A Good Machine, But......
Written: Sep 24 '03
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Pros: Larger capacity, pretty quiet
Cons: Poor cleaning without running hot water at tap, starts cleaning cycle with cold water
The Bottom Line: Good machine if your hot water heater is close to your kitchen sink, otherwise buyer beware
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| sbarracl's Full Review: Whirlpool GU1500XT - Multiple Color 24 in. Built-i... |
We redid our kitchen and bought all new appliances. I have to say, the only appliance we were disappointed with was this dishwasher. It has a lot of good features, but one major flaw. For us, it did not clean the dishes, they often came out dirty and had to be cleaned by hand. I have checked around and this has been reported by others on various web postings. I had the service guy out twice and we finally determined the cause, and what we have to do to make the dishwasher clean properly.
The issue is water temperature. This dishwasher has to have the proper temp. water feed to it, otherwise it washes in cold water (unlike almost all other dishwashers) and will not clean the dishes. I know they talk about the fancy temperature sensors and cycles, but the reality is the heater in this dishwasher is low power, and it only stays on for a (too) short heating cycle, then the washer starts, whether the water is hot or not. The service guy and I took all kinds of temperature readings to prove what was going on. The heater is sized to heat the water 10 deg. in about 10 minutes, then it shuts off and the washing starts.
In my house, the hot water tank is far away from the kitchen and I have to run the hot water for 2 minutes to get full hot at the kitchen sink and the dishwasher. If we just start the dishwasher without running the hot water, it uses about 100 deg. water instead of 140 deg. water, and the dishes come out dirty. Our old Kitchen Aid dishwasher had a more powerful heater and it would not start until it heated the water up to the proper temp., and the dishes always came out clean. The solution for getting clean dishes is for us to always run the hot water at the kitchen sink until it is piping hot, then turn the dishwasher on. Doing this does result in clean dishes. The delayed start feature is useless to us now, because of this.
In all fairness, this dishwasher has a lot of really nice features and is very roomy and flexible for loading. It is pretty quiet, not as quiet as a Bosch, but much quieter than our old Kitchen Aid. How well this machine cleans, depends on how far away your hot water heater is and whether you run the hot water before turning on the dishwasher or not. I feel the machine has a major flaw in that it will start the cleaning cycle without properly heating the water up to temp. We will never be able to use the delay start feature because of this, and almost every other dishwasher on the market will not start until the water is up to temp. BTW, all the 2001 and newer Kitchen Aids and Whirlpools are made this way.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 600
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Epinions.com ID:
sbarracl
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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