Triton XL General Electric Dishwasher
Written: Mar 02 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Large tubs, sprayers in three sections without center pole running through middle of dishwasher.
Cons: So far haven't found any cons, except for the large price range between stores.
The Bottom Line: Space for dishes is number one, dishes are clean, and it is quiet. The dishwasher is attractive. GE appears to stand behind their product.
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| djgeiger's Full Review: Adler Royal 1123PD Calculator |
Recently we replaced our old Maytag with GE’s new Triton XL. My biggest complaint with the Maytag was one, space for large objects, pots, and pans and second, it didn’t work anymore. The Maytag died a painful demise, death by tall glass.
We bought the dishwasher at Lowe’s for $327.00, which was the lowest price we could find, and it was substantially lower than other stores. We paid $11.26 for a hose, $106.00 for installation and delivery and they did haul off the Maytag. We also purchased a four-year in-home service plan for 135.22. We had paid a little over four-hundred for the Maytag.
In-home service plans are a personal choice. There are good reasons to have them and reasons not to. Personally, I am more inclined to not buy them. The appliance waits until warranties are over to expire no matter how long the service plan is. In addition, appliances have come down considerable in cost over the last years at least in comparison with income levels over the same amount of time. My husband in more of a warranty type of person and will usually buy an extended warranty. Typically we end up breaking it ourselves so the warranty is useless and doesn’t apply.
We customarily choose to have professional installation. One reason is that they will get rid of the old appliance. Another reason is safety.
Dishwashers are not tricky to install if you know what you are doing. Saving the hundred dollars for installation is just not worth a serious injury or even death. The dishwasher must be grounded. If you ever attempt a repair make sure the power supply to the dishwashers is off. Turn the breaker off. If you attempt a repair during the warranty period, you void the warranty. You paid for it let them fix it. If you are replacing an old dishwasher and are not lucky enough to have it hauled away, please take the door off the dishwasher. If you store it somewhere on your property, waiting to dispose of it take the door off. Children play hide, seek, and find a nifty cubby in the old dishwasher and they could be trapped. People are becoming more aware of this problem, refrigerators, and freezers but don’t think about dishwashers.
Safety issues are a major concern of mine especially since I loss a son to carbon monoxide poisoning. Every precaution must be taken to ensure safety. There are two things you can do to take safety measures; one read the instructions that come with the appliance, and two, take advantage of your local gas company. In our case, we were connecting to a gas water heater. If you are installing in a house that has been vacant the water heater could have built up hydrogen gas. This only takes a couple of weeks to occur. Before using your new dishwasher turn on all the hot water facets in the house and let them run several minutes. Hydrogen is highly explosive. Never turn on an electrical appliance with out taking this precaution.
The Triton XL has many nice features. I like the status control lights, which shows the current cycle. Another status indicator light is the sensing status indicator-first time I have seen one of these. That little sensor is measuring not only the temperature of the water; in addition, it is measuring the amount of soil. Then the sensor adjusts the cycle for optimal performance.
The wash light displays when the dishwasher is on a main wash cycle or a prewash cycle. Rinsing and dry indicator lights are self-explanatory. The sanitized indicator light comes on when sanitation conditions are met. The light will remain on until the door is opened. The clean indicator light comes on when the cycles are complete.
This dishwasher has six ExtraClean sensor selections. This is where I became dismayed how easy it would be to waste electricity and water a valuable resource especially where we live.
The anti bacteria or Sani Wash is the biggest waster of resources, unless you truly need it. If set on heavy and on Sani Wash 10.0 gallons of water is used and the dishwasher runs for a full 93 minutes compared to china and crystal heavy still 10 gallons but washes for 49 minutes. Saving 44 minutes – this is quite a savings. Pots and pans is another big energy hog. 11.4 gallons and 93 minutes (on heavy) each level offers three selections heavy, medium, and light. Pots and pans medium are 10.0 gallons and 71 minutes, light 10.0 gallons and 66 minutes.
Normal wash heavy 9.9 gallons and 74 minutes compared to speed cycle heavy 9.3 gallons and 36 minutes. One selection I had rarely taken advantage of is rinse only Heavy 2.9 gallons and seven minutes, light four gallons and three minutes. For example, if you are not ready to run a full cycle and you have dishes in the dishwasher, food is drying, and sticking to the dishes this will require an energy hog heavy cycle. Using rinse only for a couple of minutes and using a couple of gallons of water will save because you can use a lesser selection, for example speed wash light 5.7 gallons and 33 minutes saving tremendously from say perhaps a normal wash heavy 9.9 gallons of water and 74 minutes saving 41 minutes and 33 gallons of water.
Now, if not all this has been figure out correctly we still have sensor, which will adjust accordingly!
There are several extras on this dishwasher. Lock is a favorite and I have never had this option before on other dishwashers. It will keep accidental bumps or children fooling around and changing your selections.
The extra option Extra Scrub is for baked on food, this is selected before starting a cycle and will not work on rinse only and adds 16 minutes to the chosen cycle time. Heated Dry off will allow the dishes to dry naturally saving energy. Drying in the natural cycle can be expedited by propping the dishwasher door open when all cycles have finished.
Heated Dry will dry the dishes fast but will extend the times of different wash cycles.
Extra Hot Wash is handy especially if you have slow hot water recovery with your hot water heater. The heating element on the dishwasher is heated and it does improve the wash and dry performance.
Delay Hours is a helpful option we leave the dishwasher off until bedtime so that any snack dishes and drink glasses can make it in the current load. Then there are not dishes to worry about in the morning. However, if you forget to turn the dishwasher on, (our memories are good just a little short) the delay can be set for up to eight hours. It is simple to use choose number of delayed hours on Delay Hour pad press start/reset. Pressing a second time will cancel this action. If you start a cycle and change your mind, hit the reset if any water has run it will pump out and you will be ready for another selection in about 90 seconds.
Unlike dishwashers from my younger years (yep, will be a half-century old March 12 – the big 50) you don’t have to wash the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. It is however a good idea to remove bones, pieces of food and heavy grease.
Now comes my favorite part of this dishwasher, which is the capacity of the upper and lower racks. My previous dishwasher bought in 2000 was a Maytag. After using it a couple of years, I wasn’t very thrilled with it. Two issues were the size and placement of the racks. There was no room in the Maytag for large pots and pans. The only place to put a large fry pan or large pot was up on top where the glasses were meant to be. On the GE the bottom, rack has sufficient space for even a large enamel canner. The Maytag had a hole in the middle where one of the water jets went up and through to reach the middle of the dishwasher during use. Though the GE still has a middle jet it simply hangs in the middle giving the bottom rack plenty of room. This was also the demise of the Maytag dishwasher. A visitor put a glass in the dishwasher that was much too tall.
One of the ingenuities of giving the bottom rack more space other than not having a large pole going up the middle is the silverware basket that fits nice and snug along the left side of the bottom rack. It also breaks apart into three pieces if there is less silverware and need additional space for other things on the bottom rack.
The upper rack also does a great job on pots, pans, and mixing bowls. When trying to bake bread, make cookies and cooking a full course dinner there is enough diversity and options to get everything into one load. After baking and cooking, I run the rinse only cycle through. Right after dinner the dishwasher is loaded and then run through usually normal wash and medium or else speed cycle heavy or medium saving both water and electricity.
The GE has plenty of room on the top rack for a twelve place setting of glasses, small plates (dessert or salad) and bowls. Bottom rack has room for pots and pans and plates. There is a wine glass holder on the upper rack for crystal stemware. I had never put my crystal in a dishwasher before; there was not enough security to trust the dishwasher. I don’t give it a second thought with the GE.
Easily the dishwasher if loaded properly has capacity to wash all the dishes for a dinner party of twelve.
The inside door has a dishwashing detergent dispenser and a container for a rinsing agent. I use Cascade Complete and we do use a rinsing agent no fault of the dishwasher just a high mineral content in the well water.
Another nice feature is being able to add a dish during the wash cycle. Walk by a kids bedroom and discover a glass or dish, just open the door wait for the water to stop and wait for steam to escape (hate foggy glasses) then add the dish or glass.
The kitchen is next to the dining room and the living room is next to the dining room. Our previous dishwasher was loud enough to have to turn the television up or leave the dishwasher off until we went to bed. This dishwasher is much quieter. We are usually inclined to not start the dishwasher until bedtime because any glasses or snack dishes can be added so there are no dishes lying around in the morning. After dinner, we preset the dishwasher to start around 3 A.M.
The dishwasher we purchased is white; it also comes in black, bisque, and stainless steel, which is extra. White is good for me.
The standard warranty is one year from date of purchase, all labor, parts, and in-home service. Second year limited warranty any part fails because of defect will be replaced; you are responsible for labor and in-home service. The electronic control module is covered for five years, as are the nylon-coated dishwasher racks. The PermaTuf tub or door liner has a ten-year warranty if it fails to contain water (because of defect in workmanship or materials). GE will also cover the labor and in-home service. The standard warranty is excellent. As I mentioned before we purchased a four-year extended and I still am not sure if it is a real value.
All, in all I love the new dishwasher. I wish that Maytag advertisements never convinced me they had a better product. GE is better by a long shot!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
djgeiger
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Member: Diana Geiger
Location: Huron, South Dakota USA
Reviews written: 164
Trusted by: 350 members
About Me:
I am a writer and the Exotic Pets Editor for BellaOnline.com.
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