It's Always Something. . .

[Pooker]

Almost all of us have complaints about the newer appliances. The fridge that came with my house had an ice maker which kept getting clogged, flooded, and frozen. I went shopping and discovered that just about all the fridges for sale came with ice makers in them. The price posted, however, did not include the ice maker, so you had to pay extra for something you might not want! I eventually found one, without the ice maker, but the experience sure made me wish I had moved my very old Fridgidare with me.

How about the newer washers? They have lots of cycles, but actually not your choices. The water level, for instance. The gov't has decided we don't know how to save water, so even if you choose full load, it only fills less than 2/3. And how about the water temperature? "They" have determined that hot be in the 70's. Really? If you want a hot wash for something, it adds cold water to your hot water input no matter what. Only way to wash anything hot is to turn off the cold tap (and remember to turn it on before the rinse, because you can only rinse in cold). Warm is basically cool. And as for the "cycles" of regular, permanent press, etc. I noticed they all agitate and spin at the same speed - just for shorter time. That's supposed to be delicate? My clothes get twisted and even turned inside out during their beating.

At first, I thought there was something wrong and called the repairman shortly after buying my washer. When he checked it over, he laughingly told me Uncle Sam has decided how I will do laundry and he pointed out that this information was clearly spelled out under the washer cover! He was right. it clearly states that a full load will only be 1/2 - 2/3 full, and the temperatures lower than I would like to choose. It says, "Complies with all 2011 US Dept. of Energy standards" and even shows a picture of a traditional full washer beside the new reduced water washer half as full. I can't believe this has been in place since 2011 and I never noticed it before!

Gee, I'm so glad my government makes these difficult choices for poor little old me. I wouldn't want to stress over making these decisions!

Evie

[Acadianmom]

I like the government in my business too. I have resorted to turning the water off to the washer sometimes. If a load is unbalanced it will just keep adding water and spinning. It will finally turn off and give an error message. It won't just let me rebalance the load. I had to go look and see if it said anything about the water level but it doesn't. I know a regular load is only about 6 to 8 inches deep. The max fill button will fill it about half way. It's a pain to try to wash the dog's bed. I usually have to put two bath mats with it and try to keep it balanced.

I don't use much ice so I usually have to dump the bucket when I want some because it's jammed. The water filter for the refrigerator is over $50 and wants to be changed every 6 months. I only change it once a year.

Martha

[Cudedog]

Wow.

Thanks to all of you who posted about your home appliance woes! I had NO idea these problems were so widespread! I thought it was just me. . .

Just to add a another story: the washer I mentioned in an earlier post on this thread (the one that failed spectacularly - it was actually jumping across the floor and almost got me) was one that didn't have an agitator thingee in the middle (not sure what that thing in the middle of the washer is called. . .agitator? Spindle?).

This machine was supposed to be a "new and improved" design - already set up for a miserly water level, without the center spindle I guess the clothes were just supposed to slosh around more to get them clean. It certainly looked pretty cool.

However, this machine was truly dreadful. It did NOT get my clothes clean, if my clothes were even just slightly soiled (think digging around outside in the garden) I would have to wash my clothes TWICE to get them almost clean (the third time was the charm, I guess. . .). So much for saving water!

And anything the least bit bulky - like bed sheets, towels, blankets, anything like that - this machine would twist everything in the load into a long, tight knot that was VERY difficult (and a MAJOR pain) trying to untangle! Often the machine would become unbalanced doing the bulky items, shut down, and I would need to get in there, water up to my elbows, trying to untangle and re-balance this water-heavy, knotted-together, mess.

Truth to tell, I was not majorly unhappy when this machine failed, especially when I found out that Lowe's agreed to replace it.

My new machine has all of the bothersome low-water, low-washing-temp, problems that others are describing. Yeah, right. I try not to think about washing clothes that may have been exposed to the Covid 19 virus in luke-warm water. Sometimes, I will heat a pot of water on the stove (not too hot, of course) and pour it into the machine just to get the temp up a bit.

But this machine DOES have a center spindle/agitator, and it DOES NOT twist my laundry into long equivalents of the Gordian Knot!! And - wonder of wonders - it DOES usually get my laundry clean on the first run-through.

That's got to be a bonus. Who would have thought it? Clean laundry on the first try?

Anne

[JudyJB]

I had no idea about hot water not really being hot! This discussion will be useful whenever I give up on full-timing and have to buy a washer and dryer. Will have to read all the details very carefully.