“The tale of the orange wire”
Thanks to everyone who’s chimed in, especially Ken and Paul for being good sports. Herein lies the tale of the orange wire.
According to the ’56 rollout diagram (the “old” design), the interlock switch on that machine is a basic SPST type. Move the interlock lever to Open and all power to the unit is cut.
In ’57, GE changed the switch to a SPDT type and added “the orange wire”. With an appropriately equipped timer mechanism, the unit could now discern between open and closed and limit (or allow) certain functions depending on the position of the timer dial in conjunction with the position of the interlock switch. The thinking being that the two could work like a 3-way switch arrangement in your house…. With interlock closed, the machine would complete its entire cycle and advance the timer until it reached OFF at which point the timer switch would kick over to its other contact. When you unlock the unit to unload your dishes, that action re-energizes the timer circuit so that the timer advances to Start, but when it reaches Start, the timer kicks back to the first contact and the timer stops. THUS, when you put in dirty dishes and slide the interlock to LOCK (just like closing the lid on a mobile maid), a new wash cycle begins. However, their implementation on the timer side with just a single movable contact left a lot to be desired.
Now, there’s a couple of interesting points here. For one, the 750w Calrod in the ’57 will fire up anytime the timer is powered. So when the missus goes to unload the dishes next morning and opens the drawer to unload the clean dishes, the heater will energize the second she slides the lever to Open and will continue to heat until the timer reaches Start. With minimal shielding on this version, that’s probably not a great idea to have your finger tips next to that element (removing the orange wire solves this but also defeats the ‘advance to start’ feature).
The wiring diagram for the ’58 fixes this issue by adding an interrupter switch in the timer to isolate the timer motor, despite the 58 use and care manual stating otherwise (and I have feedback from Paul that his ’59 fires up the Calrod when power is on the timer as well). Are the diagrams in error? GE even goes further and changes the “Main” switch on the timer to a double pole type which in theory would allow separate camming of those contacts but I don’t know if GE took advantage of that.
Now what about drying? The manual Ken posted says opening the interlock lever during the drying cycle will NOT stop ‘Drying’. That the dial must be manually advanced to OFF. Can an owner confirm this? Here’s where the later addition of the ‘Dial Interrupter’ switch makes sense. The timer motor could continue through the Dry cycle to its off position WITHOUT the Calrod needing to be heating an open drawer. Again, did GE take advantage of that? Sounds like Paul’s 59 doesn’t with the heater across the motor.
I've attached the wiring diagrams and it's interesting to note the interlock implementation on the first diagram which is the '57 MM..different than the 57 RO but similar to the 59 RO without the 'new' interrupter switch.
This whole exercise is more academic than anything but it’s interesting to note there’s no change in functionality between a properly wired 57 and Paul’s 59 despite the electrical changes indicated on the diagrams. But then who’s to say the diagrams are correct? All I know is that I'll pay closer attention to any future GE's I come across!
