Rant: Modern household appliances are of poorer quality

[kenmbz]

When I replaced the worn out dryer "bearings" in my slightly less than 5 year old , front load.
They were worn through. Of course they were just pieces of plastic/teflon the drum rested on and some felt to absorb the dust.
There is no way this was designed to last more than 5 years.

Washer had motor controller boards (inverters) fail every 2 years.
When I replaced the last one in year 5, I noticed many of the harnesses had breaking/fraying wires at the connectors.
So the washer got replaced.
I mean, how much extra for slightly better wires??

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

When I replaced the worn out dryer "bearings" in my slightly less than 5 year old , front load.
They were worn through. Of course they were just pieces of plastic/teflon the drum rested on and some felt to absorb the dust.
There is no way this was designed to last more than 5 years.

Washer had motor controller boards (inverters) fail every 2 years.
When I replaced the last one in year 5, I noticed many of the harnesses had breaking/fraying wires at the connectors.
So the washer got replaced.
I mean, how much extra for slightly better wires??

On one machine not much. On a couple million washers over five year design life, it adds up-to a bunch of expensive copper.

 

[3Ts]

I agree with these comments for the most part, but keep in mind that everyone wants to get more machine for less money. In order to do that the assembly process has to change so that a joint is welded (or glued) instead of using a bolt so less labor is used to save money so customers will buy it. The down side is that the joint can not be taken apart and thus becomes unrepairable. For the most part, the machines seem to work well, but when there is a problem - ehh, goes into the trash heap unless one is very handy and can jury rig the parts.

 

[JasperFrank]

They are made now so that you can't get the parts. And they know what parts you need. Bean counters killed off all our domestic White Goods products. We should be mad at them. But we are not. Cause it is okay that a CEO makes 30X of the average worker. And its okay that the Stock makes money, even if they transferred all manufacturing to China: The Money is all that matters. The money is all that matters. You are in it, or you are not. The boat is floated not for all, it is floated for just a few. This has happened several times in history. There was always a revolution that followed: A stupid bloody, destroy every thing war. "Buy our crap or there will be war." Now that's a bit of a choice.

 

[Oaktree]

In my opinion, all new products (including cars, btw) are produced in such a way that people will have to replace them in a maximum of 5 years.

I disagree on vehicles. Yeah, a lot of them feel kind of tinny these days, but the average age of a vehicle in the U.S. is just under 12 years. That's average. 40 years ago it was rare for anything to last that long.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

I think that these are good units, and they have the new UL1449 rating, with a protecting voltage of 400V, which is what to look for if you want to protect electronic devices. Many surge suppressors have much higher ratings of 600V or 900V.

I have a whole house surge suppressor as well, but most of the ones that I have looked at have higher clamping voltages, so I think that there is some benefit to having additional surge suppressors scattered around the house. I think if it like a trampoline with a couple of folks standing at different places, and each person (surge protector) draws down the trampoline fabric (the surge) where they are standing. You can keep the surge at the electronics lower by clamping close to the electronics.

All the best,

Peter

Like your trampoline analogy!
Surge suppressors; typically the closer you install them to a ground (ground rod, UFER Ground, Ground ring) the better the reponse time of the device and the more surge they can clamp to ground. I have them on my phone line, all the voice and data cables between buildings and all electrical between buildings.
Better safe than sorry.

 

[Jstpssng]

Years ago I was renting a house and was home when a thunderstorm went through. I usually enjoy them but this one scared the crap out of me; it was right there!!! Lightening bolt after lightening bolt after lightening bolt! I took my dog and stayed in the center of the building, on the bottom floor until it was over.
The next morning I was doing dishes and had my hands in the dish pan as it was filling. All of a sudden I heard snapping, and a sound like an arc welder going off in the direction of the fuse panel. I got my hands out of the water FAST!! It turns out that the surge protector must have taken a near hit the night before, and when the pump turned on the SP burned up.

 

[MossRoad]

I recall a lighting storm we had about 15-20 years ago. I grabbed the family and made them go to the basement. We were sitting there taking hit after hit of nearby lighting, when one flash was extremely bright and we saw sparks jump off all of the pipes. Big blue ones, like giant static snaps crackling along the pipes! Looked like something from a bad horror movie. We all screamed. Then I spent the next few hours looking for fire and sniffing for smoke. Nothing thank goodness. Lost a computer motherboard that was off at the time, and that was all.

 

[ponytug]

I recall a lighting storm we had about 15-20 years ago. I grabbed the family and made them go to the basement. We were sitting there taking hit after hit of nearby lighting, when one flash was extremely bright and we saw sparks jump off all of the pipes. Big blue ones, like giant static snaps crackling along the pipes! Looked like something from a bad horror movie. We all screamed. Then I spent the next few hours looking for fire and sniffing for smoke. Nothing thank goodness. Lost a computer motherboard that was off at the time, and that was all.

Wow! That's closer to a direct than I ever want to be. Yikes!

 

[stuckmotor]

We recently replaced our microwave, toaster and dishwasher. They were all just a few years old, and all had issues. In fact it seems like most appliances we have bought in the last 15 years or so have an unusually high number of issues. We don't buy the cheapest appliances, we read and pay attention to the reviews. Some have lasted well, but in general they all seem far more highly prone to having issues. Unfortunately I have became on first name basis with our local appliance repair guy. He says you can't necessarily go by brand, or price, or where it is made. Some models of some brands are definitely better than others, but all of them definitely are of considerably poorer quality compared to decades past. He suggested that we consult with him prior to buying something so he can tell us which model of which brand he considers better. He also says the more "features" an appliance has; the more issues you are likely to have.

Its not like they don't know how to make a toaster that toasts evenly on both sides and will last for 20 to 40 years because they used to make them that way.

You always hear that "you get what you pay for." That is not necessarily true in the appliance industry. Expensiveness doesn't appear to correlate very well with quality. I have read you can actually buy higher quality appliances in Europe and Japan made by our same common name manufacturers, but those are not available in the States, some suggest because of reasons related to planned obsolescence. I am not much to buy into conspiracy theories, but this makes one consider that suggestion. What can consumers do when an entire industry appears to be immersed in the planned obsolescence mentality?

A side rant; The water filter on our newest refrigerator is a microchipped filter that raised the filter replacement cost from $20 to $50. Why do I need a filter with a microchip to tell me it is time to replace it?

I have a microwave that I don't like because it has a dark interior making it very difficult to see what's going on inside and if there's a way to turn off the annoying alarm that tells it's finished cooking, I can't find it. It seems like that microwave is immortal.