Economic question

[ultrarunner]

Be wary of appliance repair experts... often you will do better taking time online to research.

My brother called Bosch out for his Dishwasher... spent 145 and same condition... guy told him to replace it.

I went on line and found it was a common problem and the part $27... that was 5 years ago.

Sister In Law wanted high end front loaders... also called service out to repair... paid $115 and was told repair would be over $500... got online and told him to try a "Reboot" first basically unplugging and turning on the power to drain and residual current keeping memory... he did it and that was 3 years ago.

It really makes one suspect just how knowledgeable the Pros our.

The old 1980 Amana refrigerator has needed two repairs... total in parts $45... one defrost timer and one freezer condenser fan...

God, I like things I can work on!

Off topic but more of the Docs are back to leasing high end vehicles vs owning... they basically do not want to own anything... and a big part is no responsibility for repairs... as the vehicles are always under factory warranty...

 

[newbury]

I've a freezer I moved down to Mississippi about 4 or 5 years ago. I had moved it from Vermont in 1984. My Dad bought it in about 1963. They don't make them like they used to
I've several friends who had bought these "high end" freezers and over a few years after the warranty ran out they needed replacement mother boards. At almost the cost of a new freezer.
On one of them the owner is a "computer nut". He diagnosed the board and replaced a resistor for < $100. "They" had wanted about $1,300 for a new motherboard.
The last fridge I bought in 2011 was bottom line, < $400, still running fine.

I wonder if the true "commercial" stuff found in schools etc. is better.

 

[marchanna]

I would call the manufacturer and see if they a service plan that you buy. I did this with my LG and for a one time fee it covered all my repairs for the next two years. The first repair would have been double the cost of the service plan even though it was still under warranty! It sounds strange, but true. It may not be the case in your situation but it痴 worth a try.

 

[Streetcar]

Newbury
My wife worked at a school. They had same problems with appliances. Old stuff ran forever ,new stuff requires repairs after a couple of years.

I second ultrarunners comments on internet diagnostics

 

[square1]

I went on line and found it was a common problem...

Sister In Law wanted high end front loaders...

got online...

leasing high end vehicles vs owning...

Two key points worth highlighting.
I won't buy "high end" anything. I see it as paying more for more things to go wrong.
"On line" is a vast resource. Repairs used to be started with a few hand tools, now they get started with Google saving countless hours and unnecessary expense

 

[Ken]

Two key points worth highlighting.
I won't buy "high end" anything. I see it as paying more for more things to go wrong.
"On line" is a vast resource. Repairs used to be started with a few hand tools, now they get started with Google saving countless hours and unnecessary expense

Our biggest problem is lighting hitting the power line. then into the house and what ever protection you have is gone. in 22 years at this location the power meter has a protection module and it goes about every 3 years. and when is gone the surge takes every appliance connected. bushel basket of phones, modems,
stoves ,dishwashers and the washing machines and dryers sometimes goes same instant.

Then call power co. not there fault , Telco blames the power line no warranty covers lightening. there little line protectors for computers are a laugh the cover blows off goes across room and smoke is released after the computer give a strange IRK then a WHEEZE releases its smoke .
Electrician suggested a ground grid to spread the surge. ground rods with #8 copper attached in grid fashion if there is a gopher in the grid when surge hits would be cooked in a instant.
A month ago .clear sky no wind and power transformer on pole exploded blowing cover loose splashing oil on grass. everything in house was gone if attached to power. Co says not there fault. Lightening. could not say where.
I'm thinking if there could be a separation of the power coming in to a local generated power there would be less failures.
ken

 

[3930dave]

Our biggest problem is lighting hitting the power line. then into the house and what ever protection you have is gone. in 22 years at this location the power meter has a protection module and it goes about every 3 years. and when is gone the surge takes every appliance connected. bushel basket of phones, modems,
stoves ,dishwashers and the washing machines and dryers sometimes goes same instant.

Then call power co. not there fault , Telco blames the power line no warranty covers lightening. there little line protectors for computers are a laugh the cover blows off goes across room and smoke is released after the computer give a strange IRK then a WHEEZE releases its smoke .
Electrician suggested a ground grid to spread the surge. ground rods with #8 copper attached in grid fashion if there is a gopher in the grid when surge hits would be cooked in a instant.
A month ago .clear sky no wind and power transformer on pole exploded blowing cover loose splashing oil on grass. everything in house was gone if attached to power. Co says not there fault. Lightening. could not say where.
I'm thinking if there could be a separation of the power coming in to a local generated power there would be less failures.
ken

Not my primary motivation, but what you just detailed ^ makes a good case for being off-grid.

Back to the thread..... modern appliances loaded with electronics are obviously more susceptible to major power-line events....

Rgds, D.

 

[marchanna]

That sucks. Any help from the insurance company?

If I were in your situation I壇 be looking into my own industrial scale surge protector.

 

[3930dave]

Two key points worth highlighting.
I won't buy "high end" anything. I see it as paying more for more things to go wrong.
"On line" is a vast resource. Repairs used to be started with a few hand tools, now they get started with Google saving countless hours and unnecessary expense

My neigbour is a good example.

His wife HAD to have the latest/"greatest" household appliances.... so, they gave away their perfectly running olde-school ones (which, are apparently still running fine today). Only a couple of years into owning the latest/"greatest", the clothes-washer shutdown on lockout. Turned out it was just a blocked internal filter (or maybe valve) - not a big deal to physically clear the blockage.

THE problem - getting the (expletive) control board to Reset. Power cycles didn't work or any obvious manipulation of front-panel controls. After multiple hours on the phone with Manuf tech support, he finally was able to execute the convoluted Reset on the board itself.

The internet can be a great resource (not just for tractor stuff :shocked, but there will still be situations that have no easy to find solution, at least for a certain period of time.

Oh yeah, re. the example above ^ - my neighbour is a high-end HVAC Controls specialist. He runs his own general HVAC service, but a good portion of his business comes from other HVAC companies calling him in to commission or diagnose systems they can't.

So yeah, he has technical and diagnostic skills that surpass 99.99999999999999999999999999999999% of the general population. His appliance failure had a simple root-cause, and the machine just shut down. Many other people haven't been so lucky:

"It sounded like a bomb": Exploding washing machine knocks mom out - CBS News

Samsung washing machine owners warned after explosion reports - Sep. 28, 216

These companies have no Mechanical Engineers today ?

Modern appliances are mostly designed to fail by 10 years, and many well before that. Apparently, we are now Saving the Environment this way.......

Rgds, D.

 

[Egon]

These are pretty reliable with no complex failure prone electronics!

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