Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What are household items that can be repaired but people often replace?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 122 posts

Re: Ask HN: What are household items that can be repaired but people often replace?

#41

Post by BostonEnginerd »

keiferski wrote: post #30

Instead of disposable plastic razors (Schick, Gilette, etc.) I recommend getting a safety razor and a big pack of blades (I use Merkur). You will save yourself thousands of dollars over the course of a lifetime - and avoid generating a ton of waste. Maintenance is pretty much just cleaning the razor with vinegar every few weeks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_razor If you have the time/desire for it, a straight…

I find that you generally get a better shave with a safety razor as well. The multi-blade razors which are commonly sold today get clogged up with beard hair and scratch my face.

I purchased my razor about 15yr ago now, and am still working through the first $25 worth of razor blades.

Re: Ask HN: What are household items that can be repaired but people often replace?

#42

Post by DaveJorg »

voisin wrote: post #16
smileysteve wrote: post #9

Water heaters; supposedly, if you replace the anode rods every 5 years, most water heaters would last the lifetime of the house, versus many replace the whole unit in 10 years.

Is that a relatively easy project for an average homeowner?

Yes, fairly straight forward with normal tools: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pxODVsgHRfc

Re: Ask HN: What are household items that can be repaired but people often replace?

#43

Post by sokoloff »

BostonEnginerd wrote: post #34

I've repaired multiple gas stoves for people. The SiC element which heats up to ignite the gas fails over time. My neighbors were just replacing their stove every time this happened until I showed them how to do it.

I do about an appliance repair per year for me, one of our parents, or a close friend. It’s shocking to me how ready someone is to buy a $900 washer instead of replacing < $50 of wear parts. (Many times it seems they never even ask themselves “could this be fixed?” In the most recent case, the lint trap and duct needed a good cleaning, no parts.)

Re: Ask HN: What are household items that can be repaired but people often replace?

#44

Post by failrate »

I frequently repair tools. If a handle breaks, I have a bamboo plant that I periodically harvest from that makes surprisingly good handles for e.g. garden shovels. My wife had a pair of small scissors with a broken handle that I repaired with lashings saturated with CA glue. Stuff like shower mats can be sunned out to kill mold, but they will eventually just need to be thrown out.

Re: Ask HN: What are household items that can be repaired but people often replace?

#45

Post by xyzelement »

I watched my dad do handy things when growing up so I have a default mindset that anything can be fixed or at least jury rigged.

Today even though most such repair is not worth my time per se, I want my son to grow up seeing dad figure out how to do stuff so he also expects himself to be able to figure out whatever comes up.

Re: Ask HN: What are household items that can be repaired but people often replace?

#46

Post by xnx »

MontyCarloHall wrote: post #29
candiddevmike wrote: post #18

I had an appliance repair person come out to fix our dishwasher ($$$), he told me this would happen again if I repaired it, and I should just buy a new one. Instead, I bought the component online and DIY'd the fix instead of paying him another $200. The component failed a month later, just like he predicted. I bought a new dishwasher, after spending hundreds to repair my existing one. Moral of the story: hubris is ex…

That means there was a higher level problem in the dishwasher that caused that part to repeatedly break. Why couldn’t the higher level problem be solved?

likely inherent to the design

Re: Ask HN: What are household items that can be repaired but people often replace?

#47

Post by jackvalentine »

keiferski wrote: post #30

Instead of disposable plastic razors (Schick, Gilette, etc.) I recommend getting a safety razor and a big pack of blades (I use Merkur). You will save yourself thousands of dollars over the course of a lifetime - and avoid generating a ton of waste. Maintenance is pretty much just cleaning the razor with vinegar every few weeks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_razor If you have the time/desire for it, a straight…

My Merkur safety razor broke after 10 solid years of use - I guess I over-torqued the handle/head screw and pulled the screw out of the head.

I have been meaning to drill out the head and use a bolt in the spirit of this thread, but will probably just buy a new one.

Re: Ask HN: What are household items that can be repaired but people often replace?

#48

Post by djbusby »

zo1 wrote: post #33
djbusby wrote: post #17

Our 65" Samsung faded out (blue/purple). Just needed to replace the white back-light LEDs. $60 in parts. About 1h labour (mine).

How much time spent diagnosing the problem, researching the fix, and finding the right part? Also, what about the time spent learning all the info and knowledge necessary to be able to do the above? There is always more to the cost equation than immediately obvious.

One search on internet and a YouTube. 10 min.

The video was published by a parts supplier, their site had a model search. 5min.

Knowing how to fix things, handy with tools and stuff...been working on that a little over 40 years.

Re: Ask HN: What are household items that can be repaired but people often replace?

#49

Post by kahnclusions »

keiferski wrote: post #30

Instead of disposable plastic razors (Schick, Gilette, etc.) I recommend getting a safety razor and a big pack of blades (I use Merkur). You will save yourself thousands of dollars over the course of a lifetime - and avoid generating a ton of waste. Maintenance is pretty much just cleaning the razor with vinegar every few weeks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_razor If you have the time/desire for it, a straight…

This is a big one. Disposable razors are an epic waste of money. I spent £30 on a good quality safety razor which will last forever, and spend another £4/year on blades.

Re: Ask HN: What are household items that can be repaired but people often replace?

#50

Post by sva_ »

Lots of the more analogue electronic stuff that stopped working "for no reason" can often be repaired very easily (might require some basic soldering skills.) Just opening up the device and following the wire will often reveal that it is something banal, like the wire not being tightly secured somewhere.
Post reply on HN