Westinghouse Dishwasher

[reactor]

Anyone know specifics about this model? I am contemplating getting it. I assume this is late sixties or early 70's.

Does this model have a filter or just a maceration blade? Two or three final rinses? Heat its own water? Vertical or horizontal motor?

Thanks--Barry

 

[Unimatic1140]

I assume (but I'm not absolutely positive) that is its mechanism, that would be a fun machine to play with. The macerator in my D&M machine works extremely well without any filter.

 

[reactor]

Unique design

Thank you for the information, Robert! From your literature this seems to be a rather unique machine in that the main pump motor operates even in the "dry" portion of the cycle to circulate air.

Just as odd, is the drain solenoid that is energized during normal operation and is de-energized during the drain mode.

Indeed yes, this would be an interesting machine to play with and performance test! I may very well get this.

 

[appnut]

Barry, we know it's old enough before hot/cool dry options were required.

 

[combo52]

Early 70s WH DW

This was the last totally WH designed and built DW before WH went to WCI.

 

This is easily the worst DW built in this time period in many ways and did not work nearly as well as the WH DWs that came just before that had a filter.

 

This DW is such a joke that I have actually kept one in the museum line-up, it is a really interesting attempt to built a cost competitive DW when WH was on the brink of closing. Every possible corner was cut designing and building this DW, No wheels on the racks, no detergent dispenser, no filter, 5 rinses to try to clean up the mess, very poor durability pump assembly where the 1/2 carbon steel motor shaft would literally rust to the point of breaking off, The plastic fan would disintegrate and blow bits of melted plastic out on the floor, the drain solenoids would burn-up from having to be energized the entire wash and rinse cycles.

 

If this were a car it would be an eastern block Trabant, LOL

 

The only good thing about it was the timer could be turned in both directions and the tank and door liner were porcelain coated.

 

Hopefully this was an unused machine and may be in excellent condition, I will be interested in hearing your comments on it Barry,

 

It should be fun I have never known anyone that had one that was very pleased with it and they had such a short life you never see them any longer.

 

John L.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

Is the control panel

tilted? or is it flat like the door?

 

[tomturbomatic]

I think it is flat like a bad tire.

 

[reactor]

bad design?

Thanks for the information, John. I am not sure if I want to get it now. I tend to use my vintage machines and not just have them for show. If this machine is not reliable and disintegrates, I won't be able to get parts for it. So I may pass.

On paper, the design looks good, but apparently in practice they must have used sub-par materials. If this was Westinghouse's last dishwasher it must be about a '73 or '74 model.

 

[chachp]

Westinghouse Dishwasher

 

We bought a house in 1969.  It was built as a model home, but the builder ran out of money before it was completely finished and he sold it.  It had a Westinghouse Terrace Top stove and a Westinghouse dishwasher.  The dishwasher had the same interior as this one (the silverware basket is in the wrong place) but the outside had a bunch of oval shaped buttons and a dial.  I can’t remember if the buttons were on the left or right.  I do remember loading it.  I don’t remember if it cleaned well or not.  My Mom was a chronic pre-rinser.  Her first dishwasher was a top load spin tube Youngstown dishwasher.  When I would ask her why she practically washes the dishes before she put them in she would always refer back to her first dishwasher that she said didn’t really wash that well.

 

She didn’t care for the appliances and replaced them within a year or so of us buying the house.  I suspect ours was a little older than the dates stated for this one.

 

This might be a fun machine to have for occasional use, but I don’t think I’d want it for a daily driver.

 

[rinso]

The Westinghouse pull-out drawer impeller machines even did a better job than these.

 

[tomturbomatic]

The first WH drop-door machines earned a check rating in Consumer Reports. That would be around 1965 when the 15 series KA came out. That was a different machines in so many ways from this one.

 

[turquoisedude]

I've got what I believe to be a 1971 model, built in Canada.  Mine's a light-use machine and in pristine condition, but I still haven't tried using it myself!   I noticed some of the 'economy' features like the lower rack glides instead of wheels...  Mine also runs the pump during the dry part of the cycle... very odd.  

 

[reactor]

stymied

What a rude seller. It's almost a four hour round trip for me to get that dishwasher and he won't work with me on the time frame. He finally just quit responding. He didn't seem to care if he sold it or not.

Oh well.

If any of you live near Greeneville, TN maybe you will have better luck with the old coot.

 

[chachp]

How much?

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">Just curious.  How much was he asking?</span>

 

[reactor]

price

$50

 

[turquoisedude]

Sellers sometimes get weird when you say that you are from out of town.  I've had this happen a few times....

 

 

[neptunebob]

Did WW then turn into a D & M machine?  Maybe it should have been a D & M machine by that time.  I can remember in the 70's-80's the Kenmore dishwashers seemed more solid than GE dishwashers, even though they were D & M and would not last long either.  Oh, what we put up with back then!

 

[turquoisedude]

White Westinghouse seemed to keep the Westinghouse-based design for all their "family" of dishwashers post-acquistion.  I had a couple of 70s and 80s Kelvinators that had the typical Westinghouse racking and wash arms. 

However, there was a point in the late 50s or early 60s when some Westinghouse machines were made by D&M... I think it was following the disaster of those high-console portable models that had a nasty habit of starting fires.  

 

[jamiel]

Only very late (90s) did Westinghouse and D&M come together--believe they had the slide outs/heated water until '63 or so, then a wash arm/filter (which apparently Consumers Union liked in about 1965), then to the oval-buttoned late '60s which morphed into this not-so-good design through the 70s.

In early 80s they redesigned with filtration (on upper end models) and the coarse snap-out filter toward the rear (slanted two-plane control panel) which were pretty good (I've talked about the good racks they had especially on the bottom) then they settled on the D&M design in the 90s.