Longing for Simplicity, Ensared in Complicity
My current motto is "simplify with less." Simplifying is complicated.
My wife laid part number 9010, a filter for our refrigerator’s water and ice dispenser, on my to-do table. 9010 will take eons to breakdown in a trash heap and complicated my life. Every six months a warning light energizes her to buy a replacement 9010. She’s a retired network operating systems consultant with a deep faith in warning lights.
Suspicious about that light filtering money out of my wallet, I called Allen Gossett at Guarantee Appliance and Vic Blair at Vic’s Fix-It Shop, both in East Wenatchee. They aren’t certain about my refrigerator, but an electronic timer activates most warning lights. 9010 may be working just fine, but the light’s complicating my life. Maybe that light needs a burned out bulb.
Gossett recommends replacing 9010s annually.
But what’s its value compared to its eco-cost? 9010’s box reduces (note it doesn’t say filters) a frightening list of toxins such as chlorine taste and odor, lead, mercury, benzene, toxaphene, 2,4-D, asbestos, and altrazine. It sounds like my family would turn to toxic minerals if I didn’t replace it.
A representative at the refrigerator store referred me to managemyhome.com, which had 41,251 answers to consumer questions. I asked, “What happens to my water and refrigerator if I never replace water filter 9010?”
The site produced two answers: One said filters do not remove fluoride, and the other explained how to reset my warning light. Aha! Resetting my warning light would work until the timer turned it on again. This feels like guerrilla living to fool intrusive merchandising protocols.
The first time the refrigerator’s instructional manual mentions the dispenser, it adds this statement in bold: “Do not use with water that is microbiologically unsafe or of unknown quality without adequate disinfection before or after the system.”
The manual included the statement two more times. I figured the emphasis was designed to intimidate me into not even thinking about not inserting 9010, even though it was possible. Blair said he thought it didn’t need to be inserted let alone replaced, and if needed, there are less expensive alternatives.
Sure enough, several pages later the manual gave directions on how to avoid using 9010, but warned, “Your water will not be filtered.”
Not by 9010, but our drinking water is filtered better than the safety standards identified by Washington. By federal law, municipal water districts must publish an annual Consumer Confidence Report, which is available on the EWWD website under forms.
9010 may be worthwhile in other communities where water supplies are contaminated.
But what value is there in needlessly plopping onto our county’s earth this mechanical and chemical reduction filter, especially when we discard it more often than its useful life warrants because an electronic timer programs it into premature waste?
As my age soars into loftier ranges, I long for simplicity but I’m ensnared in complicity.
Convincing my wife may be even more complicated.
My wife laid part number 9010, a filter for our refrigerator’s water and ice dispenser, on my to-do table. 9010 will take eons to breakdown in a trash heap and complicated my life. Every six months a warning light energizes her to buy a replacement 9010. She’s a retired network operating systems consultant with a deep faith in warning lights.
Suspicious about that light filtering money out of my wallet, I called Allen Gossett at Guarantee Appliance and Vic Blair at Vic’s Fix-It Shop, both in East Wenatchee. They aren’t certain about my refrigerator, but an electronic timer activates most warning lights. 9010 may be working just fine, but the light’s complicating my life. Maybe that light needs a burned out bulb.
Gossett recommends replacing 9010s annually.
But what’s its value compared to its eco-cost? 9010’s box reduces (note it doesn’t say filters) a frightening list of toxins such as chlorine taste and odor, lead, mercury, benzene, toxaphene, 2,4-D, asbestos, and altrazine. It sounds like my family would turn to toxic minerals if I didn’t replace it.
A representative at the refrigerator store referred me to managemyhome.com, which had 41,251 answers to consumer questions. I asked, “What happens to my water and refrigerator if I never replace water filter 9010?”
The site produced two answers: One said filters do not remove fluoride, and the other explained how to reset my warning light. Aha! Resetting my warning light would work until the timer turned it on again. This feels like guerrilla living to fool intrusive merchandising protocols.
The first time the refrigerator’s instructional manual mentions the dispenser, it adds this statement in bold: “Do not use with water that is microbiologically unsafe or of unknown quality without adequate disinfection before or after the system.”
The manual included the statement two more times. I figured the emphasis was designed to intimidate me into not even thinking about not inserting 9010, even though it was possible. Blair said he thought it didn’t need to be inserted let alone replaced, and if needed, there are less expensive alternatives.
Sure enough, several pages later the manual gave directions on how to avoid using 9010, but warned, “Your water will not be filtered.”
Not by 9010, but our drinking water is filtered better than the safety standards identified by Washington. By federal law, municipal water districts must publish an annual Consumer Confidence Report, which is available on the EWWD website under forms.
9010 may be worthwhile in other communities where water supplies are contaminated.
But what value is there in needlessly plopping onto our county’s earth this mechanical and chemical reduction filter, especially when we discard it more often than its useful life warrants because an electronic timer programs it into premature waste?
As my age soars into loftier ranges, I long for simplicity but I’m ensnared in complicity.
Convincing my wife may be even more complicated.
Posted by JSR at 11/19/2009 1:33 AM 
Categories: Sensible Science,Common Sense,Serving Others,Humor,Justice
Tags: simple living ecology saving money recycling consumerism drinking water water filters
Categories: Sensible Science,Common Sense,Serving Others,Humor,Justice
Tags: simple living ecology saving money recycling consumerism drinking water water filters
You've made your point very clear but I think you are wrong in one concern: nobody is trying to mislead you. It's a lot of trouble for a warning light. Water filters do need replacement from time to time, this is how these appliance parts work. If you have clean water, why did you got a water filter in the first place?
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A good read, definitely worth a cut and paste. Thanks!
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