Entropy

[mediatechnology]

So I understand that you had an electric razor fail JR?

[JR.]

So I understand that you had an electric razor fail JR?

Yes, but alas I did not repair it... I did take it apart.

The razor was an impulse purchase when I was buying something else and this razor was only $2-$3... I bought it just to see what you could get for that little money. Not surprising it was being blown out because it had problems. It would shave nice and close as long as the beard was less than a couple days old... once the beard was a little longer it couldn't cut it, so you would have isolated longer hairs randomly on your face... but it worked that way for several months.

Until it stopped... I took it apart and the guts were sh__ simple. line cord, a tiny transformer and components to manage charging the battery. I noticed that the charging LED would dim when I switched it on so motor was loading down the battery.

I measured <1 ohm across the motor, and taking it apart the simple copper brushes (just narrow strips of copper) looked fried.

If it worked better it might be worth more effort but nah... Still remarkable how cheap it was, but they were probably blowing out a failed product so the price does not fully reflect the cost.

JR

[mediatechnology]

You remind me that I have a new blender to buy.

I can smell the brushes and brush holder starting to burn.

[JR.]

You remind me that I have a new blender to buy.

I can smell the brushes and brush holder starting to burn.

Don't you love the smell of ozone in the morning?

JR

[mediatechnology]

There's also the faint bouquet of burning plastic that adds a nice sweetness.

[emrr]

Just replaced a washer/dryer set that ran 18-19 years. Let's see what the new ones bring.

[mediatechnology]

Congratulations on getting 18 years out of them.

Top load or front load washer?
Dryer gas or electric?

[JR.]

Just replaced a washer/dryer set that ran 18-19 years. Let's see what the new ones bring.

Good luck, I've read lots of complaints about the modern low water use/high efficiency washers. Hopefully they have ironed out all of the bugs. These are relatively new here, but have been popular in European markets far longer.

Mine are older than yours and I plan to run them till they drop, and maybe repair them if I can after they fail.

A couple years ago when my decades old dishwasher died a noisy and painful death, I replaced it with a modern version and I have been pleasantly surprised by how much better the dishwasher technology has improved. New washer soap is a little more expensive, but the washer now provides the cleaning elbow grease I used to supply.

I just saw that Whirlpool is trying to get tariffs imposed for dumping by Korean washer/dryer manufacturers (LG and one other?). So apparently they are competitive enough to hurt whirlpool. I'd heap love on my made in USA whirlpool dishwasher but the control PCB had to be replaced shortly after I installed it because some indicator LEDs stopped working (probably bad solder but I never found the flawed connection).

Since i will likely be in the market for similar "white goods" in coming years, please do share your likes and dislikes.

JR

[JR.]

Well that was too easy to be true... less than a week and I noticed the new flapper leaking too.

Time to maybe look at the valve seat? Toilet is no more than a few years old (american standard).

JR

[edit] the new flapper already had some white film residue on it... I cleaned it off and took some fine sand paper to the valve seat. I didn't see any smoking (leaking) gun. but it has been quiet a couple hours.[/edit]

[edit2] now a week later the flapper is not leaking so all good... not sure what happened before [/edit2]

I still haven't found a perfect replacement for the silicon rubber disc... One it tried yesterday had a ridge on one lip and was thicker. When I shoehorned it into the old flapper it leaked. So I replaced with the previous almost new flapper that started leaking again.

So I took it apart and found some smutz on the it that was really hard to clean off...typical bathroom solvents didn't touch it.

Looks like I will need to keep the flapper discs and valve seat clean.

JR

[mediatechnology]

Today the five-year-old Cuisinart 12 cup coffee maker failed.
It had been producing a crazy amount of steam the last few days but was still brewing.
Today it was all sound effects and no drip.

On May 9, 2012 I planned for this day.

When I purchased this Cuisinart I bought an identical twin a few days later.
I tested its standby replacement five years ago and then re-packed it.
All I had to do was pull out its replacement and I was good to go.

I'm going to try to descale the old one but I don't think its going to help.