A Rotten Weekend

[19&41]

On Friday, the forecasters predicted a sudden cold snap early Saturday morning. Late that evening, they predicted wind with it. When I got home, before going to bed, I checked my power alarm. it goes off when the power does. sure enough it woke me up at 3:30. I got up and put kerosene in my flat wick lamps. No power and 20 degree wind chills out. I was low on gas and drove to Costco to get gas and get warm. Most of the signals were out but I didn't see any accidents. The power finally came up Saturday afternoon. Half the weekend destroyed.

[William]

I hate when that happens. Rex, how cold did your house get? 20 degrees is cold for your neck of the woods. Costco must have had generators to provide power for their gas pumps? I'm glad you got the power back and now you are warm. Or, is now 70 so you don't need the furnace?

Bill

[19&41]

It got into the 40s in the house. I had to warm up in the car. The furnace got things back up in about an hour. It has been in the 50s here lately. it was in the 50s the day before and then the day after the outage. The power outages are spotty around here. The trees grow over the power lines and the wind blows the lines together. I've had to run the AC a couple of days so far.

[electra225]

Sorry to hear about your harrowing experience. I came home this afternoon to a dead refrigerator. The only thing that worked was the interior light. The digital control panel was dark. Whirlpool advised to unplug it, wait at least 60 seconds, restore power and observe. They say a power surge caused the computer to shut it down to protect it. It came back up and seems to be working okay at this point. We'll know more in the morning. Gas here is $4.79 for regular. I'll keep a good thought that everything gets back to normal real soon.

[19&41]

That is great your fridge had that safety feature. Power hits can be pretty vile with appliances.

[TC Chris]

Sounds like a good argument for old-fashioned, non-digital technology in the appliance realm. I posted a while back about my old GE fridge that ran after being flipped end-for end. Would the modern version have survived?

My little hot-water heating boiler has a fan-forced flue. It won't fire unless there's a positive pressure at the blower, as a safety measure--like a thermocouple, sort of. At one point it was firing & refiring until it got warmed up so the guy came out and replaced the pressure sensor. Each time it has been serviced the guys have said "Good thing it's not that circuit board...." I guess the electronics are the price we pay for efficiency. But when it comes to the fridge, I don't really need a "smart" appliance that will tell me when I'm out of milk. I just want something that will run reliably. Forever, preferably.

Chris Campbell

[William]

I agree totally, Chris. My fridge is 24 years old. It's a Maytag and came with the house when I bought it 6 years ago. As I have mentioned before, the house was built in 1998 and all the appliances except the dishwasher are original to the house. Weekly I get emails from the electric company stating they will give me $50.00 for my old "working" fridge, and come and pick it up. They claim I need to do this because it's very inefficient. Nope, not going to do it. It maybe a little inefficient, but it still works and there is no computer in it. I'll hang onto it as long as I can, thank you very much!

Bill

[Motorola minion]

Refrigerators from the 1930s-1950s have a few drawbacks, but have the fewest issues and use less electricity.
YES - that's right and I proved it using a Watts-up meter. "Energy Star" is a race to the bottom. Bottom of durability, that is. At end-of-life the efficiency is moot if you're disposing of a failed appliance.

The old rounded-tops don't have defrost timers to malfunction, which can shut a newer fridge down depending how they fail. Defrosting is a one-two day affair and the main reason these were upgraded in the first place.

They maintain temps and seem to run much less, owing to their longevity AND efficiency. A grounded cord is a must-have for any old-fridge upgrade, as they could have leaking current (stray voltage) on the case for a variety of reasons.

The door gaskets are another issue but even that is an easy fix usually. The ones on my '51 Kelvinator (made by Nash) with a top-freezer door also, were cracked. I got a roll of gasket/seal and cut/fused until it was done.

I inadvertently unplugged my '50 Philco after I defrosted it and ran it until it was 33 degrees, leaving the door closed. 30 hours later, it only rose to 40 degrees.

The 1947 Westinghouse is used in the summer kitchen, sometimes for half the year. Even though it was in an outbuilding in summer, it used HALF the KWH that the 1996 Whirlpool did, in the air-conditioned house.

[hermitcrab]

Try to get rid of a old refrigerator or freezer... so much of a hassle almost not worth buying one.... got to get the refrigerant vacuumed out by a pro and a special sticker is put on it verifying it has been done just to recycle it... I did verify mine was empty ... right after my dykes cut the lines .... it sat in front of the garage for a month.. my plan was to use the sawz-all and cut it into pieces... but a scrap collector knocked on the door asking if I wanted it gone... I told him it did not have the sticker ... he told me there are ways around that... I gladly helped him load it into his pick up ... along with some other scrap I had lying around ... no such thing as global warming ... but they sure do worry about inert gases in the atmosphere... I wonder why?