Vintage Frigidaire Dishwasher - $40

ovrphil · Oct 4, 2014

Posting in two places - below thread and this ..just to be sure someone sees and gets this - in my searches, I seldom come across something as nice as this in Frigidaire vintage.

Go get it someone.

http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/app/4691332405.html

appnut · Oct 5, 2014

This was the BOL. Tom can explain, if he sees, but I think once you pushed in the knob to start it, you couldn't advance or turn it off.

ovrphil · Oct 5, 2014

Bob! BOL? Well, it's a good looking BOL, but ...can't stop it? No like.

ovrphil · Oct 5, 2014

bump

only to point out, other KA's were added today....

easy · Oct 5, 2014

Worst dishwasher I ever used/owned

This dishwasher was in my first apartment.

It had a slightly different knob. To turn the machine off, you pulled the knob out like the early kenmores/whirlpools. Knob could be advanced if desired.

The worst part of the machine was the detergent "dispenser" for the main wash. It was a flat perforated plate that closed over the detergent (only powders available at the time). No spring, no mechanism. In theory, the water somehow would know it was the second (main) wash and rinse the detergent into the tub. In reality, you ended up with a soggy lump of detergent you had to scrape out.

For years I would wait for the main wash and just pour the detergent in at the start. It still left a portion of the load with stuck on food.

washdaddy · Oct 5, 2014

In both Frigidaires my parents had it was the same dispenser that's pictured in this model and when it reached that point in the cycle you could hear the dispenser door snap open. We never had any residue problems with detergent.

norgeway · Oct 5, 2014

My Aunt had this

Or one very similar in their old house, also a matching Compact thirty drop in and a 2 door no frost fridge, all coppertone, they put all of this stuff in the summer I was born, 1965...replacing the Hotpoint dishwasher sink that was in the house when they bought it new in 56, also they had a Advanced Design Philco Fridge and a Norge stove they got in August of 47 when they got married...they are still married and doing fairly well for going on 88 years old!..both still drive, though not as much.

philr · Oct 5, 2014

At that price, I'd take it immediately if it was close to me! The model number should be DW-DUN (1968 model).

Here's the 1969 "P" version (not mine). The 1969 models started to display the mysterious "3 level wash"!

The other models either said "4 level wash" (like on my 1975 Custom Deluxe).

And even "5 level wash"! (like on my 1969 Custom Imperial)

ovrphil · Oct 6, 2014

such diverse info on appliances, again - some had experiences from hell and others no problems; not to hear myself talk, but I'm glad people are willing to say something different...there's never a consensus anyways.

PhilR-love dem closeups!

philr · Oct 6, 2014

Phil. unlike others, I don't collect things because they're the best performing! I have focused my small collection on Frigidaire stuff and no matter how impractical or bad this dishwasher could be, I'd be tempted to get it if it was close! I like the style of the 1965-68 control panels and I currently don't have one of these.

chachp · Oct 6, 2014

Frigidaire 5 Level Wash Custom Imperial

That's one of my dream machines!! I remember it on Bewitched!

tomturbomatic · Oct 6, 2014

Easy, you had the BOL model with only one wash. I have seen two of them. This is the Deluxe model with two washes or a pre rinse and a wash made possible because of the detergent dispenser you can see in picture 6 of 6. It would clean better. The little white plastic collar around the moving dial with the pointer could be snapped off and the inner dial turned around to off where it cammed out in the OFF position.

easy · Oct 6, 2014

BOL? model

I lived in a 150 unit apt building (actually 2 different units over time) and all the units had the same Fridigaire appliances. Sunny yellow, but perhaps they were special builder units.

This machine had two settings on the dial - HEAVY with a double wash and NORMAL with a prerinse and single detergent wash.

The cover to the dispenser was merely a flat plate that swiveled over the detergent. It was mounted with a single screw in the corner - no mechanism to open at the start of the wash phase.

philr · Oct 6, 2014

The BOL models were usually Deluxe. The few Super models were either top loading models or a mobile front loading model in 1965.

The early "Super Surge" models had that detergent dispenser with a perforated grille, and a fixed cover. Even the early Custom Imperial models had one for their second detergent dispensers. This feature disappeared just as quickly as it appeared! I'm not sure about 1968 as I don't have the Tech-Talk for 1967 or 1968 but in 1969 even the BOL front loading models had an automatic detergent dispenser. My Custom Imperial has a triple dispenser with two automatic doors.

easy · Oct 6, 2014

PhilR

That's the exact perforated door I had over the main wash compartment. The prewash
compartment was open with no door.

The building was constructed in the 1960's so the timing seems right for this feature. By 1977, using this machine was so infuriating that a terminal "leak" was arranged with the help of a nail punch. By this time, management was replacing these machines rather than repair them with a BOL one knob wonder GE. VASTLY superior in washing ability and had a detergent dispenser that worked. The only problem with that machine was the noise - usually you started the machine and left the apartment for the day...

laundromat · Oct 9, 2014

There was yet a lower budget "Super" model. It was similar to this one with no dispensers. Just a groovein the door interior. They can be advanced by pushing as you turn the dial.

philr · Oct 9, 2014

Wasn't the lower budget "Super" available as a Dishmobile only and only in 1965 (for the front-loading model)?

tomturbomatic · Oct 9, 2014

I saw two builtin Super models with the screen or grid over the Bakelite detergent recess. It seemed so tone deaf of Frigidaire to market a machine like that when almost every major DW manufacturer offered a detergent dispenser on all of their builtins, but Frigidaire had a long history of marketing dishwashers with no detergent dispensers. It was like the dishwasher division was the penal colony at Frigidaire for many years.

philr · Oct 9, 2014

Some Deluxe models had the same screen. I couldn't find information in my service manuals for 1965-66 on any Super front-loading models that was built-in.

I'm missing the 1967-68 Tech Talk litterature but I have looked at this document:

http://www.automatice.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi?showdoc~474~Frigidaire~FC

And I couldn't find any other front-loading Super model than the basic 1965 Dishmobile.

Here are some scans from the 1965 "J line" and 1966 "K line" Tech Talk manuals that show all models that were available. Some pictures shows information the Canadian models but the manuals are for the american models. Note that the last two pictures are from a document that relates to the Ride-Aire 1966 Custom Imperial Dishmobile. That's the dishwasher I want the most!