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@ovrphil: There is a difference between physical length and effective length of duct run. The difference is important. Most people don't need a dryer duct booster fan, unless there's a problem with the original house design or construction.

Meh... A clutch replacement should include the clutch disc and the throwout bearing at the minimum. Replacing a pressure plate isn't necessarily required, but is good practice if your budget allows. As long as everything is opened up, the clutch slave cylinder should probably be replaced...

@chris74: You said: "...naphtalene is causing cancer as many other petro-chemicals do." Thanks for the concern, but wasn't it you folks that sent Thalidomide over here in the early 1960s, which is a terotagen? I mean, we used to line our closets with mothballs made of napthalene, but I don't...

This kind of he-said, she-said kind of stuff is usually a waste of time. Until we can see the Brit version of the petition from Dyson and the response from Bosch. What's the Brit court version of a petition for summary judgement? I dunno. FYI, we have a Dyson, and while it's a pretty good...

I'm still trying to understand how Chrysler went broke after seeing the ads a few years ago with Dieter Zetsche pitching the brand. At least Dieter lost less money selling Chrysler to the mooks at Cerberus, than Cerberus did buying that boat anchor company, and unloading it to the Italians...

@retro-man: I would estimate that the percentage of the U.S. population that has domestic hot water recirc is almost zero. If you have a hot water heating system where the domestic hot water comes from the heating boiler, then the efficiency penalty from adding a recirc pump to the DHW system...

Not every piece and part can realistically be sourced from the U.S., in the case of Speed Queen, nor can every piece and part be realistically sourced from Germany, in the case of Miele. Intent is important, IMO. When you see something in a store that says, "Proudly assembled in the USA!"...

@tomturbomatic: Our Amanatag has all cold rinses. But if set to the "tempered cold" wash setting it will try to provide 60-65F wash water. The tempered warm wash is 90-95F and the hot setting is tap hot. I think I understand what you're getting at, though. But having to finagle the hot and...

@launderess: One option would be to dig around and find a machine that you can harvest a servicable motor from. I do that for old Chevy and Ford parts - might be a whole different story trying to find a Miele junkyard in the U.S., though. Another option might be to find a motor shop that...

Wow, McGraw Edison is a blast-from-the-past name. They used to make really good smaller AC motors. But once you got to the bigger size range, Allis-Chalmers used to make some really good motors. Yep, the people that made farm tractors. You can still find Allis-Chalmers motors attached to...

@MrX: Interesting stats on natural gas consumption, thanks for sharing that. In the U.S., recent discovery of large volumes of natural gas via new methods of drilling and production (i.e., fracking) have really sent the other electricity generation and home heat fuel sources on their ear -...

Is it similar to the one in the link below (but not necessarily Barney purple)? If so, it's an LG from South Korea. More water isn't necessarily better, just as raising the fuel pressure to a Hyundai fuel injection system isn't necessarily better. I guess it's human nature to think that, "If...

Ethanol fuel has nothing to do with it. If you have a problem with water in your fuel system, the ethanol would help rather than hurt compared to straight gasoline, since ethanol can tie up water. There's a reason your car has an OBD-II port - find an honest mechanic that can read what's...

We use Finish Quantum. Because we can buy a big bucket of it, and it costs about $0.10/load. But without a good supply of Jet-Dry rinse aid in the dispenser, we don't get very good results. That's based on our results with a middle-of-the-road Whirlpool dishwasher that is supposed to sense a...

Check out a psychrometric chart. Dry air is easily cooled; moisture-laden air isn't. Most utility companies will recommend that you adjust your cooling setpoint upward while you're away from home. People that live in dry areas can cool their homes with a swamp cooler - introducing water vapor...

I like V-8 juice, but have never tried it with pot roast, will have to try that, but I have tended to use tomato paste and the liquid from the veggies. But...if you have access to Parsnips, they can add a lot to a pot roast - not as sweet as a carrot, but good stuff, and kind of becoming a lost...

It's always fun to see home-brew soap recipes. My Aunt Alice used to make soap with rendered pork fat, lye and a couple other secret ingredients. She made it outside in a cauldron over an open fire - probably because unleashing that much Sodium Hydroxide indoors would have sent everyone to the...

@dustin92: Sounds and looks good. My go-to cookbook for old-school stuff is the "Better Homes New Cookbook" which has been published for a gazillion years. Mine is the 1981 edition, and by spot-checking is pretty much a dead ringer for my Mom's 1954 edition. Anyway, their recipe is: 1-3/4 C...

@bobo: It's unrealistic to expect anything built in the U.S. to be built from 100% U.S. parts. Look at the 100% Canadian items. Other than poutain, the list is pretty short. Even a washer built in China probably has parts from Myanmar and Viet Nam. I build things out of Canadian lumber...

@super32: Good to know about the weakness of the outer tub, thanks for the info. I'm still kind of PO'd that when I bought the Amanatag I was told I was buying a Maytag, and I thought that meant a real Maytag. Yeah, it had Maytag on the front panel, but...on the other hand I didn't know the...