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Ask HN: Any resources for finding non-smart appliances?

155 points everyone | 2 comments | 07 Jul 25 10:44 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source

My washing machine broke down. I need a replacement. I must avoid getting a "smart" one though. Are there any lists of products that arent "smart" so I can know which models are viable options to buy? Or other resources? I'm based in Ireland.
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msgodel ◴[07 Jul 25 11:02 UTC] No.44488928[source]▶
Tempted to just buy a golfcart motor and some nesting buckets to build the thing myself. It's not a terribly complex device.
replies(1): >>44489009 #
bambax ◴[07 Jul 25 11:14 UTC] No.44489009[source]▶
Laundry machines are indeed extremely simple, and I remember my grandmother had one that could be hand operated.

Wahing machines for dishes are much more complex and have many more points of failure.

replies(1): >>44489017 #
msgodel ◴[07 Jul 25 11:15 UTC] No.44489017[source]▶
Dish washers are even simpler, I'm confident I could build one if I wanted it but since I'm single I just wash my five dishes by hand.
replies(1): >>44489119 #
rvnx ◴[07 Jul 25 11:26 UTC] No.44489119[source]▶
In the US, a dishwasher costs ~$900 with install and lasts ~10 years (not even considering electricity costs). Hiring a disabled person legally at $1.75 for half an hour per week costs the same $910 over 10 years. Same price, but one supports a machine; the other supports a human being. Why fund metal and smart Wi-Fi appliances when you can empower someone’s life?
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1. t-3 ◴[07 Jul 25 11:40 UTC] No.44489245[source]▶
> Why fund metal and smart Wi-Fi appliances when you can empower someone’s life?

Because it's illegal to pay so little, and nobody would do it for that price anyway, except for maybe your own children, who do it for that price plus the negative incidence of an asswhooping. If it were affordable for common people to have servants or slaves, they totally would. Machinery priced slaves out of existence. The next frontier is for value-added centralized industrial manufacturing to be priced out by distributed manufacturing and recycling, not a return to the days of domestic servitude.

replies(1): >>44489280 #
2. gruez ◴[07 Jul 25 11:43 UTC] No.44489280[source]▶
>Because it's illegal to pay so little, and nobody would do it for that price anyway

He mentions mentally disabled people specifically, who have lower minimum wage levels in some jurisdictions.

https://archive.is/DcQeM