Our dryer gradually stopped working. This time, we caved in and called the repair guy. Work is crazy busy, it has been raining a lot, and we had a bunch of wet sheets and clothes. And I had not experience with the dryer. (Had it been the summer vacation, then we could have probably made the attempt...
When I fixed the washing maching we ordered the part from Amazon.com and I fixed it myself. (We are now also watching the free films from the prime membership.) Total cost of the repair was under $100 for the part. Add in the prime membership, and it was less than $200 for the repair and a year's worth of videos.
This time, my wife called around for a while before she could find somebody that would come out on Monday. (The dryer broke on Thursday.) The Monday guy ended up with some space on the schedule and came Friday. So, we lucked out. They came, looked at the problem, replaced a $20 part, and gave us a bill for $200. Part + labor + service call charge.
The washing machine part was under $100 on Amazon put retails at places like Sears for around $200. It also looked like a more complex repair job. So, we would have been looking at $300-$400 for the second repair. And that would have come two months after the first repair, which would have been around $200. I think that series would have easily been enough to justify the purchase of a "low efficiency" dishwasher.
I guess this is what we get with the "iPod" generation. Stuff tends to be really cheap. Repair costs tend to be really high. So, instead of trying to get things to work better, we simply through them out and buy something new. Viva la waste. Ughh.
Showing posts with label appliances. Show all posts
Showing posts with label appliances. Show all posts
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Sunday, April 25, 2010
High Effeciency my foot
Our old washing machine finally died, so we bought a new high-efficiency front loader. We were set on buying an h-e top-loader. However, we couldn't find one with an internal water heater. Perhaps we should have let the water heater go.
Our electricity bill shot up after buying the washer, probably due to increased dryer times. With the old washer, a load could be finished in about 30 minutes. With the new washer, the "predicted time" is 57-59 minutes. However, actual tends to be much more than that. (I often see it go from 7 minutes remaining back up to 12.) Load size is much larger. However, a standard full load tends to end up much wetter (and take forever.) Maximum efficiency seems to only be obtained by using a smaller load (about the size of the old washer.) However, this creates major time issues.
With the old washer, you could wash two loads in less than the time it takes to wash one in the new one. Hmm... Even if it uses half the electricity to run, since it takes twice the time, it will break out even.
This also creates problems with drying. With the smaller, faster loads, there was plenty of space to hang up all the clothes. Wash a bit, hang up. Maybe throw some damp stuff in the dryer. Wash another. Hang up.
With the new one, there is a lot more clothing at once, exceeding space (and patience) to hang up everything. You could stuff it all in the dryer. However, this will be stuffed, and take forever to dry. Hanging up some, and drying some is perhaps the best solution.
Our electricity bill shot up after buying the washer, probably due to increased dryer times. With the old washer, a load could be finished in about 30 minutes. With the new washer, the "predicted time" is 57-59 minutes. However, actual tends to be much more than that. (I often see it go from 7 minutes remaining back up to 12.) Load size is much larger. However, a standard full load tends to end up much wetter (and take forever.) Maximum efficiency seems to only be obtained by using a smaller load (about the size of the old washer.) However, this creates major time issues.
With the old washer, you could wash two loads in less than the time it takes to wash one in the new one. Hmm... Even if it uses half the electricity to run, since it takes twice the time, it will break out even.
This also creates problems with drying. With the smaller, faster loads, there was plenty of space to hang up all the clothes. Wash a bit, hang up. Maybe throw some damp stuff in the dryer. Wash another. Hang up.
With the new one, there is a lot more clothing at once, exceeding space (and patience) to hang up everything. You could stuff it all in the dryer. However, this will be stuffed, and take forever to dry. Hanging up some, and drying some is perhaps the best solution.
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