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Modern washing machines, fridges and appliances come with other advantages - especially in terms of efficiency and lower water use. We have Maytag Centennial d
by sottol 2y ago
Modern washing machines, fridges and appliances come with other advantages - especially in terms of efficiency and lower water use.
We have Maytag Centennial dryer and washing machine - they may be robust but they're quite inefficient compared to "modern" washing machines both in terms of water use and cleaning performance (our last known-unreliable LGs lasted 5yrs until we moved). Same with our old Whirlpool dishwasher that seemed to have been tuned to the olden detergents with phosphates and barely cleaned dishes, you often had to rerun some of them vs our millenium Bosch that cleans the same dishes with 1/4 the detergent.
But it's not quite as bad with appliances imo. I have had good luck getting the higher end models without _all the unnecessary bells and whistles_.
It's probably like new cars, efficiency gains come with complexity, so efficiency/reliability might be a trade-off. I, personally, can buy a used replacement board online and replace it myself after 5-10yrs but that still means someone else threw out their machine for parts.
And then on top of that, at least here in CA with $0.4/kWh, a 300kWh/y fridge costs $200/y less to run than an 800kWh/y fridge. That's $2000 over 10 years and might cover several repairs. I wouldn't generally prematurely replace a machine just for efficiency but I'm also not sure running that fridge from 1935 is really monetarily efficient, even if your newer fridge does break more often.
- asdff 2y agoI once rented an apartment with a modern 2 in 1 washer dryer and it was easily the worst appliance I ever used. Bar none. The whole ordeal would take like 4 or 5 hours because using very little water means you need a 90 minute wash, and the dryer is of course too anemic to be much better than just setting the clothes out to dry on every available piece of furniture you own. I'll take a little bit of inefficiency on my end as a consumer. I am the little man after all my footprint is small enough compared to what globalized industry is wreaking on the planet. I shouldn't be made to feel bad to have a washer dryer that is actually a time savings compared to a washboard and clothes line. FWIW in CA your rate also depends on your provider. I am paying like 16 cents a kilowatt hour.
- sottol 2y agoThat's a bit of a strawman - I'm sure there are old washer and dryers that were also terrible, it's not inherently a property of all modern washers and dryers.
- asdff 2y agoI'm sure there are, just on my anecdotal experience I've never dealt with one. And considering the simplicity of the old washer and dryer its hard to imagine you even get much of a lemming. Simple machines tend to work well for a long time no matter what they are or what they do.
- dzhiurgis 2y agoSo dry your laundry manually if you prefer. IMO dryer is for when it's impossible to dry indoors/outdoors because of cold/humidity.
- asdff 2y agoI often did. Of course I had three other roommates at the time so it was not a sustainable solution to have four loads of clothes dispersed across the apartment if we happened to run into eachothers laundry schedules.
- m463 2y ago> I am paying like 16 cents a kilowatt hour. wow, that is so low. PG&E charges from 29-50+ cents per kwh and the average is 35.
- oremolten 2y agoI couldn't imagine 35 cents. Here in the midwest we're paying 8-11cents. My water bill is billed quarterly and I don't use much over the base amount you get included with the service charge. We're talking 100$ for sewer, garbage, and water per 3 months. I have 4 bathrooms.
- asdff 2y agoMunicipal power, baby.
- m463 2y agomore like "regulatory capture, baby!"
- 112233 2y agore: washing machines. it is nice that machine can wash using less heat and water. it most likely does it by using more mechanical friction. There are no standards I know of that require machines to wash clothes so they last for N cycles. Are not these efficient machines basically shredding fabric much faster than the older machines?