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Most surge protectors use MOVs - Metal oxide Varistors, their resistance decreases as the voltage across them increases, and decreases sharply above a specified operating voltage, following a sort of bathtub curve. You'll typically find at least one MOV on the circuit board in most switch mode...

Dyson's modus operandi always seems to be to come up with something he can patent, so noone can copy, and use marketing to convince people it is better. His machine got a fair amount of publicity from BBC's Tomorrow's World as I recall, showing the unique wash action of the prototype. The Dyson...

We do get the occasional drought you know, it only takes a slight shift in the jetstream, although in this region they usually result in just a hosepipe ban. There was a notable one in 1976, with water turned off in some areas and people getting their water from standpipes in the street. :-...

I'd have thought dishwasher detergent would be a bit harsh on fabric. I used to know the mechanic in charge of the garage for a local holiday park, he'd get his wife to wash his overalls with Swarfega to get the grease out.

Dawn If you check the ingredients of cascade platinum plus, and compare it to dawn, you will see that it does not actually contain dawn. The packet is actually claiming twice the grease cutting power of Dawn, it is just marketing spiel. These two ingredients are listed as boosting the grease...

STPP Miele used to have an article on their site about banning STPP in dishwasher detergent. It was basically saying it was more important and difficult to replace in a dishwasher than in washing machine detergent, and that dishwasher detergent only used a small amount so had negligible...

Depends on price. I usually buy multiple packs when there's a decent offer. I mostly use Finish Ultimate or Finish ultimate plus infinity shine, but I prefer Fairy Platinum plus, seems to wash very slightly better. Cheaper dishwasher tablets are hopeless since phosphates were phased out. I try...

Our first dishwasher, a Hotpoint (UK) branded Bosch also had a similar warning against using other than dishwasher salt. It also explicitly warned against using table salt because of the anti-caking (free-flow) ingredients and other impurities it contains would damage the media. I was rather...

Finish dishwasher salt is usually about 4 quid for a 2 kg box here, competitors like Crystale are typically half the price, or less. I bought Lidl own brand (W5) salt recently, it was £ 1.15 for a 2 kg box, so less than a third the cost of Finish. I do find it interesting that Finish still sell...

Reply #2 I actually came across someone on a UK deals forum saying that they put a little dishwasher salt in the dispenser with their tablet. They said it was more convenient than putting the salt in the softener unit, and filling the unit wastes salt, because salt water and a little salt that...

I've also found leaving the door and draw open between washes prevents black mould. Although, I also use powder detergent that has sodium percarbonate that kills bacteria. When I first got my Zanussi, I wasn't in the habit of leaving the draw open, just the door, and it developed a really bad...

Good grief, they could be well on their way to culturing a new deadly germ warfare bacillus in there. It's bonkers that someone would allow a machine to get in that state and still put their clothing in there without cleaning it up, it would come out so saturated with bacteria it might come...

My favourite control panel is still the Hotpoint Microtronic X2000 my mum got in about 1980. I liked the nice sized, clearly labelled, tactile buttons, particularly the non latching centre 4 buttons that interfaced to the MCU. The programme numbers 1 - 8 corresponded to the numbers on standard...

Over here, water towers have mostly been made redundant by modern pumps. Many have been demolished and others converted/developed into unusual homes.

Standby power. There are so call Zero Standby power devices, which use less than 5mW in standby. Someone even developed a zero power remote control system, where the receiver generates enough power to turn itself on from the light from a laser in the remote control. I tend to switch most...

# 146 Wind, solar hydro not viable etc... Last year wind turbines provided the UK's national grid with 83 terawatt-hours, around 25% of Britain's electricity and second only to gas. It's the cheapest source of electricity generation in the UK. It's a shame we don't have more locations for...

As I recall centrifugal force depends on the square of the RPM, so that's the most significant factor. However the rule of diminishing returns applies. I did once think about getting a spin dryer to remove some extra water and save electric drying. I figured I could use the slow spin on the...

The thing about appliances like a front load washing machines, is they are a bit of a black box, well typically they're white, but the consumer shopping for one really doesn't know what they are getting for their money, what lies beneath the case. You can compare superficial stuff like max spin...

I can understand the repairman's negativity towards heat pump dryers, their designs have gradually improved with better filtration, self cleaning heat exchangers, and self cleaning that's less likely to clog with lint and leak water, and he probably gets to see a higher proportion of the older...

He's actually right about our condenser dryers using slightly less electricity than vented models. It used to be the case that vented were more efficient, but as designs improved their efficiency caught up and surpassed vented machines. The efficiency does fall off badly in a hot room, and...