need to vent over appliances grrrr!!!!

[smilingcat]

Sometimes I feel like I'm getting ahead and at other times I feel like everything is conspiring to keep me from saving money for my retirement.

I remember my parents had appliances that lasted and lasted... for years they would run... for decades it would run... Only reason they got rid of it was well styling got just too old.

The olive green color... the gold color... the traditional white...

I thought I took a good care of my appliances but my washer went Kaput about three weeks ago. I specifically bought it because it was more or less industrial grade without too many fancy functions. Amana washer. It started to leak after only 15 or so years. My mothers kenmore washer lasted nearly 25 years... I ended up buying Fisher&Paykel washer cause it was the only one we liked. Sure others had stainless steel drums but it had stains on the steel finish (hmmm...) then I ran my finger on the seam of the drum and it snagged my finger. (hmmm...) And Fisher Paykel is assembled in USA. (Buy American)

I hope the new washer lasts more than 15 years... All those fancy electronics make me nervous.

And tonight. I'm really bummed. It's a good thing we have a large chest deep freezer and a spare fridge. I opened our fridge in the kitchen tonight and I heard this spitting, sputtering noise from the fridge. I thought maybe the refridgeration gas was leaking... Listened to the sound and couldn't find it. Pulled out some of the shelves in the freezer section and still couldn't find the source of the noise. Close the door and noise became faint. My partner opens the door and looks in. :eek::eek: She sees an orange glow in the back of the fridge. OMG!! It's ready to catch on FIRE!!! Together we pushed the fridge so we could unplug the thing. the fridge is only 18 or so years old!!

Now we have to buy a new fridge after having bought a brand new washing machine... Less than a month ago no less... I'm feeling really poor again.

Whats really odd was that I got side tracked while we were looking for the washer and I spent some time looking at new refridgerators. Only one we liked were again... Fisher&Paykel. :(

The bright side of things is that we caught it in time so my house didn't burn down. All of our foster animals are safe and sound. and I still have a roof over my head. sigh... but no fridge. Yes we do keep an ABC fire extinguisher in the kitchen. It's a good size.

I hate spending money. I also went cloth shopping at Talbot over the weekend. A cute red plaid skirt, stylish pair of pants, ... I needed new work cloth... then the trip I just took to see my father for the last time... Last month was very expensive. This month is also going to be very expensive... :(

Did I say I hate spending money?

I hope I can sleep tonight. I'm just really angry about the whole thing. Guess where I will be tomorrow morning? Playing hooky from work. :( WHY ME!!!???

I just hope it doesn't take two weeks for delivery.

[papaver]

If you hate spending money, be happy that you have NEW appliances. They will use a whole less energy. I hope you did the sensible thing and bought energy efficient appliances...

Yes they used to make appliances that were there to last. But they don't do that anymore... the reason is simple. If everything would last for 25 years, they wouldn't sell as much.

My washer broke down a month ago. It was fifteen years old. I have a new one, and boy does it use a whole lot less energy.

[cylegoddess]

Nothing last like it used to - and hey at least you didnt get what I did!
My ( now gone) bunny bit thru our new three year old fridge cord, and I fixed it. Guess what shprted out all the house fuses and burnt out its own motor, requiring a NEW fridge. Yep. 15 years sounds good. I wish my washer would do that but its plastic and dont thing it will last 27 years like Dads:mad:

[uforgot]

I just retired my 30 year old dryer. I could have just replaced the heating element once again, but it was $50 and the new dryer was a scratched floor model for $200 with free delivery and setup. I don't imagine it will last 30 years, but maybe I won't either! Those 70s Kenmores were great appliances. The washing machine is still working!

[sfa]

Yeah, household appliances do seem to conspire to all break at the same time, don't they? We had to replace our dryer and dishwasher last year within a couple of months. I keep expecting our fridge to go (it spent the last four summers leaking all over the kitchen floor, but this summer it stopped. No idea why.), but it's holding on. The furnace also scares me--our house is 90+ years old and the furnace is from at least the 1940's (coal furnace originally, converted to burn heating oil at some point). How long can a furnace last?

But it seems like your appliances are lasting a bit longer than average. Here's the life expectancy of household appliances: http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/life-expectancy.shtml

Sarah

[Ritamarie]

We've got a 1950's oven. Works like a charm (well except for the broiler). Pic is of my husband (who is as old as the oven) making his first ever batch of cookies during the snowstorm. It took him a few batches to figure it out!

10598

[bmccasland]

Back when I worked in a fish pathology lab...

We had to replace our ultra-low freezer (holds steady at -80C), life span of about 5 years, $5000 each. I'm sure they cost more now. We got to know our local heating and cooling repair guy real well as we tried to keep our various incubators and freezers alive as long as possible before we had to replace them. Let alone servicing the building's heating and cooling system.

[Dogmama]

Smiling cat - if things happen in three's, hang on because you ain't done yet!

I'm on my third dishwasher in about 10 years because they kept being recalled for catching on fire (GE's). The manufacturer would give a "rebate" of $25 or so IF you bought one of THEIR new dishwashers. My dishwashers were usually old enough to not qualify for replacement or at least a good deal on replacement.

I smell a rat.

[OakLeaf]

I'm sitting here listening to my 3-year-old fridge rattle. Reason it's rattling is, every time there's a power failure, the drain freezes up, and unless we disassemble the whole thing and take a hair dryer and boiling water to it, the freezer will fill up with water from the drain. Of course nothing that's plastic and popped together ever goes back together exactly the same way. Ergo the rattle. :(

OTOH, I bought a new belt for my 11-year-old washer, which I'm pretty sure is all it needs, and haven't got around to installing it yet. :o

[kermit]

I feel your pain, but the technology has changed so much the new ones are great. My house in Georgia has top of the line frig and washer and dryer. WOW are they quiet, fast and energy efficient. The house we rent in Miami, well... our washer just died. It was super old and a commercial size. Worked great until it rusted and fell apart. So I go tell my landlord that it died and he goes okay I've got another one. He points to this old, yellow thing sitting on his carport. I'll get some guys to help me and bring it over afterI clean it up. Grrreeeeaaattttt! This thing is older than the other one. So he installs it and it's TINY and leaking. I let him know and he spends the day FIXING it. Was hoping he'd realize the thing is a turd, and a polished turd is still a TURD! Well he spent all day replacing hoses and guess what I'M ALL SET! At least you can go pick out what you want!

[badger]

yeah, things aren't made the way used to be. Companies need to make money so appliances these days are only made to last 10-15 years. Oh, and don't bother with any of those extended warranties. They're just useless money pits, and if/when you do need to use them, they make it really difficult to redeem.

I just wish they made cars to last longer than 10-15 years!!

and I feel your pain on spending. I just spent $1000, yes, one THOUSAND dollars on a nighguard for my teeth grinding.

[Irulan]

Consumer Reports gives expected lifetime on major appliances as 10-15 years now, depending on whether its a water heater, washer etc...

[Zen]

My clothes dryer is from Montgomery Wards

[TsPoet]

in 2003 my brother talked me into spending $$$ on a 50" DLP TV. It blew up 3 weeks ago (as in exploded, my poor dog was sleeping behind it, she ran an hid in the closet for 2 days!). I called my brother, and he said that 6 years for these modern TVs is about right!? I paid that much money for a TV with a 6 year lifespan???
My brother also feels that you should replace appliances, TVs, etc every 5 years anyway, to get the benefits of new technology.
My brother is nuts, but I think a lot of people agree with him.

[OakLeaf]

My brother also feels that you should replace appliances, TVs, etc every 5 years anyway, to get the benefits of new technology.
My brother is nuts, but I think a lot of people agree with him.

There really is a point where the resource expenditure of replacing an appliance - especially if it's properly recycled - is less than that of continuing to run an old, inefficient one. Five years sounds pretty short though. It's about the useful life of a computer, but not for resource reasons.

[zoom-zoom]

Consumer Reports gives expected lifetime on major appliances as 10-15 years now, depending on whether its a water heater, washer etc...

My dad does some appliance repair. He agrees. When our dryer died after about 11 years he said that was typical. Luckily our washing machine is still going strong after 13.

We have fixed relatively minor things on our washer at least 2-3 times, now. This site is fabulous: http://applianceguru.com/ we've ordered parts and done simple repairs that would have had a lot of people simply tossing their washer in the landfill. For chump change we've easily squeezed more life out of our washer.

[channlluv]

Smilingcat, my mom loves her FP washer and dryer. Her Maytag fridge has given her trouble since day one, though. Go figure. Even the Maytag repairman who came out to fix it under warranty told her she got a lemon and the company should replace it. I don't know if they actually did or not. The freezer in her garage is nearly 20 years old, though.

Roxy

[maillotpois]

Our TV died last week and our washing machine died over the weekend. :( I think the third thing is now the "P" key on my laptop only works if you slam it really hard. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

[divingbiker]

Hijack: You need to let your husband know that cookie baking goes a lot quicker if you get some large-sized cookie sheets.:D;):p


We've got a 1950's oven. Works like a charm (well except for the broiler). Pic is of my husband (who is as old as the oven) making his first ever batch of cookies during the snowstorm. It took him a few batches to figure it out!

10598

[nscrbug]

My clothes dryer is from Montgomery Wards

Ha ha...so is our stove! :D It was brand new when we moved into our house back in 1993. The previous owner purchased it in May, 1992...but apparently had never used it. I had to dig up the owner's manual last week to find the model number of it (for a part), and inside the manual was the original receipt from Monkey Wards. :p

Incidentally, the stove started leaking CO last Sunday during my Xmas cookie baking marathon. Had to call the fire department out...that was fun having all of our neighbors standing outside to see what the "hubbub" was all about. Turns out that a hose in the back of the stove was "crimped", thus causing a leak. We are STILL waiting on that part to come in...I have been without a working stove/oven for 10 DAYS...and counting!!! At this rate, I'll be lucky if my stove is working by New Year's. I'm so tired of cooking meals in the microwave and on the Foreman Grill. I miss my stove...:(

[ridenread]

We just had to buy a new refrigerator as well. Not something I wanted to do the week before Christmas. However everything in it was freezing. We had it turned all the way down as low as it could go and everything froze. It was less than 10 years old. The door also was falling apart. All of the shelves were cracking .There is only so much duct tape a refrigerator can take.

The refrigerator I left in an apartment 10 years ago was over 20 years old and worked perfectly.

Fortuantely we were able to find a decent one at the Sears Outlet. It has a dent and scratches on the side but once it is tucked into its space the cosmetic damage can not be seen.

[smilingcat]

Thank you ladies for your comments.

I don't feel slighted now... Geeze only 10-15 years is the life span?? :eek::eek::mad:

Replacing TV and other appliances every 5 years?? :eek: :eek: That's really too short I think. Thank goodness we gave up on TVs years ago.

Anyway, I hope to have a new fridge next week. Meanwhile we will make do with our deep freezer and our other fridge in the garage. Bit of a pain but beats going out for dinner every day or having to throw food away...

We decided not to get the Fisher Paykel fridge. Simply because it didn't have the energy star rating. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM??? We also hated the stainless steel look so avoided all those. We ended up with white enamel finish fridge. It's much bigger than what we were looking for but it had a deeper bins for the veggies, nice baskets for the freezer section... And the ice maker, which we never use, is tiny so we are happy. My pocket book is on life support now. :( :( The other nice thing is that we got over 20% discount on it Year End Sale Yipppeeee :D. I wonder if I can talk my partner into finding a second job though :o...

[papaver]

We're lucky, my mother in law has worked all her life for Philips/whirlpool. So we always get a huge discount. But I have to admit, our washer broke down at the worst possible moment (don't they all). And even with the discount, it hurts. :o

Electricity is very very expensive here, so you really have to buy the most energy efficient appliances. This year the Flemish government gave 'eco cheques' to each family. The are 250 euros (350 USD) worth, and you can only buy energy efficient appliances. They are valid for two years. Unfortunately we received ours AFTER we bought our washer.

[sarahspins]

Replacing TV and other appliances every 5 years?? :eek: :eek:

Agreed... that is wrong IMO. It's amazing to me when you look at the quality of components of things made 20-30 years ago, and not even "high end" items compared to what is available now, at any price... what we can buy today is just junk :(

Our house isn't even 10 years old (built in 2001, we bought it in 2003, as the 3rd owners :eek:), and we've had to replace so much of the door hardware it's not funny.... almost all of our cabinet hinges throughout the house have BROKEN where they screw into the frames, which isn't something that can be fixed, they have to basically be replaced one by one as it happens (I have a whole ton of replacements now so I'm not running out to find the right one as we need them - replacing all of them at once is a daunting prospect since there are just so many).. a couple of the drawer guides in the kitchen have had to be replaced because the supports completely broke. It sucks... yet my mom has hardware in her house that is like 40 years old and I know it was cheap when it was purchased, and it's all fine? It's mind boggling, really.

[badger]

Electricity is very very expensive here, so you really have to buy the most energy efficient appliances. This year the Flemish government gave 'eco cheques' to each family. The are 250 euros (350 USD) worth, and you can only buy energy efficient appliances. They are valid for two years. Unfortunately we received ours AFTER we bought our washer.

We have "energy" rebate program here where you buy an energystart certified fridge or washing machine, you get $50 back. whoppie, but I guess every little bit helps. I've heard that the program's being cut, though.

When I replaced my 19 year old top loading washer and dryer earlier this year to an energy efficient pair, I can't believe how much better it is. It uses so little water and clothes come out nearly dry so drying's a breeze. I can also wash bigger items like mattress protector which I never could with my top loader.

I can't wait to replace my equally-old fridge. I can't have ice cream in the freezer because it thaws, then re-freezes continually so that in a week's time it turns into a gooey, frosty blob.

[Irulan]

When we replaced our fridge about 10 years ago, our uility bill dropped significantly. And I too love my front loader washing machine
.

[Trek420]

When I replaced the washer drier I got a huge discount on my energy bill because my use dropped by almost 20%. It's so efficient and spins the clothes so dry that I hardly use the drier. Most go on the nifty L&L Bean wall mounted drying rack unless it's big stuff like sheets or heavy like jeans.

There was a rebate offer too, I never got that back but figure the energy bill is the rebate.

There's supposed to be a "cash for clunkers" program for appliances soon to get more people to turn in those energy hogs. Buying American would be good too (not that the Chinese don't need jobs, they're great too) :cool:

[Tuckervill]

For our wedding, we received a Black & Decker mini-food processor. We loved the thing. We used it mostly for shredding cheese, but it came out at other times. I'd never had a big FP so when I needed one about 7 years ago, I bought a really cheap(equals loud) one just so I could do this one dish and make an impression on someone (don't even remember the dish! Or the person.).

A few weeks ago I decided to make some bean dip with canned beans, garlic, etc. Threw it all in the Black & Decker and went to town on it. But then I heard a strange noise. The blade wasn't spinning. Oh darn, Old Faithful is dead. It's okay--it was TWENTY years old, after all!

Then last week when I needed marzipan and couldn't find any in my town, I decided to make some in the giant, cheap and LOUD FP. It broke, too! Expected that, eventually. Probably only used it about 4 times in 7 years, so no great loss.

My husband started looking for a new mini-FP, and read all the reviews on the new mini-Black & Deckers. Guess what they said? Not even good enough to shred cheese! Oh the irony. So, I'm getting a new, expensive (does that equal quiet? hope so) full sized Kitchen Aid FP on Friday morning. :)

I'm due for a new fridge, even though DH finally fixed the ice maker after about 4 years of it being broken. Can't WAIT for it to die, even though it is a pretty good one. I love having tools that really really work!

Karen

[tc1]

...no such thing as a free lunch. The reason why newer appliances only last 10-15 years is inherent with their design. Energy efficient means smaller and lighter parts which take less energy to move, which wear faster, and smarter electronic controls, which wear faster.

I love my newer fridge, and brand new washer, which are both energy efficient. We kept the old dryer, because dryers are so low tech not much has changed.

[OakLeaf]

food processor

Underpowered food processors are nothing new. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing in the context of this thread! I've been burning out blender and FP motors for 30 years making soymilk, tofu, and hummus. In the world of grinding appliances, anyway, it's definitely worth the money to get a more powerful motor, all-metal drive parts, and easy-to-find replacement blades. I think the cheap ones are mainly made for pesto and margaritas and you're really not expected to use them for anything else.

I've always drawn the line well before a Vita-Mix, although now that they come only with plastic jars, I kind of wish I'd bought one back when the jars were stainless steel...

[smilingcat]

A test engineer at my office reminded me to
use a surge protector on appliances.

If your appliance has a computer control, use a surge protector. This is true for your TV, computer, radio, washer, microwave, gas stove with digital control, refridgerator... If you see any kind of digital readout get a surge protector. And make sure it can handle the load. Dryer and electric stove would be difficult to install a surge protector since they run off 220/240V

My new washer is plugged into a surge protected outlet.
My computer is plugged into a "line conditioner" it protects against surges from lightening strikes and from brown outs.
My fridge which will be here next week will be plugged into a surge protected outlet.
Microwave is also surge protected...
And down the list it goes. For the money, its well worth it.

my public service announcement.

[Ritamarie]

Hijack: You need to let your husband know that cookie baking goes a lot quicker if you get some large-sized cookie sheets.:D;):p

Well, those pizza pans filling in as baking sheets just go to show (along with our 55 year old stove) how much baking we do. ;) My husband has a use-it-til-it-can't-be-fixed mentality. It's mostly good that he can keep almost anything running indefinitely. Sometimes bad if you want to buy something new, just to have something new. :rolleyes:

[Tuckervill]

My husband says that you can put a surge protector on your whole house for about $100, at the breaker box.

Karen

[smilingcat]

Thank you Karen for the information.

Well. saga finally finished today... xcept I'm not happy with the monstrosity in my kitchen. I've got a tiny kitchen... There isn't much room...

Anyway, the day after my fridge died, we went and ordered a new one. Said it'll deliver Monday 28th.

Called to find out whats going on... They tell me ??? computer is down so no info.
called later in the day... "oh what? your order is scheduled for delivery on Jan. 22 2010."

What ever happened to delivery no porblem on the 28th?? (never trust a salesman)...
TRIED TO CANCEL THE ORDER... that was a long story in itself.

Well managed to go to a big box store of sort and ordered another fridge. much cheaper and unfortunately much bigger size... tells me no problem for delivery on 29th.

I'VE GOT IT NOW!!! They had to take the fridge apart out on the street so it would fit in my house and have it reassembled in my tiny kitchen.

It reminds me of "little shop of horrors" FEED, ME!!! yikes. Why can't I get a nice smaller fridge? Why does it have to be MEGA-SIZED, never mind the super-sized??

I need a stool to reach the back of the top shelf. :mad:

[SlowButSteady]

Grrrr. Last year I replaced our original dishwasher (1993 model).

Earlier this year, the microwave. About 3 weeks ago, the "Start" switch on the microwave stopped working. I'm not ready to buy another microwave!!!

Fortunately, my son is 13 and has figured out a way to trick it into working without a start button.

[OakLeaf]

My toaster which is less than 6 years old has just started toasting unevenly. Burnt on the left, just right on a small space in the middle, barely warm on the right. Not an expensive item, but I hate the waste. :mad::mad:

[Tuckervill]

I never think about the toaster that I got for Christmas 12 years ago. I just expect it to work. We only use it about once a week. I hope I don't have to buy a new one, for the same reason, Oak.

Karen

[ginny]

Smilingcat, when I read your original post, it sounded like something I would write. I HATE spending money! Fortunately, I haven't had appliances issues, but I live in an eighty something year old house (no problem with door hardware and we have original cabinets in the kitchen still), but we need to upgrade the insulation (cha ching), and we put in a really efficient wood burning stove insert (our furnace is old and pretty much due to die at any time; while the wood burning stove is more a luxury than a necessity, it is a back up furnace and good peace of mind) (CHA CHING), then we got a great deal on a trip to Maui (free lodging and one plane ticket free from my credit card points) - let me tell you, there is NO good deal on a trip to Maui. The trip was great and fun and fabulous, but holy cow! It was EXPENSIVE! ....and we even cooked most of our own meals there! I laid awake last night ruminating over all the money I have spent in the last couple of months... now I'm sleepy and grumpy. Since misery loves company, I'm glad to hear others are frustrated about how much it costs to live. ;)