Way Off the Wall

Leo_G

I need some clarity for my sanity!

We purchased new kitchen appliances, the sexy brushed stainless stuff.

Yet, if I put a magnet to the surface it sticks!

Have the laws of physics been abolished while I was sleeping?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Fn36l_z3WY

SWEI

As usual, it depends https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austenitic_stainless_steel

Abracadabra

316 also costs more than 304, which is another reason some appliance manufacturers have switched to 304.

Mark Eatherton

Now called stain resistant.... Hey Leo! HApPy NeW YeAr (be late eh'd)

There are over 150 different grades of stainless steel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel

ME

KC_Jones

Unless there has been some massive change in the specs on 304, it is definitely not magnetic. I just went out to a stack of pallets in our shop filled with 304, 304L, 316 and 316L and a magnet won't stick to any of them. I double checked our specs and definitely not magnetic. I know some 400 grades are magnetic and there are some newer 200 series that are magnetic. If you have some magnetic 304 I would like to see that. If you work harden it you can get it to sort of be a tiny bit magnetic, but not to a useful level.

ChrisJ

304 stainless isn't magnetic.

SWEI

My bad -- correction above.

KC_Jones

No worries. It's all about learning around here, best part about this site.

Gordy

Probably because of my wife the SS is backed with sheet metal steel.

We bought SS appliances with our kitchen remodel. Wifey goes to hang the magnetic calendar planner on it, and it fell to the floor........a uhmm that's not going to work anymore dear. WHAT!!!!! Velcro.

KC_Jones

Now that's funny, but only because I can see my wife doing the exact same thing.
Wife: You didn't tell me that would happen.
Me: I thought you knew that when we bought it.
Wife: You didn't tell me so how was I supposed to know.
Me: How am I supposed to know what you don't know?

ChrisJ

Almost all of our appliances are stainless and I hate it.
Too damn hard to keep clean.

Now, a nice smooth white porcelain enameled cabinet cabinet on the other hand cleans really easy and holds up well over the years.

Gordy

Windex and micro cloth no problem.......

ChrisJ

Gordy said:

Windex and micro cloth no problem.......

I've got sausage fingers, can't hold a microcloth, it's too small

Either way the white porcelain enamel stays cleaner far longer and is easier to clean. I've got them in the same room with the same 18 month old baby.

Gordy

KC_Jones said:

Now that's funny, but only because I can see my wife doing the exact same thing.
Wife: You didn't tell me that would happen.
Me: I thought you knew that when we bought it.
Wife: You didn't tell me so how was I supposed to know.
Me: How am I supposed to know what you don't know?

That is exactly how it went KC

Gordy

Chris you can't put your dirt

ChrisJ said:

Gordy said:

Windex and micro cloth no problem.......

I've got sausage fingers, can't hold a microcloth, it's too small

Either way the white porcelain enamel stays cleaner far longer and is easier to clean. I've got them in the same room with the same 18 month old baby.

You gotta quit caressing that steam boiler before you go to the fridge.

ChrisJ

Gordy said:

Chris you can't put your dirt

ChrisJ said:

Gordy said:

Windex and micro cloth no problem.......

I've got sausage fingers, can't hold a microcloth, it's too small

Either way the white porcelain enamel stays cleaner far longer and is easier to clean. I've got them in the same room with the same 18 month old baby.

You gotta quit caressing that steam boiler before you go to the fridge.

You ought to know, no matter what there's only one fridge for me and it's not stainless.

Well,
The evaporator is nonmagnetic stainless, I believe 18 gauge. Door hinges are brass. Cabinet screws are monel and the chassis is galvanized.

bob_46

highly efficient and stone reliable defrost system, will last a life time. ;>)

ChrisJ

bob said:

highly efficient and stone reliable defrost system, will last a life time. ;>)

It works pretty good as long as the room is above freezing.

Jamie Hall

Since you're talking refrigerators... I well remember the first mechanical refrigeration that was installed in the place I care for. Before that it was an ice box, and the mechanical arrangement consisted of an evaporator coil where the ice used to go, and downstairs there was a whacking great electrically powered, two cylinder V compressor and the condenser coils. Scared me stiff as a little kid! I don't know what the refrigerant was -- ammonia, perhaps.

It worked...

Leo_G

Wow! I posted this more as a lark, and them BAM! I LEARN SOMETHING NEW!

You guys slay me!

Leo_G

And a happy new year to you too Mark, and everyone else in our trade!

ChrisJ

Jamie Hall said:

Since you're talking refrigerators... I well remember the first mechanical refrigeration that was installed in the place I care for. Before that it was an ice box, and the mechanical arrangement consisted of an evaporator coil where the ice used to go, and downstairs there was a whacking great electrically powered, two cylinder V compressor and the condenser coils. Scared me stiff as a little kid! I don't know what the refrigerant was -- ammonia, perhaps.

It worked...

It's amazing how many people always assume old refrigerators used ammonia when pretty much the only ones that ever did in domestic use were and are the absorption type.

The beast in your house could've used a few different refrigerants from sulphur dioxide, methyl chloride, etc. SO2 was by far the most popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

Jamie, it's a shame they didn't buy a monitor top in the 1930s, it'd still be there in use.

Jamie Hall

I suppose it could have been SO2. In those days, I didn't pay much attention to the machinery! I will say, though, that that contraption worked fine until the late '50s.

KC_Jones

I won't disagree with Chris about dependability of those old Monitor tops, but I think the fridge is still one of the most dependable appliances in the house. Not that that is saying a whole lot. My parents used to have an old Westinghouse (1950's) When they remodeled the kitchen they moved the kitchen fridge into basement and threw away the old Westinghouse, 3 weeks later it died. They should have kept the Westinghouse.

ChrisJ

Jamie Hall said:

I suppose it could have been SO2. In those days, I didn't pay much attention to the machinery! I will say, though, that that contraption worked fine until the late '50s.

Many monitor tops made from 1927-1937 are still working fine in 2016.

Gordy

Let's see here bought all GE profile.

Fridge puked the mother board went out just outside of warranty. Ice maker always jamming.

Dishwasher has the automatic detergent dispenser. Garbage. If you mix detergents cakes in the dispenser. Then it all most burnt the house down.
Daughter calls me at work. Dad smokes coming out of dishwasher.

Me: yeah I started it before I left for work steam.

Daughter: it smells like it's melting plastic.

Me: sigh...... Open door that shuts it off I will look at it when I get home.

I get home open the door. Racks everything melted. WTH??. Suppose to be off reach in to grab the rack. Heating element still cooking. I had to turn it off at the breaker.

Out of warranty. Call GE. After a strongly worded conversation, and a little fibbing of how it all most burned my house down they send out repair man to see if it can be fixed. I priced the guts on line, cost more than the 900 I paid for the dishwasher.

Repairman shows up. Never seen this happen before. End up getting a new dishwasher. On GE. Delivery guys show up with new dishwasher. Old one sitting outside. One guy says what happened I just bought that same model. I said open it up. He looks inside. I'll be for taking that back tomorrow.

Double oven no issues.

Glass 36" electric cook top no issues.

ChrisJ

@Gordy

Yeah, not quite the same as a 1920s-30s GE product, especially a monitor top refrigerator.

To be honest, I personally think all modern GE stuff is junk.

Pumpguy

Double oven no issues? You're lucky. Panel board went out on ours, new Whirlpool in 2001. New ones not available. Repair guy got rebuilt replacement, no good. 2 trips later a different color rebuilt panel works. Repair guy lost money on this job for sure. Online search of this problem shows it's very common. Customers unhappy about Whirlpool not having replacement panels. At least it's working now. Repairs cost about 1/5th price of new double oven, which would have had to be a different color since our color is no longer available also.

vaporvac

My GE Monogram convection oven has worked like a champ for about 15 years, but I think I lucked out. It's also built to a slightly higher standard than the Profile line. Not a single problem.
However, it doesn't retain heat with the electricity turned off, unlike my Chambers stove that's 65yrs old and looks like a goddess in the kitchen. There's nothing on her I can't fix myself; the beauty is in the original design and materials used. With the exception of KitchenAid and a few European lines, SS is just window dressing. My almost 70yr old fridge is SS INSIDE as well as outside, is silent and hardly uses any electricity, and has about 21CU ft of usable interior. However, there's no water/ice on the door or butter/egg tray, but I can live without that. I suppose that why people like us like steam heat, as well.

Fred

KitchenAid has been owned by Whirlpool for about 10 years now. Pretty much Whirlpool appliance now. I had a KitchenAid frig, Double Oven and cooktop years ago. Great products at that time. I don't know anymore, since acquired by Whirlpool. Of course the mixers are still the original design and still a great product.
For the last 25 years, I have had a Subzero frig/freezer and a Wolfe Range (also owned by Subzero). Not a minute of trouble out of either of those appliances yet.

KC_Jones

It's funny how these topics evolve on here at times. I have Whirlpool dishwasher, washing machine and dryer since I moved in over 13 years ago. Bought them new then and so far I had to replace door switch on the washer and dryer. Other than that not a minutes trouble with them. We are a family of 5 and the dishwasher gets run pretty much daily since my oldest was born (8 years ago) and probably every other day before that. Roughly 4000+ loads of dishes and it still runs and looks like new. When the twins were born we ran that dishwasher about every 3/4 of a day because of all the bottles (16 per day). I am a fan of Whirlpool.

ChrisJ

My 1933 GE refrigerator uses less power and is quieter than our 2011 Kitchenaid refrigerator. It's condenser is also a whole lot easier to clean.

The Kitchenaid you need to empty it, then pull it out a foot or 2 from the wall, and after cleaning any water out of the tray under it, lean it back against the wall behind the fridge so you can vacuum the condenser. The condenser they claim never needs cleaning.

ChrisJ

KC,
My Kitchenaid dishwasher (made by Whirlpool, approx $800 in 2011) blew a hole in it's heating element when it was less than a year old. Besides that, it's been ok though I hate how weak the door hinges and latch feel.

Also, anyone that felt putting the buttons and indicator lights on top of the door where no one can see them and the steam vents under the counter should be punched in the throat.

KC_Jones

lol Chris my Whirlpool was $450.00 in 2002. Not sure what that would be today, but I bet my eyeballs pop out of my head. I spent 1500 for all 3 of those Whirlpool appliances in 2002. Wait we aren't supposed to talk about money on here! lol I agree about the buttons, mine are on the front and I am glad they are.

Gordy

ChrisJ said:

Also, anyone that felt putting the buttons and indicator lights on top of the door where no one can see them and the steam vents under the counter should be punched in the throat.

My GE has the same control setup. Thought the same thing.

Gordy

Not to Change the subject ...........

Hey sausage fingers.... It now occurs to me why you need spring keys to type more proficiently....You know who you are

ChrisJ

Gordy said:

Not to Change the subject ...........

Hey sausage fingers.... It now occurs to me why you need spring keys to type more proficiently....You know who you are

*Buckling spring switches. Not spring switches.

They just came rebuilt and converted to USB today.
The white one is 30 years old.

BobC

I have one of the IBM's and 3 of the old OmniKey 102's which were great kbds in their day if you used programs that required a lot of ctrl/fn and alt/fn combo's for command functions (Wordperfect / VersaCad).

@ChrisJ Where did you get the kybd converted to usb?

Bob

ChrisJ

BobC said:

I have one of the IBM's and 3 of the old OmniKey 102's which were great kbds in their day if you used programs that required a lot of ctrl/fn and alt/fn combo's for command functions (Wordperfect / VersaCad).

@ChrisJ Where did you get the kybd converted to usb?

Bob

The current manufacturer of the model M did it for me on two of them. Unicomp.

http://www.pckeyboard.com/


If you call or email them they will tell you what you need to do to have it done. That white keyboard was my first one, made in 1986. They cleaned it and converted it to USB and it has a 6 month warranty. The black one is a 2004 one made by Unicomp. They converted it to USB and repaired a small issue I had with it.

BobC

Thanks @ChrisJ

Bob