What is your personal pitch/repair $$$$$ amount????

[Big Wave D]

fixit,

You seem to think A LOT along the same lines as I do.

I've got you by 6 years on age, but sadly, I agree. These younger generations don't seem to have any concept about something material lasting. By the "Cheapening" of everything, we've come as a society to point that our expectations are so low that we almost always see the glass half empty about any purchase.

I remember when Wal-Mart used to trumpet, "Made in America" on their little isle signs. WOW, have times changed. I think that I heard that Wal-Mart was somewhere around China's 4th to 6th largest trading "Nation" partner.

In a way, you could say that we've done this to ourselves.

 

[Ken]

Fixit after the r-22 was pumped out. what did you use to flush the system to clean out and putting in r404a with out flush causes corroded coating inside the copper piping. And frequent filter changes until sys. is clean. r-22 was good stuff and R-404a doesn't get as cool as quickly so units run longer.
I have seen dairy farmers that keep a container of r-22 attached to compressor when cooling the frost is not near the return line they open the valve until it did.
Had a neighbor stop by the house and said his auto compressor had locked up could I look for the problen. He then said he put in 9 cans of freon unit still wasn't working then locked up. Some are educated beyound there ability.
ken

 

[fixit]

This was only to prove the plate duty on R404a it was done for 2 cooling cycles then returned to R22 After oil changes

R404a is by no means a drop in replacement that is what MO29 is for

your right about the drop in proformance about 5%seem normal for the same size of compressor depending on ambient temp and product etc

adding refrigerant untill the unit frosts back is bad practice and normaly mean there is a leak or expansion valve problems that caused the drop in duty in the first place

topping up any system here is an offence unless you have repaired the leak (there is always a leak if you need to add refrigerant once set up right)

once a system is set to the right superheat and working it doesn't require any out side help from an extra shot of gas

 

[Ken]

I retired 15 years ago and now only watch refrig.men do the work.
Not against change out of complete sys. when there is a saving of cost.
For a couple of years used to help install milk tanks and also remove from dairys that were closiing down. this is where we saw the unusal methods of keeping the sys. running.
ken

 

[Iplayfarmer]

For me the repair vs. replace decision is highly variable and depends a lot on how busy I am and how soon I need the item in question. The % of the new price comes into the decision.

Even if I'm busy, a cheap fix on an expensive item gets done. Of course, expensive fixes on cheap items nearly always get scrapped. I have a pile of the stuff thats somewhere inbetween. If I come to need the item or if I find some extra time, I'll make an attempt at fixing it. If I run out of room and need space, I throw away the stuff that's more expensive to fix than it's worth to me.

What I have learned is to keep the stuff that's too expensive to fix if I have room for it. I've used a lot of parts from old stuff to fix even older stuff.

I'm in that Gen-X group that grew up with "solid state" electronics printed all over with "warranty void if this seal is broken". I voided a lot of warranties as a kid. If it's broken anyway, what do I have to lose? It's a breath of fresh air to see a screw without some cockeyed proprietary head that I can turn with a regular screw driver.

 

[lostcause]

i also tend to base purchases on long term ownership, assuming that repairs can and will be made by me. even so, on a high ticket item, it's still probably under 50%. basically, if i had an item i paid $1500 for several years ago, a new one probably costs $2000 now. if my repair cost was around $750 in parts, i'd probably try to sell the broken item for $500 or so to one of you who would rather spend all your waking hours (and a lot of money) to fix it, and use that money plus the repair cost and get a new one. no wear and new features are worth something when replacing an item.

that said, when i am buying some piece of equipment that i don't already have (no trade in or selling of old item to partially fund the purchase) i'll often buy a basket case of an item for 10% to 25% of its new cost, assuming that it's more elbow grease than money pit repair.

 

[Big Wave D]

Thanks to all who have answered this post.

Keep them coming.

I've really enjoyed reading about what people factor into their decision making process and plan to incorporate some of their ideas into mine, in the the future.

A discussion like this really helps for a person to see or hear new ideas outside of their own box, so to speak.

Look forward to any other posters to add their 2 cents worth.