Modern Appliances. Don't make them like they used to.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I've never bought a new appliance.
after reading this thread, I can say that my thriftiness has blessed me with not having to replace appliances very often in the last 30 yrs of living in this house.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I beat the system on a pressure cooker!

About 15 years ago, we needed a pressure cooker for something and got a electric one made by/for Cook's Essentials.
The last time I used it was a couple years ago. I got it out yesterday, fired it up, and it wouldn't build pressure.

I thought it had died of old age, and shopped for a new one.
The reviews for them are covered with people changing the seal/gasket in only a few years.
So,,,, I looked for a replacement gasket.
They're available for all the new ones, but not the older stuff unless it's just by coincidence they'll fit.
Naturally, the new gasket for mine is not available anywhere.

After scratching my bald head,,,, I thought I'd try limbering the old one back up.
I rubbed it with silicone lubricant, and surprise! it softened back up.
I washed it real well, put it back on, and the thing works again.

I feel like I beat the system!

I have one of the new style Fagor SS "quick release" stove top pressure cookers. It was a gift to me in 2009. I use it many times during the year.
I noticed last year, it doesn't always seal right away, unless I wiggle the lid a bit, then seals right up. With all the recent shortages and supply chain excuses, I decided to order a new seal (they are silicone), as having the original one last 13 yrs is pretty good. Fagor doesn't make them anymore. China makes a clone gasket, but amazon reviews are awful, mostly they don't fit right and are mostly too small. I did find a NOS Fagor gasket on fleabay, but it was twice the price they use to be, and 5 times the price of the china one that won't work.

ANYWAY, it's good to know about the silicone lube trick, I think I have a spray can of food grade silicone lube somewhere, leftover from a jobsite project.

[Winger Ed.]

I think I have a spray can of food grade silicone lube somewhere, leftover from a jobsite project.

I didn't know there was such a thing.
I used regular spray can stuff, let it sit awhile, and then washed it about 4 times with dish soap.
Being up at the top and not in contact with my chicken- I figured it'd be OK.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I worked for a company that made dairy/cheese processing equipment.
Food Grade lube was required for everything, including the conveyer tub handlers and such...that didn't even ever come into contact with food.

[M-Tecs]

I didn't know there was such a thing.
I used regular spray can stuff, let it sit awhile, and then washed it about 4 times with dish soap.
Being up at the top and not in contact with my chicken- I figured it'd be OK.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=food+grad...l_1rt7tqara5_e

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=food+grad...f=nb_sb_noss_2

[Brassmonkey]

I had to use a stupid modern Samsung washer and dryer recently,

Wanna guess what I liked about it?




Like:
they washed and dried my clothes.



Dislike:
pushing and holding the buttons
The dings and chimes bells & bs sound effects
The chinsy flimsy feel of the door
The multi piece lint trap
The way the dryer shook and shuddered no I didn't put boots in it.

[10x]

There are 5 dominant major appliance manufacturers. Panasonic, Electrolux, Whirlpool, GE and LG.

Nearly every brand you see is manufactured by one of these 5 companies. The one's that are left are in niche markets mainly.

THere are jobbers who make appliances for all of the big companies. Quality depends on the specifications in the contract.
Years ago we got a dishwasher. It was Kitchen Aid made by Roper. so was Whirlpool at the time. The shell and frame were different. the internal parts were the same.
This link should give you some clue as to where that appliance was really made

https://whomakehub.com/who-makes-roper-washing-machine/

[10x]

We haven't bought a new appliance, other than a water heater, in 20 years. I don't know how many times I've repaired washers, dryers, and the dishwasher. I've replaced a couple freezers with used ones.
snip

We bought our fist washing machine in 1976, kenmore from sears, made by Roper corporation. It lasted for over 30 years. We purchased a Kenmore electric dryer at the same time - I rebuild it for about $35 every 6 to 7 years, new idler bearings for the drum, new idler pully for the belt. New switches for the door, a new felt seal for the drum.
The washing machine was replaced whent the controler/timer and the transmission died

[truckjohn]

I take the subject of appliance life with a grain of salt. Older appliances tended to be inefficient pigs. Washers "ran" forever, but didn't really wash that well and barely wrung the water out of clothes... Oh, and they shook the whole house to pieces. Now, they (mostly) work better, but the performance and efficiency comes at a cost.

Second... Lets be honest. Give consumers choices and they mostly pick the cheapest option without regard to "quality." Marlin sold the heck out of cheap 22's... They offered significantly more accurate 22's for a time, but almost nobody bought them, so they quit making them. Look at tools in the US... Try to get US made wrenches. Nobody wants to buy them because they're expensive.. So they fill up toolboxes full of cheap imports. That's the market, so that's what they sell.

[Hannibal]

Your theory only works if people used to buy premium products and have gravitated toward the inexpensive products over time. On the contrary I suspect more people are willing to spend more to try and get something that will last longer now than in the past. I tend the think that the issue is more to do with complexity when it comes to appliances. Things used to be a lot simpler in design and energy conservation wasn't a priority until rather recently.

[.429&H110]

I worked for a boy's school that owned a dozen or so Maytag washing machines and dryers. They ran 24/7/365. Delightful to work on! Maytags did not have a transmission, they reversed from wash to spin. There wasn't much to them, motor-belt-timer, they were 30 years old when I found them, likely they're still washing clothes.

Kenmores are like disposable razors, worth a dime for scrap. The tubs rot through.

The new Samsungs really do need a WiFi geek to troubleshoot them, we have a Samsung dryer in the family that burned out, like set on fire, its control board. I soldered wire around the burned traces, eliminated the cheesy melted molex connectors and three years later, it is still running. That was once a $1000 dryer.

And now we have disposable cars, totaled for the price of a battery.
I made a good living fixing all kinds of things, but $2 a minute labor rate makes things disposable.

Somebody said food grade silicone...
People who set up soft serve machines have tubes of the goo for the o-rings.
The spray cans are expensive, and if the propellant isn't air the propellant will eat at neoprene.
One tube of silicone goo is a lot of slime.
Great stuff!

[GregLaROCHE]

It’s frustrating, because good quality long lasting appliances can be produced today. Is it that everything is made as cheap as possible, so it can be sold for as low a price as possible, or is it that Industry wants things to wear out quickly to be replaced? Probably both.

[jonp]

I had to use a stupid modern Samsung washer and dryer recently,

Wanna guess what I liked about it?




Like:
they washed and dried my clothes.



Dislike:
pushing and holding the buttons
The dings and chimes bells & bs sound effects
The chinsy flimsy feel of the door
The multi piece lint trap
The way the dryer shook and shuddered no I didn't put boots in it.

Wife's parents have a Samsung high dollar front load set. Mother hates them. We had an old washer when buying house. It died got a new water efficient one that never got all the clothes wet. You ended up having to put it on large load and fill half with clothes to get them clean so do twice the laundry. Glad it died and hunted for bare bones washer. Got a dented Hot Point half off. Works great.

[Winger Ed.]

Wife's parents have a Samsung high dollar front load set. Mother hates them.

That sounds like the set we had.

I never could get the front loading door seal to not stink.
After a while the whole machine did due to the filter drain thing, then I didn't notice the door seal quite as much.

When circuit board went out that I found out cost $300.oo--- it went straight to the curb.

[Ickisrulz]

I take the subject of appliance life with a grain of salt. Older appliances tended to be inefficient pigs. Washers "ran" forever, but didn't really wash that well and barely wrung the water out of clothes... Oh, and they shook the whole house to pieces. Now, they (mostly) work better, but the performance and efficiency comes at a cost.

Second... Lets be honest. Give consumers choices and they mostly pick the cheapest option without regard to "quality." Marlin sold the heck out of cheap 22's... They offered significantly more accurate 22's for a time, but almost nobody bought them, so they quit making them. Look at tools in the US... Try to get US made wrenches. Nobody wants to buy them because they're expensive.. So they fill up toolboxes full of cheap imports. That's the market, so that's what they sell.

Snap-on (and other truck brands) wrench sets cost 4-5x what comparable sets made in Taiwan cost. Do you get 4-5x the quality or performance? No one can convince me that you do. Why anyone spends the money is beyond me, and I have heard all the arguments.

I have been around for a while and have used older washing machines and I have never had one shake the house or fail to get clothes clean. They worked well (probably because they used lots of water) and lasted a very long time.

[farmbif]

I'm guessing if you need an appliance or most anything the big box stores sells that's made in china might want to get it now from available inventory and not delay. from what I understand a whole bunch of china manufacturing is shutting down because of severe drought and rivers drying up and others there shutting down because of a reason we no longer discuss on this site. one that really caught my attention and got me reading about this stuff is one of the biggest, Foxconn, has shut down indefinitely.
thank goodness a bunch of American companies are tooling up and building new factories here bringing manufacturing stateside, but all that takes time

[Hannibal]

Better learn how to live frugally. I anticipate that the ride isn't going to get any smoother anytime soon. I'm just waiting for another wheel to fall off and I don't anticipate having to wait long.

[ulav8r]

2-3 years ago mom needed a new dishwasher, so the wife and I took her to Lowes. Mom asked my wife to help her pick one but the wife refused. Knew what kind of blame she would get if it did not turn out satisfactory. Mom picked a mid-range Bosh, no issues yet except that the racks are sized for small dishes and the lower rack, on wheels has no support when rolled out. Pull a little to hard and it will land in the floor. Nice and quiet but it takes 2 hours and 15 minutes to do a load of dishes after taking 30 minutes to get it loaded.

[Handloader109]

You guys jinxed me... 7 year old washer just stopped agitating. Several potential issues, cheapest $15 wasn't it. Next most costly at $60 wasn't it, and the next at $45 wasn't it. But the agitating plate has the only metal on metal spline and it had stripped and rusted enough to strip the splines off the gearbox shaft and the plate. $287 for the gearbox and $112 for the agitating plate. Almost $400 for oem parts or about $300 for Chinese parts. (Yeah, looks like some differences.) I'm trying $1 worth of a $6 tube of JB Weld stripstik. So far first load is half done and it is holding. Figure I'll get 2 or 3 loads out of it.

Bought a new open box display for $675 with tax. Roughly $200 less than their regular sale price. It's a decent equivalent to what I have now. Just couldn't spend 50% of a new cost on parts. Don't trust the electronics in the old one. Has been a bit glitchy once in a while.


Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[Winger Ed.]

I'm trying $1 worth of a $6 tube of JB Weld

That's good stuff. I had a buddy who thought you could make a boat trailer out of it if you wanted to.