Steve Barker wrote:
Michael A. Terrell wrote:
Bob Larter wrote:
William R. Walsh wrote:
Hi!

The obvious solution to this problem is to buy laundry equipment with
conventional electro-mechanical controls. (Assuming they're still
made.)
They most certainly are. It's still quite possible to buy (at least
in the
US) a washer or dryer with conventional, non-microcontroller-based
controls.
Even some of these fancy-dancy front loaders are made that way:
http://greyghost.mooo.com/doingthela.../newwasher.jpg
(494x691,
20KB).

I've been inside it once, and the internals are what you'd expect of a
machine much older. The timer is a simple mechanical one, water
level is
detected by vacuum, and while the drum motor has an electronic
controller,
it looks to be well made.

How it's possible to not make the microcontroller-based controls work
reliably for years and years is beyond me. Makers of microwave ovens
have
managed to do so for years. I've *never* seen a microwave oven with
a dead
control panel.
I have, several times.


Dozens of them.



I've never seen a microwave quit for any reason. AND if it did, i'd get
out another $69 and buy a new one.

Safety interlock switches & catches go bad all the time. My own high-end
National switch-mode uwave oven snapped a door catch while it was still
under warranty, but it was just before xmas, so I repaired it myself.
(Diassembled the door, glued the broken catch back together, cut up a
steel plate the same shape as the catch as a strengthener, & glued it to
the catch. It's been working perfectly ever since.)
The uwave at my office stops cooking every now & then. It fires back up
again if you push on the handle, so one of the uswitches is obviously a
little out of position. I haven't bothered fixing that one.

--
W
. | ,. w , "Some people are alive only because
\|/ \|/ it is illegal to kill them." Perna condita delenda est
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