Yesterday I got JT-65 up and running/ washing machines.

and made 3 contacts, Brazil, Venezuela and Uruguay. It's a slow, boring process and it's like watching paint dry. It's also of dubious practical use. Still, it's pretty cool communicating with South America using less power than a $59.95 Western Auto CB puts out.

Seeing I just repaired my washing machine I might pass a few things along because I was actually preparing for replacement and did some research. Much of this is word of mouth from repairmen and a couple of thoughtful guys.

A washing machine's job is to wash clothes. The way it is judged is by it's ability to take dirty clothes and make them clean again. To do this it basically uses energy and water. 

My wife generally reads 'Consumer Reports' and sees what they have to say about things before she buys. Researching is generally a pretty good idea and CR is usually a pretty good source.

One of the guys said that CR has started to add a few other things to what they call a good product, including energy consumption. He said they seem to be losing focus these days.

The thing he uses CR for is the comments by people that have owned the product for a while. He noted that a lot of people that bought the top rated product seem to think it isn't as good as it is cracked up to be. He also noted that the products at the bottom of the list sometimes draw rave reviews from users.

I asked him what kind of washing machine he bought and he told me he bought a Speed Queen. A few days later a couple of repair men told me they thought that a Speed Queen was the way to go.

Interesting. Speed Queen has been a laundromat staple for years.

They do not have a whole lot of fancy settings and are pretty simple compared to a lot of others. The repair man told me that the difference between the commercial machine and the residential machine is that the commercial machine has a coin box. That's interesting.

He also told me that there are only a few makers that sell under a number of different labels. Most of them are made by the same conglomerate and both my friend and the two repairmen said the way to go is either get an industrial machine or get the cheapest one you can find and throw it out every five years.

He also said that the Speed Queens do not come with an energy star. The do use more energy(electricity) than the residential machines do. They also last longer and get your clothes cleaner than some of the energy conserving models, according to the repairmen and some owners comments.

Personally I like fairly simple industrial type machines.

I like doing a job right the first time and do not worry about energy consumption unless it is something serious. I just want a simple machine that gets the job done right the first time.

Having to wash clothes twice to get them clean doesn't really save anyone anything. Ask anyone with a post ban gallon per flush toilet that has to flush repeatedly to keep his plumbing clear.

I believe in saving energy as much as anyone else but sometimes we have to step back and look at the big picture. We have to look at our savings over time instead of focusing on next month's electric bill. You have to look at total cost over time. 

With a washing machine that goes so far as to include how often you have to replace cloths because they get dingy from poor cleaning as well as everything else.

I get accused of not being green but in fact I am. I look at things from a bigger picture.

For example, my pickup had a 4 cylinder engine in it because it gives me the power I need and it was engineered to give 300,000 miles of service. Depending on the season and the type of gas I can get at the pump it gets me up to a little over 30 miles per gallon on long hauls.

The trick of buying something is to look a little further down the road and not let the smoke and mirrors the system throws at you fool you. You have to stop and think.







To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY