#31
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In the US, all new construction and service updates require AFCI breakers in the sleeping and living areas. Regarding the two pole knife and plug fuse block, I saw them in old homes with K&T wiring. One home had one furnishing the power to one basement light. It struck me as strange! One home had one, just for the door bell transformer. |
#32
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One of the main ones is we have "Teck" cable and you have "MC" cable - ours has an extra layer of insulation. I think it's better than MC. On the other hand the UL de-listed stab-lock panels in the 80s and here they were the residential norm until not so long ago. I've read instructions about how to make a "dim bulb" tester out of one of those old ceramic fuse blocks, if I find one I think I will use it that way. |
#33
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[QUOTE=zeno
Whats best ? When someone asks me I tell them a 30 year old top load Maytag & I am dead serious. I think only Speed Queen still makes an indestructible washer built like they used to be. 73 Zeno[/QUOTE] Second the Speed queen, oh and if you want clean clothes use a top loader. the only down side of the speed queen is it can be rough on clothes, but it does get them clean, just wears them out faster. Also no electronic do dads to break, a simple mechanical timer that's it. Built to survive a laundry mat, it can take home use forever. |
#34
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Hot water in the US home is well above 40C. Typical is 50C to 60C. anything above 55 is a bit dangerous.
Modern US washers are not as good as older ones. They use too little water and always rinse with cold water. Mine on hot (water at about 55C) will clean large loads that are just ordinary clothing worn to an office, on the "supersize" with a modest amount of powdered detergent, quite well and won't leave enough detergent to annoy my skin. Use liquid detergent and it won't get socks clean. Modestly dirty clothes require modest loads with the supersize setting and lots of powdered detergent. Really dirty clothes require running through the wash cycle on hot, lots of powdered detergent, letting drain, and then running a whole cycle on hot to get all the dirt and detergent out (i.e. a hot wash followed by a cold wash.) The good news is that the cycle is quite fast, and the water heater is up to generating two loads of hot water. The system is actually quite OK, except that the recommended liquid detergent simply works badly. The matching dryer works perfectly. It is amazing how well it knows to stop just exactly when the load gets completely dry. It must have a humidity sensor. A price comment: my washer cost $450. The absolutely identical washer in a small town in Panama was the exact same price. (Panama's official currency is the US dollar ... they use our physical bills.) |
#35
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Just about all new washing machines sold here nowadays are cold fill only, you have to heat the cold water with the internal heater using expensive electricity if you want to do a warm or hot wash, they even have the cheek to say they are more energy efficient than the old hot & cold fill machines we used to have..
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Audiokarma |
#36
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Most traditonal stuff is |
#37
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I was yabbering to an electrical repair man who went to a neighbours house earlier (I gave him a cup of tea, us English always give everyone a cup of tea, it was builders tea = strong black tea with milk & sugar to taste, real tea not this fancy green stuff) & he told me to buy the cheapest washing machine I could find at Tesco, Argos or a similar cheapo place & run it till it breaks down then scrap it. Then buy another cheapo job & repeat. He said to do the same with TV's & DVD players..
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#38
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As I understand, it could cost at least half of replacement cost for the repairs on these items. By the looks of some these items, they're higher end, at least over $1000 USD new! Many front load washers and matching dryers. |
#39
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As far as refrigerators, buy the cheapest ones with manual cold controls. They will last a lot longer than that digital crap. Dual cool fridges are another thing to avoid. Whirlpool is the worst with leaky evaporators in the fridge side. Unfortunately most modern frdiges use a vairable 220V compressor. The inverter boards go bad all the time and are expensive to replace. Some have to be rebuilt as you cannot buy them new anymore.
__________________
"It's a mad mad mad mad world" !! http://www.youtube.com/user/mwstaton64?feature=mhee |
#40
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Bought some 2 in 1 washing powder from Aldi (a German discount store popular in England) & it says 'effective at 20 degrees centigrade!' Our cold tap water is 17 degrees C so I'm thinking "that's close enough" so been doing cold washes. Everything comes out nice & clean & smells nice so = good result. The Aldi washing powder is a lot cheaper than the main brands i.e. Daz, Persil, Ariel etc but seems to be just as good..
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Audiokarma |
#41
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#42
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__________________
Mom (1938 - 2013) - RIP, I miss you Spunky, (1999 - 2016) - RIP, pretty girl! Rascal, (2007 - 2021) RIP, miss you very much |
#43
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Aldi's is awesome. Actually decent food at actually decent prices.
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#44
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I just saw in the holiday flyer that LG came out with a dual washer.
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#45
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I keep my cars until the repairs, if needed, exceed the Blue Book wholesale price of the car. I see people do that all the time, spending $3000 on a car that's worth $2000. I, generally don't have problems with my cars! If I do, I will attempt to do the repairs myself, as I now have the time. |
Audiokarma |
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