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

111–120 of 122 posts

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

#111

Post by jemmyw »

Washing machine and dryer. Our last pair had troubles. I did open both up and attempt to diagnose and repair. I got them going but both needed a part replaced, dryer it was the belt and washer was having issues with the pump.

The problem is that it is hard to get the parts and it takes time, it's not guaranteed to be a fix, and the local repair people have a 2+ week wait to come and look. It's much more convenient to just buy replacement appliances. I'm comfortable fixing things but I don't always have time and that time would be further stretched having to go to the laundry place in town.

We bought replacements, got the repair company to fix up the old machines and sold them on.

Parts is the biggest issue. Our coffee machine needed repair. I would have loved to fix it myself but the parts are really expensive so I couldn't experiment... I tried replacing the tubes and a valve. In the end it needed a pump. The repair place that sees loads of them can just stock some spare pumps but I'd end up paying more than a new machine to do that... and the shipping on parts, it was stupidly expensive.

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

#113

Post by Turing_Machine »

saila wrote: post #61
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've been using the same rechargeable Wahl clippers for about a decade and only shave with a razor on rare occasions because the clippers get close enough for most situations. It's also possible to repair them to some extent. I've taken the body apart to clean it out, and it seems like it'd be easy enough to replace the battery.

Same, but I have the full-sized plug-in clippers. They're probably about 20 years old. I've been wearing a buzz cut for a long time, and also use them to "shave".

I will use a real razor if I'm going to a formal event or something, but for daily use the clippers work fine.

I've replaced the blades once. Normally I'm pretty good at sharpening stuff, but I wasn't satisfied with my attempt on the clipper blades (too many tiny blades, and if they aren't super sharp they pull the hair instead of cutting it... not fun).

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

#114

Post by Turing_Machine »

h2odragon wrote: post #71
zabzonk wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

out of interest, where is "here"?

USA, where almost everything else does come with a power cord.

There are a bunch of different 220V outlets still in use, and as someone else noted, sometimes a major appliance like a range or clothes dryer will be hard-wired in.

Edit: see https://www.askmediy.com/220-volt-plugs-receptacles-configur...

(scroll down to the bottom for a look at the full spectrum)

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

#115

Post by BostonEnginerd »

ChoGGi wrote: post #62
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.

Could I ask for some more info, I think I might be having the same issue?

In my case, it manifested as an over which would take forever to come to temperature. The gas valve won’t turn on until the hot surface igniter allows a certain amount of current through.

It’s about a one hour repair on most ovens if you haven’t done it before. A ten minute job if you have.

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

#116

Post by jacknews »

gottebp wrote: post #24

Breville coffee grinders. The company does not sell parts, and so 3D printing was necessary to bridge the gap when mine broke a few years back. It ended up being one of the small victories over entropy for me, and I wrote it all up on iFixit here[0] [0] https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/BCG800XL+Grinder+Jamming+due+to...

Yes, small kitchen appliances are a curse of disposability.

Eg Blenders all seem to have proprietary connections between the motor base and the jar, often in plastic. When a small connection tab breaks, the whole thing is junk even though it still 'works' as 3d printing, glue, etc is usually not strong enough.

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

#117

Post by the_third_wave »

brudgers wrote: post #106
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…

Or grow a beard and/or other body hair.

Yes, that is the solution to this silly conundrum. Men tend to come equipped with beards once puberty hits, women happen to have fine hairs growing on their legs, both sexes have hair growing in their genital area and under their armpits. Woe to the one who ever came up with the idea of putting a stigma on natural hair growth.

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

#118

Post by smileysteve »

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.

But if you account for those costs (which some might put in the entertainment column) then you also need to account for the

1. Time to call the repair service

2. Being home to greet, escort, and explain the problem

3. The additional cost if sunk cost leads to replace instead of repair.

4. Effort to pay the bill

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

#119

Post by nikonyrh »

doubled112 wrote: post #37
cuu508 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We recently had a dishwasher repairman fix our ~15 year old dishwasher. We chatted about buy vs repair and he noted our fixed-and-woking-again dishwasher could potentially still last longer than a new replacement, because of worse quality of the new ones.

That sounds about right. My mother had a washing machine for 25 years and it had only had a couple of belts replaced. Her new washer failed within a year, and has been replaced by a washer that has also failed within a couple of years. Electronics failure in both. The control board is expensive. Not like a $25 belt.

I'm sure humanity is so advatanged that such board can be manucatured for 5 USD or so. Does it even have a CPU and a heat sink? It can hardly be more complex than a Raspberry PI.

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

#120

Post by [deleted] »

BostonEnginerd wrote: post #115
ChoGGi wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could I ask for some more info, I think I might be having the same issue?

In my case, it manifested as an over which would take forever to come to temperature. The gas valve won’t turn on until the hot surface igniter allows a certain amount of current through. It’s about a one hour repair on most ovens if you haven’t done it before. A ten minute job if you have.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN