Vintage Kitchenaid (built by Hobart) Dishwasher in MI

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

My grandparents had that model. It was given to them as a Christmas present in 1976 by my uncle (who had a KDS17). I can still remember the sounds.

Have a good one,
James
 
Rich, the 17 series was the last of the 1-arm KA bandits. The 18 series was the first to have a wash arm under the top rack. Greg, I couldn't see the wash arm in the china guard, so I made the assumption of the 17. I've only seen two 18s in person, Rogers and a friend of mine's in college, her parents had a new one then.
 
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! So very tempting, however, I'm holding out for one of the KitchenAids with the 15 pound iron spray arm!!! They're called Wall of Water dishwashers right? Robert's is absolutely GORGEOUS! I hope there is one lurking in Michigan somewhere that's in the same shape!
 
Well pulsator, if you can't find that dream dishwasher you can always work at a restaurant as the commercial Hobart dishwashers seem to still have that design spray arm.
 
Not many of those oldies out there any more!

Sorry, Neptune,
The last undercounter Hobart Dishwasher to use the cast iron blue beauty washarm was the Kitchenaid 14 series which was discontinued in 1964 and replaced by the now famous Hydrosweep arm used first in the 15 series There are still some out there. There were some still in boxes when Whirlpool took over and even some large distributors across the country had some still boxed up. In fact, in one of the forunms at Kitchenaid.com. one of the moderators mentioned that they had found a brand new 14in one of the warehouses. I suggested that they place it next to the KD10 they have at the Kitchenaid Museum in Greenville Ohio.

But the Last Commercial undercounter to used the arm (p/n 73515) was the model UM series and that was oficially discontinued in late 1979/1980 though there were still some being installed after that. I was told by a highly placed sales manager that the reason the UM was actually discontinued was because the dies had finally worn out and there was no interest in retooling for new ones. Pretty plausable since they had already been producing the 15,16 and 17 machines and had introduced the 18 series by then.
They were still producing the WM series which was based on the 15/16 tanks and did so until the early mid 80's when they released the WM-5 Series. Now this was based on the 18 series but the tanks were actually brought over from Europe. It was unique in that the whole tank was made from a single sheet of Stainless Steel which was punched and bent and then folded and roller sealed to form a complete dishwasher tank.

The European units were more complicated than the American units and they also used the same designs for the KDS18E series machines, made in Germany and distributed to the rest of the world for Domestic consumption!
I have pictures of that unit in PDF format if anyone would like to see it. It is to large a file to post here.

For the record, the last Big machine Hobart made with the cast Iron washarms(top and bottom) was the AM10-11 series.Talk about a wall of water!! This was a radical departure in Electrical design of Hobart dishwashers. It was the first machine they produced that had Solid State controls. It had a master board to which numerous other boards were clipped on to control the timer, fill, motor protection and temperature functions.
The following model paved the way for lighter Stainless steel embossed arms which had large openings in the upper and lower washarms similar to the look of the holes in the Hydro Sweep arm only much bigger. Another wall of water machine. This unit continued with the controls of the previous 10-11 models.

The next improvement came in 1983/84 with the AM14 series which shared all the mechanicals with the 12 series, but now had a single control board to do all the functions of washing and rinsing the dishware. Unique to this machine was the electrical controls were all 24 volts which improved the reliability of the machine tremendously. As technicians, we appreciated the durability and ease of repairing these units. There were only a few typical mechanical repairs that they ever needed and it was very rare to have to replace a conrtol board on one. Even to this day there are some very old am14 machines with all their original electrical controls working day in and day out.

Boy do I get long winded! Sorry Guys!
 
Great Post!

Thank YOU for sharing. Can you post the PDF link? I for one would love to see.

Oh what one wouldn't give to find one a MIB KA 14** series, or that Hobart with dual cast iron wash arms. Museum piece my behind, bet anyone lucky enough to find one of those babies could sell/auction it off for big bucks.

Thanks again,

L
 
Check the classifieds!!

Launderess, the double cast iron washarm machines I spoke about are commercial machines that stand nearly 6 feet tall,but have a 24 x 24" footprint. They require 5kw elctrical supply for the tank heater(unless it is gas heated) as well as an exhaust system to vent out the steam vapors..not to mentioon at least a 24 inch table for at least one rack on the load side and another table on the unload side.
If you have enough room for one, you can always check the ads under food service equipment to see if anyone is selling one. Many of the older units can be found in larger cities like NY or at school auctions. Think about the size requirements..but then again, the dishews are done in under 3 minutes!

It will be easier to find a commercial undercounter unit and install that instead in your kitchen. Definitely a conversation piece but you can only wash plate by themselves or cups and glasses by themselves as no machines in the US are allowed to have 2 racks in them. so they may have single or dual washarms but only single racks.

I will email you the PDF's that an Aussie buddy sent me. That KDS18E machine is what we techs at hobart asked outr engineers to bring over here. it already had the rinse and soap dispensers as well as a pressure switch and built in booster in it. But alas.. it never happened!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top