Posted on 03/17/2011 6:27:15 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
...In 1996, top-loaders were pretty much the only type of washer around...Consumer Reports tested 18 models, 13 were "excellent" and five were "very good." By 2007, though, not one was excellent and seven out of 21 were "fair" or "poor." ...The culprit is the federal government's obsession with energy efficiency...washer standards demonstrate the harmfulness of the ever-growing body of efficiency mandates.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The Constitution gives ONLY CONGRESS the power to create law (Article I, Section 1). Among its enumerated powers, the Congress does NOT have the authority to GIVE AWAY ITS DUTY TO CREATE LAW.
Congress has an obligation to re-claim its Constitutional power to create law, and take it OUT of the hands of unelected bureaucracies.
The washing machine example is just a symptom of the disease known as tyranny--soft tyranny PERHAPS, but tyrany nonetheless.
Think about it: if Congress were to try and pass such a STUPID law as this, they'd hear from constitutents, get testimony, and probably shelve the idea. But even if they DID pass it, they could repeal or get voted OUT.
Bureaucracies do NOT get voted out...which is why they are NOT granted the power to create law in our Constitution.
I actually have to say I like my new energy efficient washer, but that’s perhaps because it replaced a 30 year old washing machine that had only half the capacity and it took 3 loads to do what 1 load can do now.
To make matters worse, last year congress quietly pressured the makers of dishwashing detergents to remove phosphates from their products, supposedly to reduce pollution. However, phosphates are what get your dishes clean. If you dishwasher appears to be working less well than it did a year ago, this may be why.
Thousands of Americans have replaced perfectly good dishwashers in the last several months, and find that the new machines don’t clean any better, through no fault of their own.
What kind of washer did you buy? We are looking to purchase a new washer in the next week or two.
So far not a one of our Presidents or members of Congress we've had in office since this abominable decision wasmade has uttered the slightest complaint.
The Republican gal in charge of the committee in charge of that legislative area was contemptuous of complaints.
So, what's the problem with those guys?
And what they did to our dishwashing detergent.
And what they are fixing to do to our lightbulbs.
And don’t forget DDT and our bedbugs and mosquitos.
Dirty, smelly hippies are in control of the government. Is it any wonder that they want us all to be just like them?...............
How about the incandescent bulb?
And shower heads!
from the article, the idiots in the Senate are getting involved too:
Now Congress is at it once again. On March 10, the Senate Energy Committee held hearings on a bill to make efficiency standards even more stringent. The bill claims to implement “national consensus appliance agreements,” but those in this consensus are the usual suspects: politicians pushing feel-good generalities, bureaucrats seeking expanded powers, environmentalists with little regard for American pocketbooks, and industries that stand to profit from a de facto ban on low-priced appliances.
And air conditioners/refrigerators.
Go find a guy in your area that rebuilds washers and dryers. They’re usually found in the want-ads. We bought a washer and dryer from one of these type guys and they lasted longer than the new ones will. The old machines agitators were strong and built well. These new ones really suck............
$$$$$$.........
Well, the new ones don’t use enough water, so they basically work by beating your clothes to death. It’s like the old school method of cleaning clothes by smacking them on rocks in the river. Not so great for the clothes.
The front loaders have problems with mold around the seals and smell, and I heard that the machines that have chutes for the detergent develop mold in the chute.
These enviro-nuts are destroying our way of life. Their most recent score was banning phosphates from dishwasher detergent, so they don’t work any more. My daughter e-mailed the makers of Cascade, and they said to use twice as much detergent and wash the dishes twice! How does this save anything???
In a couple of years, new standards go into effect for refrigerators and dishwashers. If you want one that works, you better buy before then.
I have a frontloader and have always had a frontloader. So did my parents. My grandfather worked for Westinghouse back in the day (1920-1958) and for years Westinghouse held the patent for frontloaders so it was the only machine you could buy. . . . and we all bought Westinghouse appliances out of solidarity with Papa.
Once the patent ran out, everybody started making them. That occurred at least a decade before all this energy efficiency mandate business.
The article says: "front-loaders are expensive, often have mold problems, and don't let you toss in a wayward sock after they've started."
They tend to be more expensive because they're more expensive to make, but we've never had a mold problem (you just leave the door cracked open - just like you leave the door up on a toploader), and you CAN toss in more laundry - there's an "add an item" button which pauses the machine while you throw in more stuff. Then you just hit "start" again and it picks up where it left off. Of course, you can't throw in more stuff after a certain point in the wash cycle (duh).
Front loaders have a couple of real advantages over the toploaders - (1) they don't beat your clothes to pieces (no agitator vane). I have oxford shirts, polos, and dress khakis that are 10 years old or more, a bit faded but perfectly wearable. When we visit my mother in law (who has a top loader), you can SEE the extra damage to the clothes after a couple of runs through her machine. (2) they get the clothes cleaner. They are especially good at removing solid particles like sand and grit, and I really appreciate that because I train retrievers and everything (clothes, bedding, towels) gets muddy and dirty dealing with farm ponds and red mud.
I think the writer is exaggerating for effect.
Also, I haven't trusted Consumer Reports in years. Anything I have enough independent knowledge of to judge, they are often dead wrong. They used to be pretty reliable, I have no idea what's happened. I cancelled my subscription about 3 years ago and never looked back.
So, it's not RINOs who are the problem ~ it's EUNUCHS!
I’ve been looking for a box of trisodium phosphate to add to the dish detergent but the even the stores now sell “substitute TSP.”
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