Thread Number: 15007
Dishwasher Wash ARms - Vintage or Modern? |
[Down to Last] |
Post# 253948   12/13/2007 at 18:40 (5,950 days old) by launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Big Blue Cast Iron or Stainless Steel? Lots of holes, or a few large holes? Does anyone think older wash arms did a better job, or are today's wash arms desgined for the low water use a better deal? Also what was the rationale behind those cast iron wash arms? Cast iron will eventually rust, not the sort of thing I'd want spraying around my dishes. L. |
|
Post# 254001 , Reply# 2   12/13/2007 at 23:10 (5,950 days old) by sudsmaster (SF Bay Area, California)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Cast iron will rust - the wash arm in my KD2P rusts a little inside - but unlike steel, cast iron rusts in particles not flakes. So the rust particles are easily flushed away in the pre-purge. After that, the water is very clear. And iron rust particles are basically of very low toxicity. Not to be taken in mass quantities, but a trace amount is probably healthy. One possible advantage of the heavy cast iron wash arm is that it uses a simple bronze bearing with no need for anything to keep it from floating off the bearing - the weight of the arm keeps it on the spout. It does pack quite a wallop though. |
Post# 254058 , Reply# 3   12/14/2007 at 07:27 (5,950 days old) by jetcone (Schenectady-Home of Calrods,Monitor Tops,Toroid Transformers)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Kitchen Aids they had to put large heavy metal door locks in the doors. As the power of the cast iron spray arm is so great at 50 gallons/minute that not only is the grime blasted from the plates but the plates themselves are SCREAMING to get out of the dishwasher! So they have to be bolted inside the machine so that they don't escape. My arm is 40+ years old and I don't see any rust. Cast Iron rusts to the surface and that acts like a barrier to further rusting. |
Post# 254107 , Reply# 5   12/14/2007 at 11:16 (5,949 days old) by panthera (Rocky Mountains)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
I think the early machines tended more to clean with water pressure, heat and detergents whereas modern machines clean with warm water and detergents. When you use modern detergents in the KAs from the mid-60's, they run rings around the newer machines - same or better cleaning results in less than 1/4 the time. But those high pressure jets probably were the reason for the cast iron design. I think the pre-Whirlpool KAs were designed by engineers who only cared about function and used whatever material achieved their purpose best. I notice that my Miele's, which use stainless steel arms, usually start to show bearing wear after only 15 years or so. |
Post# 254259 , Reply# 6   12/15/2007 at 11:55 (5,948 days old) by toploader55 (Massachusetts Sand Bar, Cape Cod)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Here on Cape Cod there are still alot of UM-4s(1950s-early 1960s) still up and running. The seasonal restaurants say if they bought one 30 years ago they only have actually 15 years of use. I mention the UM-4 as it uses the cast iron (Hobart used to call it NiResist) washarm. The machines are so quiet all you here is the rhythem of the RPMs of the wash arm spraying the water. The WM-1(Mid 60's) has the 4 way HydroSweep and is more styled after the later KitchenAid machines with the push down handle and Stainless Wash Chamber. The UM had a much smaller wash chamber and gravity drain as the WM was a KitchenAid sized chamber and a pump drain. Both machines clean extremly well. UM is a 3 1/2 min cycle and the WM is a 4 min cycle. I'd love to get my hands on either a top loading portable or front loading portable with a cast iron arm. |