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The lifespan of large appliances is shrinking

wsj.com

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Re: The lifespan of large appliances is shrinking

#171

Post by FireBeyond »

egberts1 wrote: post #148

Shrinking? Appliances' lifespan shrinking!? They have been given cancer! Thank God for American Hpme Warranty, it actually does pay at least two-fold over 5-year worth of its premium costs. This is not a shill but a testimony of the ridiculous lifespan of dishwasher, refrigerators, stove, garbage disposals, washing machines, dryer, and air conditioner condensor unit. EDIT: and a water heater. House was built in 1990.

> Thank God for American Hpme Warranty, it actually does pay at least two-fold over 5-year worth of its premium costs.

Hah, your experience was very different to mine, then.

Bought a house two years ago, realtor purchased an AHW policy.

I knew the AC was on its last legs from inspection, and no problem, since it was an older 80% old refrigerant system, probably closing on 30 years old. Figured it could wait one summer, in between all the other purchases with a new home.

That year, Seattle decided to have a heat wave. Maybe not much for those in Phoenix, but four days in a row of 105F+. That's still hot.

And it's even hotter when you have no AC, as ours died a couple of hours into day 1.

So I call the HWC. They "are having trouble" finding someone for "emergency service". Their idea of "emergency service" is "we have a company that will be out there in four WEEKS".

So I found someone who could come out that day, for a surcharge. Reasonable. And the AC was dead. But this company were nice - the tech said "no promises, no commitments" and he did some shifty magic and got it running for about six more hours before it was permanently to the graveyard.

So we started getting quotes for a new HVAC system.

Responses from AHW:

- we won't pay if you don't use our suppliers

- we won't pay if you don't choose from our list of models (which were all low end, 80%, 1 stage systems)

- even if you use our supplier, we won't pay above $X. If they quote you higher, the difference is on you.

- if you used another contractor for ANY maintenance work on the existing system, we won't pay

- if the maintenance schedule wasn't followed (whether you owned the system/property at the time), we won't pay

There's a common phrase in each of those statements.

Re: The lifespan of large appliances is shrinking

#172

Post by Kon-Peki »

PH95VuimJjqBqy wrote: post #154
Kon-Peki wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally not in the US. When you make an offer to buy a home, there will be a section that lists the furnishings/appliances/things-not-nailed-down that are included in your offer. Your real estate agent is going to check the boxes for appliances without even asking you. You could tell the agent not to do that, and the seller could say no. But that would be unusual.

wut? I live in the US and I don't know of anyone who chose not to bring their appliances with them.

What part of the US?!? I don’t know of anyone that didn’t leave them behind! That is really amazing

Re: The lifespan of large appliances is shrinking

#173

Post by musicale »

I've seen toasters from the ~1930s that seem to be virtually indestructible, and which will still burn your toast just as well as any toaster from the 2020s. I can't imagine current appliances lasting 90+ years.

Smart toaster ovens may change that equation a bit, both in terms of not burning your toast (due to cameras and various sensors and control systems) and also with even more rapidly accelerated obsolescence as apps and cloud services stop working.

Re: The lifespan of large appliances is shrinking

#174

Post by syndicatedjelly »

swader999 wrote: post #144
idiotsecant wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no law that will prevent you from making a washing machine.

5 gallon bucket and a plunger. Drill hole in the lid for plunger.

Does the plunger have to be new?

Re: The lifespan of large appliances is shrinking

#175

Post by euroderf »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #95
jacknews wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, the root of the problem is financialization.

Where are the 8% annual returns for old people’s pensions going to come from? Because the fertility rates of the last few decades surely is not going to result in growth like it did for previous generations.

Pension funds - the new all-purpose excuse for the blight that is financialization.

A worthy successor to "Think of the children!"

Re: The lifespan of large appliances is shrinking

#176

Post by euroderf »

hasbot wrote: post #123
ejb999 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We own a second fridge, a GE (family of 6 so we need the extra storage). It is now ~65 years old and has never needed service and has not failed to maintain the correct temperature. Not sure you can buy one like anymore.

That's incredible. Might I suggest monitoring its energy usage and reporting it here.

Homes get upgrades to their insulation. How about old refrigerators too ?

Re: The lifespan of large appliances is shrinking

#177

Post by euroderf »

ak_111 wrote: post #83
frellus wrote: post #46

The article focuses a lot on GE, however from my experience now most of the appliances are Bosh or LG from Korea. On the LG side, I feel like the quality has really gone downhill over the years. I had a GE washer which gave me 13 years of life -- not bad for $400. I replaced it with an LG now and already regretting it -- complicated controls which seem somewhat redundant, more electronics instead of just knobs to tur…

Genuine question why would you describe it as "Chinese garbage" if it worked perfectly? Are you referring to its aesthetics or the price? In both cases I don't think this adjective is merited...

"Chinese garbage" might mask a competitive threat.

When I was a kid, "Made in Japan" was code for cheap junk. Until Japanese products whomped entire sectors of US employment.

Re: The lifespan of large appliances is shrinking

#178

Post by ak_111 »

euroderf wrote: post #177
ak_111 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine question why would you describe it as "Chinese garbage" if it worked perfectly? Are you referring to its aesthetics or the price? In both cases I don't think this adjective is merited...

"Chinese garbage" might mask a competitive threat. When I was a kid, "Made in Japan" was code for cheap junk. Until Japanese products whomped entire sectors of US employment.

Interesting, I was raised in the 1980s and even then Japan had a good reputation electronic wise.

Re: The lifespan of large appliances is shrinking

#179

Post by euroderf »

ak_111 wrote: post #178
euroderf wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Chinese garbage" might mask a competitive threat. When I was a kid, "Made in Japan" was code for cheap junk. Until Japanese products whomped entire sectors of US employment.

Interesting, I was raised in the 1980s and even then Japan had a good reputation electronic wise.

Yes. FWIW my first stereo system was a Pioneer.
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