Westinghouse Continental 500 Dishwasher Part II

[reactor]

Washability

Brian, Alan could tell you more about how the Westinghouse cleans, as I have not got mine up and running, yet. Consumer Reports rated it at washing, "slightly below average.". Of course, using the "power soak" cycle should increase the performance.

If you are referring to the white object at the back of the tub bottom, that is the grate that prevents large objects from entering the pump. There is no filter, as such, on this machine, just the soft food waster disposer.

 

[reactor]

progress....

The previous owner had indicated the dishwasher "smoked." Before energizing the whole dishwasher , I powered up the drain solenoid, the fill solenoid and the main motor independently to make sure none of them were the smoking culprit. Each worked fine, no smoke. The motor is surprisingly quiet. The drain solenoid is strong, and loud, when it clicks in. Almost made me jump.

(Loud solenoids seem to be a Westinghouse trademark. For those who have/had the Westinghouse front loading washer with the solenoid that clamped the pulley on the spin belt, know what I mean. It could be heard throughout the house when it kicked in.)

Powered up the entire dishwasher. It ran fine for about five seconds and I heard a small electrical arc, then white smoke poured out of the control panel. Pulled the plug as quickly as possible. Almost no odor. Most insulation burns, I have experienced, usually smell and give darker smoke.

Nevertheless, I took the control panel off and checked for burned wiring and arc points.
None. Thought maybe some organic material had gotten between two conducting points, but found no evidence of it. No burn or overheating marks on any of the wiring. The dark area you see on the control panel may have been caused by smoke, but the connectors above it showed no signs of carbon or arcing, but did have some dirt/corrosion, as you can see.

Blew out the switches and lubricated the timer motors and put panel back.

Removed endcap of motor and lubricated. Put all back together and started it up. Motor purred and and the rapid advance timer did it's job and moved the timer through it's paces.

No smoke this time.

Next step is to put water in and check for leakage. Alan is kindly sending me the tower and distributor. When that arrives, I will be able to run a test load and will post pics.

We'll see how well a Westinghouse can handle a Bobload!
[this post was last edited: 9/10/2023-15:03]

 

[appnut]

Barrry, if you cab do a couple of BobLoad tests, I"d love it. One with Double Wash with maybe santizer and the other rwith Power Soak & Sanitizer option. Does this happen ot have a tiple detergent dispenser or just 2 for ordinary prewash and main wash. A friend of mine had bought a condo in Houston in about 1975 or 1976 and it had the ability to havr 2 detergent added prewashes as well as the main wash. This was also about the same time D&M got rid of the rotorac Kenmores and their LK or Sears Best model had the "exclusive triple detergent dispenser.

 

[reactor]

dispensers

Hey Bob! It has two open dispensers for prewash and one covered dispenser for the main wash. I'll try both combinations that you have mentioned to test washability.
My biggest concern is the carryover water from fill to fill, and having only two final rinses.

As you can see from the size of the sump (Westinghouse calls it the trap) it holds a lot of water that remains in there, as do the GE's with the horizontal pumps. With only two final rinses there is likely going to be a small amount of detergent residue remaining on the dishes. GE of the same era looks to have had about the same carryover, but they had three final rinses to compensate.

If I install and use this as a daily driver, likely I will put the detergent packet in the first prewash and then let it have four final rinses.

Oddly, the first wash is 18 minutes. The main wash is only ten. Have no clue what the power soak will do as far as time extension. I assume it will lengthen the second/main wash. Unknown if the sanitizer heats the second wash or the final rinse. How the options affect the main cycle is not indicated on the timer diagram.

Testing requires carrying two days of dirty dishes in a laundry basket, from the main floor of the house, to the lower level laundry room where I have to use the washer outlet to supply and drain the dishwasher. [this post was last edited: 9/11/2023-09:56]

 

[reactor]

Det disp pic

 

[DADoES]

 
Dispenser photo rotated for readability.

The instructions engraved into Cup 3 state:

  Single Wash — Fill Cup 1

  Double Wash — Fill Cups 1 + 2

  Power Soak — Fill Cups 1 + 3

 

[tomturbomatic]

In the impeller machines that did not have a detergent dispenser and therefore no prewash in the cycle, the cycle began with a warm up spray/purge before the wash. The water heating period on the timer dial was called the Power Soak where the motor ran along with the heating element to raise the water temperature to 140F.

 

[combo52]

Last Westinghouse, Dishwashers, 1971 through 74

Thank you Barry for documenting this unusual and very ill fated dishwasher. It’s been interesting to see that they actually made a fancier version of this. I’m sure 80 or 90% of these dishwashers were the most basic model as nobody who took a serious look at Dishwashers would ever have purchased this machine if they were looking for a quality dishwasher, can you imagine selecting this over a Kitchenaid whirlpool Maytag, or even a GE from this period.

And thank you Alan for your insight and all the work you did restoring the one you have.

Here are some pictures of the one we saved for the museum. Ours is a 1971 model this dishwasher. What is the popular very basic version which was the bulk of their sales to builders, etc.,

The basic version at six water changes, and only a measuring cup for detergent as it goes immediately into the first wash.

These used a Westinghouse built motor that actually used more electricity than the awful GE motors that they used for decades.

As you showed Alan, the motor shaft would rust so badly on these motors at the shaft would literally get down to about 1/2 of its normal half inch diameter. However, we were always able to clean up the end of the shaft and use them in spite of the horrible looking shaft when we rebuilt the pumps on these machines.

This design pump and motor and the machine overall disappeared immediately as soon as the ink was dry on the paper when WCI took over Westinghouse appliances.

 

[reactor]

heat sink

Why is there no heat sink on your drain solenoid, as mine has, John? That would certainly shorten its life with it's being energized for the majority of the cycle.

Tom (turbo), if the Westinghouse impeller machine did not have a detergent dispenser, then what kept the detergent from being dissolved and flushed down the drain during the initial warm up spray/purge?

 

[appnut]

Barry, on the Westinghouse impeller dishwahers, there was a fine-mesh dispenser that held detergent in that mesh basket until the dishwasher did its usual charge of water for the fill. Neighbors across the street had the 1960/1961 roll-out Westinghoouse model just as Tom described. Not only was there a thermal hold for the Power Soak wash but also during the final rinse to raise the water temperatturre berfore the dry cycle began. And if I remember correctly, the impeller ran during th3e dry cycle. I was routinely exposed to this dishwasher from about the age of 7 or 8 in fall of 1961 until it was replaaced with a KDS16, which was in that house until it was sold inn like 2013 or 2014.

The 1960 Westinghouse Dishwasher brochure in Ephemera has the exact model that our neighbor had in seafoam green color.

 

[combo52]

Solenoid heat sink

Hi Barry, the heat sink did not come with the initial models and you’re right they had a lot of trouble with the solenoids burning out. The heat sink was an add-on kit on the original models. We used to put them on durning repairs and there was a paste you put between the heat sink in the body of the solenoid to keep the solenoid cooler.

 

Another change I didn’t mention is the original cooling fan was plastic and it would distort from the heat of the motor and eventually it would flare outward and start hitting the housing and start to disintegrate, I had one customer tell me she was standing in front of the dishwasher when it was operating a little bit of hot plastic was being thrown out on her toes.  

 

At some point they changed to a metal fan which would become rusted onto the motor shaft an became impossible to remove.

 

It’s too bad they couldn’t take all the waist heat from the motor and blow it through the tub that would have dried the dishes without even using a heating element.

 

I am anxious to see what you think of this machine when you install it in your house, I do think you’re a brave person to install this in your kitchen however, I intend to keep the one we have in the museum where it could be used occasionally at best, I still think we have some of the seal and impeller kits and fans, solenoids and heat sinks to repair these machines. 

 

John

[this post was last edited: 9/12/2023-07:40]

 

[reactor]

fans

John, I didn't check the fan on this one to see if it was metal, or not. I hope it's metal.

I will install it as a daily driver if it passes my initial performance testing. I am very anxious to get it up and running! Thanks to Alan's kindness in sending me the tower and distributor, I should be able to give her her trial run as soon as it arrives.

Whether I use it, or not, on a daily basis is not the important issue, it just has meaning to me to have one of the last true Westinghouse manufactured units and to make sure it is preserved in operating condition. One more piece of history saved from the scrap metal pile.

I know you feel the same way and that is why you created your wonderful appliance museum. Hope to see it one day.[this post was last edited: 9/12/2023-14:09]

 

[bigalsf]

Cycling sequence

On these models the first wash segment is about 14 min long, but for the Double Wash & Soft Wash cycles the time rapid advances after about 5 min of wash. It then provides a rinse, a main wash (10 min), two final rinses, and then dry.

The Single Wash cycle (which mine has) is PW, W, R, R, D

The Power Soak cycle is the same sequence as Double Wash, except it utilizes the whole 14 min period in the first wash.

There is no heating extension in any cycle unless you select the Sanitizer option. When this is selected the main wash & final rinse is delayed until the water temp reaches about 145 F. This takes forever due to a design flaw in the machine operation. Since the dryer fan is always running it continuously pulls cool room air into the machine while it's washing/rinsing. This means it's pulling heat out of the machine while it's trying to heat the water! Not a well though out set up.

In any case it is a unique design, and a very stylish console! I'm still working on adjusting the drying operation to eliminate the main motor from staying on. Stay tuned...

 

[reactor]

sani-extension

Thank you, Alan for the wash tower!! Now I can begin the wet tests.

One advantage of the dry fan extending the sani-cycle, due to removing heat from the tub, is a greater extension of the main wash and final rinse which should increase washability. If the extension is too long, I'll just remove the tub exhaust tube at the pump. Regular convection drying should be fine. If the tube is removed at the fan port under the tub, whenever the pump motor is operating, it will draw air from the service access area and keep the pump motor and drain solenoid a little cooler anyway.

Can't wait to begin testing! Will post results.[this post was last edited: 9/16/2023-04:46]

 

[combo52]

Last Westinghouse Dishwashers

Did you guys, Barry and Alan look at the cycle chart I posted of our basic model? I was always under the impression that the heater ran in the first wash. Apparently the heater is not used at all during the wash and rinse cycles on the basic model.

I repaired many of these machines but I never used one. It’ll be interesting to see what you guys find in testing your machines although it looks like the deluxe models would clean, much better using some wash and rinse heat in the model we have that has barely a 10 minute wash and then that’s it. No detergent dispenser, so I guess the basic model would not have cleaned very well that’s for sure.

One interesting thing about the basic model is essentially used to clothes dryer timer and you could turn it in either direction which was kind of neat.

I had the impression that there was a bit of a water trap on the tank that would keep the fan from drawing the heat out of the tub while there was water splashing around on the inside of the tank to reduce the problem of it removing heat during wash and rinse periods.

Alan did you ever put an amp meter on that motor? Does it really draw 800 watts?

 

[reactor]

water heating

Hi John.

The cycle chart for this specific model indicates a timer hold called for by the thermostat in both the main wash and final rinse, consistent with Alan's experiences.

The exhaust tube connects to a vent in the top right of the inside of the tub, and draws off the hot air. Make-up air flows under the bottom of the door and over the water in the bottom, and through the circulating water, until it is drawn upward to the exhaust vent. I think this is what Alan is referring to as providing the cooling effect to the circulating water.

Westinghouse indicates the heater increases the water temp at approximately a 1 degree rise per minute. Based on my water heater settings, this means an extra 12 to fifteen minutes should incur for water heating for each the main wash and last rinse. If it is much more than this, then it can be attributed the the cold air flow though the tub while the water is circulating.

This is the first Westinghouse dishwasher (or any Westinghouse major appliance, other than a disposal) that I have ever had contact with. There is a big learning curve. The cycle charts are strange compared to GE and Whirlpool's, the pump/drying fan combination is like nothing I have ever encountered, and the drain valve that requires the drain solenoid to be continually energized is unique, to say the least.

Many thanks to everyone for the help and suggestions for navigating through vigin territory. Thanks again, Alan for the wash tower, I would be dead in the water without it!

Hopefully, I'll get some water in it today and test for leaks.
[this post was last edited: 9/16/2023-09:46]

 

[reactor]

maiden run

Pulled the dishwasher into the laundry room and hooked it up for it's first wet test.

The GOOD News: It filled properly, drained properly, timer and rapid-advance worked perfectly, as far as tested. It was not allowed to run through an entire cycle.

The pump is powerful and did its job, the wash-arm, wash tower, and shower wash arm all rotated and did their job. The drain solenoid is strong.

The BAD news: "water, water everywhere..." If it could leak, it did.

I had expected on a few minor drops and was going leave hot water in the tub, overnight, with a towel under the machine, to let the seals swell.

But, these were not drops, water streamed out of the top of the pump housing, the bottom of the pump housing and the drain valve assembly. The worst, the drying fan was spraying water out everywhere. It was literally flinging water out from under the machine...with a very nice velocity.

Obviously, I could not leave water in the tub as it would have drained out all over the floor. I will leave it as it is and hope the residual moisture from the hot water swells some of the seals overnight. However, with the amount of water that came out, I am not overly optimistic.

I am not sure if the dishwasher had ever been used. There was no rust, not dirt, nor residue, etc. If it was ever used, at all, it must have been only once or twice. The seals may have been sitting for close to fifty years, being dry.

If they don't swell and seal, I guess I'll have an interesting, and rather large, paperweight.

Any suggestions?

[this post was last edited: 9/17/2023-20:00]

 

[bigalsf]

Hi Barry, glad to hear the machine is running. Sorry to hear about the leaks. Mine leaked as well when I first tried it, but it was from the shaft seal. Oddly, the leak would disappear about 10 minutes or so into any cycle. I cannot explain this, but it did this each time. That wasn't going to do which is why I tore into the pump. Hopefully you are correct and some time "wet" will help all the connectors resume their original dimensions and seat properly.

The drain valve stem seal is another story, however. They rubber surrounding the drain valve shaft can tear, which will cause water to leak into the fan housing and spray water out the vent in the front toe kick. If the unit sat unused for as long as you think it may have turned brittle. The service manual I sent you details the issue and how to repair it. You may be able to find the stem seal kit on ebay.

If you need any connector parts let me know; I have spares of some items. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[reactor]

Alan...

Thank you, Alan. You are much appreciated and have been a wealth of information and support! Hopefully, things will seal up. If I have to, yes, I will replace the drain actuator seal.

Some hope though. I threw in a bucket of hot water, since I posted the above update, and there was no leakage at all the drain actuator this time, and the pump housing leaks have slowed down to occasional drips. Albeit, the pump is not running, so it is not under pressure. I think you are right, Alan, the seaks likely have gone brittle.

Thanks for the offer of parts!!

We'll see what happens.

[this post was last edited: 9/17/2023-22:01]

 

[combo52]

Leaking early 70s Westinghouse dishwasher

Sorry, it leaks so much but I’m not surprised in the least bit, we used to get calls on these machines and also the ones WCI built right after him he would literally find 5 to 10 places the machine was leaking like Barry said if it could leak, it would leak.

There’s very little likelihood that seals will swell up and start working. It’s only true to very limited degree. Modern neoprene rubber seals do not dry out with time. And they do not improve with water.

You’ll either have to take things apart and reseal them or replace shaft seals, etc..

John