... you really want an electric car? sure about that?

That's a good point.

I have also never heard of a Gen V Prius (the nice-looking new one) lasting 15 years.

Never.

I've heard of Gen I Priuses that have lasted 20 years, and Gen IIs that have lasted 15 years or more. But the longest that I have heard of a Gen III Prius lasting so far is 14 years. And the longest I've heard of a Gen IV Prius lasting is 7 years.

As for EVs, I've heard of Nissan Leafs that have lasted for up to 12 years, which I guess makes them more reliable than Gen IV Priuses. But yes, you're right, there are remarkably few EVs that have lasted 15 years. It must be because they're s--t.

That new Gen V Prius, though? I haven't heard of one of them even having lasted a year! Good grief!

 

I'm in Britain at the moment, visiting my parents. They have a front-loader.

I always think of America as a top-loader place, and Britain as a front-loader place. Australia falls between the two, with some of each. I know the US is moving a bit toward front loaders.

I have a top loader.

You're right. Front-loaders are technically better. They're quiet and efficient and they wash clothes well.

But my daughters are 11 and 14. There are always several socks and sets of underwear that I discover after I've started a load. With a top-loader I can open it up and drop them in while the cycle keeps running.

 

I mentioned elsewhere that I'm staying at my parents' in Britain at the moment.

Their toilet is a weird design. They've got three, but they're all the same. They don't look any different to other toilets in Britain or Australia. But they seem to generate the most extraordinary skidmarks. I find that after I've been for a poo, or after the girls have, I need to brush the pan every time, or it looks like the start of the Sonoma Raceway, but brown.

Has anyone else come across similar issues with toilets?

 

In my last four trips to Britain, I've rented:

- A Mercedes E220d (ICE)
- A VW ID.3 (EV)
- Another VW ID.3 (EV)
- A Nissan Qashqai diesel (ICE)

In all of them, I have driven at about the same speed. On a motorway (I'm guessing this is what our resident troll thinks of as "cross-country"), if traffic conditions allow I drive at 75-80mph. The speed limit is 70, but that is often dangerously slow on a British motorway.

I pass some EVs. Some EVs pass me. I'd say the passing-to-being-passed ratio is the same for EVs as it is for ICE cars. It's almost like @asjoseph 's assertion is utter nonsense.

On my current trip, I've seen about 50 broken-down cars at the side of the motorway. None were EVs. All were ICE.

What I would say is that the Qashqai is VERY slow. Way slower than the ICE Merc or the two VW EVs.

The VW EVs were faster than the Merc. And quieter.

Travelling 200 miles (Lytham to Glasgow or Lytham to London) cost me about US$70-80 in the diesel Merc or Nissan, and about US$10 in the EV VWs in England (or nothing at all in Scotland, where rapid charging is free). A tank of fuel gets me twice as far as a battery recharge, but the battery always outlasted my bladder, and the battery would recharge in the time it took me to stop at the service station, go to the toilet, and buy a sandwich and a delicious can of Irn-Bru.

The EVs were waaaay better for long journeys than the diesels. Faster, quieter, more comfortable, easier to drive, and a lot cheaper.

And that's an ID.3, which is a bad EV. A good one would be in a different league.

The only reason I don't own an EV is that they're not selling the ones I want in Australia yet.

 

I assume that's the USB charging plug on the left?

 

Yep..our 24 year old furnace is a bit over 80 percent efficient...which obviously doesn't compete these days. However, after pricing out a new furnace, paired with the horror stories of many with super efficient furnaces ( many high cost repairs, etc...), I decided to keep the one we have.

 

87% is the minimum efficiency level for an oil boiler to get the Energy Star rating. A condensing model will be over 90%.

I switched to a natural gas condensing boiler in 2013. Had to replace the circuit board and blower motor last year for almost $1000. That was more likely because of the basement moisture than the unit's reliability. A few years before that, lost heat because of the, IIRC, flame sensor. It is just a metal probe that pokes into the combustion chamber. The part would have been $70, but sanding the corrosion off to fresh metal fixed it.

If you wanted an HE washer, front loader was once your only option. There are top loaders now. The fronts are probably still better in terms of resource use, but the current utility sink and washer arrangement I have makes a front a non option.

On a serious note, how old are the toilets? The porcelain glaze can wear over time, leaving a rougher surface.

 

after all this, i still want an electric car. maybe i should see a shrink...

 

I saw one of these this morning.



In nice condition too. It didn't even look out of place, except for it's size.

I wish they'd make an electric like this. 1989 Toyota 4x2

 

I can quite understand the non-option thing. I bought a Samsung top-loader only to discover that it drains from the side rather than the back, and wouldn't fit in our laundry.

That's the weird thing..... They're less than three years old. It seems to be a problem with the shape, rather than the texture (the shape and texture of the toilet, not our products). So I would have expected better design in something that modern.

I felt that, given the quality of the OP's posts, this was the best thread on which to seek opinions on the issue.

 

Can you really know it isn't some of each, if you haven't tried producing differently-shaped products?

 

My kids are Australian, but as far as I can tell they are not wombats.

 

Koalas ?

 

I have a 1981 Comutacar that is technically still drivable albeit not my daily anymore.

So I guess 40 years isn’t long enough?

 

They do sometimes smell as bad as koalas.

 

Did it still have the original bed?

We had at least one poster here that was still driving an original Rav4 EV back when I joined the site.

But none of these BEVs have a 500 mile range and charge up in 5 minutes, so they don't count.

 

After all this, all I want is a front load washing machine.

 

Is there condensing boiler that works with heating oil? If I have to convert it to a gas boiler, then it has to be a propane model. I think even with the natural gas model, the BTU per unit is less for gas compared to oil. So, gas boilers are more efficient and cleaner, but will cost more to install and overall heating cost will be the same or more since Propane historically was more expensive than heating oil in our area. However, right now, propane is cheaper than #2 oil.

 

A search says there is. One hit said 92% efficiency in the summary. Though if you are considering heat pumps, probably not worth the cost to upgrade. Maybe if also used for hot water.

I'm considering heat pumps and ditching gas. Antique radiators are collectors of cobwebs and pet hair.

 

Even if it is a 92% efficient oil boiler, the comparison to an 80.7% efficiency boiler is still only a 14% improvement. For a 600 gal oil at $5/gal, that's a $420/yr saving. The cost of installation would be still high around $14K I would think. That means 33 years payback period. And this is only if the heating oil price stays that high for that duration. It already has come down to an average of $4.48 in our state from the record high of $5.86. So, it is probably not worth the upgrade.

The mini-split ductless heat pumps were considered last year and I had an estimate drawn for the cost of installation for the whole house (2 outside units and 4 inside zones). The total cost with last year's rebate came to be about $16K. I was ready to take a loan and install it, but then IRA was enacted in late summer, prompting the new rebate and incentives due to start this year. If everything I have read is true, then we may qualify for up to $8000 in rebates, instead of last year's $2400. Plus, IRA also offers rebates for electrical upgrades and other things. The total allowable rebate if qualifies would be something like $14500 max. At moment, no program has been implemented in our state, so I don't even know if we qualify, but it is well worth waiting to find out.

On the other hand, I also tried converting the hot water system to a heat-pump electric water heater. We actually qualified for a free heat-pump electric water heater and installation program. However, after I had a contractor come to our house to check the system, he determined that our system is not compatible with the conversion. If we had an existing electric water heater, then it would have been a simple swap, but for our oil-boiler-connected indirect hot water system, it was not an easy swap. Without major renovation and upgrading of our plumbing system, they can't do it. As I have figured out that almost 1/3 of the annual heating oil consumption in our household is for domestic hot water, I really wanted this to work. But oh well. I am now looking into the installation of a solar hot water system to supplement the oil boiler hot water system.