Appliances are not made like they used to be.

0patience

Last year we lost our freezer, so purchased a new one and all was good.
Until yesterday when I discovered the ice cream was no longer frozen.
Great. And it's out of warranty of course.

Bob_Luken

Yup, my over the stove microwave is dead. It's in need of a new keypad. After a little online research, it appears that it's a common problem, especially with this model. (Maybe with other makes and models as well.) Turns out the keypad wasn't designed to withstand the long term effects of steam coming up from the stove top. Looks like they would have thought of that.  

jlmarta

Bob_Luken said:

Yup, my over the stove microwave is dead. It's in need of a new keypad. After a little online research, it appears that it's a common problem, especially with this model. (Maybe with other makes and models as well.) Turns out the keypad wasn't designed to withstand the long term effects of steam coming up from the stove top. Looks like they would have thought of that.  

When we bought our house years ago I noticed that the over-the-stove microwave was an analog version. I never even tried to see if it worked. We just bought a large countertop microwave and the other one made a handy breadbox - up there out of the way. 

CharlieHeis

0patience said:

Last year we lost our freezer, so purchased a new one and all was good.
Until yesterday when I discovered the ice cream was no longer frozen.
Great. And it's out of warranty of course.

See if it needs a defrost thermostat or defrost coils. Easy fix I'm told. My beer fridge has this problem originating in the freezer compartment. I just need to take it apart and figure out which part isn't working.

0patience

I'll have to check it out.
I think it knew we sold a vehicle yesterday and figured since I had some extra cash, it didn't see any reason that I should be able to have that extra spending money lying around. LOL!

NorCalR1

Products are no longer designed to last very long corporations want you to replace them every few years.Gone are the days of products lasting for any extended length of time. One time I was talking to someone when I was road testing his vehicles for a noise concern He was an engineer for a large corporation and his job was to design flaws in components to fail after a certain amount of time ( after the warranty had expired). Big busine$$...

0patience

I can remember a time when warranties were 3 years on most appliances. 
Now, 1 year is pretty much the top warranty you will get. 
Companies used to pride themselves in quality and long lasting. 
Now, they are only concerned about quantity, not quality.
Plus all the cheaply made parts from countries that mass produce garbage.

silvermouse

bought a Maytag stainless steel refrigerator and the defrost cycle makes a puddle on the floor and a sheet of ice on the bottom of the freezer compartment. Apparently a design flaw in it and several other related brands. Requires pulling the interior housing out of the inside of the freezer compartment and removing a pinch valve in the drain tubing. PITA. I just wait for it to start dripping and remove the sheet of ice. Too lazy to take the damned thing apart; some day I will have enough and either call the repair contractor or do it myself.

edit: it was 2 days out of warranty when I called the dealer.

dirtdude

I bought this hidious looking very old upright freezer from a buddy 5 years ago, works great when you close the door (another story). He bought a brand new one which has since died and needed replaced, he offered twice what I paid him for the antique.

jlmarta

I bought a water softener when we bought our house over 24 years ago. My smart-ass stepson bought a fancy one from Sears about the same time. When his first one crapped out on him he bought another from Sears - an electronic one this time. 

He’s now working on his third electronic one. Mine is still going strong.....  Just clean living or karma, I guess....

First_Warrior

My other has  a 50 year old refrigerator in her clay studio. It is keeping her beer cold. The fridge in my studio is a $100 find that I bought at the thrift store 15 years ago.That one's keeping my beer cold. 

silvermouse

Our deep freezer was given to us in 1984 and was at least 10 years old back then, still works fine.

dirtdude

So that begs tne question, would you pay twice the price for an appliance that would last 30 years, we know they can make them.

Amos_Umwhat

Ours is dated 1963.  We checked out new ones a couple years ago, just sort of thinking "it's time", during the discussion we told the salesman what we were doing.  He told us he'd gladly sell us a new one, but that what we had would probably outlast it.

0patience

dirtdude said:

So that begs tne question, would you pay twice the price for an appliance that would last 30 years, we know they can make them.

I the past 20 years, I've bought 3 refrigerators. Each time I replaced was because of failures. Previous to those 3, my old fridge was 20+ years old. I have to repair the ice maker on the current one, cause it's a plastic geared POS. 

So yes, if I could pay more for a quality unit that would last, I most definitely will. But I don't think it will happen.