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The Curse of Government
Washing Machines

by Karen De
Coster

Recently by Karen De Coster:
We
Should Do What the Government Says Is Good for
Us

Many folks
never stop to think about the impact that government mandates have
on every single facet of their daily lives. Take just one example,
and that is the interminable string of decrees on the part of the
governmental-environmental-green complex and the ensuing
repercussions on the lives of individuals.

This
interesting article on
Epinions discusses the impact of federal energy efficiency
standards for washing machines, including (1) the myths of energy
savings (2) the long-term, negative environmental impacts of the
high-efficiency machines, and (3) the cost to consumers of the
government’s high-efficiency, short-lived washers. The writer
notes:

Too many
large appliance products are now being engineered to meet
priorities that do not include a reasonable interval between
repairs and a service life commensurate with their
initial cost.

…All high
efficiency, high-speed spin washers (both top and
front-load) invariably possess a motherboard and a host
of electronic parts, and according to those who repair them for a
living, washers crammed with multiple electronic sensors,
touchpads, digital displays, and miniaturized
circuit boards tend to need more frequent repair – i.e.
– replacement.  They must be kept on an
electrical circuit with functioning surge protection, because
their vulnerable and expensive solid-state components can easily
degrade or burn out with electrical power
surges.

The writer
points out that the federal government’s 2007 Energy Star standards
have, for the most part, eliminated the traditional design for
washing machines because those machines cannot obtain the
government’s certifications, unlike the newer devices that
manufacturers have turned out to specifically meet federal
requirements.

I never bought
into the high-efficiency (HE) concept, and in fact I have always
despised the newfangled front-loader design. I was right when I
assumed the opinion that those atrocities were nothing more than an
environmental stunt and marketing scam, backed by the force of
politics and special interests. Consumers have been sucked into
buying these things because of their keen looks and pretty colors.
Almost everyone I know has a front-loading machine.

Until November
2009, I still had my mother's old machines that were 20-ish years
old, and they worked great, for years, before they both began to
slowly poop out. When the dryer ceased to dry in one cycle, and the
agitator on my washing machine began to puncture numerous holes in
my clothes, it was time to get new appliances. I bought a Kenmore HE
washer and dryer combo, on Black Friday at Sears, at half-price. I
did not seek, or want, HE appliances. But I did desire a washer
without an agitator, and mostly because of my agonizing two-year
battle with my old washer to keep my clothes free of holes. I was
planted firmly in the anti-agitator camp. So I wanted an
agitator-free top loader, but since those models were all HE, I
walked away with the purchase of a new, top-loading HE washer and
matching dryer. I should have listened to the appliance salesman at
Sears who told me, "You really shouldn’t blame the agitator." In
retrospect, it is clear that I blew it on this purchase. And that
agitates the heck out of me.

This
inefficient, high-efficiency thing has done nothing but break down
since I bought it. It once ate, and I mean shredded to
bits, an entire blanket, causing the washer to jam up, and the
dang water could not empty out of the washer. Service call. The
water sat there for two days and stunk up the basement after I gave
up on bailing it out. The appliance repairman told me that
high-efficiency washers tend to eat delicate stuff because of the
high spin speed. Also, I was told, "Oh, you can't wash
rugs. These things spin too fast and the weight of rugs will break
the drums and other parts. You need to take your rugs to the
laundromat." I had been washing my rugs due to
hosting a perpetual dog hair festival in my house, and I'll be darn
if I will own a washing machine that insists that I go to a
laundromat to wash them.

So this piece
of junk breaks all the time (I have the 5-year, extended warranty),
it eats delicate things, it can't spin rugs, you have to use special
HE soap, and it has so many computer boards and electronic parts
that it breaks down more quickly than you can say, "my computer is
hour-glassing again..." Also, I've had to spin and re-spin clothes
many times because the washer doesn't spin the clothes dry enough,
thus leading to throwing eighty pounds of water-logged clothes in
the dryer, therefore sucking up even more energy from dryer use and
repeating drying cycles, and potentially breaking my dryer from the
excess weight load. I’ve set my dryer on back-to-back 70-minute
cycles in order to dry saturated clothes. Energy savings indeed!
Just like the government-mandated, low-flow toilets where the flow
is so low that they don't move molehills, let alone
mountains.

Well, my
washing machine broke again two weeks ago, and if I could
lift it like I can lift a laptop, I’m sure I would have hurled it
across the basement. Eventually, the machine started working again
when I fussed with it a bit, and that lasted a couple of washes
while I held my breath waiting for the machine to spite me once and
for all. So indeed, it broke again last week, and it took forever
for me to get the lid lock to unlock (!) so I could get my clothes
out and take them to the laundromat. I had to invent a hatful of
magician’s tricks just to get the jaws open to get at my clothes.
Then it brazenly hissed at me, followed by the beeping and flashing
of numbers and letters in the display in an obsessive-compulsive
rage. What a useless piece of crap.

For the most
part, we shall not put the blame the manufacturer – instead, blame
the government and the politicization of every aspect of our lives.
Here’s another passage from the writer of the article.

The
government assumes that all high-efficiency,
high-speed-spin washer owners – regardless of brand/model
- are satisfied with the cleanliness of their clothes
and aren't fudging with extra wash or rinse cycles, nor using
more hot water in order to increase cleaning power (or
to reduce widely-reported high-efficiency
front-load washer odors).  For those of you who don't
precisely match the assumptions in the government model (washing
mostly in cold water, using an indoor/outdoor
clothesline or drying rack, using a high
efficiency solar water heater or heat pump, or washing
fewer than eight family-size loads of laundry per week), don’t
count on saving much money before you pay to replace that
washer again!

I’m tired of
being without a washer and waiting for a Saturday repair appointment
or taking time off during the week to meet the repairman. And while
I wait for the appointment, I drag my clothes to the laundromat,
burning $4/gallon petroleum to get there and back, and when I get
there I use age-old, 1980s-style, "inefficient" machines to waste
the water I was supposedly saving with my new machine that wastes
energy, time, money, parts, landfill space, and human
energy.

The Sears
repairman came by, and I noted he loves to talk. He cornered me in
the kitchen with a long conversation following his news, "Sorry, I
don’t carry the part you need. It’s going to be several days before
we can get the part." I asked him why these newer things were such
pieces of crapola, hoping to engage him in one of my dissident
discussions.

This man needed
no impetus from me – he went on and on about how the government has
created these malfunctioning monstrosities, why he will never buy a
modern washing machine, and why everyone should look for the more
reliable fix-up relics from the past. He fessed up that everyone in
the industry – manufacturers, retailers, repairmen, etc. – know that
these government-inefficient contraptions are no good, and the
challenges of high-efficiency design means they can never be built
to last without triggering significant cost increases to the
consumer. Thus, in order to manufacture and sell washing appliances
at an affordable price, the producers are squeezed to design and
build malfunctioning junk that "saves the planet" while the
consumers of these products are saddled with green-induced landfill
paraphernalia.

In summary, the
government’s green totalitarianism has created a massive economic
inefficiency with its energy-and-money-wasting, "high efficiency"
washing machines.

On a macro
level, there exists a diversion of resources due to manufacturers
rushing to meet government "voluntary compliance" standards and
mandates. Manufacturers are forced to rush shoddy designs to
market to meet mandates instead of strategically directing
long-term resources toward research and design implementation as
desired by consumers in the marketplace.

Wasted
energy resources through repeated cycles (spin, wash, extra
drying, or otherwise) on the part of users to maintain previous
standards for the cleanliness, dryness, and wrinkle effect of
clothes.

Increased
maintenance and repair cost to consumers over the life of the
machine due to the mandates forcing manufacturers to implement
substandard product design.

Economic
inefficiency to consumers due to the shorter life span of the
machine.

Huge
landfill graveyards of non-repairable machines that are discarded
because they are too costly to be fixed.

When my
warranty runs out in 2014, this puppy is going on Craigslist as a
"cheap, damaged good," and if that doesn't get any takers, out to
the curb she goes, for the garbage pickers. I'll buy a used,
old-fashioned, ugly, water-hogging, rebuilt, grandma washer, as sold
by many local fellas who make a living fixing up and selling used
appliances. Until then, I'll keep washing my rugs and keep breaking
this thing, and Sears will keep fixing it, on their dime.

November 10, 2012

Karen De
Coster, CPA [send
her mail] is an accounting/finance professional in the
healthcare industry and a freelance writer, blogger, speaker, and
sometimes unpaid troublemaker. She writes about libertarian stuff,
economics, financial markets, the medical establishment, the
Corporate State, health totalitarianism, and other essentially,
anything that encroaches upon the freedom of her fellow human
beings. When she has a few moments of spare time she engages
functional fitness, adventure cycling, photography, conversations
with friends, and visiting wine regions. This is her LewRockwell.com
archive and her Mises.org
archive. Check out her website.
Follow her on Twitter @karendecoster.

Copyright ©
2012 Karen DeCoster

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Coster

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