When I'm working in the store, quite a few folks ask me to personally recommend an appliance or to tell them what Consumer Reports says. Regarding the first, I am always somewhat reluctant to endorse (or pan) one product/brand vs another ( although I DO have opinions) because of the element of subjectivity. I happen to like French Door units, but that's because I don't bend as well as I used to. Not real important to a 28 year old couple. Regarding the second, Consumer Reports is very protective of their brand and absolutely prohibits any commercial use of their name. This includes store signs or store employees referring to them in any way. I can tell people that I have a lot of respect for their ratings (although I don't agree with them 100%) but I can tell you how they rate a unit.
Since my blog is completely non-commercial, I don't have that restriction. They recently wrote an excellent article about refrigerators which will be of interest to those looking for high end features at reasonable prices. Some of the ratings info may only be available to subscribers (and why aren't you subscribing?) but there is plenty of useful information as well.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Energy Efficient Water Heaters - Part Deux
I found a really good comparison study of various water heater choices when it comes time to replace yours. There are a number of things to think about including capacity, demand, venting, and the like, and this article lays it out pretty well.
They also have some additional sections on other appliance choices, although they approach them purely from the perspective of energy efficiency, which, when you think about it, is not a bad way to approach them...
They also have some additional sections on other appliance choices, although they approach them purely from the perspective of energy efficiency, which, when you think about it, is not a bad way to approach them...
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Dishwasher Replacement - A WTF Update
In my previous post, I said that I would try to get a definitive answer on the code requirement for a dishwasher disconnect capability. Well, I spoke to an electrician who works for the town I live in (Barnstable) and he assures me that the requirement applies to replacements as well as new builds, although he says it is sometimes up to the inspector (which I don't find particularly comforting).
To summarize the relevant part of the code:
"All dishwashers must be supplied with a disconnect within sight of the unit... This disconnect can be via a switch or a grounded 3 wire plug and outlet." A circuit breaker in another room, such as the basement, does not meet this requirement.
The switch or outlet may be in a cabinet (under the sink is typical). If an outlet is used under counter, it does not need to be GFCI, since the outlet is not serving the countertops. At Sears in Hyannis, we are talking to our installers to try to get to a minimum cost to add this basic capability at installation time, and the number we are arriving at is about $75 (1 hour labor and parts). Again, if you are doing it yourself under the homeowner's exemption (of course, you obtained the permits and will have the work inspected), your cost will be parts only. Some people see an advantage to installing a 3 prong pigtail and using an outlet to make it easier for servicing, but that's up to you. Either is acceptable.
To summarize the relevant part of the code:
"All dishwashers must be supplied with a disconnect within sight of the unit... This disconnect can be via a switch or a grounded 3 wire plug and outlet." A circuit breaker in another room, such as the basement, does not meet this requirement.
The switch or outlet may be in a cabinet (under the sink is typical). If an outlet is used under counter, it does not need to be GFCI, since the outlet is not serving the countertops. At Sears in Hyannis, we are talking to our installers to try to get to a minimum cost to add this basic capability at installation time, and the number we are arriving at is about $75 (1 hour labor and parts). Again, if you are doing it yourself under the homeowner's exemption (of course, you obtained the permits and will have the work inspected), your cost will be parts only. Some people see an advantage to installing a 3 prong pigtail and using an outlet to make it easier for servicing, but that's up to you. Either is acceptable.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Dishwasher Replacement 201 - A WTF Moment
OK. Your 20 year old Kitchenaid sounds like a garbage disposal with rocks in it, so it's time for a new one. Here's the good news: You get a lot more cleaning capability (and energy efficiency) for your buck. (See earlier post: Dishwashers 101.) Here's the not-so-good news: Installation can cost as much as the dishwasher. WTF, you may well say. Although a dishwasher can be replaced by a competent handyman in an hour (or two), your local building departments have a say as well.
There's actually a good reason for it: code compliance. Replacing a dishwasher requires both electrical and plumbing work. Granted, it's pretty trivial electrical and plumbing work but, nonetheless, building departments and, more importantly, your homeowner's insurance carrier, want to be sure that the job wasn't performed by Moe, Larry, and Curly and that they are not likely to have to settle a claim because a leak destroyed your hardwood floor or a ground fault electrocuted your cat (or worse). Thus, building codes.
In our new-age economy (in Massachusetts) , this generally means that you will have to have the work performed by a licensed electrician and plumber (usually two people). You will also need two separate permits. In towns on the Cape, the permit cost varies from town to town, but figure on $30 each and you'll be close.
At Sears, we charge $229 to deliver and install a dishwasher, including disconnect and haul-away of the old one, which I believe is pretty competitive. Add around $60 for permits and you're approaching $300. There's another potential wrinkle, which I will explore in more detail after some additional research that involves changes to the electrical code requiring a dishwasher disconnect within reach of the dishwasher. There is some ambiguity in the language regarding direct replacement an I am trying to get a definitive answer for a future post. This can cost $100 - $150 depending. I used the switch and the circuit from my old garbage disposal, which I had to remove when my shiny new $28,000 Title V septic system was installed. (Subject of a future post).
There is a possible workaround, however. If you are a homeowner (and why are you replacing the dishwasher if you aren't?) there is a loophole called the homeowner's exemption. I'm not sure all towns have it, but Barnstable does. It allows a homeowner to act as a contractor on his or her own property and building and shifts all the responsibility for code compliance to the owner. The Massachusetts building code states:
There's actually a good reason for it: code compliance. Replacing a dishwasher requires both electrical and plumbing work. Granted, it's pretty trivial electrical and plumbing work but, nonetheless, building departments and, more importantly, your homeowner's insurance carrier, want to be sure that the job wasn't performed by Moe, Larry, and Curly and that they are not likely to have to settle a claim because a leak destroyed your hardwood floor or a ground fault electrocuted your cat (or worse). Thus, building codes.
In our new-age economy (in Massachusetts) , this generally means that you will have to have the work performed by a licensed electrician and plumber (usually two people). You will also need two separate permits. In towns on the Cape, the permit cost varies from town to town, but figure on $30 each and you'll be close.
At Sears, we charge $229 to deliver and install a dishwasher, including disconnect and haul-away of the old one, which I believe is pretty competitive. Add around $60 for permits and you're approaching $300. There's another potential wrinkle, which I will explore in more detail after some additional research that involves changes to the electrical code requiring a dishwasher disconnect within reach of the dishwasher. There is some ambiguity in the language regarding direct replacement an I am trying to get a definitive answer for a future post. This can cost $100 - $150 depending. I used the switch and the circuit from my old garbage disposal, which I had to remove when my shiny new $28,000 Title V septic system was installed. (Subject of a future post).
There is a possible workaround, however. If you are a homeowner (and why are you replacing the dishwasher if you aren't?) there is a loophole called the homeowner's exemption. I'm not sure all towns have it, but Barnstable does. It allows a homeowner to act as a contractor on his or her own property and building and shifts all the responsibility for code compliance to the owner. The Massachusetts building code states:
“Any homeowner performing work for which a building permit is required shall be exempt from the provisions of this section (Section 109.1.1 - Licensing of construction Supervisors); provided that if the homeowner engages a person(s) for hire to do such work, that such Homeowner shall act as supervisor.”
The Barnstable Exemption application goes on to state:
Many homeowners who use this exemption are unaware that they are assuming the responsibilities of a supervisor (see Appendix Q, Rules & Regulations for Licensing Construction Supervisors, Section 2.15) This lack of awareness often results in serious problems, particularly when the homeowner hires unlicensed persons. In this case, our Board cannot proceed against the unlicensed person as it would with a licensed Supervisor. The homeowner acting as Supervisor is ultimately responsible.
To ensure that the homeowner is fully aware of his/her responsibilities, many communities require, as part of the permit application, that the homeowner certify that he/she understands the responsibilities of a Supervisor. On the last page of this issue is a form currently used by several towns. You may care t amend and adopt such a form/certification for use in your community.
This does not eliminate the need to obtain permits. Remember, you are certifying that you are familiar with the codes and will comply with them. If you do this, you need to get the work inspected and signed off on. Check with your town. This is not a place for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" home improvement. If you are unsure whether you can wire or plumb to code, you probably can't.
More tips for the appliance DIY crowd in future posts.
Be careful out there...
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The Ghost in the Machine
"The Smiths can't come to the phone right now, and the answering machine is broken. This is the refrigerator. You can leave me a message at the tone and I'll keep it on ice until they return..." Could this be coming to a kitchen near you? Check out this article.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Dishwashers 101, A Primer
I thought it would be useful to explain how modern dishwashers work in general and then add some thoughts after the jump. There is a pretty good description in Repair Clinic, but it doesn't cover everything.
There are a few things that are omitted from the write-up:
More on dishwashers in a future post...
There are a few things that are omitted from the write-up:
- Food Disposer - Medium to higher end units generally come with a built-in grinders (disposers) for pulverizing larger pieces of food and the like that are rinsed off dishes, pots & pans. These actually do a pretty good job. For those of us on Cape Cod who have to worry about Title V septic systems, these are the only kind of disposers we can use. (There are "septic friendly" garbage disposers which mix bacteria with the particles, but I don't believe they are allowed under Title V.) As I said, these grinders do a reasonably good job and are relatively reliable. They will not, however, grind things like glass, metal, bone, or gristle. Don't ask me how I know this. If you start to hear grinding noises, this could be the problem. (It could also be the pump or pump motor.) Getting at the grinder to clean it involves some disassembly - removing the lower spray arm, filter/drain gate, and plate - and takes about an hour including reassembly if you're handy.
- Filter - A dishwasher recycles the hot, sudsy water to get the dishes clean. Obviously, recycling food particles is counterproductive so various filter setups are used to divert the chunky stuff, either to a grinder or the drain system. There are several types of filter systems and I'm not going to cover them all here except to say that it needs to be cleaned periodically. Your manual should explain the correct procedure.
- Soil Sensor - Medium to high end units have photoelectric soil sensors that can keep a wash cycle going until it judges that all soil has been removed. These actually work fairly well, and, if you have one and don't know it, it may be the reason that some loads seem to take longer, even with the same settings.
- Noise - Modern dishwashers are generally quieter than the units of 20 years ago. This is achieved through a variety of techniques including better sound insulation and quieter motors and mechanicals. Sound volume is measure in decibels (db). The decibel scale is logarithmic, so every 3 db equates to a 2X increase or decrease in volume. 55 db is twice as loud as 52 db. Normal conversation is usually 55 - 60 db. A reasonably quiet dishwasher is 52 db, so you can have conversations in the kitchen while it's running. Keep shelling money out, and they get even quieter. Bosch and Kitchenaid have dishwashers rated at 42 db, in case you have one installed in your bedroom.
More on dishwashers in a future post...
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Getting Pumped About Water Heaters - Do the Math
Pop Quiz: What do air conditioners, refrigerators, and high-efficiency water heaters have in common?
Answer: They all contain heat pumps. OK, what's a heat pump? The simple definition is that is an electromechanical device for moving heat from one environment (the source) to another (the sink). When this happens, the source becomes cooler and the sink, warmer. In a refrigerator or air conditioner, the source is the interior (or room) and the sink is on the outside. In a heat pump-based water heater (or hot air furnace), this is reversed. There is a good YouTube video that does a pretty good job of illustrating this. The is also a pretty good explanation in Wikipedia if you want to dive into the details.
A well-designed heat pump with a high Coefficient of Performance (heat pump people don't like to use the word "efficient") is a cost-effective way to heat and cool stuff. Some are designed to do both. A heat pump-based water heater uses environmental warmth (source) to stored water (sink). In fact, geothermal heating systems are just heat pumps on steroids (the steroids being underground warmth).
A number of companies have developed heat pump-based water heaters. The one I am most familiar with, by General Electric, is called the GeoSpring™ which will save on average $325/Year over a conventional water heater. Here on Cape Cod, it should save nearly $540/Year given the high cost of electricity. Other brands should offer comparable savings. They also contain a conventional heating coil to supplement the pump when demand is high. Now, these guys aren't cheap - close to $1,500 plus installation. I have seen them on sale for $1,000. This still is a fair amount of money up front, even with the fast payback.
But the real incentive here (at least in Massachusetts) is the $1,000 mass save rebate. This means, with a little judicious shopping, you can knock a huge chunk off your electric bill for the cost of the installation only. This is not a DIY job - it must be performed by a licensed and certified plumber to be eligible. On a related note, I generally tell people that it is not cost-effective to replace an electric water heater with a gas one, even though gas water heaters are more energy efficient, because the payback is way to long. However, replacing an electric or gas water heater with a heat pump-based unit should generally be an economic no-brainer.
Do the math...
Answer: They all contain heat pumps. OK, what's a heat pump? The simple definition is that is an electromechanical device for moving heat from one environment (the source) to another (the sink). When this happens, the source becomes cooler and the sink, warmer. In a refrigerator or air conditioner, the source is the interior (or room) and the sink is on the outside. In a heat pump-based water heater (or hot air furnace), this is reversed. There is a good YouTube video that does a pretty good job of illustrating this. The is also a pretty good explanation in Wikipedia if you want to dive into the details.
A well-designed heat pump with a high Coefficient of Performance (heat pump people don't like to use the word "efficient") is a cost-effective way to heat and cool stuff. Some are designed to do both. A heat pump-based water heater uses environmental warmth (source) to stored water (sink). In fact, geothermal heating systems are just heat pumps on steroids (the steroids being underground warmth).
A number of companies have developed heat pump-based water heaters. The one I am most familiar with, by General Electric, is called the GeoSpring™ which will save on average $325/Year over a conventional water heater. Here on Cape Cod, it should save nearly $540/Year given the high cost of electricity. Other brands should offer comparable savings. They also contain a conventional heating coil to supplement the pump when demand is high. Now, these guys aren't cheap - close to $1,500 plus installation. I have seen them on sale for $1,000. This still is a fair amount of money up front, even with the fast payback.
But the real incentive here (at least in Massachusetts) is the $1,000 mass save rebate. This means, with a little judicious shopping, you can knock a huge chunk off your electric bill for the cost of the installation only. This is not a DIY job - it must be performed by a licensed and certified plumber to be eligible. On a related note, I generally tell people that it is not cost-effective to replace an electric water heater with a gas one, even though gas water heaters are more energy efficient, because the payback is way to long. However, replacing an electric or gas water heater with a heat pump-based unit should generally be an economic no-brainer.
Do the math...
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
High Efficiency Washing Machines - Taking the Myths Out
With washing machines, the term "High-Efficiency" actually means two things:
Water Usage: A conventional top loading washer uses upwards of 45 gallons of water per cycle. It does this because of the fact that an agitator is used to turn the clothes in a corkscrew motion through the water, which requires that the water level be high enough to permit this. A front loading washer is inherently more efficient because it effectively tumbles the clothes into the water. A good front load washer can get clothes extremely clean using only 15 gallons of water.
The new kid on the block is the HE top loader. This looks like a conventional top loader minus the tall agitator. There is typically a very small agitator with straight (not spiral) blades. These washers wash clothes in very shallow pools of water utilizing various combinations of gentle back and forth agitation, spraying of recirculated water/detergent mix, and up-and-down agitator movements, depending on brand and model. An HE top loader will spend 30 - 60 seconds at the beginning of the cycle "measuring" and balancing the load, and will typically force the water/detergent mixture into the load from perforations in the tub. A typical HE top loader uses about 22 gallons of water per cycle - half of what an conventional agitator washer uses.
Reduced Energy Consumption: HE washers reduce energy usage in two ways. The washer itself used less energy because the agitation method requires somewhat less (although cycle times can be longer) and there isn't as much water to heat. More importantly, however, is the fact that the very high spin speeds (>600RPM) force a lot more water out of the clothes, which means the dryer doesn't have to work as hard. It is not uncommon for new users of HE top loaders to think that their clothes have not been completely submerged or washed because there are dry spots when they come out of the wash. Not to worry. They're clean.
We care about water consumption for two reasons. If you have town water, you are paying for it, and, if you have well water, you probably have a septic system. The less laundry gray water with detergent and bleach you pump into a septic system, the better off it will be.
All HE washers require HE detergent (and, often, bleach and fabric softener). HE detergent is very low sudsing. Actually, years ago, detergent manufacturers added sudsing emollients to detergents because people didn't think they were doing their jobs if there were no suds. We've come full circle. A couple of tablespoons is all that's required. Because they are, in effect, agitator-less, you really can't add items after the water is in. Most of them have locking lids to force you to pause or reset the washer to open the lid. Just put that dropped sock in the next load. Most HE washers will heat water to at least
A top load HE washer will generally be less expensive than at front loader for a variety of reasons, and are probably preferable in second floor laundries where vibration may be problematic. There is a front load/top load comparison in an earlier post, so I won't repeat it here. Some higher-end top load models have glass lids. I have no idea why anyone thinks this is a necessary feature although I could see it being very entertaining for cats. Maybe it's just because front loaders have always had them.
My personal opinion is that there is really no reason not to buy an HE washer. The price difference for a top loader is small, and you'll make it back over time.
The Cleaning Institute has a pretty useful handout. You can find it here.
- Reduced water usage, and,
- Reduced energy consumption.
Water Usage: A conventional top loading washer uses upwards of 45 gallons of water per cycle. It does this because of the fact that an agitator is used to turn the clothes in a corkscrew motion through the water, which requires that the water level be high enough to permit this. A front loading washer is inherently more efficient because it effectively tumbles the clothes into the water. A good front load washer can get clothes extremely clean using only 15 gallons of water.
The new kid on the block is the HE top loader. This looks like a conventional top loader minus the tall agitator. There is typically a very small agitator with straight (not spiral) blades. These washers wash clothes in very shallow pools of water utilizing various combinations of gentle back and forth agitation, spraying of recirculated water/detergent mix, and up-and-down agitator movements, depending on brand and model. An HE top loader will spend 30 - 60 seconds at the beginning of the cycle "measuring" and balancing the load, and will typically force the water/detergent mixture into the load from perforations in the tub. A typical HE top loader uses about 22 gallons of water per cycle - half of what an conventional agitator washer uses.
Reduced Energy Consumption: HE washers reduce energy usage in two ways. The washer itself used less energy because the agitation method requires somewhat less (although cycle times can be longer) and there isn't as much water to heat. More importantly, however, is the fact that the very high spin speeds (>600RPM) force a lot more water out of the clothes, which means the dryer doesn't have to work as hard. It is not uncommon for new users of HE top loaders to think that their clothes have not been completely submerged or washed because there are dry spots when they come out of the wash. Not to worry. They're clean.
We care about water consumption for two reasons. If you have town water, you are paying for it, and, if you have well water, you probably have a septic system. The less laundry gray water with detergent and bleach you pump into a septic system, the better off it will be.
All HE washers require HE detergent (and, often, bleach and fabric softener). HE detergent is very low sudsing. Actually, years ago, detergent manufacturers added sudsing emollients to detergents because people didn't think they were doing their jobs if there were no suds. We've come full circle. A couple of tablespoons is all that's required. Because they are, in effect, agitator-less, you really can't add items after the water is in. Most of them have locking lids to force you to pause or reset the washer to open the lid. Just put that dropped sock in the next load. Most HE washers will heat water to at least
A top load HE washer will generally be less expensive than at front loader for a variety of reasons, and are probably preferable in second floor laundries where vibration may be problematic. There is a front load/top load comparison in an earlier post, so I won't repeat it here. Some higher-end top load models have glass lids. I have no idea why anyone thinks this is a necessary feature although I could see it being very entertaining for cats. Maybe it's just because front loaders have always had them.
My personal opinion is that there is really no reason not to buy an HE washer. The price difference for a top loader is small, and you'll make it back over time.
The Cleaning Institute has a pretty useful handout. You can find it here.
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