Free Republic

When Jessica Romer pulls clothes out of her new washer-dryer, they feel cool and a bit damp but dry to the touch within seconds. Using no electric heating element or natural gas, the unit’s dryer employs a pump to draw in ambient heat from its surroundings, making it 50% more energy efficient than traditional models—though without producing that warm, toasty feel. “It’s different and strange,” said Romer, who lives in northern Florida, “but it does work.” Whether Romer’s heat-pump dryer represents the pinnacle of energy efficiency or just the latest stop on a long climb is part of a debate...

President Joe Biden’s climate change-obsessed Department of Energy (DOE) was wrong when it reversed Trump-era rules making dishwashers and laundry machines more efficient for Americans, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday. A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the agency acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner when it repealed laundry machine and dishwasher rules designed to cut down on wash times. The order, penned by Judge Andrew Oldham, also notes that “it is unclear that the DOE has any statutory authority to regulate water use in dishwashers and clothes washers.”

2023 was an unusually bad year for appliance regulations, and future years won’t be much better unless Congress finds a way to stop the nonsense. It all started last January when Richard Trumka Jr., a commissioner on the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), announced an investigation into the safety of natural gas stoves and boasted that a ban on them was "a real possibility." That sparked a powerful consumer backlash, followed up by strong denials from the Biden administration that any such ban was in the works. But CPSC has still gone ahead with its inquiry, and in February, team...

The Biden administration’s War on Modernity is death by a thousand regulations. It’s no secret that the Biden admin wants to ditch gas stoves as well as impose harsh regulations on washing machines, dishwashers, water heaters, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, and anything else they can think of under the guise of “saving the planet” from climate change. These regulations make things more expensive and people either shell out more of their hard-earned dollars for a basic necessity or do without because the appliance has been priced out of reach. It’s also a direct attack on the freedom of the consumer...

When progressives can’t pass their agenda through the front door in Congress, they sneak it through a regulatory back window. That’s what the Biden Administration is doing with gas stoves, as the Energy Department this week proposed new rules that amount to a gradual de facto ban. A Biden appointee on the Consumer Product Safety Commission ignited a firestorm last month by threatening to ban gas stoves. After criticism from West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and others, the CPSC chairman rejected the idea, and White House officials said they didn’t support banning gas stoves. Then why has the Energy Department...

Supply chain bottlenecks have Americans waiting longer for the dishwashers and washing machines they've ordered. President Joe Biden's regulatory onslaught means that consumers will also spend extra time running whatever home appliances they do manage to get their hands on. Earlier this week, the public comment period ended on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposal to ban "short-cycle" dishwashers and laundry machines, which clean pants and plates much faster but consume more energy and water to get the job done. These products were legalized under the Trump administration as part of its crusade to undo stifling energy efficiency limits...

A coalition of environmental groups sued the Energy Department on Tuesday in an effort to block a new federal rule that would allow for faster dishwashers, arguing it could possibly lead to “higher household utility bills and more pollution.” The rule finalized by the department in October would create a product class of dishwashers “with a cycle time for the normal cycle of one hour or less from washing through drying.”

Energy Department wants to ‘make dishwashers great again’ with faster-cleaning appliances “People’s time is a nonrenewable resource.” That’s the argument pushed by the Trump administration as it moves to roll back energy-efficiency requirements that slowed down dishwashers and other household appliances, according to one Energy Department official quoted this fall when the proposal was open to response. The department has now said it will move ahead with the rule-making change that came about with prodding by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, known for its activism refuting climate-change statistics. The group supports a new class of “fast dishwashers” that can complete a...

In my think-tank work in Washington, D.C., I witness the ongoing, heroic battles of Trump appointees trying to tame the weeds of the thoroughly entangled bureaucracy. So much time and so much work is required to make even the smallest progress in rolling back the behemoth. Right now, for example, the rule solving the dishwasher crisis is opening for comment. Back in the 1970s and 80s dishwashers were an efficient product, cleaning the vestiges of last night’s dinner party off dishes and silverware in under an hour. Then regulations began, demanding less water be used, then less and less. The...

It is time for a dishwasher. My last dishwasher was replaced three times by the manufacturer before I ripped it out and started handwashing. time to go back to dishwashers and I cannot find a timed dishwasher, just ones that are ENERGY EFFIEICENT with sensors. The biggest problem I had with the newer untimed dishwashers is that I would have to rinse the dishes instead of scraping them. the second problem is that because I did not rinse them, they ran for six to eight hours becaus there was debris that the sensors picked up. Lousy design. I am looking...

GE Appliances has recalled about 1.3 million of its GE, GE Adora, GE Eterna, GE Profile, and Hotpoint dishwashers because an electrical failure in the heating element can pose a fire hazard. GE has received 15 reports of heating element failures, including seven reports of fires, three of which caused extensive property damage. No injuries have been reported, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. None of these recalled dishwashers are in our current Ratings. Sold for $350 to $850 at appliance dealers, builder distributors, and other stores nationwide from March 2006 through August 2009, the recalled dishwashers came in...

Everything is grubby in countries run by statist moonbats — even dishes fresh out of the dishwasher. A couple of months ago, Sandra Young from Vernon, Fla., started to notice that something was seriously amiss with her dishes. "The pots and pans were gray, the aluminum was starting to turn black, the glasses had fingerprints and lip prints still on them, and they were starting to get this powdery look to them," Vernon says. "I'm like, oh, my goodness, my dishwasher must be dying, I better get a new dishwasher." But others are having the same problem all across the...

General Electric is recalling two-and-a-half million dishwashers because of a wiring problem that could cause a fire. The recall includes GE dishwashers sold under the brands Eterna, GE, GE Profile, GE Monogram, Hotpoint, and Sears Kenmore. The brand name is printed on the dishwasher's front control panel. The dishwashers come in many colors or stainless steel. They were sold through department and appliance stores between September 1997 through December 2001 for about $400. GE received nearly 200 complaints of overheating, including 12 fires caused by the washers. There were 56 reports of property damage. The problem: liquid rinse-aid can leak...

NEWTON, Iowa - Maytag is voluntarily recalling 2.3 million Maytag and Jenn-Air brand dishwashers because of faulty wiring, the company and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement released Thursday. The recalled appliances are blamed for causing 135 fires and four injuries. Affected dishwashers were sold at department and appliances stores between July 1997 and June 2001 and sold at prices between $370 and $800. The dishwashers were manufactured in the United States. The machines should immediately be disconnected from electrical power by shutting off a circuit breaker or disconnecting a fuse, the CPSC said. Maytag will...

A couple of months ago, in the privacy of his Reston townhouse, Alan Chien made a final break from cultural tradition, a guilt-filled decision he has yet to share with his parents. He used his dishwasher. He knows his parents will not understand. "They don't believe in it," said Chien, 35, an engineer who emigrated with his family from Taiwan when he was a toddler. "Just because they never used it, I never used it, so it was just a mysterious thing to me." In many immigrant homes, the automatic dishwasher is the last frontier. Long after new arrivals pick...