Thread Number: 29976
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Post# 455465   8/8/2010 at 22:13 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

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So, after picking it up Wednesday night, I had to wait until the weekend to get the latest dishwasher down to Ogden to check it out, but here's a peek 'under the hood'. Looks pretty good from here.




Post# 455466 , Reply# 1   8/8/2010 at 22:15 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

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Overall, cabinet and formica lid are in good shape. Love the Whirlpool logo - haven't seen that for years!

Post# 455467 , Reply# 2   8/8/2010 at 22:17 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

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And it's a Supreme! The control panel and dial are in good shape. I didn't get a good shot of them but there are multiple cycle selections: Normal Wash, Short Wash, Ready Rinse, and a Plate Warmer.

Post# 455468 , Reply# 3   8/8/2010 at 22:19 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

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Inside the tub is a bit dirty; looks like it hasn't been used in ages and the water where it was used had a high iron content.

Post# 455469 , Reply# 4   8/8/2010 at 22:20 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

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Twin detergent cups!

Post# 455471 , Reply# 5   8/8/2010 at 22:21 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

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Tub sump filter is nice and clean... That chunk in there is a piece of a plate or a dish.

Post# 455472 , Reply# 6   8/8/2010 at 22:23 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        
Missing a piece??

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Here's a shot of the racks back in place. I think that the top rack is missing a section, though. I am guessing the cutlery baskets fit in the middle of the lower rack.

Post# 455474 , Reply# 7   8/8/2010 at 22:24 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

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So, I had to try it... The result? Well, the video should tell you the answer! BTW I quoted the wrong date in the video. OOPS!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO turquoisedude's LINK


Post# 455475 , Reply# 8   8/8/2010 at 22:25 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        
BUT....

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The machine does leak a bit...

Post# 455476 , Reply# 9   8/8/2010 at 22:27 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

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After investigation while the dishwasher ran, I found several issues. There is water leaking from the tube connecting the wash arm outlet to the main pump and the tub sump has a lot of hairline cracks. I should be able to fix them, though...

Post# 455477 , Reply# 10   8/8/2010 at 22:29 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

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More a concern are the detergent cups... They are so soft and fragile! The covers have snapped off and I inadvertently put a dent in one cup when I tried to remove it... Finding replacements for these are going to be a challenge!

Post# 455478 , Reply# 11   8/8/2010 at 22:31 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

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Likewise, the cutlery basket has a few missing support bars... The good news is that a WCI style cutlery basket should fit as a replacement.

Post# 455479 , Reply# 12   8/8/2010 at 22:33 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

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But, after just a few plain water wash tests, the tub looked a lot better! I will work on getting the leak issues fixed up first. All in all, I think I found a pretty cool dishwasher here!!

Post# 455482 , Reply# 13   8/8/2010 at 22:39 (4,980 days old) by appnut (TX)        

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Paul, does the top rack glide back & forth--front to back?

Post# 455490 , Reply# 14   8/8/2010 at 22:52 (4,980 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

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Yes, Bob, it does. It kinda reminds me of the Maytag WP600 'rolling rack'! I noticed the two large pins on one end of the rack - I guess that they were placed there to keep the detergent cups from being blocked by the rack.

Post# 455493 , Reply# 15   8/8/2010 at 23:06 (4,980 days old) by A440 ()        
Awesome Video!

Wow!
What a great wash action for a single arm!
I am amazed at the size of the motor! It must have a huge pump!
Looks to be in great shape minus the few issues with the hoses and such.
Thanks for the video!
Brent


Post# 455497 , Reply# 16   8/8/2010 at 23:33 (4,980 days old) by appnut (TX)        

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Paul, there's a part of me that has a sneeky suspicion that may be the entire top rack. That it slids to & fro to make loading easier and to possibly leave the open gap for taller items or to place pots & pans in that area so as to not worry about blocking any of the top rack.

Post# 455534 , Reply# 17   8/9/2010 at 01:28 (4,980 days old) by mrcleanjeans (milwaukee wi)        

That is the whole upper rack, I also had an FP-50 years ago. It moved 30 GPM thru the spray arm. When combined with 12% phosphate Calgonite, the results were unbeatable. Dishes sparkled like diamonds. That sucker was very,very loud though!
Congrats, I miss that machine!


Post# 455618 , Reply# 18   8/9/2010 at 11:24 (4,979 days old) by dishwashercrazy (West Peoria, IL)        

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Nice addition to your collection Paul. It certainly does have good wash action from the spray arm.

When I was at Modern Parts on May 5th this year, I picked up from Larry, a Repair-Master publication for Whirlpool Automatic Dishwasher. I am uncertain if I took the last one, or if there were more in his file cabinet drawer. This book covers a wide range of models leading up the the 1975 publication date on the book. If even covers earlier models which had a bow-tie looking impeller - similar to the GE impeller of the late 1950s.

Thanks for the pictures and video.

Mike


Post# 455641 , Reply# 19   8/9/2010 at 12:19 (4,979 days old) by mickeyd (Hamburg NY)        
Paul Day at aworg--What fun!

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You know, Paul, after enjoying the mad splash of the video, I started to wonder: How many dishwasher lovers would we have in the world if all DW's had see-through doors. Who could resist water drama that intense?

Post# 455815 , Reply# 20   8/10/2010 at 00:13 (4,979 days old) by sensi-temp ()        

I think there is an upper rack missing, I used to have a Kenmore D&M (?) impeller machine that had two upper racks that slid side to side. They would stack on top of each other for loading & unloading, You stacked them, sild side to side to load or unload bottom rack. It washed very well but the pot metal lid hinges kept breaking & Whirlpool no longer carried them.

Post# 455881 , Reply# 21   8/10/2010 at 08:18 (4,979 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut)        
Aferim!

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Gorgeous machine! I think I'll call that color "hot turquoise". If this is a Whirly from the early sixties, I can tell you that CU check-rated these machines. I've always been curious to see what they looked like. Interesting that the shape of the spray arm is the same as it is today. Is there another top rack or is it just that one rack that rolls back and forth?

Post# 456046 , Reply# 22   8/10/2010 at 19:46 (4,978 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)        
WP PORTABLE DISHWASHER

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Those were great machines I had the same one many years ago. That is the complete upper rack, this machine has no relation to D&M machines or anything Sears sold. Sears did not source any DWs from WP until about 1984-5, thats when WP came out with they impossible to beat Power Clean pump and motor system.

Post# 456136 , Reply# 23   8/11/2010 at 07:37 (4,978 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut)        

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Then who made the Sears roto rack dishwashers?

Post# 456145 , Reply# 24   8/11/2010 at 08:14 (4,978 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)        
SEARS ROTA-RACK DWS

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Were made by D&M manufacturing in Ohio they made almost all of the Sears machines machines until 1984-5 when Sears finally started selling a decent dishwasher. Sears always had an excellent reputation for washers & dryers, freezers & refrigerators but thier dishwashers and gas and electric ranges never really measured up to the better national brands. If you look at the construction quality of a D&M DW compared to a WP DW you will never confuse the too. D&M only made DWs for other companies at one point I counted more than 20 different brand names that appeared on D&M built machines. I don't think D&M could have marketed the machine on their own as it was always such a poor quality machine that it needed a big brand on it to move it at all, as a stand alone brand few people would give it a second look.

Post# 456153 , Reply# 25   8/11/2010 at 09:06 (4,978 days old) by Tomturbomatic (Beltsville, MD)        

We have a similar model WP portble in the collection or at least we had one last time I looked. The black Bakelite wash arm was sort of grayed by years of usage so we tried a brand new one. Its jets were angled in such a way that it turned in the opposite direction and shot a bit of water out the steam vent so it was not a replacment.

Ken, if after loading the lower rack, you pull the top rack all the way forward, you can put pans, bowls etc over those big pins on the back of the top rack. The items can even span the space and rest against the back wall of the tank so long as they don't interfere with the detergent cups. You definitely want to make use of that space for such things because:
1. The machine does not have a full upper rack and
2. You don't want to block water to the top rack by putting those things in the lower rack unless they are tall in which case you push the rack to the back and put the tall pitchers, pots, etc at the front of the lower rack.

It's not a perfect situation, but an interesting alternative racking situation that makes older dishwashers so much fun to play with. A family friend had a portable like this so I had thought about the racking for more than 2 decades before we found our machine.
Have fun!


Post# 456155 , Reply# 26   8/11/2010 at 09:26 (4,978 days old) by turquoisedude (.)        

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Didn't D&M produce dishwashers for "big brands" like Admiral, Kelvinator, Caloric and Gagffers & Saettler as well at some point??

Post# 456179 , Reply# 27   8/11/2010 at 11:55 (4,977 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)        
D&M DISHWASHERS

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Yes Paul they sure did and about 15 more brands. Including the very first WP built-ins but never any of thier portables, tappan, Modern Maid, Norge, Speed Queen, Magic Chef, some Westinghouse top load portables, Chambers, Preway electric models, [ they made thier own gas heated machines], some Frigidare TL portable machines etc etc I am sure I missed some can anyone remember any others?.

Post# 456229 , Reply# 28   8/11/2010 at 14:40 (4,977 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!)        

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Very cool dishwasher, that is a powerful spray from a seemingly small arm!




Post# 456299 , Reply# 29   8/11/2010 at 18:36 (4,977 days old) by christfr (st louis mo)        

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pretty cool there dude.. first time i have seen one of those.. how bout you post a vid of that really cool ka top loader that used to live in st louis


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