Marriage Outlast 1981 Sears Microwave!

[Mace Canute]

I have a small Emerson I bought in 1993...700 watts and .7 cu.ft. It has performed flawlessly except for when it popped the hidden fuse a few years ago. I pulled the shroud off in preparation to dismantling it but found the fuse holder and the blown fuse. It was a 13 amp one and identical to the old 1/4" by 1 1/4" glass automotive fuses so I found one in my stash that was a 14 amp one and used that. So far, so good.

 

[Bird]

I suppose the first time I ever heard of a Radar Range was in 1968 when I had a moonlighting job at night at a Marriott Motel. The restaurant was open all night, but the chef went home in the evening leaving just a fry cook overnight. But before he went home, the chef left a big tray of biscuits. At night they were cold and hard, but pop a couple in that Radar Range and they were just as hot, soft, and fresh as if they'd just come out of the oven.

I know we got our first microwave oven about 1973/74. And now we have a 1999 model Kenmore mounted over the kitchen range. It still works fine, is used repeatedly every day, and I hope it keeps on working.

 

[Pierrepont]

I long for the days when most anything purchased from Sears was bullet-proof.

Appliances, tools, clothing, lawn and garden and most other things in the store / catalog could be purchased with high confidence of solid engineering and durability. Store staff was knowledgable, friendly and anxious to help the customer.

It was a rock solid company to do business with.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

still using my first GE microwave from the early 80's.

 

[SPIKER]

I agree with others, been several threads on how crappy new appliances are. They ARE indeed engineered to fail shortly after the warranty expires. Hoovers run their vacuums for extended tests to determine exactly how long of a brush is needed to pass the time test then cut it back just a bit to be sure the average failure time is right at the cutoff. I'm convinced that the other major appliance MGFs also do the exact same, so that the machines fail & must be replaced with new...

I like others had SOME good appliances and find/buy OLD stuff in garage sales as I can get it cheap & lasts longer than brand new... Also I can FIX the old stuff a fuse in microwave and or the emitter gets food spatter in behind it and shorts it out. Most times a fuse and a good cleaning will make a microwave work again.

Mark

 

[ultrarunner]

The GE Spacemaker Microwave I bought mom in 1978 is still going strong... so is her cooktop and self clean oven.

I actually bought the Micro from a store that only sold Microwaves...

My friend has one of those old 1930 refrigerators in his shop to keep the beer cold... still works and keeps the beverages ice cold.

One of my friends has a microwave they got as a Christmas present from the in-laws... her husband had me look at it and I fixed it... boy was she upset!!! She had already picked out a new one...

 

[smstonypoint]

Hoovers run their vacuums for extended tests to determine exactly how long of a brush is needed to pass the time test then cut it back just a bit to be sure the average failure time is right at the cutoff.

Source???

Steve

 

[Gale Hawkins]

This 2.2 cu ft Panasonic is a tad smaller on the outside then the old Kenmore but has more space on the inside. The smaller size was 1.7 cu ft and $20 less so I just went with the larger one since we had the space. At the office we have been through 3-4 since 1995 but some were only about $50 I think. I am 64 and have seen the declining life cycle of appliances but have accepted the throw away mind set.

When I was a kid a huge dairy farmer would build cheap milking barns when others were using the nice looking colored ceramic blocks. He was asked why? He said ever 20 years the milking equipment systems changed for the better so he found it was better to just build another cheap milking barn to house the new equipment than to retro fit.

In 1882 we bought our first Kenmore frig and it was dying in about 2012. We got a new Samsung? from Sears that was 50% larger and used less energy than the the smaller one. We had been using the one in the motorhome as a back up on electric but after I computed its energy cost we stopped using it as an overflow frig since the new one was as large as both of the old ones together. Even with TVA hydro power it is getting expense and something to monitor as we are looking at retirement coming up.

 

[flyerdan]

It really is too bad that so many things have a planned lifespan anymore. Fortunately, a lot of them have just one critical component that fails, so if you're somewhat handy you can fix it, often by collecting parts donors at garage sales, etc. I have a 1997 Sanyo microwave that had a bad 8 amp door switch, the donor machine had the same problem so $8 worth of switches fixed them both. I also keep rebuilding my old Mr. Coffee as I hate the new style ones, usually it's a bad disc thermostat that can be found in one missing the carafe in the free box at a sale. Unfortunately it's cheaper to just replace them rather than take them to someplace like Emmett's Fix It Shop on the old Andy Griffith show.

 

[ultrarunner]

I miss the Sears Best advertising... I actually miss the Sears of old too.

It was a place I would save up to make a purchase... just like Radio Shack as a kid.

Times change... not always for the better.

Does having the same car from High School count?