Neighbour’s Appliance.com

The following story is from WRAL.com.

Raleigh began disposing of garbage disposals Monday, banning new or replacement installations. But opponents to the ban plan to put the City Council through the grinder over the move.

The disposal ban, which the City Council approved two weeks ago, is among the first in the country. Violators face fines of up to $25,000 per day.

Under the ban, homeowners can continue to use existing disposals, but no new devices can be installed and existing ones can’t be replaced when they quit working. Homes that have obtained city permits and are already under construction will be allowed to keep their disposals, officials said.

Some builders and residents said they would protest the disposal ban at Tuesday’s council meeting.

“I don’t think this has been handled properly at all,” resident Caroline McCall said. “I feel that it was a knee-jerk reaction.”

City officials said putting food and grease through a disposal and into the municipal sewer system clogs the lines and frequently causes back-ups and overflows.

Raleigh has had almost 100 sewer overflows in the last three years, with raw sewage sometimes flowing into area streams. The state Division of Water Quality has threatened to fine the city for each overflow if it doesn’t correct the problem.

Mayor Charles Meeker said disposals also waste about 500,000 gallons of water a day citywide.

“I suspect that, once the public understands the environmental problems and the water wasted, they’ll understand this is the right thing to do,” Meeker said.

McCall and developer Richard Gaylord said they don’t understand the city’s action.

“They have no way of knowing if the grease spill (causing a sewer overflow) came from a garbage disposal or where the grease came from,” McCall said.

“I don’t think people had forewarning,” Gaylord said. “I think there is some confusion out there as to how this will be implemented and what the parameters are.”

The ban also has come under fire from City Councilman Philip Isley, who missed the March 4 vote on the issue, and from the mayors of Garner, Knightdale, Rolesville, Wake Forest, Wendell and Zebulon.

The six towns are part of the municipal water and sewer system, so Raleigh’s regulations apply to residents in those towns as well. The other mayors said they should have been consulted before Raleigh enacted the disposal ban.

Isley said he plans to ask council members to take a step back and study the issue in committee, but he said he might not have the votes to support the move.

My (Neighbour’s Appliance) opinion is that this will not stop people from pouring grease down their sinks.  People have been doing it since we got indoor plumbing and will continue to do it until indoor plumbing is somehow eliminated. 

For the third year in a row, Whirlpool has received the Energy Star Sustained Excellence Award.  Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping people save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices.  The award honors Whirlpool Corporation’s outstanding contribution to providing innovative, efficient products that help consumers reduce utility bills and greenhouse gas emissions.

Whirlpool offers consumers the largest breadth of ENERGY STAR qualified appliances. Its more than 700 innovative models include:

• The Whirlpool Duet steam washer. The washer naturally steams away tough stains, from grass to grease, without pre-treating. This model also saves consumers 73 percent water and 77 percent energy, compared to top-load washers manufactured before 2004, and using the normal cycle.
• The Whirlpool Cabrio Steam dryer combines mist and heat in the dryer to naturally steam away wrinkles and odors, reducing trips to the dry cleaner and providing front-load laundry efficiency in a top-load configuration.
• Energy efficient refrigeration combined with flexible technology options through the Whirlpool Centralpark connection. The refrigerator offers a plug-and-play platform right on the door, providing support to consumer electronics including a digital picture frame and digital music player without compromising on energy efficiency.
• The Maytag Bravos high-efficiency, large-capacity top-load washer. The Bravos system features an impeller wash system with Sensi-Care technology and a commercial-grade stainless-steel wash basket – providing the thorough, dependable clean of a front-load system in a top-load configuration.
• The Maytag EPICz high-efficiency front-load washer’s space-saving design, providing dependable performance features and commercial-grade components, is one of the most energy efficient in the industry. The washer received NSF International (formerly National Sanitation Foundation) certification for its sanitary cycle, which heats wash water up to 153-degrees Fahrenheit.
• The Maytag brand dishwasher with a SteamClean option. SteamClean delivers enhanced cleaning performance on glassware for soil and spot removal. Whirlpool Corporation was the first in the appliance industry to launch a steam option in dishwashers.
• A new SteamClean option for Jenn-Air dishwashers. The SteamClean option enhances an existing wash cycle, such as the China/Crystal cycle, with improved soil and spot cleaning to produce an even more lustrous shine. In addition to steam, these models also have a new silent sound package, making an already quiet, energy efficient dishwasher even quieter.

For more information, see the Whirlpool Press Release here.

LG has responded to Whirlpools charge of patent infringement with the statement that they will respond “actively” to the charge. Huh? What does that mean?

From Reuters:

“We will file a report to refute the charge with the ITC,” said Na Joo-young, an LG spokeswoman. “We will respond actively, but the process will take a long time.”

LG had no plan to file a counter suit over the case, she added.

I’m not sure what this means but I suspect that LG plans to mire this in legal proceedings which essentially means that they get to continue doing whatever they want and there is little that Whirlpool can do about it.  Should be fun to watch though.

Sub Zeros, often the size of a mid-sized truck are often looked at as massive energy consumers. They are beautiful and if you’ve got the kitchen for it, and the bottomless pocketbook to spend on it – why not? But – how much energy do they consume? Are they going to do more damage to the environment than a more conventional appliance?

Getwithgreen.com recently did a nice little review on the energy use of Sub Zero’s. I was surprised by how good a rating they have – plus they use partly recycled plastics. They might look like SUV’s but they consume like a compact. Here are some of the features noted in the article:

• The largest Sub-Zero refrigerator consumes less power than a 100-watt bulb, due to dual refrigeration technology.
• Sub-Zero products are manufactured in the United States, which reduces the environmental impact caused by international shipping of materials and parts.
• Sub-Zero has worked hard to find/use energy efficient motors.
• All refrigerant used is non-ozone depleting.
• All vehicles used in the production are electric or propane powered.
• Aggressive recycling programs at the factory for all scrap materials.

You can read the full article here.

Rumor has it that Whirlpool Corp will NOT be attending the 2007 Kitchen/Bath Industry Show in Vegas. Huh? Why not? Oh yes – they don’t need to be there – they don’t have any competition. Anti-competition laws – yep they work good!

The Appliance Advisor also speculated on some reasons why:

-The Henry Ford Defense: “As the largest appliance maker in the world, you can have any appliance you want as long as its white. The rest of you can suck lint.”
-The Alfred E. Newman Defense: Management …… not terribly bright.
-The Best Offense Defense: “We hate KBIS”
-The Alka Seltzer Defense: “I can’t believe I ate the whole Maytag, we need to cut the budget”.
Perhaps (if true) it’s a combination.

The Competition Bureau of Canada gave the following conclusion about the recent Maytag acquisition by Whirlpool.

“Although post-merger market shares were significant in the laundry segment, the Bureau’s analysis revealed that effective competition would remain from a combination of foreign competitors. These remaining competitors have the ability to expand their operations and new entry is occurring. Moreover, the growth of big box retailers and their support of offshore brand name manufacturers will continue to provide consumers with competitive choices.”

I don’t know about you, but what I read here is that it is OK to reduce competition within North America as long that there is competition from foreign companies. In other words, the jobs that used to be in North America are now jobs in foreign companies. Does this make sense – does this protect the North American economy?

Blogger Karen at I Am Not Left-handed shows off her new Sharp Microwave Drawer. Warning: your Pampered Chef Rice Cooker will NOT fit in this microwave.

In an interesting twist (literally) on the old non-stick cookware we now have silicone bakeware. They are a unique blend of what looks and feels like plastic made to be put into the oven. However, cooking temps are limited – most limit the upper range at 428 deg F. which would be a bit low for some types of baking. The pans are flexible which allows you to peel your baked product out of the pan instead of prying it out with a knife. It also claims to eliminate the need for greasing your pan, which always ticks off the low-fat crowd. Kitchen-aid has them available at their website but there are many other lesser known brands as well. I wonder what cooking your food in a silicone tray will do to your body in the future. I mean, I hope it turns out to be safe in the long term.

I saw an ad for a product called a Microfridge. Saying that it was a 3 in 1 appliance (fridge, freezer and microwave), I thought that I would be looking at something like the old Woods Compactkitchen. But when I went to the Microfridge website that is not what I found. Looks like someone took a cheap bar fridge and screwed a cheap microwave to the top of it. That’s a 3 in 1 appliance? Not very inovative at all and believe me, you can buy a separate bar fridge and microwave for far less than what you will pay for this thing.

This is one that sales people often don’t get right. The fan part of an Over The Range Microwave (OTR) is never going to work as well as even a cheap hood fan. There are two things on OTR’s that spoil their air draw. One is that the CFM rating of the fan is usually not what is actually being sucked. The reason is the somewhat convoluted way the air has to flow through the inside of the OTR thereby reducing the overall draw. And second, they do not draw well from the front of the unit. All the suction of the OTR is at the back where the opening is. Even when you remove the filters you will often see the cavity where the fan is located is behind the filters rather than just above. This means that even if the OTR draws OK from the back burners on your stove, the steam and smoke from the front burners will end up in the kitchen rather than outside. Consumer Reports has a nice article on this topic called Hoods Trumps Microwaves. See them for specific advice about what to look at when shopping for a hood or an OTR microwave.