They Just Don't Build Appliances Like They Used To Anymore

[toggleswitch]

As a matter of fact I had a hard time finding an electrican to re-do my main service.

Here on Long Island the main residential service is allowed to be brought in via plastic sheathed cable (romex) stapled to the house. You can get PVC plastic pipe easily as an upgrade. I went through hell finding an electrician willing to do the job to sricter NYC standards, (i.e. running the main service in through a steel threaded pipe.)

The trick apparently was to find an electrican with offices on both sides of the NYC border. They know the laws here and are willing to work as hard as they usually do to meet the tougher standards there.

 

[petek]

I had a plumber in today to show me how to take care of our 1957 hydronic boiler and to add an air-bleed valve as well. He pronounced it fit as a fiddle and probably good for another 20-50 years service, knock on wood. Moms 10 yr old Carrier hi-efficiency furnace has already had 3 hi pressure exhast fans replaced along with a circuit of some sort. Previously she had 2 original 50's gas furnaces working fine but switched them out just to have one furnace and one central air unit instead of two. It's beginning to look like she'd have been better off keeping the old ones and having two a/c's installed if the thing breaks again.

 

[launderess]

NYC Electricans Are In Short Supply

For many residential jobs, from what one hears from friends. With the construction/building/remodeling boom going on, many NYC electricans can make a good days work doing those sort of jobs rather than bothering with "easy" household jobs that can take only an hour. When most are willing to do the job it runs almost a full days rates and or one only gets junior workers doing the job.

Great freinds of mine have been trying to get some electrical upgrade work done, including installing a 220v outlet. So far rate quotes run $3000 or more for what is easily a mornings work if that.

L.

 

[bajaespuma]

Romex vs. BX

NY didn't allow ROMEX because rats can't chew through BX as easily as they can chew through ROMEX. Also, for a while there was a rash of copper wire thieves and those rats had trouble with BX too.

 

[gansky1]

Wow! $3000 for a morning's work - I would fall over dead. The new construction market has been a little slower here in the last few months, one the largest "starter" home builders went under amid horrible scandal so that has set things back some. I haven't had much trouble finding people to do work in my kitchen remodel project, but the wiring was very simple and I did most of it myself. You can see the wire coming out of the walls for the under-cabinet lighting. I replaced all the wiring for the outlets and lights/switches that had not already been done a few years ago.

I used 12 gauge wire in my project as well, a bit of overkill I guess but it matches what was already there.

 

[toggleswitch]

12gauge/ 20a wire is good! And IMHO what is normally used for appliance circuits!

 

[peterh770]

Back to the Neptune

There is no difference mechanically between commercial and domestic Neptunes. Maytag didn't, and Whirlpool certainly wouldn't, run separate production lines to produce basically the same machine.

Note that Maytag put the Neptune into the commercial market. Note also that Maytag did NOT put the Norgetag into the commercial market, but kept the orbital design almost exclusively for that market.

While home last week, I took all my sister's family wash to a local laundromat and used the commercial Neptunes. They did pretty well, except I went about nuts without a window in the door. I hope WP keeps them around and puts in a d@mn window!

 

[logixx]

I doubt there'll ever be a window in THAT door because the door contains a vibration absorber:

Cabinet Vibration Absorber
The purpose of the cabinet vibration absorber
is to provide a dampening effect to the washer
during the spin cycle. By dampening the
machine vibration, the washer is able to maintain
and achieve optimum spin performance.
The stabilizer is attached to the inner door plug
with two screws.

(Laundry Products -> Maytag Neptune Washer)

http://servicematters.com/tech_ref/JA/ja_main.htm

 

[spiralator60]

Commercial vs. Residential Neptunes

From what I've seen in self service laundries and apartment complex laundry rooms, the commercial Neptunes offer only the most basic of choices to the operator. Unlike the residential models, there is not much you can do to customize the cycles already programmed on the machine. In other words, once you select a cycle and put money into the coin slot (or use the card reader), that's pretty much it - no Quick wash or Spin Only selections, either. Come to think of it, I don't remember that there was an option for an extended spin, Max Extract, like there is on the residential Neptunes, but that could be different.

 

[launderess]

"Was" a rash of copper thefts in NYC? It still is going on and the bastards will steal any copper they can get their mitts on. Probably would try and get the Statue of Liberty if it wasn't so damn big! *LOL*

Several weeks ago there was a news report about how persons are stealing copper wiring from some electic signs in subway stations. They are also breaking into old/abandoned homes and or those being redone and ripping out all the copper they can lay their hands on, mostly heating (lots of baseboard heating systems) and water pipes.

As for rats chewing through things, some say the recent NYC problem with rodents is because of a relaxing of certian laws allowing other than copper pipes, especially connections from the sewer to the house.

NYC Electricans:

Don't know if the job would take only the morning, but a friends wanted a 220v line run, and since they had a fuse box it would have to be taken out and replaced with a panel, then would be the wiring for the outlet. The $3000 price was the lowest, though some others gave lower, but cautioned them against using qualified workers as shoddy work could put them, their home and apartment building at risk. In the end they are using a step up converter (smoking one out every few months depending upon how often appliance is used). Am trying to convince them to give up the ghost as the later isn't the best option either, but one cannot get too much into other people's business.

L.

 

[DADoES]

The local electric coop had a roll of wire stolen from their warehouse, value to the tune of $15K

Acquaintance of mine had wiring stolen from THEIR HOUSE, NOT under construction. Well, was a 2nd house they had bought near Austin (the city, not the Westytoploader), and they weren't there at the time.

 

[tolivac]

Many years ago I was called to check out an AM station in Baltimore-The jock was saying the "remote patterns were way out"!Went to the transmitter site and found the copper feedlines to the tower bases were taken-3 of the four towers-at that point all of 5Kw was going to the last tower-the theif must have suffred REALLY bad RF burns at that point-peices of seared skin were haingin off the last line-A freind and I took the call-We had to go to the nearest Hechingers and get some 3/8" copper plumbing tubing and make new feedlines.Replaced the missing ones and all was fine-These copper snachers will even try to take copper from live circuits-Another REALLY DUMB one tried to take copper busbars from and Amtrac electric railway overhead feeder near the New Carrolton Md Amtrac station.that fellow suffred really bad electrical burns and was lucky he wasn't killed.