From Consumer Reports:
Not so long ago you could count on most washers to get your clothes very clean. Not anymore. Our latest tests found huge performance differences among machines. Some left our stain-soaked swatches nearly as dirty as they were before washing. For best results, you’ll have to spend $900 or more.What happened? As of January, the U.S. Department of Energy has required washers to use 21 percent less energy, a goal we wholeheartedly support. But our tests have found that traditional top-loaders, those with the familiar center-post agitators, are having a tough time wringing out those savings without sacrificing cleaning ability, the main reason you buy a washer.
[...]
Today most top-loaders only get a good washing score, and some had the lowest scores we’ve seen in years. One washer, with an overall score of 19 (out of 100) is one of the lowest-scoring washers in this and past reports. Several major manufacturers are meeting the new energy standard by lowering wash water temperatures. But doing this often lowers the washing performance.
Yes. But if Mother Earth is clean, we are too — and where it counts: in our souls!
Writes Marginal Revolution’s Alex Tabarrok, who is unimpressed both with the feel goodism of the Department of Energy’s environmental feints and with the kind of utopian economic thinking that animates such nannystatism:
Ironically, the law could well reduce cleanliness and increase energy use. If the new washers are as bad as Consumer Reports say they are people will just start to wash everything twice.
Likely.
But the point, Alex, is that they might start to feel guilty about it.
And when that happens — at long last! — it’ll be all hemp all the time.
Praise the Gore.
(h/t Robert Schwartz)
Comment by Tman on 9/11 @ 2:54 pm #
Is America really prepared for an underground washing machine black market? I used to carry them fuckers for a living every day and I can tell you, the effects on the healthcare industry will be felt once we go running from the Wal Mart parking lot at 2 in the AM carrying a 1998 Maytag on our backs.
Comment by psychologizer on 9/11 @ 2:57 pm #
I’m still walking back into my bathroom to flush my toilet every two minutes to get rid of the souvenirs from my last visit to Taco Bell. That was in 1998.
Comment by Big Bang (Pumping you up) on 9/11 @ 3:09 pm #
- Is it just me, or does there in fact, seem to be a shift from Titanium hard nipples, and strident, antagonist dispatching cock slaps, all to the sounds of a hyper-masturbating ‘dillo, to housefrau appliance based journo around here lately.
- If thats it, then I need to lay in some frilly “kiss the cock” cooking aprons, and get a subscription to Home Maker weekly for the tea table.
- Long as I don’t have to give up weekend football, I’m jiggy widdit…..Because you know, that would be some serious shit…..
Comment by Brett on 9/11 @ 3:11 pm #
The water-saving modern commodes require multiple flushes as well.
Comment by charles austin on 9/11 @ 3:12 pm #
Praise the Gore, and pass the faux tuition!
Comment by clarice on 9/11 @ 3:25 pm #
If you have built in appliances that need to be replaced–refrigerators/dishwashers you will find that new appliances built to the same dimensions have far less capacity because of all the insulation that was added to meet fuel efficiency standards. In my case, that means another refrigerator /freezer to store stuff is needed and I must run the dishwasher more often.
Go figure how this is more “efficient”.
Comment by Sticky B on 9/11 @ 3:27 pm #
I can’t afford to spend $900 just to get last night’s passion out of my sheets. I guess I’ll just buy new sheets twice a week and throw the old ones away. Now there’s you an enviornmentally sound plan
Comment by Blackjack on 9/11 @ 3:34 pm #
I guess I’m on the same page as many other commenters. Instantly, my first thought was low-flow toilets. I’m sure like the low-flows, the technology will eventually improve to where they don’t totally suck. But, if you have to buy a washer in the next couple of years, sucks to be you.
Comment by Slartibartfast on 9/11 @ 3:41 pm #
It’s only the top-loaders that suck, Jeff. But they’re forcing you to spend MORE MONEY ON FRONT-LOADERS! POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
Comment by tee bee on 9/11 @ 3:49 pm #
Say, if they start making TP out of hemp, will Sheryl Crow be okay with me using more than one square?
No? Back to the stone age, dirty backside and all.
Comment by Squid on 9/11 @ 3:50 pm #
Sign me up for one of those frilly “Kiss the Cock” aprons, BB(PYU). That should burnish my metrosexual bona fides like nothing else!
Comment by The_Real_JeffS on 9/11 @ 3:58 pm #
You can get a decent low flow toilet, *if* you get a model with a large oriface (and no, I don’t mean Rosie) from the tank.
The larger outlet permits a higher flow [Flow = Area * Velocity, where the area increases while the velocity remains the same], even though the duration is shorter. This usually sends the post-digestive product gurgling in lockstep towards your local sewage treatment plant….depending on a number of factors that I will not investigate, thankyouverymuch.
I just know that I have to flush twice less often on the toilet with the large oriface, than I need to with its cousin at the other end of the house.
Ask your plumber about special ordering these; Home Depot and similar stores are less likely to carry them.
All of this, of course, underscores the silliness of setting “low consumption” standards, unless we are somehow mandated to eat more tofu, less meat…..and limit ourselves to but a single sheet of toilet paper each and every time.
Me, I prefer a manly dump.
TAKE THAT, AL GORE!!
Comment by Big Bang (Pumping you up) on 9/11 @ 4:04 pm #
- clarice – Welcome to the wonderful world of governmental thinking, more colorfully known as “move the bandaid” in consumer department offices. It simply proves the old agage that there is no problem so simple that our glorious civil servents can’t find a way to hopelessly screw it up. the only thing you can say about it, is that it is consistant, and happens with every thing they touch.
- Here in Cal, back a number of tears ago, everyone was asked to conserve water during a particularly extended low rain period. So we did. Water usage was reduced almost 47%. The following spring, as the state was up to its clavicles in a record setting rainy season, the state commision decided that “maybe” it was time to let up on the conservation a bit, owing as to how they had waited until all the state dams were overflowing their limits, and flash floods and mud slides were threatening to drown us all. they met in LA, late to the meeting because of widespread flooding, and called off the program.
- Punch line. That summer our water costs soared.
- Reason given: The sales of water had been so low during the conservation period that state revenues were way off, so they had to raise prices, even as they listed a new high in stored water and had to run ads letting people know they could use all they wanted to.
Comment by Dmac on 9/11 @ 4:12 pm #
“Is America really prepared for an underground washing machine black market?”
Apparently; folks are still buying the Canadian toilets that didn’t have the low – flow restrictions forced into their product designs.
Comment by Synova on 9/11 @ 4:14 pm #
Wash twice, flush twice, get a second refrigerator… say, aren’t SUV’s supposedly a result of some emissions or gas mileage legislation?
Comment by Major John on 9/11 @ 4:25 pm #
Ahhh, so the Law Of Unintended Consequences has met a “technology forcing” governmental enviro diktat…and beaten it to it’s knees. However, the proles that cannot afford $900 front loaders, nor homes on Martha’s Vineyards don’t much enter into it, do they?
Comment by Kevin_B on 9/11 @ 4:37 pm #
Look, just take your laundry to the river and bash it on the rocks.
And hope that the guy upstream is having a low flow moment.
Oh and laundry and bathing once a year was good enough for your ancestors, so it’s good enough for you. GAIA RAPERS!
Comment by JHoward on 9/11 @ 4:45 pm #
Wow. Government telling us how we must live. Imagine that. Actually, imagine that Amendment.
Comment by JHoward on 9/11 @ 4:47 pm #
Oh, and Jeff? If you don’t like the new Orwellian 2000 side-by-side, I’m told you can avoid all that grief by just not washing.
So stop being difficult, k?
Comment by McGehee on 9/11 @ 4:55 pm #
I just hold the lever down until everything has gone bye-bye.
That may equal two or more flushes, but it saves me having to use the plunger every time I’ve gone out for Mexican.
Comment by Paul Zrimsek on 9/11 @ 4:56 pm #
And put on some dirty underwear before you go out. Suppose you’re in an accident and the doctors are environmentally conscious?
Comment by Pablo on 9/11 @ 4:57 pm #
Synova,
Sort of. They’re classified as trucks and therefore don’t count toward the MPG requirements on the manufacturers’ overall automobile outputs’ MPG. The opposite end of the spectrum from the Ford Focus is the Crown Vic or the Town Car and not the Expedition or the Navigator.
Comment by Big Bang (Pumping you up) on 9/11 @ 5:08 pm #
- They’re classified as trucks…
- So by that logic the message is we should all be driving tracter-trailers? Great, we’ll all get class C licenses and do a hual to and from work. Pick up some side cash.’Course I’m sure it will make the parking situation interesting.
Comment by clarice on 9/11 @ 5:14 pm #
Get a good repairman until all this has passed.
Comment by Patrick Carroll on 9/11 @ 5:18 pm #
The day is coming, and it’s not to far off, when we’ll spit upon our hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
Comment by McGehee on 9/11 @ 5:49 pm #
Patrick, can I wear gloves for the spitting part?
Comment by clarice on 9/11 @ 5:49 pm #
COunt me in when that happens–I expect P.J. O’Rourke whose line that is would be miffed if we didn’t invite him to join us.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 9/11 @ 6:00 pm #
It doesn’t matter.
As long as you feeeeel good.
Comment by Fat Man on 9/11 @ 6:33 pm #
Pour, oh, pour the pirate sherry;
Fill, O fill the pirate glass;
And, to make us more than merry,
Let the pirate bumper pass.
Comment by Pablo on 9/11 @ 6:48 pm #
With all respect to PJ, that’s Mencken. But definitely invite Mr O’Rourke anyway.
Comment by DrSteve on 9/11 @ 7:15 pm #
In my experience the “smart” toilets flush once when you enter the stall, once when you sit down, once when you stand up, and at least once while you’re tucking your shirt back in.
But I will say that my 1-yr-old Kenmore HE washer and dryer use much less water and power (but especially water) than the old Whirlpools they replaced (the Sears ones are built by Whirlpool too). When the washer’s done spinning the clothes are almost dry.
Policy questions are empirical questions, at least so long as we’re permitted to examine the data!
Comment by Big Bang (Pumping you up) on 9/11 @ 7:18 pm #
Patrick, can I wear gloves for the spitting part?
Oh yeh, and jodpors, and a pith helmet if you like. Just don’t forget where we parked the meat wagon.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 9/11 @ 9:25 pm #
I have a vintage 1949 high-flow toilet in my house. It generates roughly the same power and noise level as a hydraulic gold mining jet.
They’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead…
Wait.
Comment by Synova on 9/11 @ 9:30 pm #
“In my experience the “smart†toilets flush once when you enter the stall, once when you sit down, once when you stand up, and at least once while you’re tucking your shirt back in.”
OT and TMI warnings… My youngest is terrified of auto-flush toilets. It’s embarrassing to have a hysterical 10 year old in a public rest room who discovers *after* she’s locked the stall door and sat, just which sort of toilet it is. They aren’t any louder than other public toilets when they flush (her older sister was scared of rest-stop toilets when she was little because they are so loud) so I think it’s that they flush unexpectedly… and small children (she’s not small anymore but she used to be) don’t always block the detector even when they are perched on the edge of the pot.
Comment by The Ouroboros on 9/11 @ 9:57 pm #
What the hell do you do to get so dirty that you need a $900. washer to get the stains out? Freakin Patrick Bateman didnt even need a $900. washer to get his stains out…
Comment by geoffb on 9/11 @ 10:17 pm #
“Several major manufacturers are meeting the new energy standard by lowering wash water temperatures”
So I’ll have to increase the temp of my hot water heater if they are mixing more cold with the hot to make the warm setting or just wash everything on hot. It will “save” just like every other greenie scheme.
Comment by The Monster on 9/11 @ 10:40 pm #
The only low-flow toilet worth a crap (literally) is the Sloan Flushmate, which uses water pressure to compress air in a reservoir as it fills, then releases the compressed air to propel the water into the tank with great force.
Comment by Slowking Man on 9/12 @ 2:18 am #
Government interference in the free market having unintended consequences? Say it ain’t so!
Also, you’re all looking at this from the wrong perspective. Think of the children!
Comment by McGehee on 9/12 @ 5:04 am #
Great, now I’ll be thinking of kitchen appliances.
Could use a new blender…
Comment by Major John on 9/12 @ 5:38 am #
McGehee – blenders are for puppies. Just ask Professor Reynolds…
Comment by Dan Collins on 9/12 @ 5:57 am #
And sometimes for tricky rabbits.
Comment by Chris on 9/12 @ 6:36 am #
We bought one of those efficient front-loader washers (second-hand). It is less convenient than a top-loader because you’ve got to get down on your knees to load/unload, and if you forget to toss in one sweaty sock before you start it, you’ve got to wash the sock by hand or wait until the next load. Don’t want to open the front door on the washer once it’s got water in it.
The washer started to stink and broke within a year. The repairman said the front-loaders often stink because the design doesn’t allow it to pump all the water out. I guess you have to do laundry often enough to refresh the little pool of water left in the bottom. I’m sure that design flaw will be fixed. He also said that they’re almost never worth repairing — it’s better to buy a new one, which has all-new components and a warranty. Interesting advice from a repairman…
Comment by Ernie G on 9/12 @ 7:03 am #
What with the energy efficient washers and the two-flush toilets, let’s not forget the ICANPISSMORETHANTHAT™ shower heads.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 9/12 @ 7:20 am #
Yes, Ernie.
I installed one of those useless shower heads a while back.
Fortunately, a couple of minutes with a drill resolved the problem completely.
Bite me, Gaia.
Comment by McGehee on 9/12 @ 7:23 am #
He’s not the boss of me.
Comment by MarkD on 9/12 @ 7:48 am #
Let’s not forget the energy saving furnaces. No pilot light to keep the heat exchanger warm, free from condensation and rust. Now we have the amazing electronic igniter, which costs about $200 to get replaced. When it fails, inevitably on the coldest day of the year. Which is always a Sunday, so they can tack on a servce charge. If the heat exchanger goes, you had better buy a new furnace. Which will require a second mortgage.
None of that bothers Congress. They are so full of hot air that they don’t need a furnace.
Comment by geoffb on 9/12 @ 7:48 am #
“I installed one of those useless shower heads a while back.
Fortunately, a couple of minutes with a drill resolved the problem completely.”
One thing that used to be nice about staying at a hotel was to take long hot showers. They now seem to all have very low flow shower heads that make even getting rinsed off hard to do and the temp of the “hot” now is “warm”. What’s lovely is the card bragging about how “green” they are to save the planet when it is all to save some pennies and PR.
Comment by Jim in KC on 9/12 @ 8:01 am #
I solved that hot water in the shower problem with a flow-activated on-demand electric water heater. No tank, it just heats the water when you turn on the tap. There’s no reason why I can’t take a 12 hour shower if I want to.
On the SUV thing, the deal was that there were certain weight classes of trucks that were allowed an accelerated depreciation schedule for tax purposes, which encouraged some people to buy things like Hummer H2s that fell into the “over 8800 lbs gross weight” category in order to claim that tax break. Anything in or over that weight class is generally treated as being “commercial”–think heavy duty pickups used by contractors–hence the favorable tax treatment. So, yeah, another case of unintended consequences as a result of government policy.
Comment by JD on 9/12 @ 8:19 am #
McGehee – After being informed by Kaitlin that you are not the boss of me, I inquired as to who was her boss. She said God, Santa, Mommy, and Jesus.
Yesterday, I tried to explain why 9/11 was such an important day for our country. She asked how many people died, and when I told her, she said “I hope Santa was not one of them, because that would be really bad”, in a very earnest manner. Kids.
Comment by Slartibartfast on 9/12 @ 8:26 am #
My younger daughter, as well. She always asks if the restrooms have “the flushing kind” of toilet. And she’ll hold it just as long as she has to, to use a manual toilet. I think they can be foiled by just keeping your thumb over the sensor, but that means accompanying her into the stall.
We’ll have to wait and see how ours turns out. We bought the absolute top of the line LG, as well as an extended warranty. So far, they’re absolutely perfect. You can tell that they’ve got superb bearings and great suspension. As far as ergonomics goes, we got the pedestals, too, and they put the washer and dryer doors at right about the right height. A teeny bit low for a pal of ours who’s 6′ or so (her husband is 6′5″), but lots better than sitting them on the floor.
So, again: get the pedestals, if you’re taller than, say, 5′. Otherwise you’re going to want to construct a pedestal yourself, which isn’t a bad idea, now that I think of it. Just put in a 18″-2′ tall cabinet that’s as wide as the washer and dryer put together, and you’re set.
Comment by wGraves on 9/12 @ 8:29 am #
Commercial toilets still work pretty well and the white ones at least won’t sink your wallet. But you need a flushometer valve, 60 psi line pressure, and one inch supply tubing. If you install six or seven heads on your shower, you can still get clean with reduced flow heads. Raising the pressure helps too, but some of the fixturing won’t take it and comes flying apart at the press-fit joints. Plan ahead for your govenment’s next surprise. Boost pumps are expensive, but what’s it worth to be clean.
Comment by DrSteve on 9/12 @ 8:54 am #
They now seem to all have very low flow shower heads that make even getting rinsed off hard to do and the temp of the “hot†now is “warmâ€Â.
Try Country Inns & Suites. They’re almost all built on the same design in my experience, and the water in those places will take your skin right off. High-pressure and hot.
Comment by Sarah Hoyt on 9/12 @ 8:55 am #
One thing that used to be nice about staying at a hotel was to take long hot showers. They now seem to all have very low flow shower heads that make even getting rinsed off hard to do and the temp of the “hot†now is “warmâ€Â. What’s lovely is the card bragging about how “green†they are to save the planet when it is all to save some pennies and PR. (I have no idea how to make this into a quote, but I’m quoting geoffb)
Yeah — that was my evaluation of it too. “They want to save money on laundry.” You know, the funny thing is before they started putting those cards up, I was QUITE likely to just hang the towel to use another day. I mean… you don’t strictly NEED a clean towel everyday. (At least that’s what I tell the twelve year old.) Now I throw all the towels on the floor. EVERY day of my stay. In fact, I’ve trained the demon-teens to find every — no matter how clean — towel and washcloth and put it on the floor in the morning. As someone else said “Bite me, Gaia.”
Yes, I DO know it’s petty. And probably counterproductive in the long run — forcing the hotel to spend more money — but they get on my NERVES. I mean, couldn’t they just say “We’re trying to save on laundry costs”? And if they added — no matter how untrue — “we’ll pass the savings onto you” I’d be a total sucker for it. It would mean they were at least PRETENDING to treat me like an adult.
On washers — we’re now on our second front loader. The first, a top of the line Neptune from Maytag developed odor issues. Mildew and mold. Apparently it’s QUITE common for them to get mold. Then there’s this one — I can’t remember who made it, but I think it’s GE. yes, it was top of the line. A year old. It doesn’t remove stains. ANY stains. I have two teen boys who really should wear bibs — they tend to wear their dinner. At this rate there’s going to be a lot of barely worn tees thrown out.
I’ve watched it fill too. I don’t think large loads EVER get properly wet. So now I do only tiny loads on the longest possible setting, with pre-wash AND extra rinse and it sort of washes. I could do a better job with spit and my cat’s whiskers for an agitator. And I’m sure all these tiny loads and frequent washing are doing wonders for the “environment” yes.
You can see what the failings of the current washers are by what you see dominating the laundry lane. A few years ago we started getting all the stuff with febreeze and other deodorizers. Because you either perfumed your laundry or you smelled like a damp basement. Now it’s better and improved stain removers.
I’m sure the manufacture and disposal of those are also a net gain for environmental cleanliness (heavy sarcasm, of course, and pardon the almost pun.)
Comment by Junk Science Skeptic on 9/12 @ 8:56 am #
“On the SUV thing, the deal was that there were certain weight classes of trucks that were allowed an accelerated depreciation schedule for tax purposes, which encouraged some people to buy things like Hummer H2s that fell into the “over 8800 lbs gross weight†category in order to claim that tax break.”
Oh, the perils of relying on the mainstream media for facts.
The actual tax law required that the truck in question have a separate cargo area (think pickup truck or moving van) thus eliminating virtually all SUV’s from qualifying, and required that the truck be used for business (and no, commuting to and from work didn’t count as business use). The only SUV’s that qualified were those used full time as ambulances, hearses and taxis.
This was not buried deep in some posting in the Federal Register, it was featured prominently in plain English any sixth-grader could understand, right in the instructions on the required form for claiming the depreciation. Yet none of the hundreds of media outlets proclaiming the “SUV Tax Credit” as fact ever bothered to do any research (takes about 2 minutes on IRS.gov to find the actual truth), they just bought the DNC talking points and repeated them over and over and over. Goebbels would be very proud.
But as to the original point of the consumer craze for SUV’s being a result of regulation, that is correct. The MPG rules turned most cars into a bunch of tin-foil crap, so the only way to get a decent vehicle at the time was to buy an SUV.
It would have been unlikely that the manufacturers would have ever considered building trucks for the average consumer, if not for another regulation several years ago; the requirement that cars be switched to more expensive unleaded gas while light trucks could still run on cheaper leaded. That regulation was singularly responsible for the birth of the custom van market in the seventies.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 9/12 @ 8:58 am #
I remembered reading a tip for dealing with this, and, dang, if it wasn’t easy to find:
No, I don’t have any kids. I just like reading the tips on how to get the most out of a trip to Disneyworld.
Comment by Additional Blonde Agent on 9/12 @ 9:00 am #
Re: #’s 42 and by extension, 50: Dunno which frontloader is in question here but I understand there were a rash of lawsuits over the Maytag Neptune washers for reasons like that mentioned in #42. I’ve had a Kenmore Elite for a couple years now and been pretty satisfied with it. OTOH, the matching dryer has a pretty piss-poor lint filter design.
Comment by Additional Blonde Agent on 9/12 @ 9:02 am #
Oops, missed #53. What she said.
Comment by Nolo Contendere on 9/12 @ 9:07 am #
Fresh out of witty quips today, but I’ll chime in about front loading washers. I have a top of the line Whirlpool Duet HT front loader and other than the handle on the door which has been replaced, the washer has performed extremely well for several years. It uses considerably less electricity, water, and detergent than my old top loader and does an excellent job of getting things clean without beating the crap out of them. It was expensive, but worth it if you can afford one. If you’re getting one, consider the optional base, which raises it up so you don’t have to bend over.
Comment by sportutegrl on 9/12 @ 9:23 am #
I have recently forked over 2000+ for a front loader washer dryer pair. The front loaders are the ones that work well in the study. They also use a lot less water and energy. Why does the government take a punative approach, “You must do this”, instead of giving front load buyers a rebate? A couple hundred back in a tax rebate to encourage front loader purchases would probably net a lot bigger bang for the government spent envirodollar than all that money wasted on ethanol. Plus, it goes to us poor sap taxpayers, not a few politically connected big agrabusinesses.
Comment by JD on 9/12 @ 9:34 am #
Oh, and those toilet with the compressed air are incredible. If you want a really good shower, get a steam room installed, with 8 shower heads. A slice of heaven, I tell you.
Comment by Larry on 9/12 @ 9:35 am #
My 4th great grandfather was at Valley Forge with Geo. Washington and I can’t believe that he took up arms so that the new government would regulate how much water we could use in going to the bathroom or washing our clothes.
Comment by Sarah Hoyt on 9/12 @ 9:51 am #
#58
D*mn. I KNEW we should have got the Duet. It was stupid, too. Salesman told us they had worse repair records than the GE we bought. Probably getting kickback from GE or something.
(Grumble.)
Comment by McGehee on 9/12 @ 9:55 am #
FWIW, we’ve had our LG Tromm front-loader for ten months now and we’re quite happy with it. If the wash stays in the washer too long before being put in the dryer it may start to smell, but we had that problem with the old top-loader too.
Comment by Radish on 9/12 @ 10:02 am #
This all makes perfect sense when you realize that neither bureaucrats nor tree-huggers have ever done their own laundry.
Comment by Jim in KC on 9/12 @ 10:37 am #
Not the way I read the instructions for form 4562 when I took accelerated depreciation on my tractor. The separate cargo area simply removes the $25,000 limit.
Not that the tax implications are the only thing that drive people to SUVs and trucks, anyway. Anyone who needs to tow something heavier than a garden cart is going to need a truck of some sort–unibody vehicles just generally don’t have sturdy enough attachment points for hitches to allow towing beyond about 3,500 lbs or so.
Comment by Ric Locke on 9/12 @ 11:29 am #
Does anybody but me remember the Great Bumper Crusade?
Once upon a time the bumpers on a car were essentially trim items, designed mostly to look nice. Oh, they were made of thicker steel than the rest of the car and could stand bumps somewhat, but they collected dings and scratches all the time.
Then the insurance companies started a full-court press in the ads. “We’re paying out too much for minor damage!” they cried. “Bumpers should be able to withstand low-speed impact without damage, like parking-lot bumps and shopping carts.” The car companies’ engineers just laughed, of course, but they weren’t the audience. The audience was the ignorant and gullible, who listened carefully to the promises of reduced premiums if the nuisance claims went away when low-speed damage didn’t occur.
Congress listened (heh), and passed an Act requiring what the insurance companies asked for, bumpers that wouldn’t be damaged by low-speed hits; the original standard was 5 MPH, and the NHTSA had a tester that was essentially a big baseball bat to confirm compliance. The engineers shrugged and did what they could. Cars are heavy, and even at low speed there’s a lot of energy to absorb, so the structures they designed were big, expensive, and heavy, but they did soak up the damage, as instructed. A few of them even anticipated the next step: CAFE.
There are lots of little, incremental steps to get better mileage, but in the end you’re reduced to one (1) strategy for meaningful improvement: reduce weight and size. One of the effects, as noted above, was that people who would have been perfectly satisfied with a big station wagon getting 18 or 20 MPG couldn’t get one any more because selling it would reduce the manufacturer’s average too much, so they went out and bought a truck. The truck was overkill and got 14 MPG, but it got the job done. The other effect was on the bumpers.
Like I said, a structure that can soak up impact has to have lots of materials in it — the energy has to go somewhere. The big, heavy structures that had been used previously had to go, because weight had to be lost to meet CAFE. What to do?
What they did were the only things possible: they introduced exotic materials that could absorb energy (expensive), designed intricate ways of putting them together to direct the energy to where it could be absorbed (also expensive), and made them bulkier. Oh, and one more thing, more subtle — they built them to fail at a threshold. An impact below the specified level results in no damage. A hundredth of a mile per hour over that level results in total destruction of the “energy absorbing system.” After a great deal of whining, they also got Congress to reduce the threshold to 3 MPH.
Result? The “energy absorbing system” installed where a bumper belongs looks ridiculous, costs $2500-$3000, and has to be replaced after a 3.001 MPH bump. Insurance premiums rise to pay for all the bumpers that have to be replaced, and the d-d things are still heavy enough to require taking meat (and strength) out of the rest of the car to compensate and keep the vehicle light enough to maintain the average. In other words, the final result was exactly opposite to what the proponents of the measure promised — insurance expenses (including PITA inspections by the guys working for the insurance company) went up instead of down, and parking-lot shunts resulted in more damage, not less.
Sound familiar?
Regards,
Ric
Comment by Mary in LA on 9/12 @ 12:12 pm #
You know, if building codes would just get with the program and make it easier to get permits to install gray-water flushing systems in residences, we could have 5-gallon flushes and not need to feel the least bit guilty. The real waste is in using potable water to flush. (Though you do have to keep the lids down on gray-water toilets if you have dogs or cats who like to drink from the bowl…)
Comment by comatus on 9/12 @ 12:12 pm #
#61 has it right. Toilets and washers didn’t exist when the republic was founded, ergo government can regulate them to its heart’s content. QED. Same with auto-loader or cartridge arms. Driving is a privilege conferred by the State, because cars aren’t in the Bill of Rights. InraW3bs aren’t movable type, so freedom of the press need not apply. It’s all pretty simple once you See This From My Point Of View. (I’m having to say /Sarcoff so much lately, I feel like I’m in Flash Gordon).
Comment by Jim in KC on 9/12 @ 12:32 pm #
That’s why I have one of these, Ric.
Comment by Bob in Texas on 9/12 @ 2:14 pm #
My 4th great grandfather was at Valley Forge with Geo. Washington and I can’t believe that he took up arms so that the new government would regulate how much water we could use in going to the bathroom or washing our clothes.
Well now my Great-great-grandpa was at Gettysburg serving under R.E. Lee and he damned well knew that any government that wanted to regulate how you used your laborers in the cotton fields was on a slippery slope to regulating how much water you could use in the bathroom. But he lost that argument when it got misunderstood just what he was fighting for. Some people still want to misrepresent his goals. He didn’t like a meddlesome government even though the government at that time was meddling in something particularly loathsome.
Comment by Jamie on 9/12 @ 4:58 pm #
I always leave the door of my Kenmore front-loader open when it’s empty – no mold issues so far, after five years of use. (I do use bleach on at least one load per week, and be damned to my septic field – my machine uses only 1/3 cup of bleach per load, so I figure I’m setting up a Darwinian environment for the little buggies.) However, I bought it at Sears’s scratch-and-dent outlet, and its spin cycle has apparently knocked something loose such that it leaks now, so I suspect I’m in the market for another washer.
As for cleanness of laundry… well… I suppose it’s clean enough, but it’s not as clean as when I was presoaking everything in the bathtub with detergent and Shout before hauling almost sopping wet laundry to the laundromat, back in the grad school days. (That, by the way, worked great – I bought extra undies and we’d go for two weeks at a time doing NO laundry, then I’d spend three hours and a small bucket of quarters doing everything we owned and be done for another two weeks. Plus I had those great counters for folding. And Jerry Springer on the tube suspended above my head. Beautiful!)
Comment by Ken Mitchell on 9/12 @ 5:21 pm #
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 9/12 @ 7:20 am #
I installed one of those useless shower heads a while back.
Fortunately, a couple of minutes with a drill resolved the problem completely.
Unnecessary! There’s a little “flow restrictor” fitting in most showerheads these days; you can REMOVE it with a pair of needle-nose pliers. No drill required!
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 9/12 @ 7:35 pm #
Ken: no such feature on mine.
Sarah Hoyt: maybe the solution would be to carry a cordless drill on trips to “fix” the hotel shower heads.
Laundry folks: you could always get an old Wascomat commercial machine (I say old because I haven’t been following that industry for a while, and have no idea if they’re still honest Swedish make or whether they’ve become Chinese crap). Pure stainless steel inside. Built like a tank. Can be repaired by anyone with a modicum of mechanical skill (the timer is really the only complicated part, and it’s not hard to do if you just swap it out). Given normal household use that thing will still be cleaning clothes for your grandchildren.
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Comment by mrkwong on 9/14 @ 1:04 am #
Low-flow showerheads: why do you think expensive houses are typically built with four, five, six, ten heads in the master bath shower now? 2.5 gallons per minute per head times 43 showerheads will get you clean enough for that $400 haircut. For what it’s worth, many showerheads have removable restrictors, my current fave is a Chinese-made thing from Chateau Depot (Expo) full of little rubber nozzles. I pulled the restrictor *and* drilled it. I figure it’s going about 12GPM all-out, uses pretty much all the hot water our big Noritz tankless can put out. Not that I run it that way all the time, but it’s nice to be able to do so…
Toilets: The Flushmate is the porcelain equivalent of an M204. It will push your poop all the way to Panama but it’s loud enough that every time you pull the trigger your neighbors grab for their body armor. We’ve got a Duravit wall-mounted toilet with the tank in the wall, and between the trap shape and the pressure head from the height of the tank you damn near *can’t* plug it. Trust me, I’m a professional. Being off the floor it’s easy to clean around, too. Of course, in fifteen years something will go wrong in the tank that can’t be fixed through the access hatch at the top, and we’ll have to cut up the wall, but until then all is bliss. Those Totos that everyone seems to love are no better than anything else.
Pingback by Cuando los terroristas no son los culpables « España es una merienda de negros on 9/16 @ 8:25 am #
[...] ¿Qué dirán los ecologistas? Pues urgirnos a que consumamos menos energÃÂa. Lo malo es que a veces la lógica ecologista lleva a auténticos dislates: El departamento de EnergÃÂa de los Estados Unidos, en su infinita sabidurÃÂa, decidió imponer que las lavadoras utilicen un 21 por ciento menos de energÃÂa. La industria lo cumplió. Una forma de hacerlo es bajar la temperatura del agua. ¿El resultado? Parece ser que la ropa no se limpia tanto como en el pasado, debido a las bajas temperaturas. ¿Qué hará la gente cuando vea que su ropa no esté limpia? Volver a lavarlas. Podemos utilizar menos energÃÂa por carga, pero aumentaremos el número de cargas. Hasta ahàlo del ahorro de energÃÂa. [...]
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Comment by draw cars tutorial on 9/13 @ 10:03 pm #
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