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Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

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Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#131

Post by bombcar »

WalterBright wrote: post #75

Stuff bought from a restaurant supply outfit usually lasts well. Another thing I do is call up an appliance repair shop and ask them which one they'd buy for themselves.

The second can be great with a caveat - I got recommended a stove that is wonderful long term, but the ignitor goes out eventually. Cheap part, easy to replace if you can turn a screw. Repairman recommended it because it was very easy to fix the main thing that would go wrong, everything else was bog simple. Called it "a landlord's stove".

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#132

Post by twoWhlsGud »

steveBK123 wrote: post #49

The only thing worse than having to pay for premature appliance replacement is.. the process of actually replacing them. Across different homes, different appliances, different brands, and different vendors it is always a disaster. Dishwashers especially since they touch cabinetry, plumbing, and electrical. I would pay an "A Team" premium to have an entire squad come deliver and do all work to accommodate installatio…

My favorite near disaster story was due to my 100 year old house having come with 50 year old electric cooktop that sat over the (slightly younger dishwasher). I destroyed the dishwasher right after moving in (by running it with the new water line turned off - I should have checked) and was happy to see that at least the dishwasher shaped hole was still standard sized. What I didn't realize until the new dishwasher arrived was that the old dishwasher was smaller (lower) inside the case - leaving a handy buffer space between the underside of the electric burners and the top of the dishwashers electronics.

The new dishwasher had only about and inch of space and even after sticking in a layer of nomex insulation test runs of the cooktop with a thermal probe sited on the top of the dishwasher's insides revealed that I couldn't use any settings beyond medium without hitting questionable levels. The cooktop's associated oven put the whole question to rest soon after by bursting into flames due to a wiring failure. (This apparently period appropriate setup for small kitchens placed the dishwasher at the bottom with with cooktop above it and then a small oven on top with a integrated exhaust system underneath and on top of the oven - actually pretty handy).

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#133

Post by bombcar »

JohnFen wrote: post #85
eweise wrote: post #69

Don't get me started on toasters.

Nobody seems to make a good toaster at all anymore.

Partially because the "home toaster" is simply not used in commercial settings; they use a toaster over or one of those things that looks like a miniature pizza oven: https://www.webstaurantstore.com/14603/commercial-conveyor-t... - the only place is at a buffet or similar in a hotel. But I bet that $500 toaster would last awhile. Would it last long enough to justify the price compared to whatever Walmart has?

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#134

Post by fulladder »

nicup12345689 wrote: post #123
apantel wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m actually generally optimistic. I’ve spent my whole life singing the tune of tech optimism. But it’s starting to seem like we’re passing an inflection point specifically with respect to being able to maintain a grip on the real. Most of the things I put in my rant have to do with losing our grip on the real: the platforms are degrading because search results are now mostly created by people who are in the business…

The blackpill is once you realize this all stems from democracy catering to the lowest common denominator in everything.

I wouldn't call it democracy; the stuff this person is complaining about is neither caused by, nor even particularly related to, the government. I would call these trends in popular culture.

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#135

Post by bombcar »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #93
762236 wrote: post #4

The fridge's noisy, heat-generating parts should be outside, like for a split A/C. That's the only way I'd spend a lot of money on a fridge.

I love this idea, although I have to wonder if it would make replacing a refrigerator a bigger chore because (IIUC) you'd need hoses filled with a refrigerant liquid and no air bubbles.

It's done all the time with commercial units - just look for things that are "magic cold" at the grocery store without noise or vents above or below them.

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#136

Post by bombcar »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #96
clumsysmurf wrote: post #11

Our 20 year old fridge gave up the ghost. First thing I did was get a month of Consumer Reports and read through their Fridge section. Something I noticed, same with Vacuums ... there is no clear winner. They gave top scores to LG fridges people vehemently disliked in the comments. Almost everything got low scores in owner satisfaction. Their #2 pick had an owner satisfaction of 1/5! We decided to get a $700 Whirlpoo…

I'm not sure what to make of Consumer Reports. The last time or to I used them, their conclusions seemed at odds with popular opinion.

Consumer Reports measures toilets by how they flush golf balls.

I will refer to Consumer Reports once I start shitting golf balls.

Otherwise they're a decent place to maybe start but they're definitely not the be all-end-all.

What I do is search until I find a forum of people who obsess over whatever it is. Here's my plumbing one: https://www.terrylove.com/crtoilet.htm

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#137

Post by jstarfish »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #96
clumsysmurf wrote: post #11

Our 20 year old fridge gave up the ghost. First thing I did was get a month of Consumer Reports and read through their Fridge section. Something I noticed, same with Vacuums ... there is no clear winner. They gave top scores to LG fridges people vehemently disliked in the comments. Almost everything got low scores in owner satisfaction. Their #2 pick had an owner satisfaction of 1/5! We decided to get a $700 Whirlpoo…

I'm not sure what to make of Consumer Reports. The last time or to I used them, their conclusions seemed at odds with popular opinion.

I have the same issue with NYT recommendations. The initial build quality of the product is good, but then just outside the warranty period it all falls apart all at once.

I think the products are optimized for the tests, not long-term ownership. Rigors of ownership are what you see reflected in the comments.

Like Bose QC45s. Feel nice. Sound great. Works well overall, for the first year. Then the firmware started acting up, mic stops working during Zoom calls, and getting secondary pairing to work correctly makes breeding pandas look easy.

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#138

Post by apantel »

fulladder wrote: post #127
apantel wrote: post #13

We're currently living through a race to the bottom in everything: technology (degradation of platforms like Google and FaceBook — Google has become practically unusable; proliferation of bots, SEO junk, AI junk; also the degradation and over-complication of hardware, e.g. these fridges: overly-complicated smart appliances that don't last long; "they don't build things like they used to"), society (social media, pola…

I honestly can't tell if this is satire/trolling. Moloch? If it's trolling, bravo, well done! If not: you're not wrong about any one individual thing but you have a completely distorted sense of proportions.

I would say it’s recreational pessimism because I’m usually an optimist except I can’t help but feel that lately everything is starting to seem increasingly unreal. The Moloch dynamic is a serious thing — it’s a name used in some circles to describe any dynamic where people have to behave in ways that go against collective interest because of the game conditions they find themselves in, for example a nuclear arm’s race.

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#139

Post by ako »

apantel wrote: post #13

We're currently living through a race to the bottom in everything: technology (degradation of platforms like Google and FaceBook — Google has become practically unusable; proliferation of bots, SEO junk, AI junk; also the degradation and over-complication of hardware, e.g. these fridges: overly-complicated smart appliances that don't last long; "they don't build things like they used to"), society (social media, pola…

The free market economy promised to deliver better quality products with lower prices, but it seems to result in low quality products for low prices. Buyers vote with their wallets, and pricing seems to be more important than quality. I see this also in B2B where high quality products have a hard time competing with lower priced products. Whenever Microsoft decides to include even a half functioning product into their office suite, competition is hurting.

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#140

Post by fulladder »

apantel wrote: post #138
fulladder wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly can't tell if this is satire/trolling. Moloch? If it's trolling, bravo, well done! If not: you're not wrong about any one individual thing but you have a completely distorted sense of proportions.

I would say it’s recreational pessimism because I’m usually an optimist except I can’t help but feel that lately everything is starting to seem increasingly unreal. The Moloch dynamic is a serious thing — it’s a name used in some circles to describe any dynamic where people have to behave in ways that go against collective interest because of the game conditions they find themselves in, for example a nuclear arm’s ra…

Recreation pessimism sounds reasonable enough. With any ominous looking trend in society, it's probably a good idea to spend a bit of time thinking/worrying about it. It's just important to maintain an overall level head and not get too caught up in negativity and cynicism.

Irrational optimism and irrational pessimism both lead to similar sorts of faulty decision making and wind up being equally detrimental to well-being.

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