From the washing machine's instruction manual



  • So I just used a new washing machine for the first time.

    Since the machine itself doesn't say how long the programs take to finish, I browsed through the instruction manual looking for this information. I couldn't find it anywhere — though now I know the intake water pressure should be between 300 and 1000 kPa (really useful).

    I also now know about the child lock working even while the machine is not connected to the power grid. That's a good thing, because I hate thinking how a small kid messing with the buttons could accidently turn on or misconfigure my unpowered washing machine!

    But most importantly, I learned that if I want to throw away an old washing machine, I should unplug it from the mains. Too bad I didn't know that before I bought this 200m extension chord.


  • 🚽 Regular

    @Zecc said:

    I also now know about the child lock working even while the machine is not connected to the power grid. That's a good thing, because I hate thinking how a small kid messing with the buttons could accidently turn on or misconfigure my unpowered washing machine!
     

    I'd think the child lock also prevents the door from opening?

    @Zecc said:

    But most importantly, I learned that if I want to throw away an old washing machine, I should unplug it from the mains. Too bad I didn't know that before I bought this 200m extension chord.

    Gotta love lawyers, eh? I'd love to see the scene which invoked the court case which made this statement necessary. My cellphone manual had a very specific warning NOT to put it in the microwave. Not so much because it would undoubtedly destroy the cellphone, but because it will emit toxic fumes and could cause a fire.

     



  • @RHuckster said:

    I'd think the child lock also prevents the door from opening?
    Hmm. Hadn't thought about that.

    They do mention I should break the door's lock before I throw it away, which made them gain a few points of respect from me.



  • @RHuckster said:

    @Zecc said:
    But most importantly, I learned that if I want to throw away an old washing machine, I should unplug it from the mains. Too bad I didn't know that before I bought this 200m extension chord.

    Gotta love lawyers, eh? I'd love to see the scene which invoked the court case which made this statement necessary. My cellphone manual had a very specific warning NOT to put it in the microwave. Not so much because it would undoubtedly destroy the cellphone, but because it will emit toxic fumes and could cause a fire.

    Does the washing machine advice also mention removing the water pipes? It would make some sense to unplug the machine before you do anything which could result in it being sprayed with water, even if the risks are negligible.

    As to the 'phone warning, I was surprised to find that it wasn't solely due to people using a microwave to dry their 'phones out after getting them wet. Some people genuinely believe that a microwave could recharge the battery, and at least one of those has discovered that a 'phone doesn't work so well once you let the (thick black) magic smoke out. Story [url=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-113198.html]here[/url].


  • 🚽 Regular

    @Zecc said:

    They do mention I should break the door's lock before I throw it away, which made them gain a few points of respect from me.
     

    I've always been told to go a step further and remove the door completely from appliances that can fit small children. Especially if you're leaving it on the curb side.



  • @__moz said:

    Does the washing machine advice also mention removing the water pipes? It would make some sense to unplug the machine before you do anything which could result in it being sprayed with water, even if the risks are negligible.

    As to the 'phone warning, I was surprised to find that it wasn't solely due to people using a microwave to dry their 'phones out after getting them wet. Some people genuinely believe that a microwave could recharge the battery, and at least one of those has discovered that a 'phone doesn't work so well once you let the (thick black) magic smoke out. Story here.

     

    Do they remind you that you should close the tap before unscrewing the water pipes ?

    And that pressure thing is normal here you often see that you should try to fill two to three 10 litre buckets in less than a minute.



  • @Zecc said:

    I browsed through the instruction manual
    At least you have one. I couldn't find mine so I figured I'd download it from their site. You know, like you would do for any PC component, right?

    Wrong. The manual is there alright, but they're charging for downloads. They actually want me to pay money to download a manual for a product I own, which incidentally cost several hundreds euros.

     

    Bunch of arrogant, greedy, penny pinching, bean counting, corporate weenies. I hope they end up spending all the money they made from that little scheme on doctors.



  • @RHuckster said:

    @Zecc said:

    I also now know about the child lock working even while the machine is not connected to the power grid. That's a good thing, because I hate thinking how a small kid messing with the buttons could accidently turn on or misconfigure my unpowered washing machine!
     

    I'd think the child lock also prevents the door from opening?

    This makes sense. Especially when you are transporting children inside and the washing machine is unplugged.



  • @Zecc said:

    So I just used a new washing machine for the first time.

    Since the machine itself doesn't say how long the programs take to finish, I browsed through the instruction manual looking for this information.

    On this point, I have to say I've been quite pleased when I bought a washing machine from $brand and I found that, instead of the typical "start delay" you can often set today, and which is the solution to the problem as seen from the point of view of the machine, this one has "end delay", that is you choose at which time you'd like the machine to finish. Which is the solution to the same problem (delaying the washing cycle) but seen from the typical point of view of the user, whose use case is often "I want to arrive home and hang the laundry".

    Sometimes washing machine engineers study usability.



  • @RHuckster said:

    Gotta love lawyers, eh? I'd love to see the scene which invoked the court case which made this statement necessary. My cellphone manual had a very specific warning NOT to put it in the microwave. Not so much because it would undoubtedly destroy the cellphone, but because it will emit toxic fumes and could cause a fire.

     


    But, <a href='http://www.willitblend.com/">will it blend?



  • @garden said:

    @Zecc said:

    So I just used a new washing machine for the first time.

    Since the machine itself doesn't say how long the programs take to finish, I browsed through the instruction manual looking for this information.

    On this point, I have to say I've been quite pleased when I bought a washing machine from $brand and I found that, instead of the typical "start delay" you can often set today, and which is the solution to the problem as seen from the point of view of the machine, this one has "end delay", that is you choose at which time you'd like the machine to finish. Which is the solution to the same problem (delaying the washing cycle) but seen from the typical point of view of the user, whose use case is often "I want to arrive home and hang the laundry".

    Sometimes washing machine engineers study usability.

    My machine just has a dial and I turn it and it goes. You people buy fancy stuff.



  • Personally, I'd say the microwave warning issue should be the microwave manufacturer's fault to not include a big "DO NOT MICROWAVE ANYTHING OTHER THEN FOOD IN MICROWAVE-SAFE CONTAINERS" label on every unit.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @MiffTheFox said:

    Personally, I'd say the microwave warning issue should be the microwave manufacturer's fault to not include a big "DO NOT MICROWAVE ANYTHING OTHER THEN FOOD IN MICROWAVE-SAFE CONTAINERS" label on every unit.

    So what, then, do you do with your microwaveable heat pads? For animals. As Seen On TV.[tm]



  • @blakeyrat said:

    @garden said:
    @Zecc said:

    So I just used a new washing machine for the first time.

    Since the machine itself doesn't say how long the programs take to finish, I browsed through the instruction manual looking for this information.

    On this point, I have to say I've been quite pleased when I bought a washing machine from $brand and I found that, instead of the typical "start delay" you can often set today, and which is the solution to the problem as seen from the point of view of the machine, this one has "end delay", that is you choose at which time you'd like the machine to finish. Which is the solution to the same problem (delaying the washing cycle) but seen from the typical point of view of the user, whose use case is often "I want to arrive home and hang the laundry".

    Sometimes washing machine engineers study usability.

    My machine just has a dial and I turn it and it goes. You people buy fancy stuff.

     

    Do tell.  Kids today wouldn't be able to open a tin of beans if the power went out.



  • @Zecc said:

    @RHuckster said:

    I'd think the child lock also prevents the door from opening?
    Hmm. Hadn't thought about that.

    They do mention I should break the door's lock before I throw it away, which made them gain a few points of respect from me.

     

    Seems like in this day and age, the machine should be recycled.  Have the appliance company haul it away or something.  I wouldn't leave a dead appliance curbside.  I think the manual should have advocated harder for the recycling direction so that breaking the lock wouldn't be necessary.



  • @hallo.amt said:

    @__moz said:

    Does the washing machine advice also mention removing the water pipes? It would make some sense to unplug the machine before you do anything which could result in it being sprayed with water, even if the risks are negligible.

    As to the 'phone warning, I was surprised to find that it wasn't solely due to people using a microwave to dry their 'phones out after getting them wet. Some people genuinely believe that a microwave could recharge the battery, and at least one of those has discovered that a 'phone doesn't work so well once you let the (thick black) magic smoke out. Story here.

     

    Do they remind you that you should close the tap before unscrewing the water pipes ?

    And that pressure thing is normal here you often see that you should try to fill two to three 10 litre buckets in less than a minute.

     

    My parents have property in Montana.  They're not on a municipal water supply.  Rather, they have a well that supplies about 1.5 (??  Might be 3, but I think it's 1.5.) GPM.  So they have an intermediate storage tank to collect water since the flow is so low.  I'm guessing they're aiming these warnings more at people like my parents who aren't on municipal water.



  • @PJH said:

    microwaveable heat pads? For animals.


    I think you'll find those ARE food (usually, wheat) in 'microwave-safe containers' (usually cloth or similar).



  • @garden said:

    instead of the typical "start delay" you can often set today, and which is the solution to the problem as seen from the point of view of the machine, this one has "end delay"
     

    Mine has this too, but it's not the best at estimating time remaining: it gets stuck at 11 minutes remaining for about 10 minutes for example.

    This machine is relatively new as my old one was my Dad's old one, which was a simple "turn the dial and pull out to go", but there were some parts on the cycle that it just would not do anything.



  • @garden said:

    whose use case is often "I want to arrive home and hang the laundry".
    Of course hanging out the washing is deemed an illegal activity in many parts of the US. So much so that people are battling to get/retain their rights to do so. See this story from the BBC from last year. That has got to be the TRWTF



  • @OzPeter said:

    @garden said:
    whose use case is often "I want to arrive home and hang the laundry".
    Of course hanging out the washing is deemed an illegal activity in many parts of the US. So much so that people are battling to get/retain their rights to do so. See this story from the BBC from last year. That has got to be the TRWTF

    TRRWTF in that article is that homeowners in trailer parks are worried that outdoor clotheslines might lower their property values.



  • @OzPeter said:

    Of course hanging out the washing is deemed an illegal activity in many parts of the US. That has got to be the TRWTF
     

    Really, What The Fuck. That's worse than "Don't dry pets in the microwave".



  • @OzPeter said:

    @garden said:
    whose use case is often "I want to arrive home and hang the laundry".
    Of course hanging out the washing is deemed an illegal activity in many parts of the US. So much so that people are battling to get/retain their rights to do so. See this story from the BBC from last year. That has got to be the TRWTF

    Don't believe everything you hear on the news. Even the BBC. That story's complete crap.

    Admittedly, there's probably at least one Homeowners Association, in probably at least a couple states, that have a ban on hanging laundry. That's written as if it's some national movement with daily protests or something. I've never heard of it in my life until I saw your link.

    Not to mention the word "illegal"... since when are HOA regulations considered law? Ridiculous.

    (Although, yet one more reason to add to the 20,000,000 to NEVER buy a house in an area governed by a HOA.)



  • @blakeyrat said:

    Don't believe everything you hear on the news. Even the BBC. That story's complete crap.

    Nope .. sorry to disagree but that story is not crap. I have heard of this issue before from other sources and concerning more than one state. The BBC was the first place that came up on google that I would trust. It is along the lines of the law in my local county (not HOA) that says you can't use furniture that was designed for inside a house, outside of a house. This law was used to prosecute a person last year who had a bathtub being used as a planter in their back yard. While not everything on the internet is true, not everything on the internet is false.

    And BTW .. HOA regulations are laws in that if you don't abide by them you can be prosecuted by the HOA in a court of law. Google the vet in VA who put up a flagpole against the regulations of the HOA. The HOA regs fall under the general idea that "if you don't like the regs, then you don't have to live here. But if you want to live here you have to sign the agreement that you will abide by the regs". (Note that this does not mean I endorse stupid HOA regs, or the HOA system in general)



  • @OzPeter said:

    And BTW .. HOA regulations are laws in that if you don't abide by them you can be prosecuted by the HOA in a court of law.

    An HOA can sue you, yes. And you enter into a court of law to resolve the lawsuit, yes. Or as you so dramatically put it, you can be "prosecuted by the HOA in a court of law". Of course, you can be prosecuted by anybody for almost any reason in a court of law, so...

    And they can put a lien on your property. So can a plumber, or a carpenter, or an insurance company, so...

    @OzPeter said:

    (Note that this does not mean I endorse stupid HOA regs, or the HOA system in general)

    Of course, HOAs are crazy horrible entities of pure evil that should all writhe in pain in the unholy fires Hell reserves for only the worst of humanity.

    But they can't create laws. Was my point.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    But they can't create laws. Was my point.
    My point was that no matter how evil you think that they are, or how repressive you think their regulations are, when you sign up with an HOA you are entering a contract which is ultimately enforceable by law (if it is deemed legal - which is quite often the case)



  • @OzPeter said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    But they can't create laws. Was my point.
    My point was that no matter how evil you think that they are, or how repressive you think their regulations are, when you sign up with an HOA you are entering a contract which is ultimately enforceable by law (if it is deemed legal - which is quite often the case)

    Yes, but that doesn't make breaking the terms of that contract illegal. Which is the word the OzPeter was using. Which is the wrong word. Because it's not illegal. Because HOAs can't make laws. ... are we all on the same page now? Good.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    Yes, but that doesn't make breaking the terms of that contract illegal. Which is the word the OzPeter was using. Which is the wrong word. Because it's not illegal. Because HOAs can't make laws
    Illegal: "Illegal, or unlawful, is used to describe something that is prohibited or not authorized by law"

    HOA agreements are contracts. Contracts are protected by law. Do you want a razor blade with that hair?



  • Extension chord? Extension chord!



  • Just in an attempt to clear everything up, hanging up clothes to dry it not illegal. If you signed a contract saying you wouldn't, then hanging up your clothes to dry, despite not being illegal, would be considered breach of contract, which is.

    To help (poorly) illustrate the point, it's not illegal to be naked but you can't just make a run to " + STORE_NAME + " without anything on and not be arrested.



  • Illegal is not exactly equivalent to unlawful. See tort/crime.


  • 🚽 Regular

    @MiffTheFox said:

    To help (poorly) illustrate the point, it's not illegal to be naked but you can't just make a run to " + STORE&#x5f;NAME + " without anything on and not be arrested.
     

    Wait, where did I sign that contract?

    I think a lot of this confusion is simply with the terminology that's being used around here. HOA contracts are civil whereas public nudity is criminal (and thus is illegal). As such, in a civil trial, you do not prosecute a defendant. You might incur a penalty on the defendant to  benefit the plantiff, but prosecution is where the plantiff is a prosecutor, which can only occur in a criminal trial.

    Likewise, a breach of contract is not illegal from a criminal standpoint. It is, however, something which one may use against another in a civil case. Think of it this way: Failing to pay your bills is not a criminal act, nor is it even illegal in the strict sense of the word. However, it is an act which can bring you to court, pay penalties through cash or even assets, but it won't get you in prison, even if you owe thousands upon thousands of dollars (unless they indict you for mail or bank fraud due to you agreeing to sign the contract under false pretenses).



  • @OzPeter said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    Yes, but that doesn't make breaking the terms of that contract illegal. Which is the word the OzPeter was using. Which is the wrong word. Because it's not illegal. Because HOAs can't make laws
    Illegal: "Illegal, or unlawful, is used to describe something that is prohibited or not authorized by law"

    HOA agreements are contracts. Contracts are protected by law. Do you want a razor blade with that hair?

    They could sue you for hanging up laundry whether or not you signed a contract with them. Either way, you're not doing anything illegal. I think you're still fuzzy on the concept of "civil law": YOU CAN BE SUED FOR THINGS THAT AREN'T ILLEGAL.

    (BTW, I'm not a lawyer and all that, but I'm reasonably sure, contrary to what Mr. Furry Digimon there says, breaching a contract is not illegal.)

    The only difference between you having signed a contract and not signed a contract is if you have signed it, the HOA wins the lawsuit pretty much by default. (Unless you can prove you signed under duress, or that the contract violates existing law.)

    Also, why the fuck does Wikipedia think "illegal" and "unlawful" carry the same meaning? Wiki's full of retards.



  • @Zecc said:

    But most importantly, I learned that if I want to throw away an old washing machine, I should unplug it from the mains. Too bad I didn't know that before I bought this 200m extension chord.

    You don't want people moving and otherwise jostling the machine while it is still plugged in.



  • @da Doctah said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    @garden said:
    @Zecc said:

    So I just used a new washing machine for the first time.

    Since the machine itself doesn't say how long the programs take to finish, I browsed through the instruction manual looking for this information.

    On this point, I have to say I've been quite pleased when I bought a washing machine from $brand and I found that, instead of the typical "start delay" you can often set today, and which is the solution to the problem as seen from the point of view of the machine, this one has "end delay", that is you choose at which time you'd like the machine to finish. Which is the solution to the same problem (delaying the washing cycle) but seen from the typical point of view of the user, whose use case is often "I want to arrive home and hang the laundry".

    Sometimes washing machine engineers study usability.

    My machine just has a dial and I turn it and it goes. You people buy fancy stuff.

     

    Do tell.  Kids today wouldn't be able to open a tin of beans if the power went out.

     

    The funny thing is, I have a great Kitchenaid manual can opener that has worked great for years and is more reliable than an electric opener, which we don't even use anymore.



  • @OzPeter said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    Don't believe everything you hear on the news. Even the BBC. That story's complete crap.

    Nope .. sorry to disagree but that story is not crap. I have heard of this issue before from other sources and concerning more than one state. The BBC was the first place that came up on google that I would trust.

     

    I don't.  They put a quote in the sidebar from some anti-nuke radical who associates the issue with the tired old "Americans are puritans" slander.  Plus, there's a quote from 1995 about line drying so you shut down nuclear power plants.  That's a little recent for moronic luddites to be concerned about nuclear power, but not the coal plants we had to build thanks to them.

  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @Zecc said:

    But most importantly, I learned that if I want to throw away an old washing machine, I should unplug it from the mains. Too bad I didn't know that before I bought this 200m extension chord.
     

    Wow, you live really close to a garbage dump. Have you considered moving / not breathing?



  • @Zemm said:

    Mine has this too, but it's not the best at estimating time remaining: it gets stuck at 11 minutes remaining for about 10 minutes for example.

    Just out of curiosity, is it a Fisher and Paykel? We have a F&P one which will hang around on 1 minute remaining for about five apparently doing diddly squat.



  • @da Doctah said:

    Do tell.  Kids today wouldn't be able to open a tin of beans if the power went out.

    So that's why most food tins have ring-pulls these days!



  • @Zemm said:

    Mine has this too, but it's not the best at estimating time remaining: it gets stuck at 11 minutes remaining for about 10 minutes for example.

    Haven't we all seen progress bars like that? I once had one that swore it only had 20 minutes remaining, and kept insisting that for the next two hours. Washing machines are models of accuracy by comparison.



  • @Douglasac said:

    Just out of curiosity, is it a Fisher and Paykel? We have a F&P one which will hang around on 1 minute remaining for about five apparently doing diddly squat.

    Replying to myself because I can, did a load yesterday, set my phone to match it's time, and the washing machine bet the phone by three minutes.



  • @Douglasac said:

    @Douglasac said:
    Just out of curiosity, is it a Fisher and Paykel? We have a F&P one which will hang around on 1 minute remaining for about five apparently doing diddly squat.

    Replying to myself because I can, did a load yesterday, set my phone to match it's time, and the washing machine bet the phone by three minutes.

    Who won the bet?

    (This post by Making Fun of Typos, Inc.)



  • @blakeyrat said:

    Who won the bet?

    I did. I won clean laundry. I did lose once and got dirty laundry because the door wasn't closed to it's liking, and so it never started the cycle.



  • @Douglasac said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    Who won the bet?

    I did. I won clean laundry. I did lose once and got dirty laundry because the door wasn't closed to it's liking, and so it never started the cycle.

     

    You would have recouped some of that loss in drying time though.



  • @Douglasac said:

    @Zemm said:
    Mine has this too, but it's not the best at estimating time remaining: it gets stuck at 11 minutes remaining for about 10 minutes for example.

    Just out of curiosity, is it a Fisher and Paykel? We have a F&P one which will hang around on 1 minute remaining for about five apparently doing diddly squat.

     

    It's a Whirlpool. I bought it partly because of the other Whirlpool :-)

    @Tiggrrr42 said:

    @Zemm said:
    Mine has this too, but it's
    not the best at estimating time remaining: it gets stuck at 11 minutes
    remaining for about 10 minutes for example.

    Haven't we all seen progress bars like that? I once had one that swore
    it only had 20 minutes remaining, and kept insisting that for the next
    two hours. Washing machines are models of accuracy by
    comparison.

     

    It's just that it does it every time, so we know to compensate for it. Progress bars aren't used by the Mrs very much - but she does a fair amount of laundry (she likes to put the baby in cloth nappies, for example).

    @MiffTheFox said:

    Just in an attempt to clear everything up, hanging up clothes to dry it not illegal.
     

    My watching of American movies and TV shows suggests that no-one hangs out washing anyway! (Except the hillbillies/rednecks). I don't even own a dryer and hang my clothes on a Hills Hoist in the sun to dry.



  • @Zemm said:

    @MiffTheFox said:

    Just in an attempt to clear everything up, hanging up clothes to dry it not illegal.
     

    My watching of American movies and TV shows suggests that no-one hangs out washing anyway! (Except the hillbillies/rednecks). I don't even own a dryer and hang my clothes on a Hills Hoist in the sun to dry.

    Well, to be fair, some parts of America are Western Washington, where hanging up your clothes outside would actually leave them more wet.

    BTW: judging us by movies is a pretty bad idea. Movies have their own reality.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    BTW: judging us by movies is a pretty bad idea. Movies have their own reality.

    So you all don't either live in a 4-storey house (basement, ground, upstairs, attic) or in an apartment with views of Central Park? (Or in a "trailer")? OMG! You have shattered my image of reality!



  • @Zemm said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    BTW: judging us by movies is a pretty bad idea. Movies have their own reality.

    So you all don't either live in a 4-storey house (basement, ground, upstairs, attic) or in an apartment with views of Central Park? (Or in a "trailer")? OMG! You have shattered my image of reality!

    Wait... does that mean you don't actually own a leather hat with crocodile teeth, or drive a hell of a motorcycle, while hunting for fuel? Weird.



  • @Kiss me I'm Polish said:

    Wait... does that mean you don't actually own a leather hat with crocodile teeth, or drive a hell of a motorcycle, while hunting for fuel? Weird.
    You just nearly described my dad...



  • @Kiss me I'm Polish said:

    Wait... does that mean you don't actually own a leather hat with crocodile teeth, or drive a hell of a motorcycle, while hunting for fuel? Weird.
    No, I avoid hats where possible, I catch buses which seem to always have fuel in them. Although there is one that sounds like it should be put out of it's misery, it makes a terrible squeaking sound when the gearbox shifts gears.


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