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Goodbye non-KISS appliances

willbush.dev

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Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#231

Post by RajT88 »

My fridge is not pretty, but it has been running for 20 years straight with the only hiccups being power outages.

I really do not expect that a newer fridge will last as long. I may try and find something in brushed aluminum off Craigslist which has been sitting in someone's garage since 2000 when this one eventually goes.

I have an aunt who has had a fridge running without issues since about 1962. It is all white ceramic over stainless steel and a thing of beauty.

This is the kind of product engineering modern companies seek to avoid.

I seem to recall a Heinlein novel about inter-dimensional travelers who wanted to take over the world by destroying the economy. The first thing they did was found companies which made products which never wore out (razors and cars).

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#232

Post by pimlottc »

Twisell wrote: post #75
Solortho wrote: post #32

In France, we have a name for French-door fridges, it's American fridges...

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…

Importantly, in the "side by side" fridge, the two sides are separate compartments; one side is a freezer and the other is the refrigerator.

In the "french door" fridge, the two doors on the top both open to the same compartment, which is the refrigerator. The bottom compartment is a freezer and opens as a drawer.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#233

Post by thfuran »

mewpmewp2 wrote: post #163
rglullis wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also (literally) opens up your home for many ideas and possibilities for attackers. Not just for the "haxxor" types, but the far more sneaky, sweet-talking ones. It should not trigger just your imagination, but your paranoia.

Yes of course, but for example you already have your phone, laptops and computers with many things built in them. If you are ok with those, then it should be possible to build those smart devices with similar security and potential for attack.

It is possible, but it mostly doesn't happen. And even when it does, "similar security and potential for attack" means needing regular security updates, which they tend not to receive.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#234

Post by grogenaut »

RajT88 wrote: post #231

My fridge is not pretty, but it has been running for 20 years straight with the only hiccups being power outages. I really do not expect that a newer fridge will last as long. I may try and find something in brushed aluminum off Craigslist which has been sitting in someone's garage since 2000 when this one eventually goes. I have an aunt who has had a fridge running without issues since about 1962. It is all white ce…

There are still simple models. I got a whirlpool about 2 years back. All it has is a water dispenser and an ice maker on the inside. Other than that it's the same as my late 80s Frigidaire. Still seems to be mostly mechanical.

It's a lot more efficient than my old fridge though and a lot bigger. The old one had issues with it's design and defrosting as well that the new one has fixed esp being a lower cold drawere model vs the old one with freezer on top. I can't block the vents on the new one and they can't freeze up, but it does use a blower. The old one could ice over the vent and I had to modify it with a extra passive heating wire to keep it from freezing up.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#235

Post by kd913 »

RajT88 wrote: post #231

My fridge is not pretty, but it has been running for 20 years straight with the only hiccups being power outages. I really do not expect that a newer fridge will last as long. I may try and find something in brushed aluminum off Craigslist which has been sitting in someone's garage since 2000 when this one eventually goes. I have an aunt who has had a fridge running without issues since about 1962. It is all white ce…

They may run, but the power consumption your old fridge freezers are wasting would cover multiple brand new fridges many times over.

Anything over 10 years really should be replaced.

A bit like leds vs incandescent at this point time. Especially problematic given a fridge freezer runs 24/7 and is the largest contributor to your energy bills.

Also isn’t this a classic example of old things that survive are likely more expensive and well made. However, the cheap stuff back then likely got replaced sooner. Probably a similar thing applies where an expensive modern fridge will last ages too.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#236

Post by pimlottc »

NullPrefix wrote: post #91

Tried reading the article, but couldn't figure out what's the difference between side by side and french style. Tried looking online but it didn't help me either

See this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39238010#39238589

tl;dr: side-by-side = one side freezer, one side fridge. french door = freezer on bottom, fridge on top with two doors

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#237

Post by omnicognate »

berkes wrote: post #203
omnicognate wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My fridge craps ice and I never again want one that doesn't. It eliminates faffing with trays/bags (or buying the stuff) and ensures you'll never go to make a G&T and discover, horror of horrors, you're out of ice. I need my fridge to connect to the internet about as much as I need my oven to operate as a fax machine, though. (Also Northern Europe btw.)

The two reasons I never want an ice-dispenser, is that one, it's rediculously expensive. I would never pay hundreds of euro's for a standalone machine that makes ice: for that price I'll gladly keep fiddling with trays in the freezer or just drink my drinks without ice. Why pay that markup when it's embedded? And second, it's the single point of failure of the entire fridge. Everything else, from the rubbers to the p…

Why pay the markup? Because I'm willing to pay it for the benefits it provides. Not everybody values things the same. You prefer to save the money, I prefer not to drink iceless G&Ts like some sort of savage. Economics at work.

It's not an SPF as the rest of the fridge doesn't rely on it to operate. Ours broke down last year (after about 14 years of continuous operation in a hard water area). The fridge continued to work fine and after about a month we had the ice maker replaced.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#239

Post by madaxe_again »

kd913 wrote: post #235
RajT88 wrote: post #231

My fridge is not pretty, but it has been running for 20 years straight with the only hiccups being power outages. I really do not expect that a newer fridge will last as long. I may try and find something in brushed aluminum off Craigslist which has been sitting in someone's garage since 2000 when this one eventually goes. I have an aunt who has had a fridge running without issues since about 1962. It is all white ce…

They may run, but the power consumption your old fridge freezers are wasting would cover multiple brand new fridges many times over. Anything over 10 years really should be replaced. A bit like leds vs incandescent at this point time. Especially problematic given a fridge freezer runs 24/7 and is the largest contributor to your energy bills. Also isn’t this a classic example of old things that survive are likely more…

The longevity and the power use are connected.

Modern appliances use a very low viscosity oil in the compressor pump, and as a result use less power, but also wear faster. The old ones use a much more viscous oil which gives decades of use at the expense of higher power consumption.

Re: Goodbye non-KISS appliances

#240

Post by BoxFour »

arter4 wrote: post #161
navbaker wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever been around kids? They have a complete lack of situational awareness that leads to things like not noticing they’ve not pushed the fridge door shut and sealed all the way after grabbing cheese and running back to play. I can’t tell you how many times the chime on our LG has let us know to push the door closed.

I admit I don't have kids, but AFAIK kids can do all kind of stuff, like putting crayons in the dishwasher or accidentally breaking things. You usually don't have sensors for all kinds of scenario (what if my kid breaks a glass? what if she starts drawing on the wall?). You either don't care and fix the thing later on, or you try to prevent that from happening, or a combination of the two. Sensors and notifications a…

If you made, say, a dishwasher that notified you when something meltable was put into it you would probably find quite a few buyers.

Your examples aren’t really great for that reason.

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