Why did Whirlpool discontinue the powerclean?

[Chetlaham]

Ok- this is one thing that makes me really, really angry. Why did they discontinue the best designed hands down by far dishwasher ever made? I can live with everything else and understand the reasoning, but this is one thing I can not process. I just can't. It makes me so sad and mad at the same time. How I wish I had stockpiled a few of these back when they were sold cheap under the estate name.

 

[askolover]

Probably because it used too much water for the government's tastes.

 

[Chetlaham]

Did it really use that much with a wash-purge-rinse? Maybe it did, sadly ;(

 

[askolover]

My WP built KA with the powerclean pump uses as follows:



                    Pots/pans - 9.75 gallons 82 minutes*



                    Normal - 7.75 gallons 70 minutes*



                   Light/China-5.25 gallons 58 minutes*



                   Rinse/Hold -2.25 gallons 14 minutes*

 

[vacerator]

Our model 940

WP Gold Powerclean (poly tub) only purged once, after the pre wash. The higher end models had optical turbidity sensors, which if detect particles, purge until the wash water is free of them.
The older porcelain tub models did not purge.
Yes, energy star standards and water saving led to the point voyager design.
Our old porcelain tub Powerclean from the 80's was still working, but the racks were all rusty. The Gold 940 lasted 11 years, and was stuck on "normal" only, also rusted racks.
We upgraded to a nylon rack machine.

 

[henene4]

I'd rather have Prerinse-Wash-Rinse-Rinse with the same amount of water then Wash-Purge-Rinse.

Dishes barely hold any water, thus every entire exchange is a basic 100% replacement of water.

And given modern DW only use 0.8 to 1.2 gal per fill, I totaly is understandable that they had to redo the thing.

 

[johnb300m]

It used lots of water and lots of electricity.
They were also noisy.
And they were too tall in dimension.

The trends were going for more quiet operation, less water and electrical use, and TALL TUBS.
My aunt had a high end Powerclean based KA. It was "quiet" for the day, with the tuned absorber and everything. But.....it was not Point Voyager "quiet."

Also, I have no recollection of Powerclean systems using any optical soil sensors. I'm only aware of them using pressure-based soil sensors.
In fact, it was part of their marketing.
"We sense soil with filter pressure, not turbidity like everyone else! A little milk in the water won't trick our sensor to running a heavier cycle."

 

[vacerator]

Noisier by far

than todays machines, but not terrible. They had no tall tub either.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

I am livid!

I am livid! I am livid that they discontinued the powerclean! I've had the point voyager and it was a nightmare! The glasses were dirty with caked on food inside of them! I have the Tahoe global wash and it does just fine! But, I wish they'd kept the hard food disposer in all their dishwashers!

 

[johnb300m]

The Maytag GlobalWash has retained the hard food chopper.
You should have gotten that.
You might be a fraction less livid.

 

[Chetlaham]

Not as bad as they are made out to be IMO. The way they cleaned is simply bar none. Even with a wash-purge-rinse everything was spotless, and the amount of soil they could handle was uncomprehending. With 150 degree water the cycle was only 32 minutes.By far the best built dishwasher ever in every category except life expectancy which goes to the mid 80s permatuffs and Hobart Kitchen-aids.

 

[yogitunes]

I have a 1988 Kenmore UltraWash version....bought brand new....

and I have an exact match spare I got off CL for 25.00.....if the day ever comes that the first one fails to work....

20 years, and still running strong.....

as long as it does what its supposed to, I don't care if someone considers it noisy or uses a lot of water...even back then, it used less water than washing by hand

its only loud if you let it, and WaterMiser cycle was there if you needed it...

 

[peteski50]

WP Powerclean!

This was my model the best dishwasher I ever owned. I am sorry I got rid of it. When I remodeled the kitchen in 2001 I was going to have it installed but everyone was saying get one of those newer tall tubs and I bought a Kenmore tall tub and had it for over 1 year and the control board went and sears took it back and I got the GE tall tub which I like but the power clean was the best! I wish they made them today! It didn't make that much noise and got everything done quickly! I would never want one of these new ones that run 3 hours!

 

[48bencix]

Still have my Ultra Wash

Sears Ultra Wash might be the same and it does have the purge. Probably uses one quart of water for the purge. Actually pretty efficient and fast. 2010 model. But the standards change. I will probably get the Maytag because of the disposer. I cannot understand designing a dishwasher that requires the owner to clean a filter. The sales people say you only need to clean it once a month. I am not going to leave that crud in there to rot. My racks are vinyl and have some rust. I would like to have nylon racks and the Maytag has them. Some Kitchen Aid units have a disposer but they are too expensive for my budget.

 

[ultralux88]

Perhaps this is why I can’t wrap my mind around manual filter dishwashers...

 

[Chetlaham]

ITs pictures like that which are surreal and bring up so much emotion... Both longing and sadness. And to never take anything for granted.