On 7/4/2012 2:00 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
...
>> I've found that EnergyStar rated appliances save money in the long run.
...
> You are partly correct. Agree on the washing machines, dryers,
> refrigerators. The oven may save a few pennies, but not much. You
> save NOTHING on the burners when on. You either need the heat or you
> don't and adjust the burner accordingly. You need a certain amount of
> heat to cook an egg or boil water.
>
> But we were talking ranges, not other appliances. Yes, get rid of 30
> year old refrigerators.
Assuming they last long enough w/o expensive repair that's a resounding
"maybe"...what I've observed in reviews and in conversation w/ folks who
have upgraded is they're having a tremendous amount of service calls and
trouble w/ even something that should be essentially drop-dead simple of
a refrigerator--aunt has been through three and an untold number of
processor boards on one that continually freezes the vegetable bins and
melts the ice cream at the same time. Service guy says when asked
what's better to replace it with says he works on everything pretty much
even-handed--none don't have problems of one kind or another and there's
not a lot to choose between according to him.
Reviews on new washing machines are almost universally terrible
afic(ould)t when researching that in preparation of replacing the 30+-yr
old one that did finally get to the point of no longer being worthwhile
to repair. The new one is somewhat less of a water user, granted; but I
certainly can't tell the difference on the well power usage from it with
the other usage and it wasn't inexpensive for even a fairly moderately
low-featured one. It'll have to wait for quite some time (as in years)
before there would be any chance whatever to tell if it really even
would break even in comparison to what would have been and
equivalent-to-the-one-it-replaced in cost and features but I'm not
expecting it to be a clearcut obvious winner, no...maybe it'll surprise
me, but it would seem to be that it would be the rare reliable one if it
were to last that long.
I'm not yet convinced if one had the overall complete life cycle costs
there's a terrible lot of saving actually going on...
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