Thread Number: 69947
/ Tag: Vintage Automatic Washers
Legends of Dishwashing: GE Potscrubber |
[Down to Last] |
|
Post# 928716 , Reply# 4   3/24/2017 at 20:28 (2,561 days old) by potatochips ( )   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
2    
GE even claimed that their racks could hold more than ANY competition. Ive never done a test myself, but I do think that it could very well give any of the other legendary machines a run for their money.
|
Post# 928728 , Reply# 8   3/24/2017 at 21:03 (2,561 days old) by ken (NYS)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Our 1996 GE Potscrubber has been a real trooper the past 20+ years. Decided to do some maintenance and replace some parts two years ago rather than getting a new machine. Glad I did. Nothing is ever rinsed before loading and everything always comes out clean. And in only 45 minutes. Love to listen to it as it washes.
|
Post# 928807 , Reply# 9   3/25/2017 at 07:10 (2,560 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Can someone explain to me why the GE Potscrubber dishwasher was at least 400% better across the border in Canada than anything GE offered in its native country????????????????
We didn't have anything like that effective strainer, nor did we have that very nice KitchenAid-style speckled Porcelain tank(that's aesthetic but it makes me wonder why the difference). Not to mention that sturdier and classier control panel. What gives? We had a couple of Potscrubbers and both were relatively lame noisy machines. Wouldn't buy them again.
I will admit that GE rose to the challenge when they designed that new Upper rack; very capacious, useable and versatile. But the bottom rack remained that clumsy, limited design that they rolled out when GE changed from their brilliant Top Loading design to the "drop-down door" Front Loaders in 1962.
Very interesting to me how Canadian iterations of these appliances were almost always better. |
Post# 928834 , Reply# 10   3/25/2017 at 10:36 (2,560 days old) by chetlaham (United States)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
1    
|
Post# 928848 , Reply# 11   3/25/2017 at 11:43 (2,560 days old) by appnut (TX)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
1    
Kevin, you load this dishwasher just like I loaded my GSD1200. In fact, due to your pictures, you get BobLoad certification. Space for casseroles was on the right side in my dishwasher. Have you ever gone to the GE web site and put in your model number and see if the owners manual is available to download? A couple of months ago, they still had the GSD2800 and GSD1200 models available. Ken, maybe the PotScrubber models your family had were MOL and not toward the higher end with the multi-orbit wash arms and this filter system. That made a huge difference in performance. Although I have to admit, the house I built in late 1984 came with a GE produced Tappan that was pretty much a MOL PotScrubber. But with water heat turned on, it produced just about as good a results as my laterr GSD1200 and didn't have filter or Multi-Orbit wash arm. Ken, after seeing the model (or similar) posted earlier, I did too feel a bit cheated. The porcelain tub and the delay-wash timer. I believe this also had a sani-rinse option that only the GSD2800 had. |
Post# 928910 , Reply# 13   3/25/2017 at 20:06 (2,560 days old) by cuffs054 (MONTICELLO, GA)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
1    
Didn't some of the domestic GE's have a similar filter set-up? I could never figure how it worked and even with the explanation I still don't get it. With the filter in the back and pump return in the sump how did the cooties get to the back filter? |
Post# 928921 , Reply# 15   3/25/2017 at 20:38 (2,560 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
1    
But ever since heard the word have loved "Potscrubber" dishwashers! *LOL*
Have always assumed the name was derived from the marketing department at GE wrapping their heads around what was Mrs. American Housewife's largest gripe with her dishwasher. By the 1980's or so it was likely that she still often had to pre-rinse before, or scrub pots after they had been in dishwasher. Have also always had a soft spot for GE's 1980's "We Bring Good Things To Life" adverts. Who knew by the 2010's General Electirc would ditch appliances all together and focus on those jet engines, locomotives and other things. |
Post# 928954 , Reply# 16   3/25/2017 at 23:12 (2,560 days old) by appnut (TX)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
1    
|
Post# 928970 , Reply# 17   3/26/2017 at 00:21 (2,560 days old) by MattL (Flushing, MI)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
the second video made really miss my old 2800. Got years of use out of it, made me a confirmed GE DW owner. I'm on my second one since then... |
Post# 929012 , Reply# 19   3/26/2017 at 08:08 (2,559 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
1    
Hi Kevin, thanks for sharing this interesting DW with us, it looks like it would perform as well as the early 80s GE high end DWs here in the US like the GSD1200, GSD2500, 2600 and the 2800.
It is interesting how they added a passive filter in the corner of a Porcelain On Steel tank, we never saw a filter on these Hot Point style machines in the US, but it looks like it would probably work about as well as the much larger passive filter that the US plastic tank DWs used.
The POS tanks were cheaper to make and GE continued to use them in the US into the early 90s, interestingly they had a lot of rust issues and were also much more likley to leak around the door and at a few other places where screws had to go through the tank walls.
The GE ad proclaiming how much more you can fit in this GE DW is a little miss leading, while it is impressive that the regular size GE broiler pan a grid will fit in the GE DW you have to keep in mind that GE designed all their DWs to hold their broiler pan. By tring to put that BP in these DWs it really cut down what else could be put in a load.
It would be easy for any DW manufacturer to come up with a load that fit their DW well and would not fit in a competitors machine, Maytag and Kitchenaid did ads like this as well.
All in all a very cool machine, I would expect it to be a little louder than the plastic tub machines and overall a little shorter lived with the POS tank and the plastic control panel, but at least it may be less of a fire hazzard if something goes terribly wrong and the machine is more easily recycled with a higher metal content.
John . |
Post# 929044 , Reply# 20   3/26/2017 at 12:06 (2,559 days old) by chetlaham (United States)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
1    
This I can not imagine... though I am not saying you are incorrect. In the US the Potscrubbers cycle was often 45 minutes long on average. Even the BOL models (without the extender) after 1982 had a 25 minute main wash. I just can't see 10 minutes being sufficient enough to remove backed on foods.
What temp is this machine rated for filling? Does it do thermal holds in the main wash? |
Post# 929068 , Reply# 22   3/26/2017 at 15:00 (2,559 days old) by chetlaham (United States)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 929071 , Reply# 23   3/26/2017 at 15:09 (2,559 days old) by chetlaham (United States)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 929084 , Reply# 24   3/26/2017 at 16:14 (2,559 days old) by appnut (TX)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
What water temperature is your water heater set at? Mine was always 120 to 125. Once I moved it all the way up to 155 and it still didn't shorten PotScrubber or Normal. I will admit, PS was a little bit longer in winter than summer.
As described above, my prewash was bout 5 minutes at most, then a 4 minute prerinse, then a 6 or 7 minute prerinse, and then on to the main wash on Normal and PotScrubber. On light, the 6 or 7 minute prerinse was eliminated. |
Post# 929090 , Reply# 26   3/26/2017 at 16:53 (2,559 days old) by appnut (TX)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
There was an updated version of the GSD1200 (seen in online manual) and the cycles were PS, Heavy (my Normal); Normal (my light soil) and the rest were the same. I always used Light and tough stuff was PS. I'd use energy saver wash for soil that hadn't sat for more than a day or if I was doing a lot of baking/cooking. |
Post# 929105 , Reply# 27   3/26/2017 at 18:27 (2,559 days old) by chetlaham (United States)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
GE tweaked those a lot. Literally ever 4 years the cycle sequence was tweaked, fills added or eliminated, time tinkered with and timed thermal holds shorted or extended. Some models would add heat in the last rinse on Potscrubber others would not. If anyone is curious I can post the cycle times to several 1980s perma-tuff machines.
|
Post# 929109 , Reply# 28   3/26/2017 at 19:17 (2,559 days old) by potatochips ( )   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
If you wouldnt mind posting them, that would be neat. |
Post# 929113 , Reply# 29   3/26/2017 at 20:34 (2,559 days old) by appnut (TX)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 929172 , Reply# 31   3/27/2017 at 09:16 (2,558 days old) by chetlaham (United States)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
The late 90s/2000s BOL models were pure trash. I had one in my apartment, it was horrific to say the least. This era was GE's rock bottom in the appliance industry. These machines had no filters, greatly reduced water levels, Normal wash where light wash would start on top of that, and these happened to go on recall since I first discovered that after only three years in use, filling the rinse aid dispenser would cause it to literally drain out all over the floor. At first I did not know that, because it started gradually (progressively) getting worse and would dribble down (from the inner door into the tank) while the machine was running causing it to froth and suds to spill. At first I thought it was residual detergent leftover from hand prewashing (you had to literally scrub every food particle away or it would redeposit itself all over the top rack) until I made the connection that filling the rinse aid resvoir would cause the next few washes to overflow. So I thought I was over filling the thing, or spilling it without knowing it... Until eventually I gave up, only to try at a latter time with RA dripping down the toekick. Thats when I knew it was not me lol.
Immigrants. Remember how it has been said here that BOL GEs got immigrants and new users hooked into automatic dishwahsing? Not these turds. Being that a lot of immigrants in the apartment complex, for many it was their first time with a DW. Boy did they think it was a gimmick. Those who tried it would say 'why do people even bother, when you have to wash them anyway' 'whats the point of this?' I do not blame them. Sadly when they would bring this up with US Home owners they would get a two headed look, and some even assumed that Americans ate with dirty dishes at first. (For many it was difficult to fathom that not all DW were created equal) One immigrant couple had the same problem I did with the RA. First few times they used their machine they used regular dishsoap not knowing better. Of course it caused a ton of suds. Not knowing what they were doing wrong I told them they needed something like Cascade, and of course to fill the RA dispenser, prewash, use the Heavy cycle, expect mediocre results being a BOL GE, ect. It worked out for them, until their machine started doing the same thing as mine: sudsing from leaking RA. Of course they did not know that and could not figure out what they were doing wrong. They returned detergents, tried you name it, until finally giving up. Everyone including myself at the time thought they were somehow getting dishsoap into the machine- they couldn't figure it out- even thought we might be lieing to them. All this was before others started having the same problem. I swapped the RA dispenser on mine after experiencing it much latter (wish I called the landlord, I latter found out they were replacing the whole machine with RA leaks). Finally before moving out I received a call from the rental office about a major recall regarding "detergent residue and electrical fires" and that maintance simply needed a weekday access to my apartment to resolve it. It was then when I Googled it, and where I thought it had just been a small freak set of manufacturing defects effecting a small batch of machines my complex got stuck with, turned out to affect millions of machines. As for longevity these did not even come close to the 80s and mid 90s GEs. Being that this was a 1000 unit apartment complex that also had several other satellite properties it had a 24hr in house maintenance team. When ever they threw out water heater or appliances they would set them over by the bulk trash dumpsters where residents could drop of old couches, televisions ect. Needless to say I got to see two dozen machines a week if not in a single day- over the course of several years. Nearly every single one of these late 90s/early 2000s GEs had rusted or calcified drain solenoid brackets. A lot of them also had failed timers according to maintenance. This was of course side by side to 80s perma tuffs and porcelain Hotpoints which looked like they could have gone another 30 years. Why were they being thrown out? Simple, the properties from the 80s were gradually being renovated. Thats not to say that the older machines did not break, but the build quality was vastly different, ie the pump seals from the 80s machines were better with ceramic wear rings were as the 90s were thinner with already rusting metal wear rings. |
Post# 929175 , Reply# 32   3/27/2017 at 09:36 (2,558 days old) by chetlaham (United States)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Give me some time to post them all. But here are the first set. An early 1983 GSD500D (notice the reduced fill times) GSD500D (normal fill times, 1985 machine) GSD600G (extra post main-wash rinse, tweaked water fills, 1989) and GSD500X from 1996. All these are BOLs.
|
Post# 929176 , Reply# 33   3/27/2017 at 09:39 (2,558 days old) by chetlaham (United States)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Mid 2000s BOL, and 2010 BOL with filter. I have the 1998 BOL (the one after GSD500X) also but need to find the tech sheet for that and take a picture of it.
|
Post# 929178 , Reply# 34   3/27/2017 at 09:41 (2,558 days old) by chetlaham (United States)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
GSD600D (1984), GSD600G (1987) and a GSD900? (I think) from 1993 ish.
|
Post# 929179 , Reply# 35   3/27/2017 at 09:44 (2,558 days old) by chetlaham (United States)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
BOL porcelain Hotpoint, 2 final rinser, 1984. I had the tech sheet to the latter models which took away one pre-mainwash rinse and moved it to the post mainwash rinses.
View Full Size
|
Post# 929180 , Reply# 36   3/27/2017 at 09:46 (2,558 days old) by chetlaham (United States)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 929217 , Reply# 37   3/27/2017 at 12:51 (2,558 days old) by toploader55 (Massachusetts Sand Bar, Cape Cod)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
4    
|
Post# 929218 , Reply# 38   3/27/2017 at 13:02 (2,558 days old) by johnb300m (Chicago)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
2    
|
Post# 929224 , Reply# 39   3/27/2017 at 13:48 (2,558 days old) by joeypete (Concord, NH)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
GE def had some cool washers in the day. I'd love to find one of the 80's electronic models. I remember them as a kid and thinking they were so cool! But back then, digital anything was cool LOL.
10 minutes for a wash cycle is what my Hobart does too...for at least the wash segments...then rinses are 5 minutes. But considering how much more water these older machines use, that seems to be plenty of time. I guess depending on the machine, there are varying number of each segment within each cycle. |
Post# 929302 , Reply# 41   3/27/2017 at 22:00 (2,558 days old) by stainfighter (Columbia, SC)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 1080989 , Reply# 43   7/14/2020 at 10:46 (1,353 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|