Thread Number: 37032
G.e. dishwasher question.. 		[Down to Last]
Post# 550786   10/20/2011 at 15:26 (4,928 days old) by volsboy1 (East Tenn Smoky mountains )        

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I am still looking for a another dishwasher but yesterday I went to change the pump thinking it was like all the other new ones with just a blade and that is it and well that turned into a disaster.The pump in my dishwasher is completely different.This dishwasher has a full blown grinder and sizing screen behind it the blade is huge totally covers the pump inlet.I would have never even tried to change it had I known that.It still has that stupid screen in the pump inlet that slides down in the boot.I was wondering does that come out because it superfluous to have that and the other one and that other screen that has the hole for the drain pump was clogged with gunk.I will NEVER touch this dishwasher again after that ordeal the feet are stripped now and It cost me a trip to the E.R. to have my hand stitched up.. Here is a pic I found of the new pump that is in my dishwasher, this is the first I have ever seen of this..I just now want to take that plastic filter that sits in the rubber boot.Does it pull out or does the whole pump have to be removed?I don't think that it needs both of these screens in it  because it starves the pump I can hear it..



Post# 550794 , Reply# 1   10/20/2011 at 15:49 (4,928 days old) by bwoods ()        

Wes,

It looks like GE changed the pump and put a crater screen in behind the blade. My previous GE Orifuke tall tubes just had the blade with no grate.

In mine, the separator screen came out of the sump independently of the pump, but yours may be different as it appears GE has changed the design somewhat.

Whata is the model number of your dishwasher? I was going to look up the schematic.

That $30 Kitchen-Aid is still available, I attached the Craigslist copy.

Barry

Post# 550797 , Reply# 2   10/20/2011 at 16:24 (4,928 days old) by volsboy1 (East Tenn Smoky mountains )        

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ZBD7920VSS that is the model number but I have looked and looked and have not found a schematic that blade and screen behind it.I am going to remove that stupid other screen it looks like it just pulls out.There is NO need for both of them in there when it just starves the pump.G.E. dishwasher's have never had that plastic screen in the boot before so why now.
Post# 550849 , Reply# 3   10/20/2011 at 20:08 (4,928 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)        
GE TALL TUB DISHWASHERS

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 Sorry about your hand now you know why I hate TT DWs as I work on them everyday. Ditch this DW and get a WP built power clean machine you will never be sorry if performance is important to you. If you can put up with cleaning a stinking filter from time to time a KA per 23 series may also be a good chose for you.
Post# 550861 , Reply# 4   10/20/2011 at 20:50 (4,928 days old) by bwoods ()        

Excuse my poor typing in the above posting. I am still laughing at my "GE Orifuke tall tubes " which was supposed to be "GE Profile Tall Tubs", hehe. And the was "grater" screen not "crater." Back to Typing 101, I guess.

I agree with John, a Whirlpool convential two door model will scour everything and eat up almost any garbage yo put in it. A GE Tower Wash with the conventional pre-PSC motor, although, is still my favorite all around, and has three final rinses versus two like the Whirlpool.

And, of course, everybody loves a Maytag Reverse Rack belt drive, a sterling performer, if you don't mind the noise of raw, unbridled power unleased with hurricane forces. :-)

Personally, I love all three: WP Power Module, GE Tower Wash and Maytag BD, RR. Each has it's own unique personality and characteristics. Get all three if you can. :-)



Post# 550866 , Reply# 5   10/20/2011 at 21:04 (4,928 days old) by Electronicontrl (Grand Rapids, MI)        
Reverse Rack

 I love my Maytag Reverse Rack dishwashers

Post# 550914 , Reply# 6   10/21/2011 at 00:22 (4,928 days old) by MattL (Flushing, MI)        

Ah, I guess we all have out fav's.  Personally I HATE whirlpool dishwashers, and am on my 3rd GE.  Tried a WP but it quickly went back to the store.  My current GE is about 5 years old and I did remove the stupid cover over the sump, but that's all.  Very quiet, cleans what ever I throw at it, and has fantastic racks, only DW I've ever had that can have completely flat racks top and bottom if needed.  If it died tomorrow it would be replaced with a GE.
Post# 550988 , Reply# 7   10/21/2011 at 09:34 (4,927 days old) by bwoods ()        

If I were ranking, Matt. I would place the GE tower Wash number 1, The Maytag Reverse Rack Belt Drive #2 (by only a small margin) and the Whirlpool PwerClean Module #3.

Just out of curiosity, Matt. Why do yo hate the Whilpool? Even thought it wasn't my favorite, because the dishes seemed a little less shiny than with the other two, which I assume was because of only two rinses. The Maytag has two rinses two, but uses a larger volume of water per fill.

However, the Whirlpool still did a great job of giving everthing a good scouring and cleanaing baked on food. It's biggest virtue was gobbling up every bit of garbage I put in it, and disposing of it, without complaining.

Are you confusing the WP PowerClean module with the Whilpool Tall Tub?

I hated the Whilpool Tall Tub. It was even worse than the GE Tall Tub (which was only marginal) when it came to cleaning dried oatmeal and eggs yolks off dishes in the upper rack. And I do mean awful. That anemic little motor Whirlpool uses is a toy (in my opinion) and not nearly up to the task.

But I agree with you, nothing beats a GE Tower Wash, all the way around. I thought I was the only one who messed with the sump grate. I used to use a cutter and cut off every other tine in the grate so the opening was bigger to let larger waste particles into the soft food disposer in the sump.

It disposed of them fine, I think GE just got conservative and noticed the openings got smaller as the years went by. But even with the larger opening the soft food waster disposer did fine doing its job.

Post# 550989 , Reply# 8   10/21/2011 at 09:42 (4,927 days old) by volsboy1 (East Tenn Smoky mountains )        

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The thing that makes me angry is the amount of money this thing costs and it has fell apart on me.John there is NO way I would work on these everyday,the top of this dishwasher where the metal screw straps are is a Razor blade for all intents,it's so sharp I didn't feel it slice me.I am taking that plastic insert out because it was 50% clogged.I could understand having that in there with the other pump with just the blade but it does not need that with the pump that is in mine there is a huge blade and sizing screen but no food can ever get to it.I can hear  pump cavitation when it's washing that goes double when the detergent drops in cause it foams a lot.I have tried all detergent's and Finnish quantum is the only one that works,the others leave a residue on the steel interior.I do like the quantumatic it seems to foam a little less and cleans well.Matt the G.E. tall tub I had about 5 years worked great that's what I don't understand but this new  dishwasher does highjack the cycles and does what it wants.I got that other G.E.  for 150 bucks at Home Depot it was on close out it got fried when lighting struck our transformer.The pump design of these has not change in years but why does a 1980 something G.E. Pot-scrubber clean rings around mine with a tower and in less time?I am kinda torn between spending a fortune on a Miele knowing that it will last.I stayed at my Aunt's for the week and threw everything in hers and the filter was clean and that dishwasher is very powerful.Not as powerful as her commercial one which is a MONSTER in both cost and power (106 gallons a minute) it has, but I don't entertain like she does.I think the it's the shear heat these dishwasher's use that basically melt the food.The more I used it the more I liked it I hate making decisions but I am in no real rush at the moment taking care of Mom comes first and this new drug seems to be working her coughing has stopped but we won't know for sure till month if the tumor is gone but with lung cancer the cough gets worse not better so I pray for the best..
Post# 550992 , Reply# 9   10/21/2011 at 09:46 (4,927 days old) by bwoods ()        

That's interesting, Wes. Like I say I have never seen a GE Tall Tub with a grinding grate. They just put a little blade in there in the open to advertise (a lie) it had a food disposer. When in reality they used the separator screen to make sure no food could reach the blade, as it would just pass through and clog the holes in the upper arm.

I found that, somehow, food would manage to bypass the screen anyway and I was always taking the upper wash arm off and trying to unclog the little holes with a toothpick. The worse, were the rotation jets on the lower end of each arm. As they were the lowest holes on the arm, food tended to gravitate and accumulate there, and stop the arm from turning. I got so I could just tell by the sound of the machine when these clogged.

Both of my Tall Tubs did the same thing. I would think that clogging would not be a problem in yours since GE manufactured yours with a grating screen. Yours should really have ground up the food wastes is the water stream before entering the pump.

Yet you say, you still had hole blocking problems in the upper arm??


Post# 551015 , Reply# 10   10/21/2011 at 11:40 (4,927 days old) by cuffs054 (MONTICELLO, GA)        

Mattl,
Are you talking about the raised sump cover? I take mine out to clean regularly, but would love to do without it, if I could.

Post# 551047 , Reply# 11   10/21/2011 at 14:53 (4,927 days old) by volsboy1 (East Tenn Smoky mountains )        

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No I want to remove this thing that is in the pic..My dishwasher has a pump just like the one pictured above so why does it need that other one also...This thing was about 50% clogged up with gunk.I can understand having it there with the pumps that have just a blade in front of the turbine but with the pump in mine with that huge blade and sizing screen behind it would work better without it.G.E. dishwasher's have for years just had the top screen and the sizing screen behind the grinder blade that goes into the pump.I have a brand new pump that I was going to put in mine thinking it was like the ones I have seen with just a blade and no sizing screen.I put new seals and even put another blade on my modified pump on top of the one that was there and sharped them imagine my shock when I went through all that and found that new pump inlet.I have never seen one like the one I have in mine so I searched and searched and found a pic of it.We have REALLY high water pressure here and had to have a reducer installed because it was blowing the ice makers,sinks,washers everything.Now we have no water pressure and the dishwasher does not seem to have enough water in it because it cavitates  bad.My dishwasher fills then starts unlike the pot smasher dishwasher's that I have used in the past. I am going to get that thing out of there one way or other....Smile


This post was last edited 10/21/2011 at 15:12
Post# 551048 , Reply# 12   10/21/2011 at 15:03 (4,927 days old) by bwoods ()        

I agree, Wes. It seems superfluous since your model has the hard food waste disposer. Since it was partialy clogged, it may have been impeding water flow to the pump and hence helping to contribute to your washability problems.

If you your top arm is clogging anyway, it probably won't make any difference, so I would say, take it out and leave it out. I bet you get better dishwashing performance due to greater flow rate.

Post# 551152 , Reply# 13   10/21/2011 at 23:40 (4,927 days old) by MattL (Flushing, MI)        

Ok, lets see if I can answer the questions.

 

1) I really like my GE tall tub, believe it or not.  Does a great job, but I have HOT water -160 range, maybe that makes a difference.

 

2) I hated the Whirlpool for several reasons, yes it was a tall tub, not a power modual.  First, I guess GE trained me on loading dishes, with the model I had I found it near impossible to load.  I use a mix of dish sizes and pots and pans that I could always get placed properly in the Ge units, after a couple of weeks I still could not get nearly as much in the WP.  Second, it was noisy.  I wrapped it in insulation, put rubber below the feet, everything I could think of, it was terrible.  It was a mid line unit, paid about $450 for it, comparable to the GE it replaced.  Replaced it with another mid line GE, tall tub, plastic interior- my preference.  Racking is very easy, as I mentioned if need be both racks can be made flat, or any portion.

 

3) sump cover.  In my PDW7800 I have the perforated metal plate covering much of the bottom.  THe sump is in the right rear, and the cover is about 5/8" thick with slots around the sides, solid top.  Food always seemed to collect around it and occasionally left crud on the dishes.  I popped it of quite a while ago and have had zero issues since.  If I recall all my GE units had this, I started out with the fabled 2800 years ago, still miss it.
Post# 551393 , Reply# 14   10/23/2011 at 11:42 (4,925 days old) by bwoods ()        

Michael,

You are really lucky to have found your WC401 Maytag RR, pictured above.

I found a new timer for the WU/WC401 that I want to put on my WU202, so it will have three final rinses, versus the present two. Unfortunately, the knob shaft and the timer munt is different, so it's going to be a real challenge to do this.

Two questions for you.

Do you see a washing performance difference between your WC401 and your WU300, since your 401 gives three final rinses instead of two?

Also, does your WC401 heat the wash water?

Barry

Post# 552730 , Reply# 15   10/29/2011 at 22:47 (4,919 days old) by electronicontrl (Grand Rapids, MI)        
Dishwasher comparisons

 Hi Barry,
The WC401 came from Chicago. It was advertised on Craigslist for $36, stating that it did not drain. I figured I'd take a chance. It was in a house where a 90 year old man had gone to a nursing home. It had been RARELY used, like on holidays. (It was manufactured july 1975). The porcelain glowing! The machine drains fine!
It does NOT heat the water. I have manually turned the dial to "dish warmer" with water inside to boost the water temp. No automatic water heating. The heater is not "on" during recirculation. THANK YOU. Yes I am very furtunate to have found it. The main wash is 8.5 min. TOO SHORT!. I keep nearby while it is in operation and steal the first rinse by manually advancing the timer past the drain to add the first rinse-time to extend the "wash" time. I don't notice difference in cleanability. The built-in dishasher in the pic is a Jenn-Air DWU599W that was one of the last dishwashers to come out of Newton, IA in 1992. That model has auto-water heating. A major Plus.

Post# 552907 , Reply# 16   10/30/2011 at 22:53 (4,918 days old) by appnut (TX)        
DWU599W

 appnut's profile picture

Are yo uable to take aphoto of this dishwaher's control panel for me?  The use & care guide is no longer online. 
Post# 553065 , Reply# 17   10/31/2011 at 13:23 (4,917 days old) by bwoods ()        

Thanks for the information, Michael. You were very fortunate to find that 401! Especially in the great condition that it is in.


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