We keep having to replace the logic board on our dryer.
Motherfucker, your job is to get hot and spin. I want the old “egg-timer that flips a switch” tech to come back.
A good dryer senses the moisture and adjusts the heat so it dosnt shrink your clothes and you dont have to take them out damp and hang them anyway, throws in a few reverse spins so clothes dry more evenly, and some other stuff Im sure.
But generally are built like shit.
It really depends, Ive stayed at hostels where the machines run 3+x a day and sometimes some machines will be 5+ years old. There doesnt seem to be any rhyme or reason as far as brand or usage pattern, though I’ve never seen an old combination unit.
My wife hates our “ugly” fridge that came with our house. It’s about 25 years old works perfectly, even the ice maker. She is a frugal person that can’t justify replacing it until it breaks. Yet it keeps on ticking. Everyone I know who has a fridge made in the last 10 years has a broken ice maker. I’m happy with the “ugly” perfectly functional fridge.
If the only issue is the looks, could you not do something like a vinyl wrap or just plaster it with art?
The fridge is the appliance that consumes most power. A modern fridge, with a high energy saving rating will pay itself in a couple of years.
Fuck in door ice makers. You’re adding complexity and making the whole thing less reliable and less efficient.
Bet someone chimes in with “but the new one is better because it uses less energy”. I’m too lazy to figure the math on that but I can’t imagine that the 20% more energy usage of my old machine is greater than the energy cost of manufacturing, shipping, extra repairs (parts, transportation) that the new “better” machines need on 1yr to 18month cycle of fixing or outright replacing.
It’s not like the reasons new ones are more efficient is inherent to the reasons they’re more fragile though. You know how you can tell? Because machines at laundromats are just as efficient and don’t break all the time!
I owned a laundromat. They are not efficient and cost a mint. The focus is on “wash fast, next customer please.”
I went back to my birth country and my grandmas toilet is ancient, like 100 years old and the insides are original, never replaced and they work. Meanwhile im in Canada and I’ve had to replace the mechanisms inside the water tank like twice in 3 years
My washer I bought in 2015 for a condo worked all the way to when we sold in 2024. Likely still going because it never had an issue.
New house washer purchased last year, still no issues.
My inlaws have gone through several in the last 10 years.
Biggest difference is user error. My inlaws wash a big load of towels every single day and load the washer to the lid. I load 3/4 full and don’t go through towels like crazy.
People just don’t know how to use appliances.
99/100 times user error is the answer to most stuff. Users are idiots who will not accept responsibility as long as they can say “well it’s the appliance that is built bad”.
“Our parents” … ?
👀
Hey step brother… ;)
ol’ Genghis
Is it really that it worked for 30 years or just that the couple times it failed that actually got somebody to repair it?
I had my washer/dryer for 8+ years now. Actually got the extended warranty for sure reason and it covered having a repair when it started leaking, but given the cost of repairs hasn’t just elect to buy a new unit.
My washer/dryer unit stopped working properly after less than 5 years. Out of warranty. I was damned if I was going to toss it or pay the equivalent to fix. So, I researched, found the problem, purchased the part and fixed it myself. I’m a 58 yo woman who is so sick and tired of the games corporations play to part us with our money.
What are people doing with their laundry equipment and other appliances? I’m not saying you’ll get 30 years out of new appliances, but I still routinely get 10ish.
Luck of the draw.
We’re suffering from design issues. People want refrigerators with the freezer on the bottom and washers that open in the front.
Then companies want to make you connect to the internet so they can put an app on your cell phone and sell your data to every bidder.
Then, adding insult to injury unless you buy the top of the line they skimp. (And even then sometimes, looking at you Samsung refrigerators) That mid-range dishwasher no longer has a mascerator in the sump and the walls and the swing arms are all made out of plastic with no bearings. They’re not putting good seals and isolation around the logic boards.
You can buy good long-lasting stuff if you’re careful. But man are you going to pay.
When people look at a $3000 - $4,000 laundry set vs a $1200 set They start to ponder if it washes clothes does it matter.
Buy Electrolux or V-Zug.
Love my lux
Same. Never had problems with any of their products.
Speedqueen
I keep seeing people say this, but they only have a 3 year warranty. Samsung, siemens, and random chinese companies I’ve never seen in the US offer 20 year, on much cheaper machines.
The thing about speed queen is that they go out of their way to be repairable though.
Samsung is willing to bet they can make a profit while covering 20 years of repairs, whereas Speedqueen is only willing to bet 3. That says to me the speedqueen is less repairable or Samsung and others expect to weasel out of their warranty.
Yeah, they make them so cheap they can give you 3 machines over the life of the warranty.
But the actual price is cheaper too, do you suppose the 650USD samsung costs 200 USD to build and ship? A 250 dollar machine with a 6 year warranty would be impressive, and triple their profit margin.
Wow, a sample size of 2. Very scientific
the wording makes it 3 (hopefully)
You always have to leave the door open…
I picked this up from my parents.
When I moved out, I lived with a flatmate for a few years and I left the washing machine door open after using it and my flatmate closed it.
I explained to her why I left it open and she just stared back at me. Not once had she ever thought of this and said it made so much sense. She is about 20 years my senior.
Certain habits seem to be so obvious, but unless handed down, someone may never even think of it.
Reminds me of that guy that never thought to let the shower water get warm before stepping in.
Huh… I have a top loader and grew up with one so it’d never occur to me this is needed, since with a top loader there’s no reason to close it, it doesn’t get in the way by being open
I’m glad I saw this thread, if I ever have a front loader now I’ll know to leave it open :)
If you ever need a new one, front loaders tend to fit more and I believe they’re more efficient too. Plus if a top loader grenades itself, it might be a pain to get your laundry out if the drum doesn’t move anymore. Front loaders are more expensive though.
Front loaders also wash better.
Totally fair about habits being passed down. However, I lived with someone who I had to explain the whole leave the washer open 2 or 3 times over the course of a couple years. She’d even complain about the smell. She was one dense mother fucker tho.
As well as the hatch where the detergent goes in. Otherwise it will get swampy in there. That part of the post kinda makes me wonder if maybe her mother just takes better care of hers.
I take the detergent tray out after every wash so it dries properly. Occasionally wipe the tray slot down if it needs it, and wash the tray. Seen a few horrible swamps in shared housing over college years.
You know the funny thing?
You can still buy appliances that last and have good service.
But you don’t earn enough to afford them, like your parents did.
This is not the case. Washers used to be more expensive as a proportion of median income back then. According to this page a new Kenmore washer cost $289 in 1980. The median family income in 1980 was $21,023, so a new washer would cost 1.37% of a family’s annual income. Compare to now, where the median household income is $83,150. As a proportion of median income, a $289 washer in 1980 would cost about $1500 today, which is about what a durable, well made washer with a 7 year warranty costs. Manufactured goods were largely more expensive compared to wages in the past.
Median income isnt the whole story as rent, transportation, medical, and other costs have increased at a greater rate so people dont have the money to buy the 1500 dollar washing machine.
That is true to an extent, but the main point is that it’s not like the past was a glorious land of milk and honey where everything was cheaper and easier. I am always amazed when I see how much things used to cost back then compared to incomes, especially TVs and other electronics. That’s a big part of the “built to last” reputation of older goods- they were literally built better, but they were also priced accordingly. A cheap appliance back then was a used one. There simply wasn’t an option to buy a cheap one new.
That is very nice of you, looking up the numbers stating exactly what i said. thanks.
No. I am saying that these well made appliances are just as affordable today as they were back then, but most people want the cheaply made alternatives, and manufactured goods were generally less affordable back then than they are now. People generally just had less stuff in the past, and paid more for it. You simply couldn’t buy a new washer for the same fraction of your income as the cheap ones today. A lot of things are worse for us economically than for our parents but this simply isn’t one of them.
I understood that. the point you don’t understand is that people today HAVE LESS MONEY than their parents.
Do you know what median means?
wow, you actually don’t understand it. Fascinating. Lets get simple:
70s : Expensive appliance, works long time. can afford it.
Today: Cheap appliance, breaks early, can afford.
Also Today: Expensive appliance, works long time. can’t afford it.I don’t think i can make it any easier.
Meh. Buy them second hand. Not even joking. As you said, good one last forever. while there’s a bit of a logistics difficulty with second hand large appliances, you can also just rent a van for the day and ask a friend for help.
Problem is you don’t know how well it was maintained /cared for by its former owner.
You should be able to get parts, though. It’s better to replace a part on a machine that will last 20 years than a part on one that will last 5 years.
Only if it’s worth fixing instead of replacing the thing outright. If you have a cheap washer, it may be cheaper to just get another, rather than having to call the repairman and get parts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory applies…
A Speed Queen set sure would be nice to have.
Similar story for clothes dryers:
My parents’ dryer had 2 knobs for temperature and run time, and a start button. Ran forever and dried clothes.
My dryer has like a dozen programmed cycles that rely on a moisture sensor that doesn’t work and leaves clothes damp unless you use the manual time & temp settings, which takes several capacitive button presses on a circuit board that is likely to die before any of the actual mechanical components of the dryer. Also for some reason it has Wi-Fi.
I assume they have some better mode options if you get the app and connect it and all…
Never
“And for some reason it has Wi-Fi .” will be the last line in humanity’s epitaph.
The latest xkcd has one of my favorite hover texts of all time:
It’s important for devices to have internet connectivity so the manufacturer can patch remote exploits.
I can confirm, I only use the manual time on my dryer because it’s the only way to reliably get it dry.
The washer and dryer at my mom’s are 30 years old. She’s had repairmen laugh at her for having them, but they’re much better made than anything new.
Newer machines are several times more water and energy efficient.
Still nice that they lasted long and were easier to repair.
More water and energy efficient to run, yes. If you have to replace them every couple of years the resources used to make new ones need to be included too though, and that will have a big impact on the comparison. That said, I have had a modern front load pair for at least 5 years now, no issues.
there are calculations and tables on exactly this, when a machine is to be replaced. Including production and shipment of a new one etc., some should be replaced. Look it up!
The resources used to make anything should always be included; called embodied energy.
Of course. Those resources are just a much larger impact percentage wise on an appliance replaced every two years vs 25.
In the 2008 economic slump, the U.K. had something called a “car scrappage scheme”. Shit was the most wasteful thing ever. Also saw really cool classics cubed.
USA had the same thing, “Cash for Clunkers”. Some of the cars we were better off getting rid of. Some of them not, whether because they were rare or classic, or old but still more fuel efficient than a truck or SUV. Sure increased the average price of a used car though.
You could find driveable used cars for ~$700 before. Even accounting for inflation now, all you can find now are mechanic specials and parts only.
The newer more efficient machines also give worse washing results.
Efficiency does little for your wallet and the environment if you need to buy/produce a new machine every few years.
(Not to say that we shouldn’t strive for efficiency.)
That’s the same way i look at it. How much energy is involved in building a new washing machine? How much energy is spent scrapping it? So much waste. I recently had a run of energy-efficient washing machines that all had the same problem with the main CPU board. In 2 weeks i had 4 instances all come out of the woodwork. Only 1 opted for the repair but it cost them almost as much as a new washer. The rest got scrapped. These washers were all about 2 years old when i witnessed this phenomenon (and I ran into yet another one just a couple weeks ago)… Other techs online are sharing similar reports.
Not only are they over-engineering the fuck out of these things for “energy efficiency” which i swear is just an umbrella they use to cover their real goals–to make appliances less user and tech friendly. They want their guys selling their overpriced junk and bespoke computers/sensors/gizmos so they can extract every last cent of value out of the product, then try to sell you another one every 3-5 years almost like leasing a car.
Still, that doesn’t mean the tech used to extract greater efficiency is a bad idea – it’s all the approach they take to get there. They’re making the cheapest tech possible while trying to sell it for the most $. These digital electronics they design to handle the various functions that give them such energy efficiency are often made with design flaws that aren’t worked out before release and/or they’re made with the absolute bottom-of-the-barrel components and/or manufacturing standards. If they wanted to make nearly-indestructible computers and sensors and transmissions and motors they absolutely could. They could even make them extremely energy efficient as well, but it’s simply not gonna happen.
Energy efficiency is a valid goal, but if that’s really what they’re going for they need to make some major changes to the way they’re approaching it. The engineers in these companies are too smart for this to be the best they can do.
Plus these fancy new machines can’t even wash a fucking blanket (unbalanced every time, no matter what I do).
I haven’t had an issue with an unbalanced load since I started using a front loader. Mine washes all our blankets without issue other than the >15# weighted blankets, and that’s just me not wanting to risk my washer to not go to the Laundromat.
Obviously
If repairman laugh at durable machinery they either just want your money or don’t care about longevity. My father usually tells people to keep the old one if it’s still working cuz the newer ones break down after a year or two and suck to repair (simple stuff just replaced with electronics that you have to replace whole for half the price of the whole machine).
(simple stuff just replaced with electronics that you have to replace whole for half the price of the whole machine).
Not to mention the waste it creates… In theory it can be recycled. In practice electronic waste is not recycled at the level you’d expect…
As a repair guy that gives a shit about his customers, i encourage folks to fix their older appliances when feasible. I prefer the older stuff and find them to be easier to diagnose and repair a lot of the time.
A couple years ago i had an elderly lady with a Kitchen Aid washer and dryer that were in pristine condition. Based on some lookups, i determined the units to be 37 years old. Until that day, neither unit had been serviced once. Dryer needed a new door switch, lol. To be fair though, i got another call on the dryer a couple years later and it had a bad motor. Almost 40 years with virtually trouble-free operation! They loved the unit and didn’t want to deal with the flimsy bullshit on the market today so they opted to repair it. I overhauled the dryer in addition to replacing the motor and it’s quiet as the day it was new. What a well-built machine!
Oldest dryer i still service has to be from the 60’s or something – one of those old Maytag dryers that just has the timer in the center of the control panel and you push the timer in to start it. I swear the motors on some of those old units may never die, lol.
