washing machine

Re: washing machine

Regarding Bosch appliances: A year ago or so I replaced my top loading builder grade washer and dryer load center with a Bosch front loading washer and dryer set that fit perfectly in the space required, being a smaller size. I love them. I then found a larger Bosch front load washer used for $100 because the previous owner said it had taken to sometimes not doing the final spin. He was right but I am always able to get the final rinse by running a "Refresh" cycle (wets stuff down and spins it dry). I love it. I shipped it to the wilds of Puna on the Big Island of Hawaii where it runs flawlessly on my 2,700 watt PSW APC SmartUPS 3000 as long as I let the UPS do all the work. I have a small Honda EU1000i that is not strong enough and when I try to run the little Honda through the UPS to power the washer it lags so badly that the UPS declares a power failure and takes over. Of course at that point the little Honda revs up just fine, the UPS sees good power again and switches back to the Honda, the Honda bogs down again, and it will go on like that indefinitely with the switches in the UPS clunking away, the Honda revving and bogging down, and the lights getting brighter and dimmer on a 1-second cycle. Meanwhile the Bosch Nexxt washer just keeps on truckin' except that rarely I have to run the refresh cycle to get that last spin done.

Somewhere in there shortly after I bought the new set of washer and dryer for my place back in civilization, I spotted a Bosch Aquastar 1600HP tankless water heater for cheap at Lowes. The H means it has a little hydrogenerator to provide the electricity for the controls to run on and the P means it runs on propane. Exactly what I needed! And its a Bosch! Score! I kinda wondered why it was marked down to 1/3 price and put out front with the other orphans. Well the reviews on it were very mixed. A few said it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Many said they had trouble getting it running properly and Bosch customer service was no help. Well, that could be because most people are helpless cripples when it came to installing their own stuff. Not me!

Long story short it came out of the box broken. The little gray electronic control box was defective. The flame sensor wouldn't sense flame. I (licensed Proff. Eng.) could see it. The girl behind the counter at Hilo Propane said "Oh. A Bosch. It's the control box". Michael of Michael's Repair, the professional installer I contacted at the insistence of Bosch customer service could see it. Bosch would not send me a new box. Because I am foolish and because it would cost me just as much to junk it and go with another unit, I went ahead and spent $208 to buy the part from Michael. Yup, that's right. Michael's Repair is the outfit that stocks their parts in Hawaii, but no, they wouldn't trust him unless he made a personal visit which I would have had to pay him for and which might still have resulted in my having to buy my own parts. Michael knew all this. You should have heard him coaching me before I talked with Bosch, like an attorney prepping a crack whore that was going to testify against the mayor. Bought the part, it works like a charm, and I love it.

Meanwhile back in civilization someone in my household managed to break a little plastic nub off of the plastic handle on the door to the washer, probably trying to open the door while it was still locked. Fortunately I had bought the extended warranty. Or so I thought. I took the door apart to make sure I knew what part to ask for and while I was in there I "temporarily" fixed the handle by gluing the nub back on. I ordered the parts. They did not include the part I needed and in fact did not look at all familiar, that is until I got to the Big Island and saw the latch on the older machine. Bosch service has no idea I have the other machine. Just dumb luck. Luck on my part in case I ever need those parts. Dumb on their part since they have once again failed to honor their warranty obligations. Well, I am going to give them another go on the new washer but it looks to be an uphill struggle. They don't send just the part that broke, which I had to identify by cruising the appliance parts sites on the net. They do list the whole door but won't send it because it costs too much. I have to have a tech come out and see for himself. Fortunately they will pay for all that supposedly.

Love Bosch appliances but you are on your own when it comes to service.

I posted already about the washer/UPS/EU1000i. Basically the EU1000i can handle 800 watts, the washer draws 500 or so watts, there's a few lights on, and the UPS is also feeding off it to charge the batteries. It does OK until the spin but then it is just too much for the little guy.

Re: washing machine

Got an EU2000i. It will run the washer even on the sterilize cycle (turns the internal heater on) although you need to turn eco throttle off under those conditions. The EU1000i would falter during the spin cycle even with the eco throttle off.