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Thread Number: 97669
/ Tag: Vintage Dishwashers
How did these KA dishwashers get water to the top rack? |
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Post# 1225964 , Reply# 1 3/5/2025 at 17:31 by appnut  (TX) |
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| Post# 1225965 , Reply# 2 3/5/2025 at 17:31 by qsd-dan (West) | ||
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| Post# 1225978 , Reply# 3 3/5/2025 at 18:34 by Agiflow (Toms River) | ||
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Did they assume that you would only wash tableware and not pots and pans? What was the thinking behind that? As well built as those machines were that doesn't seem very well thought out. | ||
| Post# 1225985 , Reply# 4 3/5/2025 at 18:58 by maytaga806 (Howell, Michigan) | ||
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This is what I thought bob! Seeing what people do though nobody would have known that. | ||
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Post# 1225990 , Reply# 5 3/5/2025 at 19:17 by turquoisedude (.) |
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Funny coincidence... I was just having a conversation about why my folks picked a GE Potscrubber over a KitchenAid Regency dishwasher back in 1978.
The salesperson at Eaton's was pushing the KitchenAid (it cost more so he'd have gotten a few bucks more in commission). He also said the KitchenAid was a better dishwasher. My mother's stinging reply to that was 'It has one bloody sprayer. How the hell is that better?'. We were upgrading from a 1968 Viking (Westinghouse-built) top-loader with an impeller wash system. She had a point... | ||
| Post# 1225991 , Reply# 6 3/5/2025 at 19:27 by qsd-dan (West) | ||
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Don't get me wrong, they're definitely not slouches but the added upper arm in the 18 series improved performance and made loading easier.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO qsd-dan's LINK | ||
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Post# 1226003 , Reply# 9 3/5/2025 at 22:36 by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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 I consistently BobLoaded™ the KDI-17A, including placing some bowls and small saucepans at perimeter of the lower rack. Cleaning failures on anything, anywhere in it, were *rare* after I quickly figured out the pattern. It's interesting to note that I recall Consumer Reports, or maybe it was Consumers' Research, stating in a 1970s-era review that they believe a single spray arm below the lower rack is sufficient ... prit'much directly discounting the brands that touted two spray arms. This post was last edited 03/05/2025 at 23:40 | ||
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Post# 1226013 , Reply# 11 3/6/2025 at 05:58 by Combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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Many dishwashers only had the water coming from the bottom
In fact, among early dishwashers, they all work that way the impeller machines of course only had a water source coming from the bottom of the machine.
Whirlpool made one arm machines into the 70s, the cool 1962 whirlpool SJU 70 dishwasher only had a lower arm, and it was top rated in consumer reports at the time for its great performance, but as Tom and Glenn says you do have to load them in intelligently, but the machine is plenty powerful enough to get the water all the way to the top of the machine. In fact, if you run one with the door open, it’ll hit the kitchen ceiling. Tom is completely right in reply 10 probably for consistency alone consumer testing magazines did not bother trying to wash pots and pans and baking dishes, etc. in dishwashers so you really didn’t see the advantages of having a real top wash arm, for the same reason they selldom found the poor performance by the dishwashers that had a center tube only as they just couldn’t cope with a heavily loaded lower rack and wash things in the corners of the upper rack, which is why nobody bothers to build such a design today. John L | ||
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Post# 1226020 , Reply# 12 3/6/2025 at 07:31 by Chetlaham (United States) |
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 GE had a work around. They managed to build a pop up spray tower with two different fanned spray configurations such that both plates and cups, saucers, bowls ect get clean very well in the top rack and the corners irrelevant of how the bottom rack was loaded. This design has the advantage of simplicity with less that can go wrong.
Standard tub GE used the pop up tower until the very end and they could do so because of the available water pressure and deep sump. | ||
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Post# 1226021 , Reply# 13 3/6/2025 at 07:45 by Combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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Center pop-up wash arm washing effectiveness
Oh Chet I forgot that GE used special water that can change directions in the middle of a stream too bad nobody else ever figured that out, can you imagine how revolutionary it would be if water could change direction after it squirts out of a nozzle lawn, sprinklers, and everything else would be so much more effective you could program it to water your whole lawn from a central circular sprinkler, lol
And you wonder why nobody takes you seriously, because of the stupid shit you say all the time that just isn’t true. John L | ||
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Post# 1226023 , Reply# 14 3/6/2025 at 08:59 by Chetlaham (United States) |
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Post# 1226031 , Reply# 17 3/6/2025 at 10:12 by Chetlaham (United States) |
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Post# 1226034 , Reply# 18 3/6/2025 at 11:05 by petek (Ontari ari ari O ) |
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The first dishwasher I bought in 75 was a one armed KA Deluxe portable in avocado green. Deluxe meaning it was the BOL model, one cycle plus rinse & hold. It worked wonderfully. I don't recall ever having issues with it missing spots any more than other dishwashers we've owned with one glaring exception which was the piss poor GE builders grade model we had for a short period in our then new house, which I replaced with a Miele.
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Post# 1226058 , Reply# 19 3/7/2025 at 00:56 by jamiel (Detroit, Michigan & Palm Springs, CA) |
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Post# 1226067 , Reply# 20 3/7/2025 at 10:44 by Combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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Cheap GE pop-up tower dishwashers
Reply number 17, wow that’s worse than I even imagined it can’t even get water to the center of the upper rack let alone the corners that’s probably the worst pop-up tower design. I ever saw some of them at least get the whole center of the upper rack clean.
You should see a video of a one arm KitchenAid working it’s an amazing amount of water everywhere compared to that pathetic newer GE, you can see why they have to have 30 minute wash cycles. John L | ||
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Post# 1226070 , Reply# 21 3/7/2025 at 10:58 by Chetlaham (United States) |
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The center might be lacking as does with any top spray arm dishwasher, however as much you don't want to recognize it other members and I have never had issues with cups and bowls in the corners coming out dirty even with the lower rack holds pots and pans. The spray does reach into the corners.
Keep calling me stupid for getting great results out of a great dishwasher. | ||
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Post# 1226072 , Reply# 22 3/7/2025 at 11:21 by Combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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Post# 1226075 , Reply# 23 3/7/2025 at 12:33 by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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Chet you made the mistake with picturing how you load a dishwasher you don’t even put 1/4 of the amount of stuff in it that could go in it so you probably do get decent resultsJohn, if you're referring to the video linked in Reply #17, I don't believe it was produced by Chetlaham. It's dated 11/6/2012, seems unlikely he'd have planned 12+ years ahead for referencing it now. | ||
| Post# 1226082 , Reply# 24 3/7/2025 at 14:00 by michaelh (Illinois, USA) | ||
Loading
As other have mentioned, and like any dishwasher, it's all about loading.
I have 2 KA dishwashers that only spray from the bottom. I just don't put too many things on the bottom rack that will hinder the wash from reaching the top. I very rarely have an item that didn't get fully clean. I can't say that about other, less powerful machines that only had one sprayer. It's all about the power with the Hobart KAs. KA-18s and beyond, must be perfection. | ||
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Post# 1226097 , Reply# 25 3/7/2025 at 16:56 by Chetlaham (United States) |
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Post# 1226098 , Reply# 26 3/7/2025 at 17:01 by GELaundry4ever (Nacogdoches, TX, USA (considering moving to Temple, Texas)) |
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to chetlaham I had a Kenmore built GE tower dishwasher which got everything clean. | ||
| Post# 1226105 , Reply# 27 3/7/2025 at 17:47 by maytaga806 (Howell, Michigan) | ||
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As I said many times on here we had a 80s hotpoint with the pop up tower and it cleaned the top rack flawlessly every single time. Which was very surprising. So that’s a load of BS. | ||
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Post# 1226117 , Reply# 28 3/7/2025 at 22:35 by Dermacie (my forever home (Glenshaw, PA)) |
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I will say I have had both one arm and multiple arm Kitchenaid dishwashers and they all cleaned well, we never washed pots in ours even to this day. I do have very fond memories 30 years ago of a builder model Hotpoint my brother had in his newly built home that cleaned everything. It’s plastic tub cheap racks spray tower and two cycles cleaned great. It was noisy and no Kitchenaid and if I recall he had to pay $200.00 extra to have it installed. And I was disappointed when I went there 10 years ago to find a fancy Frigidaire dishwasher in its place.
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| Post# 1226138 , Reply# 30 3/8/2025 at 14:21 by johnb300m (Chicago) | ||
What’s missing here? 
Oh yeah, nuance.
I’ve had various tower machines in apartments. If they’re loaded carefully they do wash very well. Even in the upper corners. But the second you put plates too close to the tower, or a loathe pot that is too tall and shadows the upper corner above it, they area will not wash. It’ll stream clean at best. And will usually be full of grit, especially on Durawashes, and no -filter GEs. | ||
| Post# 1226486 , Reply# 32 3/13/2025 at 23:06 by michaelh (Illinois, USA) | ||
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Post# 1226502 , Reply# 33 3/14/2025 at 07:23 by Combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
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Reply number 32
Great video Michael, back in the mid 70s my brother Jeff was working for a whirlpool KitchenAid Maytag dealer in Silver Spring Maryland and the Maytag rep came and installed one of those see-through plastic reverse rack, Maytag dishwasher demonstrators and after watching that for a few minutes, my brother Jeff asked his boss if he could get the plastic front kit for a 17 and set it up on the showroom Which is boss agreed to. Once the KitchenAid was set up and switched on, there was no comparison to the Maytag Jeff said he didn’t think they ever sold more than a half dozen Maytag DWs anyway, but they were a big KitchenAid dealer, but it was amazing the amount of water That the single arm KitchenAid’s and the single arm whirlpools for that matter moved it was very impressive.
John L | ||
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Post# 1226508 , Reply# 34 3/14/2025 at 10:43 by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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Post# 1226510 , Reply# 35 3/14/2025 at 11:51 by ozzie908 (Lincoln UK) |
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No wonder they didn't use an upper wash arm ... | ||
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Post# 1226527 , Reply# 36 3/14/2025 at 14:33 by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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The evidence also explains why dishwashers nowadays are so much quieter ... smaller motors and pumps ... reduced water usage, spray volume, and force ... relying much more heavily on chemicals/enzymes to dissolve food soils with some spritzing to flush/rinse the dishware. It works but requires much more time. :-) | ||
| Post# 1226570 , Reply# 38 3/15/2025 at 12:01 by firedome (Binghamton NY & Lake Champlain VT) | ||
KA one arm wonders...
work great with just the tiniest bit of intelligence when loading. We bought a KDC-17 new in 1974 and used it for 15 years with a family of 5 (after '77 and on) and it was a fabulous machine, fast, thorough, and dependable. We've had a KDI-18 as well. Remember the commercial Hobart undercounter machines of the time originally used the same washarm... early on it was the "cast-iron-wonder", and it had to do the job. Those who denigrate these marvels either never used on or have no common sense, no, you don't put a 12qt pot in the bottom rack ... D'oh!
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