Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with ge

Is My Clock Radio Haunted? And If Not, Why Does It Play By Itself?

theichibun — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:45:16 -0800

Why does my radio play when it's turned off and there is no battery inserted? In my room I have an old GE clock radio model number 7-4601A. Last night it just started playing on its own. Not how anyone would want to listen to it, it's softer and more crackly/static-y. Kind of reminds me of how a radio would play when there's a ghost present in a cheesy movie.

Naturally, I did some experimenting to see if I could figure out what's going on. I pressed the sleep button to let it play for a short period (>5 seconds) and pressed snooze to turn it back off. After about 10-15 seconds it would start playing for a bit, then stop. I also found out that it plays the station a little bit to the right of where I have it set on the radio station dial.

If it had stopped there I would have just thought it was being weird and not thought about it again. But earlier today I found out that it will seemingly randomly turn itself on in the same craptastic way described above multiple times after being turned off.

I tried taking the battery out, that didn't stop things. I didn't think it would either with it changing the radio station by itself like that, but it was something logical to check.

Honestly, the only thing I can think of is that the thing is haunted. The night before I noticed this I listened to Jethro Tull's Aqualung through my MP3 player and a set of portable speakers. But on the night the weirdness started I was listening to Dream Theater. So maybe there's a ghost that wants me to stay on classic rock?

I also have an FM transmitter that I tried to set on the same radio station that I had been listening to during the day. I don't think this should have any effect, but it is something different that I did between the two nights in question.

And for some reason, the episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark with Gilbert Gottfried called The Tale of Station 109.1 with a ghost radio station.

So, short of any paranormal stuff happening, why would my radio turn itself on and play like that?

How do I Remove the Bypass from a new GE Refrigerator ?? It's super tight.

seinfeld — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 19:45:07 -0800

Bought a brand new condo that came with a GE Refrigerator with built-in filtered water dispenser. The new fridge came with a bypass in place of a filter -- How in the world do I get it out so I can replace it with a real filter?? It is SUPER tight. The bypass is screwed in so tightly I cannot, for the life of me, get it out so I can install a filter. Any suggestions for getting it out? I called the GE Help Line and they told me to dispense some water to relieve some pressure before turning. I tried that -- I tried pliers -- I tried everything.. Any suggestions?

The dispenser is exactly like the one in this fridge:
http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SPECPAGE&SKU=PTS22LHSWW&SITEID=GEA

I've read the manual.. It says to turn it counter-clockwise.. I just want it out!!

(And bonus points if you can help me get a mark off the wall of non-washable paint. We got a scratch on the wall, and accidentally tried washing it off with a RED bath towel. Now the wall has a reddish tint. Any way to fix it without repainting the area??)

Thank you!!

Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Exploding Oven Door

WCityMike — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 08:13:00 -0800

On Thursday night, my stove's glass door exploded for no discernable reason whatsoever. Since MeFi's population encompass many trades, I'm hoping there's someone with a background in physics, engineering, or an appropriate tradesman who either knows or can venture a fairly educated guess as to why it happened. I had just finished cooking two small pizzas for 450 degrees for 14 minutes. I had taken them out of the oven and was cutting the pizza on the tray with a pizza cutter. [The stove is a GE 30" Free-Standing Gas Range (Model No. JGBS07PEHWW). It is not a self-cleaning oven, nor is it a glasstop oven. I believe it was brand-new, as the landlord is in the process of renovating the building and is putting new appliances in each unit as they renovate them.] I heard a large bang/shatter and saw a lot of glass crumbs fall on the kitchen floor. The glass was safety glass, like the kind you see in windshields — in all the cleanup that followed, I never came across a single glass "crumb" from that door that had a sharp edge to it. Indeed, my cat's crystal litter was more uncomfortable to trod upon than the one or two crumbs I missed during clean-up.

I opened the oven door and immediately noted that the inside glass had shattered, and that there was glass inside the stove, inside the door's metal frame, around the edges, etc. Thankfully, it was safety glass, so none of it appeared to have any hard edges.

It bears repeating that I never slammed the oven door (nor could I slam it hard enough to shatter it; I’m simply not that strong). I also do not believe that the glass slid or fell out of its holder, due to the presence of glass around the edges and in the oven (suggesting it burst inwards towards the oven). Some of the glass was warm to the touch, but then again, I had just finished cooking the pizzas.

After I cleaned it up, I of course looked on the Internet, and found others whose G.E. oven ranges' glass doors had exploded — specifically, links here, here, here, here. (I don't know which model the complainants had, except in the latter.)

On the bright side, it doesn't appear as if it's happening on a national basis, if, with such a popular brand as G.E., I can only find a handful of complaints of it happening spanning over six or seven years — plus, were it exploding regularly and nationally, a recall would have undoubtedly followed. So I think that the odds of it happening to me again are low, but not out of the question. Hopefully, it would again result in no injury, since this model's glass door is solely on the inside of the oven, with a sort of heat shield front that is in no danger of breaking similarly.

My landlord replaced the oven with another one of the same model. I know that Ask MeFi encompasses a large crowd of professionals, and I am frankly wondering if anyone (perhaps with a background in physics, or engineering, or the appropriate trade?) has an educated guess, or knows, why the glass broke. I would feel a bit more comfortable having this mystery explained (or at least having a possible few rational explanations under my belt). And, given the less-than-fruitful discussions the above-linked individuals had with G.E., I don’t think I’m going to get much of a straight answer out of them.

Thoughts?

Can someone please explain to me the argument against genetically-engineered foods?

BuddhaInABucket — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 19:22:16 -0800

Can someone please explain to me the argument against genetically-engineered foods? If science can increase our agricultural output, why shouldn't we take advantage of it? What are the hidden consequences of growing GE crops and raising GE animals?