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Goodbye non-KISS appliances

willbush.dev

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Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#171

Post by michaelt »

bee_rider wrote: post #121
mewpmewp2 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do Americans have so big cars then? Seeing the cars was most shocking thing for me when visiting US.

Lower population density and bad zoning means the trip to the grocery store is farther, so you only want to go once every week or two. So, you get a bigger car, to fit more groceries and a bigger fridge for the same reason. Then, some stupid person fills their car completely with groceries, can’t see out the back window, and backs into you. So, you get a still bigger car, so they can’t possibly help but see you, and…

> you only want to go once every week or two

How are y'all getting decent bread and milk?

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#172

Post by SPBS »

darreninthenet wrote: post #93
beAbU wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Just close the door properly. Ajust the feet so the fridge stands on a slight angle, so the door swings shut on it's own. What help is a temperature alarm if you are away. A fridge is used daily, surely you'll notice if the temperature is not what it's supposed to be.

I really have no idea how to reply to this without sounding like an ass so apologies in advance. Well yeah duh if the door was shut properly every time fridges wouldn't need door or temperature alarms at all (most have an audible one already). But it's called an alarm for a reason, sometimes shit goes wrong and it's handy to know before all the food has been at room temperature all day. We had a freezer door pop open…

The number of times my fridge door has popped open (yes it has happened to me as well) is not worth making it a smart appliance that talks to the internet. It plays a physical alarm. That's it.

It's not the end of the world if some stuff inside goes bad. Again, not worth making it talk to the internet.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#173

Post by coldtea »

darreninthenet wrote: post #93
beAbU wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Just close the door properly. Ajust the feet so the fridge stands on a slight angle, so the door swings shut on it's own. What help is a temperature alarm if you are away. A fridge is used daily, surely you'll notice if the temperature is not what it's supposed to be.

I really have no idea how to reply to this without sounding like an ass so apologies in advance. Well yeah duh if the door was shut properly every time fridges wouldn't need door or temperature alarms at all (most have an audible one already). But it's called an alarm for a reason, sometimes shit goes wrong and it's handy to know before all the food has been at room temperature all day. We had a freezer door pop open…

I too really have no idea how to reply to this without sounding like an ass so apologies in advance.

Well, our parents, and for the younger, our grandparents too, and us, have managed to do fine for like 60+ years of using fridges without an fridge door alarm.

Fun fact: for an alarm for when you are away for days, and you want to know if the fridge power went off and back on in between, you can freeze a jar of water in your freezer, put a coin on top, and leave it there.

If you find the coin in the bottom of the jar at some point, the fridge power/temperature has been off for a while.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#174

Post by q1w2 »

arter4 wrote: post #81
darreninthenet wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fridge/freezer one is handy for temperature and door open alarms

Yes, but how often do you experience power outages or other things that lead to weird temperature changes? I think in the last 15 years it only happened to me once. And how often does a fridge door open on its own? Most people don't need other people (or things) to remind them that they should tie their shoes before getting out. If you don't need that, I assume you know you should close the fridge door.

> how often does a fridge door open on its own?

No, it's for when the kids leave the door open or just don't close it properly - which is VERY frequent. The door alarm goes off once per week here, at least.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#175

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

vladvasiliu wrote: post #68
brodsky wrote: post #25

When we upgraded our appliances, the "smart" or "wifi-enabled" ones were specifically avoided like the plague. "Dumb" appliances - especially fridges, for some reason - are becoming hard to come by, but they do exist. Electrolux, KitchenAid, even LG all make some no-frills models that can save both money and frustration. Hopefully those companies continue serving the "luddite techie" market.

> all make some no-frills models that can save both money and frustration Actually, those features seem to have become so common that they don't seem to command a price premium anymore. My washing machine was the cheapest that ticked all the boxes I wanted (most importantly size), and it still has some kind of wifi thingy. Ditto for my dishwasher. They both work perfectly well without any connection to anything, and…

> They both work perfectly well without any connection to anything, and not once have they even tried to get me to connect them.

Is there an open Wi-Fi network nearby?

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#176

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

userbinator wrote: post #74

All my appliances are mid-century or older. Parts are simple and easily fabricated if necessary. Having a restored 85-year-old refrigerator (compressor and refrigerant still original) in active use, it's amazing how efficient it actually is. It's manual defrost, but doesn't need defrosting all that often either. Reading about the failing condenser fan and compressor reminded me of these items, worth watching again: h…

> All my appliances are mid-century or older. Parts are simple and easily fabricated if necessary. Having a restored 85-year-old refrigerator (compressor and refrigerant still original) in active use, it's amazing how efficient it actually is.

I don't think the word efficient means what you think it means.

Have you ever measured their power consumption?

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#177

Post by michaelt »

computator wrote: post #33

> the combustion engine and hybrid cars are surprisingly reliable The OP brings up an interesting contradiction: appliances have become less reliable but cars have become more reliable. Cars have become worse in some of the same areas as appliances, like the use of touch screens instead of physical controls, but cars have nevertheless become more mechanically reliable. What would explain this opposite trend?

The reliability of fridges was "Buy it for $300, plug it in, it works continuously for 10 years with no servicing" so the reliability really had nowhere to go but down.

The reliability of cars, on the other hand, used to be pretty awful. Lots of maintenance, regularly needing repair work done - not to mention regular servicing, oil changes and tyre changes. And people replacing their 5-year-old cars because 'old cars just aren't reliable'. So there was a lot of scope for improvement.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#178

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #67
jfim wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lemon laws for cars in many places, where if it breaks too much you can just return it to dealership for a refund. No such thing for appliances, unfortunately.

We bought a new stove about 6 years ago, basically had to get induction stove top because that was all that was available. I bought one of the more expensive ones. That stove top broke after a couple months, but luckily we're in Denmark where the warranty is a year, and when something gets repaired like that it's also under warranty for a year (actually sometimes more). We got that stove top replaced about every 4-6…

> That stove top broke after a couple months, but luckily we're in Denmark where the warranty is a year

You may or may not be a fan of the Euro, but EU law is two year warranty for consumers.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#179

Post by TuringNYC »

spdustin wrote: post #3

I just replaced the condenser fan (was squealing) and the evaporator defrost heater (it wasn't working at all, leading to the coils icing over) on my 20-year-old GE fridge. I threw in some SwitchBot BLE temp sensors that I monitor with Home Assistant, with alerts set to fire if it can't hold temperature or if the defrost cycle doesn't seem to be working, as measured by the swing between the "pre-chill" before defrost…

I got an eye opener when a fridge with a 10yr parts warranty came with a $2100 labor bill to actually install the broken condensor. I'm not sure why the condensor would be built in such a way that swapping one out can cost $2100...but it was cheaper to purchase another fridge, this time with a top of the line parts and labor warranty

This infuriated me greatly because of the waste, not one of money, but for the environment. I considered paying the $2100 just to avoid the environmental waste, but realized this would probably be only one in a line of upcoming repairs.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#180

Post by goriloser »

bee_rider wrote: post #116
Twisell wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seem even funnier. From my research. The "side by side" standard US frige is what we call in France American fridge because it has two door and look so oversized and fancy compared to the standard fridge in france. The US "french-door fridge" take the oversizing a step further by adding a third door on the bottom of the "side by side" design. We don't even have a name for theses fridges as nobody buy theses, so I…

We do have a thing in the US called a micro fridge. College students will often get one for their dorm rooms. For the biggest fridge you describe, the extra space is usually a freezer. If you are going to have a freezer anyway, it seems like an overall savings to include it in the fridge. If you don’t have a freezer, you won’t have any icecream, and then is life really worth living?

European fridges also have a freezer, while remaining single door. Top half fridge, bottom half freezer.
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