Probably has the wonderful lower spray arm which rotates on a cam to make sure all the corners get clean!

We've worked on several pre-Potscrubber II and post-Potscrubber II dishwashers through the years and no question about it - between the outstanding cleaning and the parts availability, they're totally worth it.

Someday, I'm going to tackle a Potscrubber II, just to see if they're really that awful.

I'm curious what the other front panel colours will be!

This is just as good as the GSD1200s, it just has a more reliable timer, just throw it in the mini-van or station wagon these are not that large.

John L.

Cool this is an early Multi-Orbit Wash-Arm Dw with the green wash arms, we have this exact model in our  wall of DWs at the museum. 

The mounting module with the inlet valve and electrical connections is supposed to be loose, you attach it to the floor hook up the water and power then slide in the DW and attach the inlet hose o the IV and plug in the power connector.

It looks like the pump has seen better days, it might leak a little, if you really wanted to use this DW much you should install the newer pump PSC motor, unless you want the original roar of the GE shaded pole motor and all the hot that it puts out [ good thing about these GE SP motors is all the heat and air movement under the DW really helps dry up any leaking water ]

John L.

I have done a number of these.  What I did was buy a few of these Portable Dishwasher hose sets.  I watch for them on eBay as they will come up used for cheaper than this one but you get the idea.  Then I made very simple carts with four pieces of wood and four wheels.  I get them all at Home Depot.  I will see if I can get some photos for you as I think a picture will speak a thousand words.  The key with the cart is to extend it in the front a couple of inches so when you have the dishwasher open, full of dishes it won't tip forward.  You can connect that assembly to the cart that would be connected to a wood sub floor.

I made these carts 25” X 25”.  You can use whatever wood you have.  I think these were something like ½” X 3”.  Something like that.  I used 2” wheels.  All bought at Home Depot.  I also picked up a dishwasher cord to use for power.  The hose assembly you see in the picture is one I picked up really cheap on eBay.  It had a leak that I had to repair.  These don't come up cheap as often as they used to because people don't seem to be converting as many machines anymore but keep an eye out.  They do pop up unless you want to pay full price for one.  There is a link to a new one below.

I placed the dishwasher about 1” from the back and bolted the frame to the cart.  This left plenty in the front of the cart to insure it didn’t tip forward when full of dishes.  It was so easy to make.  I am not handy with wood working but this was just about the math to get the wood in the correct lengths which I did and then had them cut at Home Depot.  When I got home all I had to do was put it together. I used wood glue to get it how I wanted it then secured it with screws that went through both pieces of wood.  The wheels screwed on from the bottom, so I used longer screws as well for those to give it a little extra strength.  I have done a number of these and they work really well.  You can insulate the dishwasher as I did with this one and that helps with the noise a little bit too.

BTW: There was a discussion about stainless panels on a 17 series machine.  I have them on this dishwasher.  When I got the machine, it had avocado panels, but a very generous member sent me the stainless panels for my birthday one year.  They are few and far between, so I really appreciate his kindness.  I included a picture of the machine installed when I used it as my daily driver in the old house.  

Hi Cameron, Your new GE DW looks pretty good, the last owners could have used bette detergent, but not bad.

It is normal for GEs detergent and RA dispensers to leak inside the door a little, the water just runs down and back into the tub.

John L.

This happens sometimes, try loosening the clamp and reposition it and retighten, I usually always get these leaks to go away completely with a little patience.

If this does not work you can replace the outlet hose or use a good 3M type marine sealer and let it dry and it will never leak again but it will e hard to take apart again.

John L.

We had a Potscrubber III fall into our laps two weeks ago.

Filthy, otherwise worked great.

Having done a lot of Potscrubbers through the years (no II, though), here's some stuff I've learned (a lot with the help of the folks around here) which might be useful:

1) That multi-orbital spray arm, even if it were clogged and broken in two and leaking out the sides is one million, billion, trillion times better than the whirligig piece of sh---- which came after.

There is NO comparison.

Now, they do clog and there is a tiny little slit on one side of one arm which tends to clog up, stopping the arm from rotating as fast as it needs to. There is also a thin gasket it's supposed to ride on which sometimes fails and makes screeching noises. If it's failed, just yank the super thin gasket. We have one in use at a friend's house which has cleaned perfectly without it now for 13 years. Better with, of course.

2) The filter cover and the sump pump cover and the cover over the flood-sensor all get filled up with the most horrid gunk over time. They were meant to be cleaned by real enzymes and real phosphate and real chlorine bleach and truly hot water. Too many people used the eco-friendly trash and too cool water and too short cycles these past 20 years. Better unscrew them and clean them thoroughly. Don't put your bare hands into the sump, there's always sharp things in there to attack you. It does need a good cleaning, though. 

3) The power-shower arm also gets clogged and, in contrast to what many say who didn't know these units in the old, high water days, it DOES contribute to cleaning, not just removing yibblets from the top rack. The last iterations of this machine are always in cavitation because they don't have enough water to really work well. 

4) The one-way valve under the big filter in the back gets clogged. Clean it.

5) Combo52 is, as always, right. You can use a sealant. I've had success (again, running 13 years now with nary a drip) using the blue teflon tape (20x thicker than the usual white junk). It's removable and hasn't crept in those 13 years or five years or on the one we did two weeks ago. Lots of folks don't know there are different PTFE tapes, so they throw them all in one bucket. Of course RTV silicone will work, too.

6) The heating element was de-rated to about 500 Watts from 900 but the design was still for the 900. This means you pretty much have to either feed this machine 125F water for reals or run it at the temp. boost/potscrubber settings for that phenomenal clean. 

Remember, it was this series that beat KA dishwashers in cleaning in the Consumer Research tests. They hated admitting it and were not happy to have to do so, but it's true - these dishwashers did the best cleaning job (especially in the corners of the top basket) of any dishwasher ever tested. Runs rings around the current two-drops of luke warm water trash.

You'll love this machine. Many folks will tell you that you must, simply must replace the shaded pole motor. That's one of those religious beliefs. I have NEVER, not ONCE had one fail and I've repaired/cleaned/restored over 30 of them in various Potscrubbers. Not once. I do oil them as GE recommends. Yes, of course the SIEMENS capacitor split-phase induction motors are quieter and run well. Sure, if you must, go for it. But, again, it's a religious objection to shaded-pole, not an actual cleaning ability driven argument.

If you do have to replace the impeller/seal/soft-food disposer, do the whole unit including the drain solenoid. By the time one is done, the other is done, too. The kits are OK if the unit is only 30 years old or so and otherwise in good condition.

So, that's my two cents, for what they're worth. Clean everything, including inside the door and that gasket and the two removable corner gaskets at the bottom. Use the highest heat settings, good detergent and rinse-aid and you'll be totally happy. 

Even brand new, it appears to have been in use for 90 years with five full washloads a day.

It might quiet down over time. It works without it, but I'd only pull it if you have no choice.

I'm so glad it's working for you. Water in the door can mean various things (I always install them with a slight tilt to the back) but it's quite possible the gasket has either worn out or come loose. The new ones cost too much to believe, there are two styles I know of, one thicker, the other thinner. You can usually find one of these machines at Habitat for $10 in good condition and grab various parts, including the gaskets. The newer ones didn't clean as well because their timers were set to starve them of water more than anything else.

You can also tighter the door latch a bit at the top. Or, one of the corner gaskets has come loose?

Ive never used  a pot scrubber , does that are nutate as well as rotate?

I'm not an engineer and high-school geometry was a very long time ago, but, yes, I believe the wash arm's patterns are nutations of an orbit. Euler's second law? Way too long ago.

Anyway, there were three wash arms from the post PotscrubberII era. This one, on the higher-end machines caused Consumer Reports to dethrone KA and announce (with tremendous reluctance, they were bought and sold to KA) that this dishwasher was better at cleaning. Much better.

A simple mechanism (looks like a cam to me, but I'm not an engineer) throws the arm out and then draws it back in during it's rotation. It isn't truly random, but it does make sure that even the further most corners of the top rack get thorough coverage.

A second variation also uses whirligigs on top of a regular arm  (Frigidaire does that on some, still, today) and they were absolutely the most horrible, terrible, clog-prone, stupid, worthless trash GE ever put on the market, doing great harm to my opinion of them.

The third variation, the one still in use on the last of the Potscrubbers (the ones you get from Home Depot for 250-350$), doesn't nutate, it just rotates and sprays water through big holes. Does a pretty good job, given enough water, to be honest.

One must never upset the KA folks (we've had several ourselves and yes, they're wonderful, the very best, truly the holy grail, blah, blah, blah), but this design really would have made the 18" dishwashers clean well in the corners and it runs rings around everything else when you're dealing with truly dirty dishes.

What a great job you're doing on this nice machine, Cameron!  I've been following this thread with interest as I have a GSD1250 that I intend to fix up myself.   This thread has been really interesting and useful!

One thing I don't get is the power of the heater.  When I read reply #13 (photo #14) a few weeks ago, I was surprised to see the heater listed as 115V 3A.  That would make it just 345 W.  I remember thinking that this would have to be the lowest-power heater I have ever seen in a dishwasher.  But in reply #37 panthera mentions that you have the 900 W heater.  So how can we tell?  Does this mean the heater has been replaced at some point, or the label isn't original to this machine?  I did think the heater was pretty big -- I don't think mine has a heater that big.

Great thread of an an excellent restoration. 

Mark

That's interesting.  I don't know for how much of that main wash cycle it will have been heating the water, but that small temperature rise does seem to me to be consistent with a 3-Amp heater if it was heating for almost 30 minutes.  

The heating element in these DWs is only 400-500 watts, GE was very cautious because the plastic tub was still a fairly new concept in DWs

John L.

Hi Mark, Reply #45, I had not noticed that 3 Amp draw on the name tag, We have almost the identical DW in our wall of DWs at the museum and ours lists the heater draw at 6 Amps, total draw at 9 Amps with the motor Amps being listed at 5 Amps, it does not add up,  and on this DW the heater is listed at 3  Amps and the motor at 5 Amps yet again GE says this adds up to 7 Amps even though for nearly 1/2 the cycle both the motor and heater are both running together.

I think WE need to do some real testing.

Someone said something about inlet valves and float switches failing on US DWs.

Inlet valves will wear out-fail on almost all DWs if they last long enough otherwise between 5 and 20 + years.

Float Switches will NEVER fail in over 99% of DWs even if the DW lasts more than 30+ years, a FS is a safety overfill device on US DWs and even though it can cycle thousands of times without wear the great majority of DWs will never have the FS cycle even once in the operating life of the machine.

The only thing I have ever seen make a FS fail is if water leaks on it or into it long enough for it to corrode and fail.

John L.

Well that certainly clears that one up, Cameron!  Very useful gadget indeed.  

Once the dry cycle starts, I imagine the heater's power draw will begin to drop as it heats up and its resistance increases.  Whereas when it's heating the water it should continue to keep drawing the higher amount.

This is why I said to run the dratted thing for ten minutes, turn off the power (circuit breaker/ pull plug) and then measure the resistance at the heating element.

Realistically, it will be about as high as it's going to go, producing the lowest Watt rating.

I do think we sometimes get carried away by details which are of no consequence whatsoever.

I also think it's possible that the thermal delay on this dishwasher may not be working or only working intermittently.

Possible, not necessarily so.

Failed float switches are, indeed rare. Failed timers, however, even this improved version, are not. Especially not on an appliance coming up on 40 years old. Considering that that float switch is the only thing between a flooded house and a timer stuck on fill, I would err on the side of replace the silly little thing with the fill valve.

Resistance does vary temperature a tiny bit but I do not believe these DWs had the newer variable resistance heating elements like WP has been using for the past decade or so where they go from 400-800 watts depending whether being wet or dry [ WP has a very high failure rate with these new heating elements ] Heating elements almost never failed in DWs now it is a really common repair.

I don't believe that these GE DWs had any thermal hold, it was pretty much done on a time bassists, this has always been one of the things I do not like about GE DWs they either don't add the heat needed or if someone has really hot water they add heat anyway and destroy the dishes and DW.

I would never replace the original timer or float switch on an older DW if it showed no sign of failure, replacement parts like FSs and timers are no longer being made for these DWs and the quality of replacement parts are not as good as the original parts that were used to build the DW.

John L.

This motor is a single phase, induction motor.

It's advantage is, of course, that, as long as the bearings last, the motor will run forever with no other service ever required.

The shaded pole runs at roughly 20% efficiency (dear anal retentives, we all know you're just itching to put in 19.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000009%. Restrain yourselves, do, please.)

PSC motors run at 45% efficiency (dear anal retentives, give it a rest. It's close enough.)

So, no, efficiency is not a shaded pole motor's strength. On the other hand, unlimited life span, total reliability and super-simple, super-cheap manufacture are variables which GE probably valued highly.

Personally, I like to think the extra heat contributes to the cleaning. That is, after all what the other 80% of the power going into the motor which is not operative force comes to be.