• mechoman444@lemmy.world
    422·
    10 months ago

    Appliance repairman here. New appliances are aggressively overpriced for very little reward. Aside from looking nice they offer nothing new. And worse of all older appliances from the late 90s early 2000s are significantly better than anything coming out right now.

    It is a pleasure working on those old appliances when they pop up.

      • Xcf456@lemmy.nz
        9·
        10 months ago

        What’s the advantage of the dishwasher opening itself when it’s done?

          • fidodo@lemmy.worldEnglish
            21·
            10 months ago

            Does it close itself again after it’s dry? I don’t necessarily want the door open for hours

            • Sadbutdru@sopuli.xyz
              51·
              10 months ago

              I think we’re only talking about the dishwasher door, not the door of your house/flat. If the air inside is that dirty I think you have bigger problems. Or, I just realised, is this to do with having pets?

      • Syd@lemm.ee
        1·
        10 months ago

        They’re not built to last nearly as long though, especially refrigerators.

        Also, does that mean your old washer was cold water only?

        • TwanHE@lemmy.world
          2·
          10 months ago

          Probably internal heater. Warm water connection probably saves having to connect up the gas.

          • Raxiel@lemmy.world
            2·
            10 months ago

            When I was a lot younger, pretty much every washing machine (here in the UK) had both hot and cold fill. It went away for three reasons.

            1. Machines got more water efficient.
            2. Direct hot water from a combi gas boiler became the standard (replacing big jacketed tanks in most houses).
            3. New detergents led to a campaign to encourage washing at 30°C rather than 40-60°C
              It’s more cost effective to heat a small amount of water directly at100% efficiency in the machine than drawing cold water out of the pipework and either heating it then rest of the way directly or pouring it down the drain until it ran hot from the 80% efficient gas appliance.
              Interesting to hear it might be making a comeback. I can see the logic if there’s a source of hot water from a heat pump, provided losses can be minimised.
              Personally I have PV so (weather permitting) electric is preferable to gas other than for space heating and bathing. That could change though. As it is, the heat pump drier, efficient as it is, still accounts for the majority of the energy used for laundry, even with the washer doing an extra spin cycle.
              • SkippingRelax@lemmy.world
                1·
                10 months ago

                Nah quite the opposite, same experience as the other guy, looking at washing machines in Italy and Australia, they used to have hot and cold intake but moving to cold only and leaving it to the appliance to heat up a small amount of water.

                My newish washing machine is a bosch, the model is prolly from 5 years ago though i bought it more recently, and it’s got cold water intake only (unliken the ancient LG that was sold to someone who needed a cheap one)

      • mechoman444@lemmy.world
        1·
        10 months ago

        I should have clarified I’m in America and my only interaction with appliances are from the country I live in.

        Generally a heat pump is more efficient and better for many applications but here in the states they’re very uncommon. Basically everyone has hot and cold water connected to the clothing washer.

        Dishwashers opening themselves is just a feature some of them have but it isn’t necessary or really useful. I’m glad you like it but ultimately it serves no real purpose.

        Induction cooktops are among the worst appliances ever invented by humanity they are truly terrible. Again I’m glad that you like what you have and that’s all good for you but generally people are unhappy with induction cooktops and they are very unpopular here in the states. Also they’re hell in a handbasket to work on.

        In terms of efficiency your dryer is pulling the exact same amount of power it has always pulled dryers have not become significantly more efficient over time the issue is a physics one we have to remove moisture from clothing and that requires a minimum amount of energy we’re never going to get around that. If you are experiencing less energy usage on your bill most likely that’s a placebo effect abd your dryer has nothing to do with it.

        Moreover efficiency is a double edged sword for example washers use a lot less water per load but in reality they don’t they just use a small amount of water several times throughout the cycle. A washer back in the 70s had a maximum cycle of about 30 minutes that’s how long it took to wash clothes because they use a tub full of water nowadays they’ll use a quarter of a gallon four times throughout a load making the wash time almost 2 hours. Washers and abusing more electricity but a little bit less water which equals out to zero savings.

        The price difference of energy costs per year on a refrigerator sold today versus refrigerator sold 20 years ago is like $10 not worth the savings definitely not worth the crappy technology they have put into those appliances.

    • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.caEnglish
      5·
      10 months ago

      I would assume newer appliances have just as many increases to efficiency, as they do corners cut to reduce the cost.

      I’d say the smart features are something new, but it’s almost always locked behind information stealing applications that you need to have, just to check if your laundry is done yet.

      9 times out of 10 you can get better smart integration with some alligator clips and a raspberry Pi or esp32.

      • mechoman444@lemmy.world
        3·
        10 months ago

        In 20 years of appliance repair doing on average 5 orders a day I have met maybe two or three clients that used the smart features in their appliances. Otherwise they are totally useless.

        I remember reading an article from GE a while ago where they were complaining that very, very few people were using the WiFi features on their washers and dryers.

        No one asked for WiFi, no one needs Wi-Fi on their appliances.

        • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          I only want to get an alert when the dryer finishes. The places I usually sit and wait for it to do the thing, are all too far away to hear the frilly “end chime” it quietly plays at the end of the cycle.

          My late father’s dryer had a very loud buzzer that you could hear almost everywhere in the house.

          The dryer in my home just plays a little ditty through what I can only describe as a 486 system speaker. I can’t hear it one room over.

      • wim@lemmy.sdf.org
        3·
        10 months ago

        I recently was in the market for a new dishwasher.

        I compared the EU eco labels (which are based on water and energy use).

        Buying the worst possible eco label currently on the market, and comparing it against the best two:

        • A label dishwashers cost almost twice as much (up to €400 more)
        • ombined energy and water costs saved over the lifetime of the device (which I optimistically set for 10 years at three cycles a week) is less than €100 euros
        • If you’re not into money, but more concerned about the planet, think about it this way: how much damage could €100 in energy and water spread over 10y really be causing our planet?
        • These savings are only achieved if you use the most ecological program, which fails at it’s primary job, which is cleaning dishes.

        If I could find a decent 90s model for which parts were still widely available, I’d buy that instead. I truly doubt that burning through these poorly made newer devices are sufficiently more ecological than just using a old machine for a longer time.

        • onion@feddit.de
          1·
          10 months ago

          These savings are only achieved if you use the most ecological program, which fails at it’s primary job, which is cleaning dishes.

          In my experience it cleans just fine? Maybe your dishwasher just sucks

      • mechoman444@lemmy.world
        2·
        10 months ago

        Efficiency is a double-edged sword manufacturers will manipulate how efficient their appliances are to make it look as though they’re compliant.

        For example new washing machines for clothing advertise to use very little water which technically they do. The problem is that they will drain and rinse several times throughout the cycle. Which in turn makes the cycle significantly longer.

        A washing machine from the '70s used about 15 to 20 gallons of water per cycle but the cycle itself lasted for about 30 minutes.

        Now a washer will use 5 to 10 gallons of water per cycle but the cycle is almost 2 hours long. The savings in water compared to the usage of electricity cancel each other out gaining you absolutely no increase in inefficiency.

        A refrigerator from the mid to late '90s used about 40 to $50 a year in electricity new refrigeration uses $30 a year in electricity the increase to efficiency is so small that it’s completely negligible.

        And keep in mind modern appliances are nothing more than convenience. Aside from refrigerators of course, things like dishwashers clothing washers clothing dryers we don’t actually need any of those we can do all that stuff by hand.

    • robocall@lemmy.worldOP
      9·
      10 months ago

      I bought stainless steel pots and pans over 10 years ago. I have one non stick that I replace every couple years, but stainless steel has been good to me.

    • anytimesoon@lemmy.ml
      6·
      10 months ago

      Just get yourself some cast iron or carbon steel cookware, my good man. It’s cheap and contains no plastic

      • guyrocket@kbin.social
        2·
        10 months ago

        I’ll second the cast iron recommendation. I now have many bare and enameled cast iron pots and pans. I also have a set of stainless but I don’t like those as much.

      • wise_pancake@lemmy.ca
        3·
        10 months ago

        My brother will not shut up about how much he loves his carbon steel pan. He complains about 99% of things not being worth the price, but he loves that pan.

        • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          It’s non-stick like cast iron, but lighter weight, and heats more rapidly like stainless. It’s worth mentioning that cast iron and carbon steel are both poor choices for any acidic sauce (tomato included) and for boiling water. Both can strip the seasoning layer. So it’s good to have a stainless pan and pot on hand for those situations.

    • Zink
      5·
      10 months ago

      Seriously! Now that I have one as an adult I appreciate it every day and drink a bunch of delicious filtered icy water every day.

    • Druid@lemmy.zipEnglish
      4·
      10 months ago

      We had one of those growing up. It was always the highlight when friends came over

  • RebekahWSD@lemmy.world
    15·
    10 months ago

    I’ve always enjoyed the allure of a new device, especially appliances. I constantly delight at having my own kitchenaide stand mixer. I was even more delighted when I was gifted an attachment to make pasta dough with it!

  • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
    12·
    10 months ago

    I was so excited to get a new vacuum cleaner for Christmas. My old one was barely clinging to life even with all the 3D printed parts I shoved into it

    I just wanna live without cat hair and dirt everywhere