Whirlpool dishwasher sales resource guide for 2011

[retropia]

Mike, thanks for doing the scanning and posting.

I'm disappointed Whirlpool has done away with the hard food disposer on all of their dishwashers.

It's interesting how they tout the Eco Dry Option on one page, and then on another page they say "The heated dry system helps eliminate odors."

 

[appnut]

At present, just about all of Maytag's lineup of dishwashers still have the soft food disposer. Some KitchenAid models do too.

 

[dj-gabriele]

Ditto the need to run one wash arm at a time. (Europe close

Oh, don't worry, I think it's a stupid idea too!
I don't feel it's a good move! I have two machines, one with and one without. The additional piece and equipment to drive it make the machine more complicated and this is just to save 5 litres or so of water per load compared to the "classic" machine. Of course the pump in the "new" machine is 100W compared to the 200W of the other... are the savings worth it? It's not like going from top loading washing machines that use 200 litres per load to a front loader that uses 40 litres...

 

[gansky1]

4 to 7 hours later...

Odors. Slate color tub minimizes the *appearance* of tub-staining. White film on glassware; get a water softener. Time is hopefully on your side; you could turn on the dishwasher in the morning before leaving for work, come home for lunch and catch the final rinse.

Well all this sounds just lovely. No thanks.

Looks like dishwasher manufacturers have given up on trying to convince customers to stop pre-rinsing and designed a dishwasher that depends upon it.

2.7 gallons of water. Feh.

The KDS-14 uses nearly that much in the pre-wash. I cleaned the kitchen freezer last night and put all of the racks, bins and shelves into one load, along with a stray drinking glass. Started the machine and in 18 minutes, they were all clean and ready to put back into the freezer. The machine had time to spare as it took me longer to wipe out the interior and sort the contents before I was even ready for the racks. Resources? This machine does not heat the water so I used tap hot water, no dry cycle. We're on a municipal water system so the water that I used last night will be clean and flowing back out of the faucet in a relatively short time. Water used does not disappear from the planet forever, it gets recycled over and over again. I have a 50 gallon hot water heater so the water I used was already heated. Our utility pricing is pretty low compared to other parts of the country so I realize the costs can be crippling for those on a tight budget.

For my money, I'll keep the KitchenAid(s), Maytag and Kenmore Roto-Rack.

 

[a440]

Amen, and Amen Greg!!!

6.20 - 7.00 hours for "normal soil"?

CRAZY!

How could this machine last any amount of time running that much?

 

[peteski50]

Whirlpool Dishwashers!

My most objections is the time and the max temperature the high temp wash option uses. In the sears manual that I posted a few weeks back the hi temp goes up to 130 - so that is also probably why it takes longer because it actually washes in cooler water. I dont mind to much it uses less water and the wash arms only work one at a time. But for me at least make the water real hot to wash!
I like the way they say built with Pride. They made so many steps backwards.
They should take a look at what they used to make and make a real comparison in performance!
Peter

 

[pierreandreply4]

me in my case i much prefer to own a silent dishwasher than having one thats noisy here is a short video of my dishwasher in action.

 

[bwoods]

Reading Between the Lines

Thanks, Mike, for posting that! Very interesting brochure.

Let's read between the lines of what Whirlpool is really saying:

Welcome to the new wonderful world of automatic dishwashing by Whirlpool our new machines are designed to kiss the U.S. Government's butt to get an Energy Star rating. Here's how we do it.

1. Our new toy motors take four hours to wash one load of dishes.

2. Our new motors are so anemic so we'll alternate water between the wash arms as there is so little water being moved.

3. If you don't scrape and rinse your dishes our new filtration system will need you to pull it out and scrub the mess out of the micropores with a toothbrush.

4. Our filters become stinky due to residual dirt, bacteria, calcium and decayed food products, we hope the dry cycle cuts the stink down a little.

5. Our new dishwashers are so quiet you won't mind that it takes all night to clean a load of dirty pans. Yes, when you get up in the morning, and eating breakfast, you will hardly notice your new Whirlpool struggling away trying to finish last night's load that our previous PowerClean Module machines would have done in 45 minutes.

____ ______ ______ ______

Sorry...couldn't resist, hehe.

Barry

 

[peteski50]

Whirlpool dishwashers

Barry that is so well said!
Thanks,
Peter

 

[volsboy1]

How is this a resource saver?Yes it might save some water and energy to heat the water but running a dishwasher that long everyday.Our 1984 Maytag lasted 13 years and it was still working when we got rid of it.A 7 hour wash overnight cycle and heavy wash of just shy of 5 hours this machine will last 3 to 4 years and be in the land fill.I bet it takes more thermodynamic energy to make another dishwasher than the extra water and heat that a Old Kitchenaid uses compared to this new one.This is NUTS I will not be buying one that is for sure.

 

[pierreandreply4]

me i have a kenmore disherwasher

me i have a knmore elite dishwasher that my mom and me bought in 2005 it is now 6 years old and it it still working fine and the best way to keep these dishwasher going is 1 not to use heat dry and not use the sanitize rinse and the only cycle i use on mine are smart wash option turbozone and high temp option i only use the sanitize rinse unless i really needed it and will always use the air dry as i will never use the heat dry option and i also know for a fact that when this dishwasher breaks in my case i will be buying the same model even if they made some changes and thats all i have to say.

 

[peteski50]

Whirlpool Dishwasher!

Wes I bet you wish you had that Maytag back. We all didnt realize how good we had it with those older models. I am interested if someone on the club will try one.
But it will not be me!

 

[appnut]

I"m gonna hold out as long as I can to not have a dishwasher with a filter.  If I have to get one like that some day, I might as well just go back to washing dishes totally by hand. As many know, I don't believe in prerinsing at all and I at best scrape the largest pieces off.  Sometimes there'd be a bit of debris even at the bottom of the GE.  With the Kenmore TT, I scrape just about as well, maybe a bit more.  But I've also beeen known to put a saucepan that had been used to cook rice in it, and some had gotten well cooked on the bottom of the pan, right in the dishwasher.  I can hear the grinder grinding up that rice and it goes through a filter purge 4 to 6 times during the cycle.  But, it came clean with Cascade Complete.

[this post was last edited: 9/25/2011-01:01]

 

[a440]

Good one Barry!

 

[mark_wpduet]

OMG!

I guess my next DW won't be a WP!!!!

It almost sounds like they're turning the dishwashers into an "inconvenience" rather than a convenience.

 

[hoover1100]

Dishwashers with filters

Not really sure if there's a difference between U.S. models with filters and European models, but I really don't see how having a filter instead of a grinder is a major issue.

I haven't used a dishwasher with a grinder since I was last in the U.S. in 1999, but i have never pre-rinsed anything that has been put in my dishwasher, nor do I scrape. Large hard food remains like bones etc and large quantities of leftover food are removed before loading but thats about it. Dried on rice, sweetcorn, coffee grinds bits of pasta etc all just get washed into the filter during the cycle and are held there until the machine drains when they are washed off the filter and down the drain with the wash water.

I have been using dishwashers since my parent's got their first one 15 years ago and I have never found anything in the filters on the rare occasions I have checked them, apart from perhaps some broken glass or a few herbs around the rim.

The only thing I can possibly think is that the higher temps my dishwasher heats to compared to these new U.S. models (158f on wash and rinse on the intensive cycle with hygiene rinse selected compared to 130f on the equivalent cycle of the models discussed here) and perhaps different detergent composition cause food trapped in the filter of my dishwasher to dissolve or break up more than in these machines.

As for the wash times with the machines discussed here, they are pretty insane! My most frequently used cycle in our Bosch is Intensive with Hygiene Exxtra, this lasts about 2hrs 10 mins, rather a long time compared to older machines but certainly not long enough to cause a problem for us!

Matt

 

[lordkenmore]

The problem with the Whirlpool is that it appears this new model does NOT self clean the filter. It's up to the user. I personally don't like the idea--I like the idea of the filter being as clean as possible by the final rinse. Plus, I can see many users never bothering to clean out the filter. Sort of like how many people never cleaned their washer's user-cleaned lint filter, resulting in a lint filter that needs a crowbar to pry it out.

 

The length of cycles on this Whirlpool seems insane. Especially for those who do big cooking sprees that last all day and keep generating mountains of dishes.

 

[lordkenmore]

I don't follow current dishwasher news that closely. But it seems to me that Whirlpool had been the #1 recommendation by many for decent US made dishwashers. Now, with this new Whirlpool design, it seems likely that this recommendation will go down the drain. Is there anything on the market that is US company/US made that's decent? Or are dishwashers going to be something one must buy from an a foreign company--at  least if one wants something decent?

 

[bwoods]

newer dw recommendations

John,

I don't know about the others, but my pick would still be the non-tall tub GE. (What few models GE still makes in this style.)

It's psc motor is not as powerful as the old GE tower wash motors, but not bad, compared to many of the newer machines. It still uses a hard food waste disposer
(I enlarged the openings on the sump grate a little, to let larger wastes into the disposer) and has the time tested tower wash system.

If you get the models with the "hot start" option, which heats the water up at the beginning of the cycle it does a superb job of washing and scrubbing, and does it in less than half the time of the modern style tall tub machines. It has 100% full time water filtration with a self-cleaning filter. All cycles have a least two full final rinses and some have three.

I haven't checked the Whirlpool site to see if they are still making non-tall tub (conventional 2 door style) dishwashers. IF they do, and they haven't replaced the motors with the children's toy psc motors, they would probably be a good bet, too.

 

[foraloysius]

Here's a link to that non-tall tub GE dishwasher. I was shocked by the noise it seems to make, 61dBA!!! My 15 year old AEG dishwasher makes only 45dBA. Every 3dBA more makes a dishwasher twice as noisy. Go figure!!

http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SpecPage&Sku=GSD4000VWW

 

[hoover1100]

I see

I didn't realise some U.S. models have non-self cleaning filters, I can imagine that would be a bit of a pain!

I'll stick with my Bosch, only had it 4 months but I couldn't be happier!

Matt

 

[lordkenmore]

Thanks Barry for the input on GE! As I said earlier, I don't follow dishwashers THAT closely, but I like to know a bit about current market in case someone asks me for ideas about a new appliance.

 

[lordkenmore]

Dishwasher noise

I'm not particularly bothered by dishwasher noise. It's a small price to pay for NOT having to wash dishes. Although I can understand those who want it dead quiet. If the kitchen is used as more than a kitchen--which is the case in many homes--noise might a real issue. For me, kitchens are basically mainly used for cooking and nothing else.

 

The noise argument is something heavily marketed at my nearest Home Depot. I don't know if it's store policy, or just the woman I see working there most times when I wander through. But in any case, if I wander through and look at something, she'll come and we'll talk. And her big argument for buying the model "over there" that's 2, 3 times the cost is how much quieter it is. My attitude is I really don't care about noise, and if I were to buy a 2, 3 times more expensive model it had better be 2, 3 times better as an appliance. Often, I fear, the only thing that goes up is the price and frill features.

 

I'm not alone in my views. The first time I had this noise talk at Home Depot I was tentatively shopping for my-then roommate, who's dishwasher was acting up, and might or might not be replaced. I heard the noise argument then. When I reported it later to my roommate, I heard something along the lines of: "I'll go with the noisy model, save money, and just turn up the volume on the TV!"

 

[bwoods]

dw noise

I'm with you, John. I don't pay much attention to the noise. I am more concerned that the dw cleans dishes. I would much rather have a noisy piece of fine machinery that excells at its job than a quiet piece of junk.

The 61db on th GE is not particulary loud. Human conversation is rated as having an average decibel rating of 60 db.

 

[foraloysius]

The level of noise is not the only factor that counts. The frequency is also important. Comparing a human conversation to a dishwasher is comparing apples to pears.

Believe me, 61dBA for an appliance is very loud! I was in a cabin on Vancouver Island for a few days. I used a BOL Frigidaire dishwasher that was already very loud. BOL Frigidaires are rated 56dBA. The GE is almost four times as noisy!!

 

[lavamat_jon]

I don't pay much attention to the noise. I am more conce

Perhaps its shocking, but mine manages to clean everything, quietly!

Just saying...

 

[mark_wpduet]

My Current tall tub WP (from 2005) when ran on Pots/Pans/Hightemp wash/ No heated dry runs for about 100 mins. That's the cycle I usually use. Sometimes normal/high temp/no dry (which is about 85 min's)

I wonder how well the "One Hour Wash" works and if it uses more water? I notice the time goes UP I'm sure if you choose high temp or sani rinse

That GE reminds me of a 90s dishwasher and those were all loud but never bothered me at all. I like the looks of it. GRR, but I've gotten used to the Tall Tub and having more room.

 

[appnut]

1-hour wash cycle

Mark, the only option that is supposed to be available for that cycle is heated dry.  It uses about the same amount of water as Pots/Pans so it might be a little bit more forceful than normal cycle with the variable speed motor.