Funny how there is always someone who posts "you do X, and you will fail", and then follow up with "you will get hurt and/or hurt others" and then "we will punish you for trying". Like they work for the corporation, to spread the message of hopelessness. Embrace the tyranny of fate!

Maybe someone who is skillful enough to be able to DIY a micro-controller will also think about these issues and deal with them too? Or is that too hard to imagine?

It isn’t so much a matter of skill really. Just, there’s a random probability that any electronic device will catch fire because the manufacturer cheaper out on some component. If you’ve screwed around with the internals, it takes it from the “obviously not my fault” scenario to “there is an argument to be had.” Being right but having to argue with your insurance company anyway is still a pain, right?

> Funny how there is always someone who posts "you do X, and you will fail" ...

That is not what the post to which you replied said nor implied. Instead, it reads thusly:

  Dishwasher electronics are subject to elevated heat and 
  humidity levels. A DIY solution will be extremely 
  unreliable. An amateurish job on the power electronics can 
  be a fire hazard and will void any insurance policy if they 
  find out what you did.

This is clearly a warning to those reading this thread. Likely also an attempted knowledge sharing with the post's author.

> Maybe someone who is skillful enough to be able to DIY a micro-controller will also think about these issues and deal with them too?

Maybe all people who attempt such things are not aware of the concerns raised?

Need more Doug Jacksons (SV Seeker) in this world.

Safety third.

99% of people who played with an Arduino in school are not EEs and are woefully unqualified to be doing that sort of tinkering for a hardwired appliance managing high voltages, water valves, and heating elements that can all cause mayhem when a self-taught Dunning-Krugerian steps out of their wheelhouse.

The "control board" which has all the high voltage stuff is totally separate from the computer. What Jeff wants to is totally reasonable, if a bit annoying because the computer bit is installed inside the door rather than externally accessible like the control board.

The world used to be driven by DIY. Now, people are afraid of it (or advocate against it) in some way. What changed?

People living in shared spaces. If you burn down your house in a village, there's a good chance this can be stopped before it reaches your neighbor's a few hundred meters away. If you burn down your apartment, there are now multiple neighbors without a home.

> will void any insurance policy if they find out what you did.

That sounds draconian, do you have any examples of home insurance policies that do this? Is this common in reality?

Home insurance terms are generally long and written to try to avoid paying out. Not sure of the specifics for home insurance, but car insurance is generally written to void cover if modifications have been done to the car which were not called out at the time the cover was started.