Rant: Modern household appliances are of poorer quality

[MossRoad]

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

Yeah. I was shaking. I was worried the house was gonna burn down.

I've had a few close calls with lighting.

Wife and I were tent camping and a thunderstorm came up. We were sleeping on cots and water was raging through our tent. Lighting was hitting all around us. We actually hugged each other, apologized to each other for anything bad we've ever done, and kissed goodbye!

Another time I was maybe 8 years old out stomping through the woods with two friends in a snowstorm, and lighting took out a Sycamore tree about 20' from us and knocked us into a creek.

And when I worked at the airport I had quite a few lightning strikes on our hangars. No place to hide. You're standing in a huge metal building on a field in a thunderstorm! You could feel the hair on your body stand up and WHAM! BOOM!

 

[not2old]

About ten years ago I got caught in a thunderstorm on my motorcycle and got soaked before I could find cover so just kept going. Lightning struck about 100 feet away and I shook so hard for several minutes that I almost lost control.

 

[BnRidge]

and if there's a way to turn off the annoying alarm that tells it's finished cooking, I can't find it.

I finally took the control cover off and crunched the buzzer with a pliers. Nasty thing. Buzz once is great, but every 15sec means either listen to it or, get up, open the door, slam it as hard as you can, sit down. Thing finally died, and the new one we made sure the alarm is once and done.

 

[JethroB]

I've seen it at some convenience stores, not as common as cubes though.

Heh. Back in the 70s a place I worked had converted an empty office into a computer room. Of course the room got very warm since it was always closed off and didn't have extra cooling. Building maintenance guy went to Sears, picked up a window A/C unit and set it on a table in the middle of the room.

I had a very similar experience with a growing server room getting hot . Mentioned it to our Operations Manager who is also an engineer. He surprised me with a $400 portable AC unit from Lowes the next day. He insisted that no exterior venting or drains were required. Self contained he said like the picture on the box. He is now president of the company

 

[MossRoad]

I had a fiend who was sitting with his family in the kitchen waiting for dinner to finish cooking. Lightning came through the window, blew a ceramic floor tile up, and then blew the door off of their oven. Ruined their dinner.

And they needed a new oven, so it's appliance related.

My next door neighbor called me over to take a look a their TV that stopped working. It smelled like smoke. Noticed burn hole in the wall behind it, and on the other side of the wall in the kitchen, and up towards the ceiling of the opposite wall in the kitchen, and on the exterior siding outside of the kitchen.

Lighting killed their Curtis Mathes, the most expensive television in America, and worth it.

 

[Streetcar]

I had control board on my dishwater go bad, the machine would start but not go to the step step unless you manually pushed the button for that phase. $500 part for five year old machine. bought new machine

 

[ljjhouser]

I used to think Jenn air and Maytag were excellent products. Then several years ago, they bought out by Magic Chef and built in the same factory. They don't seem as good anymore. Not sure Jen Air is still made.

Back then, you could buy a $400 appliance and get a part for it for $20.
Seems today, you can buy the same appliance for $1100 and a simple switch will cost$300.

I put in a new HVAC system last year. The furnace has a variable speed motor. The furnace cost $1200. I was told the cost of the motor if I needed to replace it was $900.

 

[Oaktree]

Back then, you could buy a $400 appliance and get a part for it for $20.
Seems today, you can buy the same appliance for $1100 and a simple switch will cost$300.

If you can even find one. Doesn't seem like all that long ago that most cities of any decent size had at least one appliance parts dealer. Do they even exist anymore? Haven't seen one in years, online only these days.

 

[mrmikey]

We've got two in our area, you call one local and you get answered in the other side of the country who in turn has to confirm the local shop has the part. The other never seems to have anything.
Tried to get a freezer and fridge door gasket for my 5 year old fridge...a cheapie but it does work well. Each gasket is $125 for a piece of extruded rubber

 

[MossRoad]

On-line is pretty fast. And open 24/7. And delivered to your door.

 

[check]

I used to think Jenn air and Maytag were excellent products. Then several years ago, they bought out by Magic Chef and built in the same factory. They don't seem as good anymore. Not sure Jen Air is still made.

Back then, you could buy a $400 appliance and get a part for it for $20.
Seems today, you can buy the same appliance for $1100 and a simple switch will cost$300.

I put in a new HVAC system last year. The furnace has a variable speed motor. The furnace cost $1200. I was told the cost of the motor if I needed to replace it was $900.

I was told something similar when my furnace started making a strange buzzing vibrating noise. The service people said I had to replace the fan motor. It was under warranty otherwise it would’ve been well over $1000, but even after the warranty deduction they still wanted $500. I went here on tractor by net for advice, and even posted a video with the buzzing noise, and somebody came up with the idea that it was simply some loose metal furnace tape. Lol. In fact, it was the A coil vibrating against the Plenum. I whacked it a couple times, and haven’t heard that sound ever since.

They also replaced the little drain pump and reservoir that drains the condensate. It pumps the condensate up to the exit of the drain which is above the floor level of the furnace. I was suspicious, so I tried out the old one, and it worked just fine. I sent a video of the old one still working to this repair service, which was supposed to be a popular, reputable dealer, and they said “OK never mind you don’t have to pay for the new one”. LOL again. I don’t trust any of these guys anymore.

 

[Jstpssng]

I had a fiend who was sitting with his family in the kitchen...

Any story which starts out like this is bound to have a bad ending.

 

[duffer]

Bought new appliances when we built our house 5½ yrs ago. A few months ago, our frig had the evaporator coil go out.
"Reputable" repair shop said they had to take the frig to the shop, install a new coil, and check it all over. Wanted $1,500.

I went to the manufacturer's website and ordered the part ($87). Had to wait 6 weeks to get it, but so did the repair shop. Had a buddy with access to a vacuum pump come down and we installed the new coil in less than 2 hours (incl the hour we waited for the vacuum pump to evacuate the entire system). Paid $6 for a small can of refrigerant, another $15 for fittings, and it's been perfect ever since.

So I spent ~$100 and did it myself, instead of getting raped for $1500

 

[tom3]

Bought new appliances when we built our house 5½ yrs ago. A few months ago, our frig had the evaporator coil go out.
"Reputable" repair shop said they had to take the frig to the shop, install a new coil, and check it all over. Wanted $1,500.

I went to the manufacturer's website and ordered the part ($87). Had to wait 6 weeks to get it, but so did the repair shop. Had a buddy with access to a vacuum pump come down and we installed the new coil in less than 2 hours (incl the hour we waited for the vacuum pump to evacuate the entire system). Paid $6 for a small can of refrigerant, another $15 for fittings, and it's been perfect ever since.

So I spent ~$100 and did it myself, instead of getting raped for $1500

Yeah but you don't have any overhead like the shop does. The owners wife's new Escalade SUV cost over 100 grand these days, and that condo in Florida is half a mil at least.

 

[JasperFrank]

When out one time to see if I could get a picture of a lightning strike on the nearby transmission lines.

Woke up flat on my back looking up at the sky, and had no idea who, or what, I was. Took about ten minutes, of recovery, to figure out I had been hit by lightning.

 

[MossRoad]

Any story which starts out like this is bound to have a bad ending.

 

[MossRoad]

Any story which starts out like this is bound to have a bad ending.

That reminds me of trivia night we attended a couple weekends ago. There were categories like music, sports, geography. Then, with it being at a Catholic school, one round topic was religion.

Everyone at my table moved away from me, fearing a lighting strike.

To get back on topic, they had 3 stainless side-by-side refrigerators and a freezer donated as silent auction items. One had a $4K price tag on it. It went for less than $1000.

 

[MossRoad]

When out one time to see if I could get a picture of a lightning strike on the nearby transmission lines.

Woke up flat on my back looking up at the sky, and had no idea who, or what, I was. Took about ten minutes, of recovery, to figure out I had been hit by lightning.

YIKES!

 

[ponytug]

Yikes is right!

 

[groundcover]

Was Talking to a woman yesterday that had a lightning story. Her father, a contractor, was inside working and a storm hit. He was on an aluminum ladder with a corded drill, remember those ?! Lightning struck nearby and went through the power cord, jumped into one arm,went through his body and came out the other arm ! He was thrown from the ladder . Had three vertebrae destroyed, they fused him back together with material from his hip. Ended up with a slew of other health issues and was never able to return to work, was in his 40's .