economicmultipliers_56

Economic Multipliers (56)

Do you know what these are?

They help CREATE wealth in systems.

Understanding a few simple things about motors is an economic multiplier for you if you ever use them.

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I recently bought a mini blender. I have all sorts of visions of the healthy drinks I could make if I ever get motivated. I’ve thought about making these healthy drinks for a long time (I do try to eat healthy). I even own a secondhand healthy blender drinks cookbook (which was probably at one time owned by someone else who had all sorts of visions).

Today, sans cookbook, I’ve made two drinks and need to make at least six more to feel that I’ve gotten my money’s worth. Beyond that point, I’ll consider ownership of the mini blender to be pure ‘profit’ every time I use it (and won’t feel bad if it ever ends up in the back of a cupboard for a while).

I saw the mini blender in an ad and had looked at many different models several times. I did one more round of research, tried to talk myself out of buying another thing to take care of and then took the plunge.

The thing that I like about this particular mini blender is the directions:

• • You pulse 3 times (there is a pulse setting).

  • You set the blender on low for 15 seconds.

  • You set the blender on high to finish blending the drink.

  • If you want to use the blender again, you let the motor cool for at least 3 minutes.

With these directions, if the unit is built well and the operator does simple things like:

• • chop add-ins up a bit (1/2 inch or smaller),

  • make sure there is enough fluid (there’s a mark on the cup for solids and fluids), and

  • make sure only smaller chunks of ice or frozen anything go in (you can buy mini ice cube trays if you like blender drinks and want to use a smaller unit),

the unit should last for years.

• • Pulsing makes sure that nothing is inadvertently jammed in the blades: If something does get jammed, parts could shear off or the motor could fail.

  • A low setting means that more power goes into the first chopping/blending activities (similar to putting a car in a lower gear when going up a hill).

  • Cooling the motor down for a bit between uses means that it is less likely that the motor will prematurely fail.

The directions don’t specifically say that if you lack reliable quality power (an adequate combination of voltage and amperage), the motor can also prematurely fail but I’ll make sure I tell you that. (Communities without reliable quality power probably don’t even know that it’s likely that they have to replace items with motors more often than communities with reliable quality power: Having to do that ultimately makes them comparatively ‘poorer.’)

Now, I try not to list products (other than books and educational materials) at this site because although the mini blender I bought (Back to Basics Blender Express) got good reviews, several other mini blenders did too.

Likewise, I haven’t personally tested this mini blender over the long term and know that even if my mini blender lasts 20 years (based on my use), the company that manufactured it might change the quality and/or design of a part or motor (even if the unit looks exactly the same on the outside): That change might affect its performance and durability.

I also know that every once in a while, even for the best designed and manufactured product, something occasionally goes wrong. On the off chance that you (or I) would get the 1 in 10,000th product that had a problem, I always encourage people to do their own research.

Choose the best quality that you can afford or want to pay for based on expected use and try to use the product well.

Simply knowing how to make a motor last longer on any piece of equipment means that a lot of other things (parts) should last a lot longer too.

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Know that the younger version of me probably would have read the directions after using the mini blender once (because it didn’t seem to work as ‘easily’ as I was expecting). I probably would have overloaded it the first time (size-wise) on frozen/solid items. And it wouldn’t have initially occurred to me that you’d use all three settings for one drink.

Directions are AMAZING!