFAIK, they're all cup shaped).

A medium gauge pan-shaped filter screen that covers the entire sump area, creating a cavity separation between the tub and the wash pump inlet.

A microfine filter in a cup shape, that separates the cavity between the drain pump and under the medium gauge filter screen.

During wash operation, water is drawn into the wash pump, and it has two possible paths to travel, which depends on what particle sizes are removed in that particular journey.
The water can go through the medium screen which filters out larger and middle sized particles, yet they won't interfere with the pump or spray jets. Tiny particles will pass through and distribute in the tub.
Water could also be drawn into the filter cup, where the coarse strainer will block very large debris that could clog the wash AND drain pumps. Middle and tiny particles pass through and are caught in the micro mesh cup screen, where they reside in a chamber separated from the wash pump. They reside here until drain pump activation, where they are removed from the chamber and sent to the drain.
At no point does water ever go through 3 filter screens in series. Maybe two at maximum.
And with a long enough run time, it is plausible that all soils of all sizes will eventually be caught by the coarse and micro mesh screen cup waiting for a drain sequence.
They're obviously very effective, but the triple filter claim is pure marketing jargon.

JUST like the hard food disposer claim in GE's tall tub dishwashers ever since aprox. 2002. The grinder blades are open with no macerating screens like WP's. And the blades are behind all the main filter screens anyway. So they never really see soils. And what little soil they do see, there's no gauged screen to meter soil flow before the blades can work on it.
Purely there for marketing to say it's there.

 

[logixx]

Before they came out with their new dishwasher platform, Bosch used to have triple filtration. I liked that system more than the new "HEPA" type of micro filter.

 

[lowflow]

Those diagrams are brilliant. That was my issue, it only ever looked like two stages ever filtered a particular flow of water.

So, down the drain goes the stuff large enough to fit into coarse screen.

And the dishes are washed by water filtered by in the med and fine.

Bosch pics are great too, and make more visual sense to me.

Thanks!

That's an awesome addition to what people will search for