When appliances attack

Ya’ know there are names for different groups of things.
A Pod of Wales, A Murder of Crows

And now I submit two more.
What do you call a gathering of BLFers.
A Shine of Flashaholics.
Any others come to mind?

And finally -
A Conspiracy of Appliances.
Last weekend the ice maker in the new refrigerator decided to make water instead.
Came home to a small pond in the kitchen.
Naturally it ran across the floor, under the cabinets, under the adjacent wall into the bedroom.
Where it soaked into a few square yards of wood flooring.

Got after it with the shop vac, and several fans. Cut a hole in the bottom of one of the cabinets and made up a super sucker out of an old AC blower to draw moisture (hopefully) back from the bedroom area.

Could not even open the freezer door because water had pooled up in the bottom and froze it shut.
Took 3 days for it to thaw enough to get it open.

Here is where the conspiracy comes in. Last night just before nodding off in bed – I kept smelling something. Something wrong. Tried to identify the smell. Almost ignored it.
Then the flash cards in my brain aligned and – HOLY CRAP – I smell burning (or darned hot) electronics). Jumped out of bed. Grabbed the bedside Olight and went hunting.

Got to the kitchen and the smell was stronger. Went to the various rooms where there is all sorts of electronics.
Back to the kitchen and I could detect a bit of a beam pattern in the light smoke (?).

Got to sniffing more and decided it was the old refrigerator. Pulled it out from the wall, unplugged it.
Full of dust bunnies. Sucked them out, but didn’t think that was the problem.
Pulled off the back panel. Whoo-Wee STANK. Touched the motor – too hot to touch.

Got out more fans and started venting the house.
Turned the new fridge on – without the water connected.
Finally made it to bed about 2:30.
Next day started pulling foodstuffs out of the old fridge. And started the transfer to the new one.

A conspiracy of appliances I tell ya.
All the Best,
Jeff

Sounds like a mess. Water damage is terrible. I had a 30 year old valve start leaking in the basement this week. Luckily I found it before it flooded the finished floor. Good luck drying everything out.

sorry, man.

as i have posted before:
my neighbor spent ~30 years in the home-owners insurance business.
she says appliance-induced water damage was the #1 claim every year.
washing machine water hose splits, refrigerator ice machine fails, etc.
her refrigerator has NO water intake. her washer hose is steel-belted.
my sister’s first floor was flooded due to a failed clothes washer hose.

back to conspiracies:
our toaster oven
has joined with our
hallway smoke detector.
not our kitchen SD, not our
bedroom SD…only the hall.
they have an understanding.

We still have our Fridge we bought in 1996. I’ve replaced the icemaker once, other than that its still kicking. I’m hesitant to “upgrade” to a new model, because all I read is how new appliances are very prone to failure. I’m sure one day I’ll have to bend the knee and buy a new one, but not looking forward to it.

In reading your story, I would have bet money, it was the new refrigerator that would have been the problem. The old ones typically just keep working, until they don’t.

34 years out of the old one, so I think I got my monies worth. Just wish it had failed in a less odoriferous manner.
And you can’t buy anything other than a base model that doesn’t have an ice maker.
I’d rather have the extra room in the freezer compartment.
And another gripe. The old one had a full expanded parts list. The new one - nada. Other than a cartoon on how to hook it up.
I mean it’s a fridge. Err…. Plug it in?
All the Best,
Jeff

Those little water sensors are worth their weight in GOLD.

They saved me on more than one occasion.
Leaky water heater, water coming in basement from flooding, sump pump failure, clogged up dehumidifier drain hose.

Only downside is they do not have replaceable battery, you just get new ones every 3 years.
Well worth the money and they are loud.

Wish i had known about “water sensors”, i’ll have to look them up.

Over the years and in different houses, i’ve had 2 refrigerators with the ice maker water connection spring pin hole leaks in the cheap a$$ plastic tubing and soak the floor. Also the steel braided lines for toilets and sinks are just an illusion—underneath the metal jacket they are cheap a$$ rubber hose that will split and make pin hole leaks that soak the floor and carpets in adjacent rooms.

Now i use copper or brass tubing to make the water connections, and i just make ice the ol’ timey way using trays filled with distilled water. The ice maker is not hooked up to any water supply. Or go the store and buy a small bag of ice and pour it into the ice maker bin. Saves money and pain in the long run, wet wood underlayment is a mold growin’ haven.

Sorry couldn’t remember name of product.

Leak Frog is most widely known but did not get those.
I got these;

Meanwhile, he kept hearing a faint voice…

“Get out of here, Finchley! Get out of here, Finchley!”

We have a 23 year old Whirlpool fridge with an ice maker and water dispenser. The water filter is in the back of the fridge which is a pain to replace.

Over the years I’ve replaced the water solenoid valve and defrost timer. And I clean the coils every year.

We’ve looked at newer ones since they look nicer, and also due to increased capacity and energy efficiency. But decided not to replace since it still works and due to the numerous issues we’ve heard from our family and friends with their new refrigerators.

Sorry about the issues you’ve had jeff51 - that sucks!

Never saw anything like those water sensors before. What a great idea!

Just random thoughts…

Yeah, water that’s not absolutely necessary can be a pain in the ass. Ages ago, we had fixed-length tubes to feed the toilet that at some point developed a pinhole leak. Replaced with a “steel reinforced” flexi-hose. Great, ’til it popped near the crimp. I thought I heard what sounded like someone using a spraycan (I got hearing like a bat), went to investigate, and saw a lateral mist of water being shot from the hose. K, water off, replace hose. Okay so far.

Gf heard way way too many horror stories about fridges springing leaks, that her last fridge, she refused to connect it to a water supply. Uses a Brita or whatever, so the pitcher’s always in the fridge, cold as needed. Gonna need ice, toss in some trays. Can’t keep ice in there for too long before it takes on a nasty stank and an even nastier taste.

Where I worked, we had a hot/cold water machine and the holding tank was supposed to be low-maintenance. Ha! Playing with my light, I opened the top lid and shined down into it. Ay-yi-yi! Beige floaty-thing that was wending its way around various nooks and crannies. I named him “Leetle Creecher” (lotta Russian dewds at work, so why not?). Whenever anyone’d go for the water when I was around, I’d be like, “You sure you wanna do that?”, then show them Leetle Creecher. Finally, someone called someone who cleaned’n’bleached the innards.

So yeah, if you want ice and cold water from the fridge, I’d make sure to check the innards to see what’s growing in there.

Maytag washer? Top-loader with a submarine screw for a propeller at the bottom. Probably over 50yo by now. Motor replaced once. When I move, I’m taking it with me, period. No retarded computer is going to be dictating how many teaspoons of water I’m allowed to use. If I want a full tub of scorching hot water for just a pair of sox, that’s my choice.

Toaster went bye-bye. Inner coils didn’t light up anymore, so if I wanted bread to be, like, toasted on both sides, I’d have to do one round, eject, flip 180°, go another round. Problem is that it likely didn’t get hot enough anymore to trigger the “timer”, so you could happily char-broil one side while the other was left untouched. I did that for a while ’til the ejector spring stopped springing as much, that I’d have to go fork-fishing to get the english muffins out sometimes. Fun. When I got some EMs that kinda preemptively broke into pieces and I ended up fishing out muffin-nuggets instead, it went into the garbage whole. With the muffins.

Microwave oven hasn’t nuked in over 2yrs. Haven’t tossed it, as I like the clock and timer. Lights up, turntable spins, fan whirrs, but no nuking. Bulky, so might toss it and get a regular clock/timer thingy, but it’ll be nowhere nearly as convenient as the one that’s there.

Those water alarms saved my arse once. The pump relay welded shut and the pressure rose high enough to shoot out of the water heater pressure relief valve.
And those braided supply lines leak when they feel like it.
My favorite is a brass valve that just up and decides to crack after sitting there just fine for years.

Devices used to be shipped to customers with schematics. Now some companies refuse to provide schematics even to third party repair shops. Or they make deals with manufacturers not to sell parts to anyone but themselves. Greedy companies want to sell new devices and be the sole source of repair. That’s bad for consumers and bad for the environment. What incentive is there for a company to make products that last if they make money off of them failing too?

Recently New York State passed a Right to Repair law and I hope more states follow. I hope everyone will excuse the technically political link. I don’t think this is a partisan issue that will cause any arguments.

Yes, sometimes we can force the manufacturers to comply

Right to repair.
That’s why I won’t own any John Deer product until they change (or most likely forced to) change their policies.

Those little water sensor thingies are new to me also. Unfortunatly nobody was home when the fridge decided to pee all over the floor.
But I’m going to pick some up for future adventures.

I’ve had several water heater leaks. Always managed to make it to the sunken living room. Hell of a mess.
Time before last, I put in a huge drip pan.
“Let’s see you overflow that sucker you SOB”
Years later came home to another flood.
Whisky Tango Foxtrot

The tank was fine. The Frellling input hose had cracked and was spitting water onto the wall 3’ across the Util. closet.
Down the wall to the living room again. But this time it also ran into one of the bedrooms because it found a new path from the spray.

They conspire against us.
And why o why put the washing machine shut off behind the washing machine so when it leaks you have to move the washer!

I did fix this by routing a set of valves off to the side where they are easy to reach. Never had a leak since.
All the Best,
Jeff

I heard about that one. I’d say that’s government working as it should—protecting people from predatory practices by corporations.

Speaking of predatory practices, are you aware of the situation with loot boxes in videogames? They are essentially unregulated gambling.

For anyone that doesn’t know, some newer games allow you to purchase boxes of random in-game loot with real money. The digital items in the boxes have fixed rates of chance to appear and those rate are rarely disclosed (this is slowly changing). As a “normal” adult this is no big deal, I have no interest in gambling and I can recognize a bad value proposition and avoid it. The problem is that these systems can target kids in ways that gambling usually can’t and are also intrusive to adults who might be struggling with gambling addictions. I’ve heard people admit to spending thousands of dollars on free to play games…I think a lot more regulation is required.

Problem with right to repair hearings before congress etc. is that the company reps flat out lie and there is often no one available to call bullshit on their BS.
Who they going to listen to? Someone from a company that spent a few hundred grand in campaign and other perks.
Or somebody who is trying to tell them that soldering a wire or changing a part does not make the (whatever) into a potential IDE ready to wipe out entire counties and make you wear out of fashion clothes to boot.
Hopefully the battle will slowly swing in the consumers favor.
All the Best,
Jeff

This guy has been very active in the Right to Repair.
Also has interesting vids on fixing unfix-able Apple products.

I know of Louis! I wish every state had it’s own Louis Rossman—the outlook on Right to Repair would be a lot brighter.