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Warm Fridge and Bad Food
When servicing warm refrigerators, customers often ask me whether the food is good or not. My advice is always to err on the side of caution.
If your fridge has been above 40 deg for any longer than a couple of hours then I would begin to throw some stuff out. Certainly any dairy, egg, mayo and milk products. Condiments such as ketchup, mustard, pickles, etc. will usually be Ok for a while in a warm environment. Basically anything that you would not keep out on the counter for a day should be thrown out.
On the freezer side, I say that if the product is anything but rock hard, either cook it (then refreeze it) or throw it out. This applies especially to any chicken our poultry products. If things stayed hard, then don’t worry about them – they should be good. Breads, concentrated juice cans and the like can become a bit soft and be refrozen without any problems.
Finally, if the power is out or if your fridge is not working – LEAVE THE DOORS SHUT!!! Every time your ‘check the fridge’ to see if it is still cold you warm it even more. Every time the door is opened, all the cold air literally falls out of the fridge and is replaced with warm air from the room. When the power is out, don’t even check the fridge – believe me, the power is out in it as well. Just leave it till the power comes back on, and then check your food to see how warm it got.
A chest freezer will stay frozen if full of food for up to 2 days with out running. Again, don’t open it – just let it be till the power comes back on.
Finally, if you have any doubt – throw it out. It’s just not worth getting sick over.
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Dishwasher Repairs
The August ’06 Consumer Reports Canada magazine has an interesting chart on page 37 showing Brand Repair History. Most of the dishwashers fell within 4% points of each other which is not surprising – many dishwashers are much the same in both quality and design. What is interesting though is the relationship between the number one product in terms of least repairs which is
Whirlpool and the worst product in terms of repairs which is Fisher Paykel. You see Fisher Paykel makes Whirlpool’s built in drawer style dishwasher. I guess that brings everything in full circle when it comes to which dishwasher is best and which is worst. (The worst is also the best.) -
Calypso Class Action Suit Settled
This might be old news, but the class action law suit brought against Whirlpool Corp. and Sears has been settled. Deadline for any affected by this suit is May 7, 2007. Read about the settlement here and about the various problems and complaints at Consumeraffairs.com.From a service standpoint – Calypso washers are about the worst things that I can think of to service. I don’t mind the technology – in fact the concept of bouncing the clothes up and down through the water/detergent is a good idea. However, the access to components is near impossible and the testing procedures are also complex and more difficult than necessary. I guess the engineers thought that they would never break – hence the service difficulties. It’s hard to believe that the engineers that designed this unit also designed the Whirlpool Direct Drive Washer which is a joy to service.
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Sub Zero Wine Storage Blog
With wine being the new American passion (even the low/middle class can participate) there are a whole slew of new storage devices available on the market. Don’t be fooled by the majority of them – most are just beer fridges with wine racks installed. Others, like the Sub Zero products are far more than that. Sub Zero is now in blogsphere with their Wine Blog. It is an open site with lots of great information geared for the wine neophyte.Remember when the best wine was a screw-top in a paper bag?
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Whirlpool to cut off Sears?
Layoffs are being anticipated at the Evansville, Ind. Whirlpool plant. The plant currently employs about 2000 people and manufactures refrigerators and ice makers. Since Whirlpool purchased Maytag (and assumed their debt) they have shut down three plants – so far.
According to Newswatch, ‘Whirlpool, which makes 270,000 refrigerators a year for Sears, asked Sears to raise its price. But when the company refused, Whirlpool executives told Sears to find another company to build for them.’
How many jobs have been lost so far with this merger? When will the bleeding stop?
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GE Refrigerator Class Action Law Suit
It seems that GE has a bit of a problem on their hands with moisture and mould in their refrigerators; specifically with the ice maker and dispenser area. This lawsuit is being blogged about at Bring Good Things To Life. Their mission statement is ‘Confronting corrupt corporate behavior and contempt of consumers through effective communication and the power of grassroots organization.’ Whew – I think that says it all!Another major manufacturer once told me that ice makers constituted almost 50% of their repair costs. Ice makers are the one place in a fridge where you combine water, ice, heaters and electricity all into one tiny little unit. No wonder there are such problems. Maybe it is time to rethink the old twist tray!
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Refrigerator Energy Savings
‘Energy Star‘ has a neat tool to calculate the money savings that can be realized when purchasing a new refrigerator. The Savings Calculator allows you to enter you local electricity rate and what type of refrigerator you currently own, then calculates what the savings would be with a new refrigerator. The money saved running a new refrigerator compared to say a 10 year old model are quite substantial.
Of course, as a service man, my advice to you is to repair that old unit.
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Appliances On-line
As we get closer to Will Smith’s ‘I, Robot’ rendition of computers ruling the world we now have home appliances connected to the ‘net. USA Today reports appliances ‘that link wirelessly to Internet-connected home networks are being tested by consumers who are receiving updates on their dirty laundry via cellphones, computers and TV sets. Messages not only indicate when a wash is complete but also can warn that a lint filter is clogged or a load is too large. Users can remotely command the machines to fluff dry clothes or start a load from a distance after being told – oops – they forgot to start the wash.’Another useless (but kind of neat) gadget or is this the new wave of the future? Who will use this technology and how practical it will actually be is the question I would like to see answered?
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Sanyo’s Waterless Washer
Sanyo’s new ‘Air Wash’ appears to be a developement of the ‘Airwash’ ion washer that we reported on yesterday. According to Sanyo, the system injects air combined with Ozone on the articles inside the drum, and is able to disinfect and deodorize in about a 30 minute process. The Ozone that is injected inside the drum decomposes odors and bacteria and then goes back into the air.It’s nice to see research turning into real world product.
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Waterless Washer?
A washer that uses 0 gallons per load? It’s finally here – sort of:
The AirWash, which won the ElectroLux Design Lab 2005 Award, uses negative ions, compressed air and deodorants to clean clothes. The design form was inspired by a waterfall, which sceintifically speaking is nature’s own negative ion factory.
The unit was designed by two students from the National University of Singapore’s school of industrial design. The waterless washing machine removes stains from garments within a few minutes, without the use of detergents or water. It can be used for cleaning garments of all kinds, though the judges took special note of AirWash’s potential to make convential dry cleaning obsolete. AirWash should also help save energy costs and water consumption, and has huge potential for places without ready access to clean water. The winners, Gabriel Tan and Wendy Chua won the competition beating out entries from 3,000 other students from over 88 countries.
