need to vent over appliances grrrr!!!!

[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.

[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.

[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??

Replacing TV and other appliances every 5 years?? 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 . I wonder if I can talk my partner into finding a second job though ...

[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.

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.

[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
.

[sarahspins]

Replacing TV and other appliances every 5 years??

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 ), 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.