need to vent over appliances grrrr!!!!

[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!

[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.

[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

[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.

[divingbiker]

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

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!

[Ritamarie]

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

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.

[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.

[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.