Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

jdstillwater.blogspot.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 331 posts

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#111

Post by throwway120385 »

klodolph wrote: post #50
throwaway7ahgb wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New homeowners: Know where your GFCI reset switches are located. I just had a fun time debugging why some of my outlets weren't working. Turns out there was a GFCI tripped in the garage, a few rooms down from the outlet.

I have never seen a GFCI reset switch in a different room from the outlet. I’m not surprised it exists, but it would make me unhappy.

You can daisy-chain the rest of the outlets in a circuit off of a single GFCI. They have two sets of terminals -- one for the leg of the circuit that goes to the breaker panel and the other for attaching the rest of the circuit.

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#112

Post by mikedelfino »

kragen wrote: post #103
mikedelfino wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're absolutely right that they're common in poor countries and that we can't afford more modern and safer alternatives. Not to mention that the more modern alternatives heat the water much more effectively, providing way more comfort.

no, electric showers heat the water much more effectively, providing way more comfort; here in argentina i have to wait 45 seconds or so for the shower to stop running cold because the hot water has to run all the way from the hot-water tank in the kitchen. and i have to cut the shower short after about 20 minutes because i run out of hot water. i had the same two problems when i lived in the usa, though constant-rec…

You're right that electric showerheads provide instant heat. My comparison was based on the electric showerhead I have at home, which can't heat very much due to electrical limitations. It's definitely not the case of every installation. On the other hand, the hot water I experience when showering at the gym or in fancy hotels is extremely, extremely hot and much more comfortable on a cold day. I also see some wealthy people installing gas heaters in their homes, which is why I associated electric showerheads with a lack of options.

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#113

Post by throwway120385 »

nashashmi wrote: post #46

I used to ask electrical engineers who design building utilities if they ever touched a live wire with voltage running. If not, "how do you know it is really dangerous? How do you know it will electrocute you?" They don't. EVER. Want to talk to me again if they don't have to. #ConventionalIgnorance For reference, I touched 10k volts with microcurrents. It hurts! I touched 240 volts wire and felt the vibrations run up…

It can be very lethal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_chair

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#114

Post by Flop7331 »

Alupis wrote: post #63
raicem wrote: post #60

> These commenters are speaking authoritatively on subjects about which they are completely ignorant, but they are strident in doing so because they are repeating what everybody knows. They are intellectually secure in the center of a vast mob; their wisdom was received, not crafted. This is an important takeaway for me, maybe even more than “electirc devices are washable”. World is filled with conventional wisdom th…

It's not the water that's the issue generally - it's the minerals in the water. The article author got lucky this time - when electronics die from water contact, it's usually the minerals bridging connections and creating shorts. Letting the device dry does not remove those shorts. Some places have such hard water (lots of minerals) that evaporated water leaves calcium, limestone and other deposits on the surface of…

After you take it out of the dishwasher, rinse it with distilled water, then let it dry.

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#115

Post by nashashmi »

throwway120385 wrote: post #113
nashashmi wrote: post #46

I used to ask electrical engineers who design building utilities if they ever touched a live wire with voltage running. If not, "how do you know it is really dangerous? How do you know it will electrocute you?" They don't. EVER. Want to talk to me again if they don't have to. #ConventionalIgnorance For reference, I touched 10k volts with microcurrents. It hurts! I touched 240 volts wire and felt the vibrations run up…

It can be very lethal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_chair

> The entire execution took about eight minutes. George Westinghouse later commented that, "They would have done better using an axe",[27] and The New York Times ran the headline: "Far worse than hanging".[28]

Looks like it takes a while to kill.

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#116

Post by [deleted] »

bornfreddy wrote: post #89
YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have one of those at home in the UK, in fact I only recently changed the older unit that was getting long in the tooth. The house is old and an electric shower the only way to have a proper shower. I also have a shower extension, a rubber tube with two inputs you connect to the hot and cold taps in the bath tub and which outputs cold water if you hold it lower than the taps and hot water if you keep it above the ta…

> It's just soap, it's good for you. Sorry, but I really can't tell - was that sarcasm?

[deleted]

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#118

Post by kragen »

mikedelfino wrote: post #112
kragen wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no, electric showers heat the water much more effectively, providing way more comfort; here in argentina i have to wait 45 seconds or so for the shower to stop running cold because the hot water has to run all the way from the hot-water tank in the kitchen. and i have to cut the shower short after about 20 minutes because i run out of hot water. i had the same two problems when i lived in the usa, though constant-rec…

You're right that electric showerheads provide instant heat. My comparison was based on the electric showerhead I have at home, which can't heat very much due to electrical limitations. It's definitely not the case of every installation. On the other hand, the hot water I experience when showering at the gym or in fancy hotels is extremely, extremely hot and much more comfortable on a cold day. I also see some wealth…

oh, yeah, i don't think an electric showerhead in my house would work very well at all; some dumbfuck wired it with 15-gauge wire (1.4mm diameter, safe for up to about 10 amps) and at 240 volts you need more like 40 amps to provide a comfortable shower, depending on water flow rate

the entire house is on a single anemic 25-amp circuit breaker. at a low-flow 6 liters per minute (100g/s) heating from 15° to 40° (Δ temp = 25 kelvin) at 4.2 joules/°/gram, you need 10.5 kilowatts, which is 44 amps at 240 volts. at 120 volts just forget about it

i have had a super cheap non-tankless electric shower in a couple of places i've lived in argentina, which sucked. you would fill it up with water, plug it in to start heating the water, unplug it half an hour later to stop heating the water (hopefully before it overheated), and then open the valve at the bottom to run the shower. dangerous, inconvenient, and uncomfortable

on the other hand, if you're building an apartment building in brazil or a hotel in costa rica, there's nothing stopping you from including an 80-amp circuit in every bathroom for the electric shower. it's definitely cheaper than a hot-water tank or a tankless heater, and it might be safer too, since it might allow you to avoid running gas to the room

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#119

Post by axus »

kragen wrote: post #84
exmadscientist wrote: post #21

R&D electrical engineer here! I have to do this sort of thing all the time and can confidently tell you it's pretty normal. The real risk isn't really to the toaster (who cares, it's just a toaster, and even if it starts on fire when you plug it in, you're probably watching it pretty closely). No, it's that you leach lead or other such nasties (sealing rubbers, PCB epoxies, what-have-you) into your dishwasher and sta…

dishwashers normally dry the dishes by heating them with an electric heating element; this is more likely to damage electronics than the water there are also some electronic components that won't deal well with water, especially strong streams of water. microphones and speakers come to mind, because they commonly include exposed paper, thin membranes, and sponges. i'm thinking an ocxo would also be a problem both bec…

Yep a toaster (oven) and hair dryer have to operate while getting very hot but most devices aren't supposed to get hot.

Re: I put a toaster in the dishwasher (2012)

#120

Post by romwell »

c22 wrote: post #17

I often run my (PCB) boards through the dishwasher after soldering components to them. To clean off any flux that might be on them.

I'm sure the boards are fine after that.

Wouldn't feel so great about the dishes you put into the dishwasher afterwards.

Ain't no getting fine metal dust out of porcelain, and idk what else got washed off of those boards.

Post reply on HN