Look out! If the Water Corporation here about this machine, they'll come and give you some sort of "wastage" fine, and remove the machine for your infractions towards Melbourne's disappearing water supply!

This is still more efficient than hand-washing. Your still only using 1.5L of water per item (based on 50 items), so it would help me at least!

Besides, that sort of soils can could chuck in here, and the amount of BobLoads possible, I think they make up for the poor consumption!

You've hit the nail on the head right there! 

US machines were indeed gobbling up food bits, while their EU counterparts where storing them away, for one to deal with at a later date, and flushing "clean" water through that garbage (Yuck!)

Though some will question whether some US machines were really "disposing" their waste: With some machines only featuring an asterisk shaped disposer...

It won't be too long, and manufacturers will get sick of hearing 'My dishwasher doesn't clean' or 'It takes too long.' They may then include a "Classic" or Heavy-Normal cycle, using more water (and perhaps recommending its use for high-performance). 

Although, I wouldn't be surprised if the government knows Americans may not load their dishwashers fully before running them, and wants to curb water usage for a growing population, to ensure water security. 

Thats a neat looking KA you've got there. Before even attempting to plug in, I believe there may be a flapper for the fan assembly here that blocks water entering there. The rust may indicate it was removed or never installed in the first place. 

Next, you'll want to fill the tub with HOT water, up to near the top of the filter plate, you may also wish to add some cooking oil in to help lubricate stuff. This will help you check for leaks. 

After soaking for around an hour, you'll want to PLUG IN the dishwasher (outside or in your garage) and start a cycle, and confirm it is pumping water (you should hear it). I cannot remember the RPM of the spray arm, but it is something like 42rpm. (Count to four = 1RPM and keep a tally for 10 seconds, then times your answer by 6). After confirming that it is actually spraying, hit the "Cancel" button, to check Rapid Advance operation and drainage. Note: You may wish to start the dishwasher and allow it to advance past the filling stage before adding water, incase there is an initial pump out stage before the washing begins. 

Once this completes, I would proceed to connect the machine to any water supply, to test the fill valve. You may wish to add detergent to the right hand cup (with facing machine with door open) and shut that. Add detergent to other cups if running a Soak "N" Scrub cycle or Sani Cycle. All 3 detergent positions are used for Soak and Scrub (someone correct me if I'm wrong). 

Choose between Soak and Scrub or Sani Cycle - bearing in mind neither have a properly heated Main-Wash period, only a small heating element to run and maintain water temperatures during the Wash. Though being an AU model it may very well have a higher powered heater, that will run during the wash for a hotter wash, although this is unlikely. See for yourself, remembering that when you open the door, the cycle selection is reset, so you must reset the cycle you were using. 

Sani Cycle superheats the water in the final rinse. On a cold connection, it will take a LOOONG time... Don't interrupt the machine. 

During the Main-Wash period, (Check indicator light), open the door and observe that the water level is up to around the top of the filter assembly. If not, your water pressure is too low or the fill valve is caked with sediment (Unlikely in Melbourne - Very soft water over there I hear). You should be able to trip the door open switch and start a cycle to observe full fill - it should be around 9 quarts of water. Checking the fill in the Pre-Wash phase is ill-advised, as the machine goes to drain almost straight away after the first fill. 

When you have decided the machine is 100% serviceable and you want it in your kitchen (or someplace else as a "play-toy"), you will to remember to give the dishwasher a HOT water connection, with a temperature of at least 140ºF/60ºC. The hotter the better. Up to 158ºF/70ºC would be the most practical and will guarantee superb washing results each and every time, provided that the machine is loaded correctly. It will also save some energy, if you are heating water with a Solar heater, Heat Pump or Gas water heater (esp. on the Sani cycle - where the water is super-heated to around 75º. You don't need to use heated drying on this cycle!)

Please remember this is only information I've collected from reading here and the KitchenAid booklet "Secrets of the Inner Circle." Other more knowledgeable members will be able to correct me on anything I've said that is incorrect. Please take care! This is a real treasure you've got - especially in Australia!

Bear in mind that in most cases, one cannot control the temperature of their solar heated water, unless a tempering valve has been fitted or the model is a "Split" style with the tank at ground level, that only pumps when needed. 

But, up to 60º would be fine. Any more is probalby wasteful

That may be the case on all KA's, or they were just taking precautions. All dishwashers of this era were connected to hot water anyhow. I'd say "TOTAL loading" could be with all features operating at once, or the motor and Sani-Heat etc. Remember the motor is 1/2HP. This being Hobart, the machine would've been built and then some (so electrically it could handle 3.5kW if one chose to install a higher powered element as part of cold connection package?). 

The KA book "Secrets of the Inner Circle" reveal that the machine does not heat its own water, except in the Sani cycle during the final rinse (which should be avoided, as John stated to save the machine. KA's booklet also describes this). Any other "Heating" is merely to maintain temperatures in the tub, not to raise them. 

As it starts to get water moving, that "Whoooing!" sound and the pulsing squirting sounds really are neat!

My only other idea is that the elements were simply made more powerful with the extra voltage to play with. It will be interesting to see if the machine actually heats its own water or not. So I suppose neither of us could be correct yet: Though something tells me it just uses more powerful elements for the conditions. As I'm pretty sure no KitchenAid before the 19 series (The Dreaded series) never used proper delay heating, except for Sani rinses.