16 out of 16 people found this review helpful.
QuietPower 3: Doesn't mention clean, does it?
Date of Review: Jun 24, 2009
The Bottom Line: There are better choices out there. Poor cleaning and suspect durability are by no means offset by good looks.
Okay, full disclosure: I didn't buy this, and don't have an instruction manual, so maybe some of the fault lies with the user. This is in a temporary rental, but is a brand-new machine.
Features:
4 wash cycles: Rinse Only, China/Crystal, Normal Wash, and Heavy Wash.
2 or 4 hour delay start.
Three heat options: Heated Dry, Hot Wash, and Hot Start (not sure of the difference between these last two).
Controls are fully electronic.
Spaces inside for rinsing agent, pre-wash detergent, and regular-wash detergent.
2 non-adjustable racks.
Silverware holder along right side of bottom rack.
3 spray arms--below each rack plus a small on above the upper rack.
Stainless-steel and black plastic exterior.
"Clean" light to indicate cycle has ended.
Operation:
Basic operation seems fairly intuitive. Select a wash cycle (push the button and the light comes on), select options, if any, and push Start. If you want a delay, I believe you push Delay once for 2 hours, twice for 4 hours, and then push Start. Be sure the door is latched securely (more on this later).
How does it work?
I'm sorry to say we've been unimpressed.
Cleaning:
We had trouble at first with dishes not coming clean, using the techniques we are used to with our home dishwasher--normal wash with soap only in the wash cycle, not pre-wash, and no extra heating. This problem has been largely solved, or at least improved, by adding soap to the pre-wash and using the "Hot Wash" setting, as we became aware that it takes many, many gallons of water for hot water to reach the kitchen. We are also, alas, doing more hand-rinsing (what a waste!) and being very careful how we load it--neither of which we worry about with the 10-year-old Kenmore at home!
Noise:
Noise seems about average. I ran it during breakfast this morning, and it wasn't deafening, but was not exactly "quiet" either.
Strange glitches:
One large glitch is a poorly-fitting door (or possibly door latch). This I consider worrisome, given reviews I've seen here and elsewhere about the latch breaking. It takes a little push to the left to get the door to latch properly--and, of course, if you don't, it won't run.
Another problem we've run into (probably wouldn't be an issue if we had the instructions) is random beeping and, last night, an apparent failure to hit all the buttons just right and make it run. It appears that opening the door after you set the machine can (but not always) cause it to require a Reset before it will run properly. I had to go online to find that it will run through a mini-version of the cycles in about 2 minutes and then stop (some say this is just to be expected of electronic controls, but geez, I've lots of gizmos with electronic controls that can be reset with less drama). Beeping is caused by any interruption in the cycle and is silenced by going through the reset routine. As we get used to the machine, we may find that the beeps are giving us a useful message.
Conclusions:
The machine may not be the piece of garbage some have claimed, but after only a couple of weeks of using it, I have some serious doubts about its durability, and am unimpressed with cleaning power. I am confident that there are better choices.
