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Appliances are supposed to be conveniences. Minor items that make our life easier. We hardly notice them. We just expect them to be there and to work well.

The [lifelinelink: OLDWORLD, Old World] has a very different view of appliances that influences their design and makes them very different from the standard [lifelinelink: NEWWORLD, New World] models. Efficiency in the NW means: "How well does it clean my clothes? How quickly? How much can I do at once?". OW appliance makers seems to market for: "How little power will this use? How little water? How small can we make it?" This leads to a great many designs that take much longer to do a very poor job with a small amount of laundry... but it doesn't cost much.

Enter the Germans They seems to share bits of both views and design appliances that are both functional (clean clothes well, reasonably throughput) and energy efficient. Our new washer and dryer, both are made by Miele who makes appliances for nuclear submarines, came with the standard European settings -- use as little water and power as possible but perform badly. While reading the manuals I came across this little gem:

All systems come from the factory with Sensitive Systems enabled to converse energy. Disabling this option will use more water and power but will clean more efficiently.

A few minutes reprogramming and viola! The washer fills with water instead of just trickling it over the clothes and the dryer moves faster and uses more air. <sigh> Perfect.

A good altar of appliances really is bliss.

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