Team-BHP - The Home Appliance thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by saket77 (Post 3083992)

However, salt along with detergent is indispensable I think.

I think that would depend on the kind of water - is the water hard or soft. Again, in my 6 years of Dishwasher use, I have never added salt.

Actually, except for one time when I got a free sample of Jet Dry (Rinse Aid), I have never used anything except Dishwasher Detergent. Never had a problem. Used 5 different dishwashers in this time frame (from minimum of 1 month to maximum of 4.5 years). And though these dishwashers had slots for these things, none of them had warning lights if you don't use rinse aid or salt. The only thing needed was detergent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NGM (Post 3087174)

My IFB convection microwave stopped working after 7 years of service.I am searching for a new microwave with basic features as i realized that i use it mainly for heating and defrost.Suggestions please.

Using Electrolux 25Ltrs. with Convection/ Grill for the last 5 years. No problems till now. It has touch response buttons & a green digital display.

Continuing our quest of comfort living :D, I am looking for a wet floor cleaning solution. Anyone here using a floor mopper/ wiping machine or any similar product?

I would like to get a floor mopper which can automatically move around & wash/clean the floor for home setting. If not automatically, I am also willing to settle for one which we can guide/ push along but a fully automatic one independent of user effort & time will be greatly preferred.

Any inputs people?

Thanks,
Saket

Quote:

Originally Posted by saket77 (Post 3087219)

I do not think anything of this kind is available in India. If you are willing to import, you could consider the Mint & Scooba Series from iRobot. I am using Mint for 2 years+ now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gopalnayak (Post 3087288)

I do not think anything of this kind is available in India. If you are willing to import, you could consider the Mint & Scooba Series from iRobot. I am using Mint for 2 years+ now.

Thanks for the reply. But after some flipkart surfing, I am sure some are available in India.
http://www.flipkart.com/home-kitchen...l2&layout=grid

Any more ideas people?

Quote:

Originally Posted by saket77 (Post 3087292)

Thanks for the reply. But after some flipkart surfing, I am sure some are available in India.
http://www.flipkart.com/home-kitchen...l2&layout=grid

Any more ideas people?

These are Robotic Vacuum cleaners and do not do a good job as a mop. These devices use random navigation techniques which means that you can never be sure if a room got cleaned completely or not. Check out the features of the Mint Cleaner from iRobot for a comparison:
http://www.irobot.com/en/us/robots/home/Mint.aspx

Quote:

Originally Posted by gopalnayak (Post 3087312)

Whoa...now this is heights...now GPS for cleaning the floor:Shockked: Till vehicle & street navigation, it was good. Still fine for the cell phones...but on floor moppers?:Shockked:

But looks like a good product. On a serious note, I will check that link in detail, but I was already convinced that robotic vacuum cleaners will not do the job satisfactorily. So, I was looking for a better solution. On the same link that I posted, there is a product by Morphy Richards, but its far from being automatic. Its like a steam vapour mopper. It's better than those vacuum cleaners on the same page but I am looking for more effortless solution. Lazy people we are!

My search is still on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by carboy (Post 2139808)

Morphy Richard's spare parts are awfully expensive. I bought a M.R. coffee maker (cost around 2000 Rs at that time). When it's coil got spoilt & needed to be replaced, they quoted 800 Rs. for it.

I also had a Prestige Coffee Maker (1300 Rs). When it's coil needed to be replaced, it cost Rs.185. It took 3 weeks, but atleast it was cheap.

Well, the Prestige Coffee maker conked out after 3.5-4 years. So bought a Sunflame Coffee Maker now - cost around Rs. 1100 - this is much smaller than the others, but more than sufficient for my needs - the others were much bigger than needed. Let's see how long this goes.

Also bought a new Mixie - the old 550W Sumeet fully conked off after 8 years. The new one is Butterfly Jet3 750W. Got it for Rs. 2800 after exchanging with the old one. Seems good for now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mercedised (Post 3092650)

Need a microwave oven, I have shortlisted

http://www.flipkart.com/lg-mc-8082pr...uery=lg%208082

I am a complete noob in microwave cooking so please advice. The oven should have good ergonomics, I mean buikt-in menus. How usefule are they?

I have used Microwave ovens continuously for the last 14 years. I have never used them for anything other than
- Reheating
- Making Microwave Popcorn
- Boiling Water
- Heating a microwaveable hot pad.
- Defrost
And I think this would be the case with a huge majority of microwave oven users (except for the first few days when they try out all the different options)

My personal opinion is that a microwave needs just 3 things
- Start/Stop
- Timer
- Defrost option
Everything else is unnecessary, IMHO.

My current microwave oven has a dizzying array of controls/menus/options which I don't even look at. Same is the case with my wife. Just that she uses a different timer switch on the same microwave to set the time (the dizzying array of options includes multiple ways to set the timer on my microwave).

I would buy a sub-5000 Rs microwave which is big enough to use the largest plate/vessel/container I would want to put into the microwave.

Only other thing is that some microwaves have a grill option (I haven't used this ever). So you need to check if this would be useful for you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by carboy (Post 3092681)

You are right! We had microwave oven but the only problem with it was it did'nt had convection feature, so no lady in the home ever looked at it. Now, they want a featurefull oven, and I can't interfere other than suggesting a model which is most feature full. The primary requirements are

1) Convection function
2) a kind of auto feature that could alert that the food is cooked, I think this would only be available in a oven which has preset Menus for various dishes (mainly Indian and some cakes.).

Now, if you could tell me a model that has these all functions and could accommodate a large enough bowl. thanks. :)

I may be able to chip in. I bought in a Sharp 500W Micro from HK in 1988, then bought an LG Micro + Grill around 1998, and finally a full combo LG for my son last year. So we have experience with all three. Sharp used extensively for things like making Ghee out of Malai, Scrambled Eggs, Roasting Brinjals for Baingal ka Bharta, etc. With grill all of these, grilling cheese toasts, and various other things. The grill is also handy for browning the top of many things. As for the Combo I have also baked stuff there a few times. A Convection oven cooks faster than any other type. Remember for baking you should be reasonable certain about power cuts not messing you up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mercedised (Post 3092708)

2) a kind of auto feature that could alert that the food is cooked, I think this would only be available in a oven which has preset Menus for various dishes (mainly Indian and some cakes.).

The alert is typically 'Beep' or 'Beeps'. This happens for both time based setting and also for preset menus. Since preset menus are preset based on time, the alert is always based on time - i.e. it isn't as if the microwave is going to check if your food is done correctly and alert you. A preset menu is typically programmed internally as "X minutes at Y power". So the alert will go off after X minutes. And you will get the same alert if you use the same microwave without the preset menus for X minutes.

@carboy: Thanks, that did helped.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgiitk (Post 3092780)

Thanks for the input, BTW what does the combo exactly mean? Which model have you bought and what other better models you recommend?