Hello everyone, I’m asking the Powerclean experts to assist me again with an issue I’ve tried to figure out before but still cannot think of anything logical at this point about an issue when out of curiosity I converted my newer end direct feed Powerclean to the tower wash system they used at the same time in other models. I don’t want this to get repetitive so I want to see what input you all have now. This issue is beyond confusing. Anyways, I got all the parts I needed to successfully switch it over I got the correct pump outlet nozzle cap tower and upper arm all mounted and situated correctly and upon several tests with my camera inside the upper arm is weak and doesn’t have much pressure, not even medium pressure, water is shooting up the tower as it should be and the lower arm sweeps quickly as usual. When the original direct feed system is in the upper arm has full blast power upon footage, that arm always has had normal pressure this machine runs flawlessly. But once it’s converted to this tower system it doesn’t have high pressure for the upper arm. I’ve tried adding much much more water, that did nothing the strength of the upper arm did not improve at all. BTW the upper arm mounts very tight, not wobbly or moving around at all as there is no room for it so wiggle. Funnel assembly on the arm is in grade A condition. I just cannot understand it. The pump outlet is for a Kenmore Ultrawash of the same generation year as my WP branded Powerclean so it definitely would work, gray/white thunderbolt upper arm works for either the ultra wash or whirlpools and it has no cracks is not clogged the tower is fine just a little rusty on two corners but sits fine in the middle as it should and doesn’t get blown over or anything, rubber nozzle is not cracked anywhere and pump outlet is in perfect shape so I cannot come up with any conclusion and it doesn’t make sense.
Is there something else that the tower system used that I don’t have, is there something possibly wrong with this upper arm I have considering it’s years old but shows no exterior damage….I just don’t get it and makes me wonder still, I haven’t bothered trying again with this in a long time but it’s been working perfect as always being the direct feed it originally was. This result I had was just bizarre and I’m baffled, if anyone can think of anything logically as to why this is happened let me know. I just feel like something could be missing but upon diagrams I have everything I need to simply change the flow of water. Someone mentioned a long time ago that there could be a crack in the pump due to extreme heat, no idea how that’s possible when dishwashers are designed to intake intense heat while also creating it, and the direct feed system works just fine for my machine it’s only when I switch it over to tower style that the upper arm is weak. And as I’ve stated I’ve put a ton of extra water in and it didn’t improve the upper arms performance, so it’s getting plenty of water and this machine has never surged due to not enough water to pressurize fully, it’s never had that problem and runs flawlessly with the original system in. All in all something is wrong or something is different or I’m missing something crucial. Any input is always appreciated. Thanks, hope we can resolve this once and for all it’s been on my mind for several months and has left me baffled. I’ll add some photos of my machine with the correct parts in it from when I had tested it with the tower system.
Guess nobody can figure this one out! Such a mystery! Well it was worth a shot trying to figure this out but not even us experts on here can come up with anything. So frustrating, something so simple seems yet so advanced and I don’t think we will ever resolve this bizarre occurrence, and wanted to ask anyways incase someone has any leads or if anyone has had problems with the tower system upper arm being weak I can’t be the only one, not very long ago I see a video on YouTube where someone put a camera on the upper rack of their power clean tower system and the upper arm was very weak just like mine so I know I’m not the only one. One day I’ll get the tower model and find out for myself. Thanks anyways to those who read my post and happy dishwashing to everyone!
Post# 1164495 , Reply# 2 11/21/2022 at 21:14 (520 days old) by combo52(50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)
Hello combo, I think i may of just cracked the case. I never noticed until now the difference between the spray arms compared to the newer end direct feed system and the tower system, since both of those systems had the round plastic plate attached to the lower arms to cover the sump filter and I noticed that the plastic round housing sits the tower style spray arm up about an inch or two higher more than the direct feed style lower wash arm, would make sense so that the lower arm center rubber nozzle can be as high up and close to the tower above it in the lower rack. Since mine was originally a direct feed model it has the direct feed lower height wash arm, the difference in height is very slight but noticeable in photos upon digging in deeper online comparing mine to those. I’ll upload photos the first is a tower one and my spray arm part being the second, you can tell my lower arm for the direct feed is positioned much more flat onto the round plastic housing to where the tower one is arched higher within its plastic housing plate and the brighter white for that tower WP model makes it easier to see the difference. Maybe I’m right?
And no, I tried converting this earlier last year and it’s been operating as a direct feed ever since I couldn’t get the tower system to work long ago and has perfect pressure for the upper arm. I probably should try to find that Kenmore Whirlpool arm that sits a little bit higher and test it out cause that’s a logical bet that is the issue because the tower system parts I have are perfect and upper arm received plenty of water just not enough pressure, probably from the lower nozzle bearing on the arm being a few inches further down than it needs to be.
(50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) 
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