Appliances

Are vampires sucking the life out of your household energy budget? Almost every household has at least one electricity vampire that sucks up power and costs you money. "You need to do a home energy audit," said William Tauber, chief executive of Progressive Lighting & Energy Solutions Inc. in Tustin and host of "The Green Energy Show" on KRLA-AM (870). "Things in your house are draining energy and you're not even aware of them, but they cost you hundreds of dollars."

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - On Sunday, a local politician named Mukarram Shah was in his car in the remote Pakistani village of Banjot when a bomb was detonated by remote control. He was instantly killed. The bomb was made out of a pressure cooker, a common appliance in Pakistani kitchens and an increasingly common tool of terrorism in South Asia. It is the same sort of device that is believed to have been used in the Boston Marathon bombings, although authorities caution that it does not necessarily point to South Asian perpetrators; anyone could have taken advantage of easy-to-find online plans that have been posted by Al Qaeda, among others.

Question: When I moved into my apartment, I knew the refrigerator was old. One weekend I filled it with food for a family barbecue and it broke down. I was at work all day and didn't realize this until a number of hours later. I called my property manager but it was the weekend and a new unit wasn't installed for two more days. By then, the food was ruined. I have asked the manager to pay the cost of the lost food, but she has refused. I was thinking about deducting the cost from next month's rent, but I don't want to get into trouble.

You're responsible about conserving energy. You turn off the television when you're not watching it and the lights when you leave a room. But don't feel too smug. Your home electronics may be working against your green instincts. Many of today's appliances draw considerable electricity - known as phantom power or standby power - even when you've shut them down. The typical American home has dozens of these devices, and they increase the average household electric bill by 5% to 10%. In some cases this power provides value to consumers.

RE "Warming Up a Cold Front" and "Giving Appliances a Face-Lift" [Sept. 29 ]: I found both articles interesting. My brother and his wife in Wichita have been solving the problem of mismatched appliances with their new kitchens for years by taking them to an auto body shop and having them painted. It has worked well on trash compactors, dishwashers and refrigerators and only costs about $25 to 50 per appliance. The appliances look good and have held up through several moves and paintings.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- For those who have never steamed anything more exotic than, say, broccoli, it's puzzling to ponder the prospect of steaming our dishes, our blue jeans and our dirty ovens. And what if that range is neon orange or the color of lemonade? Capturing attention was the point of the trade show at the recent International Builders Show, where 1,800 exhibitors trotted out their wares for Americans' dream homes. There were more than enough goodies to satisfy even the most hooked house junkie.

Sunbeam Corp. said it's creating a new division as it unveils a line of "smart" consumer appliances, such as an alarm clock that can turn off an electric blanket or turn on a coffee maker without wires or special programming. Separately, Maytag Corp., maker of washers, dryers and Hoover vacuums, said it's allying with software giant Microsoft Corp. to develop appliances that will talk to each other via computer.

Finally, the pent-up demand for big-ticket items for the home, which began exploding a few years ago after a lull during the recession, apparently hasn't been exhausted yet. Sales of furniture and appliances are expected to shoot up this year, to $1.26 billion, a 7.5% increase, following a 4.7% rise in 1996. * Patrice Apodaca covers economic issues for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-5979 and at patrice.apodaca@latimes.com.

Residents here are now free to put up small satellite dishes, playground equipment and even replace appliances without seeking a building permit. An ordinance exempting a host of home accessories will go into effect Friday. "It came about because some of the citizens were complaining that when you replace dishwashers, you had to buy a permit for $22.50," said Kevin Shear, the city's chief building official.

QUESTION: We moved to a home in Whittier last year from Arizona and are doing an update on the kitchen. The built-in appliances (dishwasher, trash compactor, wall oven) in this house are all less than 5 years old and in good working condition. They, like our refrigerator, have white metallic fronts and white plastic control panels. We would like to change the colors to black or another one that blends with our new granite countertops without having to buy new appliances. Any suggestions?

The day after the first presidential debate, it wasn't Barack Obama or Mitt Romney getting the most attention. It was the maker of colorful kitchen appliances. KitchenAid spent much of Thursday trying to repair the damage from a wayward tweet about President Obama that whipped up social media outrage faster than one of its signature blenders can spit out a smoothie. The tweet, put out by a member of the company's social media team during the Obama-Romney faceoff Wednesday in Denver, attacked the president in a particularly personal way. As Obama reminisced about his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who died shortly before Obama was elected president in 2008, the tweet appeared on KitchenAid's official Twitter account, @KitchenAidUSA: "Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad!

In her four decades as America's cooking teacher, Julia Child had a hard-and-fast rule about commercial endorsements: She didn't do them. It didn't matter whether it was the butter that made her beurre blanc sauce sing, the pot in which she slow-cooked her cassoulet or even the cookbooks penned by chef friends — her praise was not for sale. "It was sort of a life philosophy that she had," said her great-nephew, Alex Prud'homme, who recalled how she frequently remarked: "Your name is your most valuable asset and you should be very careful how it's used.

The remote control has never been much beloved. If it's not getting lost or running out of batteries, the device — and its inscrutable buttons — is confusing some family member or acting as a totem in an argument about what to watch. Wouldn't it be nice to wave your hand, say a magic word and make the clicker disappear for good? With a new generation of gesture- and voice-controlled televisions, that's exactly what may happen. Viewers can control a new line of TV sets simply by speaking or gesturing at them, eliminating the need for clunky pointing devices and opening up a range of new ways people can use and interact with their televisions.

Question: When I moved into my apartment, I knew the refrigerator was old. One weekend I filled it with food for a family barbecue and it broke down. I was at work all day and didn't realize this until a number of hours later. I called my property manager but it was the weekend and a new unit wasn't installed for two more days. By then, the food was ruined. I have asked the manager to pay the cost of the lost food, but she has refused. I was thinking about deducting the cost from next month's rent, but I don't want to get into trouble.

At the turn of the last century, as the robber barons' first gilded age lingered on, many Californians came to regard one powerful enterprise as the symbol of oppressive avarice and of big money's corrupt appropriation of the political process. That company was the Southern Pacific, whose railways kept a stranglehold on commerce and whose operatives dominated state government. The firm's malevolent influence was the inspiration for one of California's first literary classics, Frank Norris' "The Octopus," which — along with Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" — helped usher in a period of progressive reforms.

Sears Holdings Corp. is letting go about 700 Kmart appliance salespeople as the retailer struggles to turn around its slumping appliance business. The move will eliminate jobs at 225 Kmart stores as those outlets transition to a new cash register system that makes additional salespeople unnecessary, a Sears spokesman said. When Hoffman States, Ill.-based Sears first put appliances in Kmart stores in 2005, the spokesman said, Kmart point-of-sale systems weren't set up for appliance sales.

Imagine throwing a housewarming party without any place to warm the food. Although Habitat for Humanity is prepared to dedicate an eight-unit condominium building Saturday as its first project built for needy families in the San Fernando Valley, many basic comforts of home are still missing. Eight families will be housed in the condominium complex, located near San Fernando High School at 11133 O'Melveny St. A ceremony will be held at the school's southeast athletic field at 1:30 p.m.

Every year there are stories about fires that start in laundry and utility areas of residences. Most of these fires are preventable. Here is what you should do to keep your family safe: * Clean your lint trap after every load. Residential dryers come with screened filters designed to trap lint emitted from laundry as it tumbles. Because lint is highly flammable, it is imperative that the trap be checked and cleaned after each load to reduce lint buildup in the machine and vent line.

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for. EBay fraud — A man who defrauded more than 250 people out of about $1.5 million by advertising high-end appliances on EBay and then failing to send the products has been sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison. A jury in February convicted Darin French, 40, of 22 counts of mail fraud, 11 counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. Prosecutors said French and his wife, Jennifer, who was also convicted, established an online business called Look What We Got that advertised Sub-Zero, Viking and Wolf appliances at discount prices.

????????????Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes: Discount appliances ? Two people who advertised discount, high-end appliances on the Internet but failed to ship them after receiving payment have been convicted of fraud and money laundering. Darin Jerome French and Jennifer Lynn French were accused of stealing $1.5 million from customers of their business, Look What We Got, in 2003 and 2004. They advertised Sub Zero, Viking and Wolf kitchen appliances on EBay at greatly discounted prices but did not ship the products.