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Comment by JoeAltmaier | Hacker News Reader

To qualify for 'Energy Star' in the US, you have to use 10% less energy/resources (water) as last year. No standard; no other goal.

Result: clothes washers that don't wash (my washer at least has a button to override Energy Star, obliquely named Extra Rinse or Heavy Duty), dishwashers that don't get dishes clean; water heaters that deliver luke-warm water.

The goal cannot have been "Use less energy, even if it means sucking". The goal was actually "Get a sticker on your product, for marketing reasons." Thus, a hoax.

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What clothes washer are you talking about? Do you have a top-load washer? Those are notorious water wasters that probably can't wash well without huge amounts of water.

As a counter point, I have a front-load 2011 Samsung washer and dryer. I even got some money from the Big Evil Government water district for the washer and IIRC from the Big Evil Power Company for the dryer.

I am 200% satisfied with the wash and drying quality. It will take quite a bit to convince me that energy efficiency requirements are causing problems.

Maybe you're lucky then. I have a similar issue as OP: I have a new dryer from LG that was rated very high by consumer reports but even at the "optimum dry" setting the clothes still stay wet and I often have to start a second drying cycle once the first one completes.

I highly doubt that running through 2 cycles saves energy compared to doing it right the first time.

Sorry to hear about your experience.

Kinda like a dumb tech support q.: you're cleaning out the lint filter before each use, right? :)

Second: are you sure it's your dryer? Maybe the washer isn't spinning them as dry as they need to be. Try using a washer cycle that spins harder/longer. Did you replace only the dryer w/o replacing the washer.

Everybody askes that. Yes, I know how to operator a dryer too. And mine leaves the clothes wet too. After a diligent effort to make the damn things work, they still suck.

I had this problem. Then we cleaned out ducts from the dryer to the exhaust vent on the outside of the house.

The duct was jammed full of lint. So, no air was flowing out. The dryer had a safety interlock that disabled the heater. This is why the clothes took so long to dry. It is also why we didn't start a fire and burn down the house.

Now we clean the ducts every 18 months and the dryer works great.

Ok, I won't spend effort trying to convince you. Good luck with that washer; not sure if it was Energy Star since you didn't mention it (1 of 3 2011 Samsung frontloaders was EnergyStar).

The guy at the applicance store was completely sympathetic; he hears it all the time. The washers are a widespread disappointment.

Yes, Energy Star rated. I literally got money from the water and power company for buying it.

You larger point may hold, but I'm pretty sure Energy Star has fixed standards. It's not simply that your product most do better than its 2011 version.

The rating (energystar.gov) changes as the federal specification changes, and I cannot quickly find the history of that spec. They do state that its recalculated when a 50% market share of EnergyStar rated products exists.

So it is likely to change over time.

The goal was actually "Get a sticker on your product, for marketing reasons."

It's worse than that, companies save on Federal taxes by making these progressively worse appliances. Whirlpool is infamous for not just paying no taxes but getting "tax benefits" (credits they can carry forward) for 2008-10.

And my GE washer rations hot water quite fiercely. If there was enough commonality in the various model's firmware I'd sure like to join a group that reprograms them in a sane way.

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