Appliance repairman here. New appliances are aggressively overpriced for very little reward. Aside from looking nice they offer nothing new. And worse of all older appliances from the late 90s early 2000s are significantly better than anything coming out right now.
It is a pleasure working on those old appliances when they pop up.
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They’re not built to last nearly as long though, especially refrigerators.
Also, does that mean your old washer was cold water only?
Probably internal heater. Warm water connection probably saves having to connect up the gas.
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I don’t mean petrol if that’s what you think. But the actual gas people use to heat their homes and water anyways.
LOL, still.
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When I was a lot younger, pretty much every washing machine (here in the UK) had both hot and cold fill. It went away for three reasons.
- Machines got more water efficient.
- Direct hot water from a combi gas boiler became the standard (replacing big jacketed tanks in most houses).
- New detergents led to a campaign to encourage washing at 30°C rather than 40-60°C
It’s more cost effective to heat a small amount of water directly at100% efficiency in the machine than drawing cold water out of the pipework and either heating it then rest of the way directly or pouring it down the drain until it ran hot from the 80% efficient gas appliance.
Interesting to hear it might be making a comeback. I can see the logic if there’s a source of hot water from a heat pump, provided losses can be minimised.
Personally I have PV so (weather permitting) electric is preferable to gas other than for space heating and bathing. That could change though. As it is, the heat pump drier, efficient as it is, still accounts for the majority of the energy used for laundry, even with the washer doing an extra spin cycle.
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What’s the advantage of the dishwasher opening itself when it’s done?
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Does it close itself again after it’s dry? I don’t necessarily want the door open for hours
I think we’re only talking about the dishwasher door, not the door of your house/flat. If the air inside is that dirty I think you have bigger problems. Or, I just realised, is this to do with having pets?
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I would assume newer appliances have just as many increases to efficiency, as they do corners cut to reduce the cost.
I’d say the smart features are something new, but it’s almost always locked behind information stealing applications that you need to have, just to check if your laundry is done yet.
9 times out of 10 you can get better smart integration with some alligator clips and a raspberry Pi or esp32.
In 20 years of appliance repair doing on average 5 orders a day I have met maybe two or three clients that used the smart features in their appliances. Otherwise they are totally useless.
I remember reading an article from GE a while ago where they were complaining that very, very few people were using the WiFi features on their washers and dryers.
No one asked for WiFi, no one needs Wi-Fi on their appliances.
Better in terms of reliability, I’m sure – but what about efficiency?
Efficiency is a double-edged sword manufacturers will manipulate how efficient their appliances are to make it look as though they’re compliant.
For example new washing machines for clothing advertise to use very little water which technically they do. The problem is that they will drain and rinse several times throughout the cycle. Which in turn makes the cycle significantly longer.
A washing machine from the '70s used about 15 to 20 gallons of water per cycle but the cycle itself lasted for about 30 minutes.
Now a washer will use 5 to 10 gallons of water per cycle but the cycle is almost 2 hours long. The savings in water compared to the usage of electricity cancel each other out gaining you absolutely no increase in inefficiency.
A refrigerator from the mid to late '90s used about 40 to $50 a year in electricity new refrigeration uses $30 a year in electricity the increase to efficiency is so small that it’s completely negligible.
And keep in mind modern appliances are nothing more than convenience. Aside from refrigerators of course, things like dishwashers clothing washers clothing dryers we don’t actually need any of those we can do all that stuff by hand.
I recently was in the market for a new dishwasher.
I compared the EU eco labels (which are based on water and energy use).
Buying the worst possible eco label currently on the market, and comparing it against the best two:
- A label dishwashers cost almost twice as much (up to €400 more)
- ombined energy and water costs saved over the lifetime of the device (which I optimistically set for 10 years at three cycles a week) is less than €100 euros
- If you’re not into money, but more concerned about the planet, think about it this way: how much damage could €100 in energy and water spread over 10y really be causing our planet?
- These savings are only achieved if you use the most ecological program, which fails at it’s primary job, which is cleaning dishes.
If I could find a decent 90s model for which parts were still widely available, I’d buy that instead. I truly doubt that burning through these poorly made newer devices are sufficiently more ecological than just using a old machine for a longer time.
Shout-out to my 30 year old sandwich maker
That’s no way to talk about your significant other
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I have fantasized for years about buying a toto toilet. the most expensive one I could afford.
What’s a toto toilet? Is it like the band? The dog? Totoro?
Yeah it sings Africa every time you take a crap.
Ass-frica*
🎵 It’s gonna take some time to get this crap out of you
There’s nothing that a hundred men waiting outside your bathroom door could ever do 🎵
Maybe you should just take a laaaaaxxxaativeee
Does it just start at the “I bless the rains” line when you take a quick piss?
The bidet on that thing feels like a blessed rain down in Africa
It’s a brand. Some of their toilets have Japanese tech.
“I give you happy poopy time!”
Yes, but think about how exciting 16 year old you would be about having sex regularly, and having your own money to spend on hobbies.
30 year old me wants to know when that starts.
I just want the appliances to get out and leave me and my usable space alone
I was so excited to get a new vacuum cleaner for Christmas. My old one was barely clinging to life even with all the 3D printed parts I shoved into it
I just wanna live without cat hair and dirt everywhere
Have you tried not to let cats inside the house?
Just doing grocery in general makes me delighted.
I don’t think I’ve experienced a greater high recently than buying a new dryer
I just want some decent cookware without plastic in it.
Cast iron, my dude, or dudette.
Honorable mention: stainless steel
Superior to both but more expensive: carbon steel pan
My brother will not shut up about how much he loves his carbon steel pan. He complains about 99% of things not being worth the price, but he loves that pan.
I bought stainless steel pots and pans over 10 years ago. I have one non stick that I replace every couple years, but stainless steel has been good to me.
WMF, Fissler, Zwilling, etc. all make top of the line, buy it for life products. With offerings for really everything I ever wanted.
Just get yourself some cast iron or carbon steel cookware, my good man. It’s cheap and contains no plastic
I’ll second the cast iron recommendation. I now have many bare and enameled cast iron pots and pans. I also have a set of stainless but I don’t like those as much.
Legend or All-Clad. Can be expensive, but should last a lifetime.
Idk man I wanted those fridges with the water and ice dispenser as a kid bad
Seriously! Now that I have one as an adult I appreciate it every day and drink a bunch of delicious filtered icy water every day.
We had one of those growing up. It was always the highlight when friends came over
Oh man you had it made! It’s a must if I ever buy a fridge but well, renters can’t be choosers haha.
I’ve always enjoyed the allure of a new device, especially appliances. I constantly delight at having my own kitchenaide stand mixer. I was even more delighted when I was gifted an attachment to make pasta dough with it!
Get the ice cream maker attachment. Life changing.
I’ll put it on my birthday wishlist, perhaps I’ll get it later this year!
