Fab 80s GE Potscrubber 2800

No bitten children or untoward pools of pea soup here. But owning a digital 2600/2800 or electromechanical 1200/1250 is like the argument between an Oldsmobile and a Cadillac. Both are good conveyances built on almost the same platform, but it comes down to the bells and whistles--and what havoc may be wreaked by them.

We have a 1250 (later iteration of the 1200 rapid-advance) in our kitchen right now, and love it.

I always adored the 2800, but for two things:

- The Teflon bearing under the wash arm would wear with time, and slow the arm. Any reduction in RPMs of the wash arm below a certain threshold would cause a "Blocked Wash Arm" message on the Systems Center. This would, in turn, cause the machine to sit there beeping, until the water went cold and the operator reset the machine. This was funny the first couple of times, and in fact may have made the dishwasher an Energy Star candidate, since it could ostensibly complete any phase of the cycle with 72-degree water.

- This machine uses magnetic sensors to note the position of things. If the sensors fail or get weak, or the electronics get addled, you start getting some incredibly annoying behaviors. On ours, everything mostly worked (Blocked Wash Arm issue notwithstanding), but the computer never knew where the detergent cup was at. The actuator still operated, but the computer was never sure if the cup was closed at the outset of the cycle, so it threw a non-critical "Cup Open" error that could be bypassed by pressing Start twice.

After a while, you started feeling nannied by the thing, and just wanted a machine that would shut the hell up and wash the dishes.

A couple of other items:

- This is still a GE dishwasher, and the microfiltration system, although a must-have addition to the suite of features (and yes, you will notice a difference), is passive. This means that whatever garbage falls down along the back wall of the tank is held in a separate area, while clean(er) water, free of small vehicles and boulders, flows through a microscreen back into the tub, to be sucked into the (otherwise normal) GE pump intake and blown back onto the dishes at low PSI and high volume. Keep in mind that Volkswagens, tree branches, and chicken bones can easily make it through that pump, and wind up in the wash arms, potentially blocking a hole. If it blocks the hole pointed underneath the lower wash arm at the microscreen to back-wash it, you'll notice crud buildup in the filter and reduced performance. It's not a deal-breaker if you scrape the dishes, but I did enjoy the fact that our 1250 picked up an apple stem at some point. (And yes, it ended up in the filter-cleaning nozzle, of course.)

- The Multi-Orbit wash arm and articulated telescoping tower on these are amazing, and I have to say the top-rack cleaning is about as good as it can possibly get without a wash arm. Things get surprisingly clean up there, and the top rack holds a ton. Deeper pots and even dinner plates can perch in ours. Cutting boards and cookie sheets, alas, cannot sneak in the bottom rack, as the rails are too low along the sides.

That said (and noting the shortcomings of the bottom rack John pointed out above), it was a great machine. I kvetched and kvelled at length here:

CLICK HERE TO GO TO roto204's LINK


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Post# 774450 7/31/2014 at 20:36 (3,557 days old) by funktionalart (Rison, AR)
Checkrate/Likes Had been delaying sharing this ad cos I was going to drive down and buy it....but.... It has been for sale in Tucson for at least 4 months. $40. I remember the ads when I was in High School. Very cool machines at the time. Hard to believe these things are 30 years old already... Of course, youtube has this ad on file for you to have a bit of a flashback! CLICK HERE TO GO TO funktionalart's LINK on Tucson Craigslist Photos... < > Photo 1 of 5 View Full Size

Post# 774455 , Reply# 1 7/31/2014 at 20:57 (3,557 days old) by washer111 ()
Checkrate/Likes *Two Words...* GET IT! These machines were the top-scorers in Consumer-Reports in their time, as I've heard. People that have had them report excellent cleaning on all loads. Member 'bwoods' has one in regular service that sees plenty of dirty plates :)

Post# 774456 , Reply# 2 7/31/2014 at 21:00 (3,557 days old) by funktionalart (Rison, AR)
Checkrate/Likes *Three words:* Lack. Of. Space. (Which hasn't really stopped me before). I do realise I'll probably not ever come across another one...this particular one's been haunting me for months...just haven't been able to commit to it just yet! Would be a true shame to see it head for the scrap heap...unless the control board is dodgy in it. I'm not sure it's very easy to locate those bits for these anymore.

Post# 774458 , Reply# 3 7/31/2014 at 21:04 (3,557 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There�s a Lady on Stage)
Checkrate/Likes *Lesser Cousin* GE 2500

Post# 774463 , Reply# 4 7/31/2014 at 21:25 (3,557 days old) by funktionalart (Rison, AR)
Checkrate/Likes *Even the lesser cousin was...* quite techy for its time :)

Post# 774474 , Reply# 5 7/31/2014 at 21:52 (3,557 days old) by ovrphil (N.Atlanta / Georgia )
Checkrate/Likes these do not come up much, but I've only been at this for a couple years - space? What's that?

Post# 774479 , Reply# 6 7/31/2014 at 21:58 (3,557 days old) by funktionalart (Rison, AR)
Checkrate/Likes *hahahah!!! True.* I broke down a minute ago and emailed roto204 / Nate in Tucson and asked if he'd grab it for me. I need it like a hole in the head. But I have been wanting it since it hit CL 4 months ago.

Post# 774484 , Reply# 7 7/31/2014 at 22:12 (3,557 days old) by ovrphil (N.Atlanta / Georgia )
Checkrate/Likes Good! I shouldn't egg you on, but glad you're going for it, as I agree with "cool factor".

Post# 774488 , Reply# 8 7/31/2014 at 22:37 (3,557 days old) by roto204 (Tucson, AZ)
Checkrate/Likes *I'll get it for you* We're traveling around this weekend, but given as this has been around Craigslist for some time, I'm fairly confident it should be here this week when I can stop by. Good choice--assuming all intact electronics, it's a marvy machine. We loved ours.

Post# 774499 , Reply# 9 7/31/2014 at 23:35 (3,556 days old) by funktionalart (Rison, AR)
Checkrate/Likes *I thoroughly expect...* various problems...but will be over the moon if it turns out to be functional. Nate, you are a kind one. I'll owe ya lunch/drinks/whatevah.

Post# 774756 , Reply# 11 8/1/2014 at 18:06 (3,556 days old) by PhilR (Quebec Canada)
Checkrate/Likes A friend of mine bought a house in 1985 with all-GE appliances with black panels (except for the Jenn-Air cooktop) and he had the Canadian Talisman Royale version of this. The dishwasher made an usual noise but I liked the vacuum-fluorescent display! He sold the house around 1998 but kept the SXS fridge and Filter-Flo set. The fridge went bad a few years after and he gave the ice maker to his son to add in his black mid-nineties GE top-freezer. The IM recently started to throw foreign objects in the ice cubes and I got that soon after. I wish I had that dishwasher instead as I had nothing to do with this ice-maker!

Post# 774818 , Reply# 12 8/1/2014 at 20:18 (3,556 days old) by toploader55 (Massachusetts Sand Bar, Cape Cod)
Checkrate/Likes 3 *Can't wait...* For Nate's dissertation on this machine. Will it eat small children ? And rust Stainless Steel ??? LOL

Post# 775122 , Reply# 13 8/3/2014 at 09:21 (3,554 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)
Checkrate/Likes *Early 80s TOL GE DWs* These are surprisingly good performers IF LOADED correctly, the lower rack is very limited for bulky items or even a lot of dinner plates, LOL. and the corners of the top rack will not wash tall glasses if you have large pans ans bowls etc in the lower rack. That said the electronic models are cool, biggest problem areas are [ as always for GE DWs ] the main pump and motor, the computer control and the detergent dispenser actuator assembly. If you want to keep this style DW long term in your kitchen as an everyday driver I would try to find a Non-Electronic version. These GE DWs are still very common around here, because of CRs many were sold around the DC area, I still see them on the discard piles of appliance dealers every month. If someone wants an electro-mechaneal all push-button version of this DW I have an extra one that needs a home, contact me. John L.

Post# 774688 , Reply# 10 8/1/2014 at 11:41 (3,556 days old) by roto204 (Tucson, AZ)
Checkrate/Likes *My pleasure* And just think, if there are any issues, just reboot! :-)

Post# 775395 , Reply# 14 8/4/2014 at 16:43 (3,553 days old) by roto204 (Tucson, AZ)
Checkrate/Likes *2800/1250* No bitten children or untoward pools of pea soup here. But owning a digital 2600/2800 or electromechanical 1200/1250 is like the argument between an Oldsmobile and a Cadillac. Both are good conveyances built on almost the same platform, but it comes down to the bells and whistles--and what havoc may be wreaked by them. We have a 1250 (later iteration of the 1200 rapid-advance) in our kitchen right now, and love it. I always adored the 2800, but for two things: - The Teflon bearing under the wash arm would wear with time, and slow the arm. Any reduction in RPMs of the wash arm below a certain threshold would cause a "Blocked Wash Arm" message on the Systems Center. This would, in turn, cause the machine to sit there beeping, until the water went cold and the operator reset the machine. This was funny the first couple of times, and in fact may have made the dishwasher an Energy Star candidate, since it could ostensibly complete any phase of the cycle with 72-degree water. - This machine uses magnetic sensors to note the position of things. If the sensors fail or get weak, or the electronics get addled, you start getting some incredibly annoying behaviors. On ours, everything mostly worked (Blocked Wash Arm issue notwithstanding), but the computer never knew where the detergent cup was at. The actuator still operated, but the computer was never sure if the cup was closed at the outset of the cycle, so it threw a non-critical "Cup Open" error that could be bypassed by pressing Start twice. After a while, you started feeling nannied by the thing, and just wanted a machine that would shut the hell up and wash the dishes. A couple of other items: - This is still a GE dishwasher, and the microfiltration system, although a must-have addition to the suite of features (and yes, you will notice a difference), is passive. This means that whatever garbage falls down along the back wall of the tank is held in a separate area, while clean(er) water, free of small vehicles and boulders, flows through a microscreen back into the tub, to be sucked into the (otherwise normal) GE pump intake and blown back onto the dishes at low PSI and high volume. Keep in mind that Volkswagens, tree branches, and chicken bones can easily make it through that pump, and wind up in the wash arms, potentially blocking a hole. If it blocks the hole pointed underneath the lower wash arm at the microscreen to back-wash it, you'll notice crud buildup in the filter and reduced performance. It's not a deal-breaker if you scrape the dishes, but I did enjoy the fact that our 1250 picked up an apple stem at some point. (And yes, it ended up in the filter-cleaning nozzle, of course.) - The Multi-Orbit wash arm and articulated telescoping tower on these are amazing, and I have to say the top-rack cleaning is about as good as it can possibly get without a wash arm. Things get surprisingly clean up there, and the top rack holds a ton. Deeper pots and even dinner plates can perch in ours. Cutting boards and cookie sheets, alas, cannot sneak in the bottom rack, as the rails are too low along the sides. That said (and noting the shortcomings of the bottom rack John pointed out above), it was a great machine. I kvetched and kvelled at length here: CLICK HERE TO GO TO roto204's LINK

Post# 775480 , Reply# 15 8/4/2014 at 21:23 (3,553 days old) by washer111 ()
Checkrate/Likes 1 Thoroughly enjoyed Nate's in-depth reviews of dishwashers. I was sure to save them, since they are quite enjoyable to read (Even for the 100th, million-th time :) ) Thouht I would plop in this example of washing items in the top-rack, with the spray from the arm blocked: www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/T...