Even the most reasonable people can't make the argument when the direction is so wildly independent of reality. For example, water usage limits on dishwashers that make people run the cycle twice and end up using more water and more electricity than the old ones.
I find dryers are particularly bad at this. Mine has 5 levels of dry-ness. Even on "ultra dry" the clothes usually come out damp. So I run "ultra dry" twice. Lol.
My less than one year old brand new LG washer dryer has a perfectly functional set of buttons to configure it, but it will not allow me to do so without connecting to their app on my phone over Bluetooth and giving them permission to read my web browsing history.
These machines were over $1000 and they changed the terms on the app a week after we bought it. Not that we'd ever connect it to our phones anyway.
I, for instance, cannot tell it to dry on low heat for a long time until it's actually dry. It is impossible to configure it manually, it beggars belief.
And of course they know full well how much of a nightmare it is to return appliances that heavy and expensive, so it's always a surprise. Why would I even think to look for such a ridiculous anti-feature? I'm not creative enough to think of these regressions since the 90s, what's next, I can't turn it on at all without a face id? The features have barely even changed in that time...
Same with my new television that wanted me to agree to terms and conditions after spending over an hour mounting it on a wall. They seriously weaponize the inconvenience of returning these things... thankfully I had an extra computer to connect to it instead but most people don't.
I think a regulation on appliances saying they must have all features that are standard or advertised available with no extra steps is a good start. Yeah, this person has an issue with builder kickbacks too, but the core issue is hardly limited to new construction or contractors.
We have an LG wall oven that had a binding arbitration sticker on it. Anyone that uses it enters into a binding arbitration agreement with LG according to the sticker.
Of course, there's no notice at time of sale, and by the time you see the sticker, you're looking at redoing brand new kitchen cabinetry if you return the stove.
I suspect it is not a legal contract (post sale, well after returns become infeasible). If it is somehow binding, when companies pull crap like that, I think the "I reject" path should involve them reimbursing you for your time and any sunk cost you incurred before being informed of the contract.
Steve Baer (Zomes, Nightwall, and many other inventions) noted in his book "Sunspots" that:
* if a person replaces a solar powered drying technology like a clothes line or rack with a fuel-powered dryer, the GDP and/or other similar measures of economic health improve
* if a person replaces a fuel-powered dryer with a solar powered dryer like a clothes line or rack, the same measures apparently get worse
His conclusion (in the 1970s/early 1980s) was these measures are clearly fucked.
With a wife and 2 kids waiting 24hrs for strategic placed massive loads of clothes to dry just isn’t an option either lol Phoenix with that dry heat I bet was effective as a high end dryer!
Seattle houses are heated near continiously outside some summer hours, so the house interiors are relatively dry. In a place where you don't have heaters or ACs on a lot and the climate is humid, stuff stays humid.
I had a roommate who used to do this (thus sending our utility bill up along with some other power wasting habits), and I once asked them the question I'm about to ask now:
other than for moments when you plan on wearing something as soon as it comes out of the dryer, what prevents one from using the normal dry cycle, and then letting whatever garments that don't get completely 100% dried-air dry in the closet or up on hangers on a shower pole or something?
Also important: some people live in areas with higher ambient humidity than other areas. If you live in an area where swamp coolers are a viable option in the summer, then of course you'll have trouble understanding why some people don't see hanging up damp clothes to be a reasonable option.
With the premium that house space demand, a cloth track, even a foldable one, can ruin your living space for hours a week. And since there's a strong correlation by laundry and weekends, you'd get your living space stalled the days you need it the most.
Hanging clothes on a rack inside is easy, but hanging sheets inside is not. I use my dryer for sheets when weather or time of day makes the outside line not a solution. I also use the dryer occasionally if I need some particular clothes in a hurry.
I never put things through the dryer and then hang them though; my dryer works, and I don't even use the highest setting.
This is not true. In fact, in the context of this discussion, the opposite is true, that is to say, there are many HOAs (i.e. corporations) that prohibit hanging clothes outside, but there are actually several state laws which ban such prohibitions, so this is actually a case where regulations are protecting people's freedoms, not restricting them, like your comment implies.
The county next to where I live has banned vinyl siding for the entire county. It's not an HOA rule, it's a countywide government rule. Wouldn't be surprised to find out there are counties or towns that have their own clothesline ban.
> Maine, Arizona and Vermont all prohibit hanging clothes outside to dry.
Are you sure you don't have that backwards? From what I can find these are "right to dry" states which have banned clothesline bans (eg your HOA can try to ban it, and the state overrides it)
You have this half-backwards: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin - these states all have "right to dry" laws.
> Now, amidst growing concern about wasteful energy use, clothesline proponents argue that the traditional method of drying laundry is not only cheaper but better for the environment. Lawmakers in some 19 states have agreed, enacting “right to dry” laws that prohibit clothesline bans,
> The exact nature of “right to dry” laws varies from state to state—while some prohibit clothesline bans directly, others recognize a right to use solar power that implicitly may preclude those in authority from preventing a homeowner from drying laundry in the sun.
You see this with appliances in general. Appliances are tools. They need to be maintained to some minimal degree and used properly.
I've rescued Dyson hand held vacuums where the only problem is that the previous owner forgot to give the removable filter a rinse. I see people shove plates in a dishwasher with food solids that end up caking on, or placing bowls upright so they rerun the cycle.
For example, water usage limits on dishwashers that make people run the cycle twice and end up using more water and more electricity than the old ones.
It's a similar phenomenon to "low flush" toilets that clog and/or have to be flushed multiple times, using roughly the same or even more water than what they replaced.
Get a Niagara. 0.8 gallons per flush. Best flushing toilet I have ever used in my life, at any gallon per flush level. Sustainable/conserving doesn't have to suck.
However, their quality control is kind of terrible (2/2 had defects in the porcelain causing them to run indefinitely out of the box). I patched both up, and now they're OK.
In fairness, Niagara offered to ship replacements for both free of charge.
Also, they cost a tiny fraction of the other (worse specced) water conserving options, and, thanks to covid we bought them from sketchyplumbingoutlet.com or some such site (they could have been returns for all I know).
Anyway, they flush better than any other residential toilet I've encountered (including high flow and low flow ones), and use 0.8 gallons per flush.
