50% tariff on washing machines

The new up-to-50% tariff on washing machines, to protect Whirlpool, raised my eyebrows. At first glance one imagines it'll raise the price of washing machines in the US by 50%.

We have a Whirlpool front-load washer (OK, actually Maytag, owned by Whirlpool), and plan to buy the matching dryer. Does the tariff cover dyers? Will they go up 50%? No, according to the "201 Cases" document.

Hmm, what about washer-dryer combo units? Whirlpool has five factories in Mexico, do they have to pay the tariff? Questions.

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Reply to
Winfield Hill
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Whirlpool washer/dryers are srs trash on average and always have a bunch of models scoring near the bottom of the heap, a Goldstar/LG/whatever they're called now front-loader is IMO a better value even at 50% markup

Reply to
bitrex

Wow, a damning report. I wonder if Maytag is any better? Our washer is about 5 years old and has worked flawlessly. But the report is all about fire hazards, too many flammable materials in the wrong places. Scary!

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 Thanks, 
    - Win
Reply to
Winfield Hill

the statistics are indeed shocking ( I amd from the UK). The risk is made worse by people leaving appliances unattended- doing either washing/tumble drying while they are away at work/shopping or sleeping. A fire in these circumstances means the end result is usually total destruction. If a fire were to occur whilst the user was present, there would be the opportunity to largely limit the damage and loss of life. Having said that, most people wouldn't have a clue as to how to go about minimising the ensuing damage- they just scream and dial 999.....

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Reply to
TTman

Just put all that non-fire-retardant plastic and foam insulation next to the hot compressor housing, that's fine.

Likely happened in the way such things usually happen, EPA releases some EnergyStar efficiency standard that requires the use of more insulation or a flammable refrigerant, US manufacturer implements it in the most lameass cheapskate way possible, people die, proceed to blame regulation/enviro-weenies. Even though everybody else seems to get it right without much trouble

Reply to
bitrex

Hey, wait a minute, that's a refrigerator, I thought we were talking about washing machines!

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 Thanks, 
    - Win
Reply to
Winfield Hill

I became a little concerned when he mentioned his washing machine had a compressor. :-O

Then I realized he wasn't maintaining context, but creating his own... oh well.

Tim

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Reply to
Tim Williams

Put one of these in your laundry room, you don't care about asthetics there, so put the pipe on the wall, and you have water right there at the washing machine, put in a floor drain to minimize water damage:

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Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

If the shift from Whirlpool brand washing machines specifically to poorly-designed white goods in general is too big a context-shift I have some advice, and that advice is do not attempt to have conversations with humans in the real world

Reply to
bitrex

Whirlpools' corporate behaviour has been so bad [1] that it has been discussed in parliament. I doubt I'll ever buy another Whirlpool.

Unfortunately it is about more than one type of appliance[2], and the consequences can be seriously horrific. It appears one appliance caused 78 deaths in the "Grenfell Tower" skyscraper - but the root cause of that particular disaster are still under investigation and may be due to a power surge.

Fridges have problems with flammable bodywork near the compressor.

Tumble driers have problems with dust/fluff catching fire.

The problems are not necessarily associated with one brand, and that is compounded by some companies (esp. Whirlpool) having purchased many brands over the years.

I suspect that the root cause is that many companies sell little more than "badge engineered" versions of whatever the Chinese/Mexican/etc manufacturers are producing this month.

[1]
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[2]
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Reply to
Tom Gardner

It's these people

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The Grenfell fire was most likely caused by an overheated outlet strip and not the refrigerator itself. The strip must have ignited flammables in the vicinity of the Hotpoint.

Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

Heat pump tumble dyers are the latest craze:

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Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

A "One time" tax to consumers. Obama-rape-care just keeps taking and taking

Reply to
djlocher56

Oh, nice!

Somewhat impressed that they're somewhat competitive. At least, not gonzo expensive anyway. (Clicking through without much care, I spotted a unit for

430 pounds.)

Doesn't matter much where natural gas is cheap and plentiful, but a nice tweak for those with 100% electric homes and a lot of laundry to do.

Potentially very hackable, at least once located in the scrap heap. A multi-kilowatt heat pump (possibly in need of recharging)? Sure, why not?

Tim

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Reply to
Tim Williams

I suspect Whirlpool will be unsuccessful...

...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Random tangential question: what's the oldest washing machine you've seen still in active service? My girlfriend's washing machine with matching dryer at her old apartment was a Westinghouse, that puke-green color that seems to have been popular in the 1970s, manufacturing date August of 1975 (why was everything in the 1970s puke green and baby-poop orange?)

Reply to
bitrex

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I'll wait for some decent thoughtful reports as to the cause; I haven't noticed any yet.

The way Whirlpool has responded to the many other fires makes me think of the Ford Pinto. I.e. it will be /cheaper. for Whirlpool to pay compensation for fire damages than to prevent the fires in the first place.

Reprehensible.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

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There's nothing new about them. They are usually called "condenser dryers" and the advantage is that you don't need a duct to the outside to dump all the humid air that carries the water away from the washing that you are dry ing.

Heat-pump based condenser driers have been around for decades - I think we had one in England (which is to say before 1993). The initial cost is highe r than the more primitive condenser drier with an air-cooled condenser, but the running cost is lower - a heat pump generates the heat to drive the ev aporation by expending quite a bit less energy that it would take to genera te that much heat by direct electric heating, and gets most of that heat fr om condensing the water vapour that came out of the washing being dried.

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Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply to
bill.sloman

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Keep waiting because it's been more than long enough for the forensics to e stablish a cause and they haven't so far. All they know is something in the vicinity of the Hotpoint caught on fire. The product was in compliance wit h the applicable EU fire safety standards in order to be sold in UK, so unl ess you can show Whirlpool knowingly allowed product through QC after faili ng testing, you have no case. So far absolutely nothing has emerged along t hose lines.

Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

AKA Avocado and Harvest Gold. In our first house, we had an Avocado refrigerator and a harvest gold stove. Every house in the development had the same combination.

Reply to
krw

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