Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/01/14

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Subject: [Leica] There's something about German design ...
From: shino at panix.com (Rei Shinozuka)
Date: Sun Jan 14 17:40:45 2007
References: <DBDB1E15-2D00-47AC-A7E8-9E66C2A2D102@home.netspeed.com.au> <C1D02131.1B33A%bd@bdcolenphoto.com>

my fisher and paykel dishdrawer beats all.   slick as all getout, 
two drawers loading from the top, you can have dirty dishes in one
and clean in the other and double-buffer your dishes.  the bad news:
a nearly $2,000 pricetag, leaky from day one,  majorly broke down at 
least once a year, and in less than 5 years a 
completely rusted-out hulk that was declared absolutely unrepairable.  

supposedly the new ones are much more reliable, but i ended up replacing 
it with a plain-jane front-loading machine.

-rei


On Jan14 18:04, B. D. Colen wrote:
> I loved my Miele dishwasher; dependably clean dishes, load after load,
> washed in virtual silence. And then it went belly-up the day before
> Christmas after only eight years. It seems the main board is shot. The main
> board costs $550 to replace, plus installation - I don't do dishwashers.
> Granted, a new one now costs $1300 to $1800. But at 8 years I'm at the 
> point
> where it's not unrealistic to expect other multi-buck parts will start to
> fail. If I was going to stay in my house for another 8-10 years it would be
> worth investing in a new one; but I'm not. So it isn't. Whirlpool/Kitchen
> Aid, here I come.
> 
> 
> On 1/14/07 3:11 PM, "Rick Dykstra" <rdandcb@home.netspeed.com.au> wrote:
> 
> > As much as  I dread that word 'bypass' - recipe for disaster - I'm
> > considering doing it in fixing my dishwasher.  Google tells me the
> > proper solenoid will be $350 kangabucks.  Say $300 hollywoodbucks.  eek!
> > 
> > Rick.
> > 
> > On 15/01/2007, at 1:43 AM, Rob McClure wrote:
> > 
> >> I dunno.  I love well-engineered things as much as most (BMW,
> >> Omega, Mont Blanc, etc.), but sometimes items can be over-
> >> engineered.  As an example, our home came with a Clare Megasave
> >> furnace.  This is a Canadian unit, quite unique to my Ohio location
> >> (the nearest dealer is 80 miles away).  Initially I had trouble
> >> with it failing to start and my neighbor, a retired Westinghouse
> >> electrical engineer and mechanical genius, came over to help.  The
> >> electronic controls were unbelievably complex with all kinds of
> >> redundancy built in to meet the high standards dictated by Canada,
> >> where severe winters can cause a catastrophe in the case of furnace
> >> failure.  Unfortunately one of the backup features was conflicting
> >> the circuit and keeping the furnace from consistently starting.  He
> >> bypassed the backups and it has worked perfectly these past 15 years.
> >> 
> >> Rob McClure
> >> 
> >> 
> >> On Jan 14, 2007, at 6:46 AM, Rick Dykstra wrote:
> >> 
> >>> I spent today slowly pulling our Miele dishwasher apart, to figure
> >>> out why its not filling fully.  I think it's the solenoid.  Not
> >>> just any solenoid, but part of a failsafe twin solenoid leak-proof
> >>> disaster safe design.  And having seen the insides of this thing
> >>> now, by golly what a beautifully designed well made, repairable
> >>> bit of gear.  An absolute contrast to the Australian made Vulcan
> >>> gas heater I pulled apart last winter (worn out fan).  And the
> >>> Miele vacuum cleaner I pulled apart last year was also great to
> >>> work on (worn out carbon brushes).
> >>> 
> >>> So why is it that Germans are such good industrial designers?
> >>> It's as if they know their work will be appreciated when customers
> >>> finally need to fix the thing.  :-)
> >>> 
> >>> Impressed I am.
> >>> 
> >>> Rick.
> >>> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Leica Users Group.
> >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information

-- 
Rei Shinozuka shino@panix.com
Ridgewood, New Jersey


In reply to: Message from rdandcb at home.netspeed.com.au (Rick Dykstra) ([Leica] There's something about German design ...)
Message from bd at bdcolenphoto.com (B. D. Colen) ([Leica] There's something about German design ...)