Washing machines :(

[Overundr1]

Darned planned obsolescence anyways. Our relatively new washing machine stopped draining the water. Forget a service call $$$. Thank goodness we have all those years of bench work under our belts. What at least I do not have in great supply anymore is the ability to crawl under the machine on the floor and then hop back up with a style point earning spry motion. Anyways, found the drain pump was shot, a $50 part (all plastic of course), now ordered and I expect that after another crawl around on the floor ordeal will be back in business. Can't imagine what folks with no technical chops do these days, darned stuff just not built to last, grrr.
And what idiot installed every heavy duty hose retaining spring clamp facing towards the back of the machine where they then became impossible to remove without tipping the machine over completely sheeesh (rant over )

 

[Gepetto]

Darned planned obsolescence anyways. Our relatively new washing machine stopped draining the water. Forget a service call $$$. Thank goodness we have all those years of bench work under our belts. What at least I do not have in great supply anymore is the ability to crawl under the machine on the floor and then hop back up with a style point earning spry motion. Anyways, found the drain pump was shot, a $50 part (all plastic of course), now ordered and I expect that after another crawl around on the floor ordeal will be back in business. Can't imagine what folks with no technical chops do these days, darned stuff just not built to last, grrr.
And what idiot installed every heavy duty hose retaining spring clamp facing towards the back of the machine where they then became impossible to remove without tipping the machine over completely sheeesh (rant over )

I think back to how easy that stuff used to be Lee...also how much more reliable stuff used to be.

 

[Chris Cables]

I have 30 years PD experience in various industries including nuclear, aerospace, semiconductor and other sectors where mission-criticality at the end-user scenarios mandate that stuff is designed and built to last.
The last 4-5 years however were spent doing consultancy work in consumer goods sectors where everything is designed and built around a price point, market position/share and development cycles. I hated it.
So you're totally correct to aassume things aren't built to last these days because they're not. 'Operational longevity' gets nudged off the PD curve at every opportunity. There's simply no interest from a producers pov even if there is strong consumer demand.

Great that you decided to roll up your sleeves!

 

[Overundr1]

Great post sir. Don't even get me started on Samsung appliances, lets just say me and my Samsung refrigerator now have such a close relationship and constant undressing of covers that the lady of the house is getting suspicious
Btw the washing machine was a GE so parts were not an issue at least.
Its not that I cannot afford to replace them, its the principle of the racket today that gets my dander up.

 

[Skratch]

Get a wringer wash machine, they last forever

 

[Overundr1]

Grandparents had one, woe betide any child caught playing with the wringer. Grandma used to hook the drain hose over the edge of the sink to get most of the water out, then finish emptying the tub into a bucket. Those were the days. remember her scrubbing grandpa's work pants on the board too, a sound that I will never forget.
To your point, silly thing probably still is in somebody's home as a collector item.

 

[laatsch55]

Had an old Kenmore electric dryer--- 20 years at least, 2 belts and a couple elements, course no fancy cool down cycles, no nothin. iIt was a beast. Still runnng in a friends house. was replaced by a matched Maytag set that lasted 14.......that was 3 years ago. Then a Speedqueen TR7 from then with the matching drryer, after 2 years and 5 months o me telling her EVEN JOE TOLD YA!! We are getting a TC5 delivered, nothin fancy, just a good, backalley clothes beatin...

That's pretty much covers our 38 years of appliance boarding.
The Maytag took a couple pumps, easy fixes. The Kenmore dryer was mated to a matching Kenmore Top loader, replaced a motor in that 20 years....

 

[Gepetto]

So far, the Speed Queens have been good. Both washer and dryer. I got the no electronic frills models because that is what breaks. I probably just jinxed it…

 

[laatsch55]

I doubt it Joe. Jani finally got tired of it taking all day for a couple loads and having to ,pretreat the shit out of it in the garage. weird...she said the new one didnt make enough noise to tell if it was done up from upstairs....important stuff I guess....

 

[wattsabundant]

I bought a stacking set of LG washer dryer during bathroom remodel about 10 years ago. The only trouble so far was a clothing item got stuck in the washer pump and the pump failed. On second thought, I did replace bearings in the dryer during covid.

 

[Chris Cables]

Of significance and relevance to this thread is the 'right to repair' movement which proposes a freedom of individuals and third parties to be able to repair consumer products, particularly electronic devices.

As an ex PD manager I'm following this with interest as one of the design aspects I pushed for at a few of those consumer-product companies was the reduction of reliance on the re-sellers and retailers to handle defects, warranty and repair claims in preference to designing and modularising products wherever possible so that the end-user could purchase and swap-out/in modules of the product which failed. That concept usually garnered initial interest as it enhanced the end-user experience, while proposing an increase in profit while not just offloading the issues to the re-sellers via financial incentives etc.
Further down the PD cycle it would usually get shot to pieces and dropped due to money-grubbing and penny-pinching.
'If it breaks thenthe consumer will just buy a new one if it's outside the warranty period and we let the retailers handle the warranty issues'. Lame.

I carried this idea over from my time at ASM where I was tasked with a team of engineers to 'modularise' one of their A420 wafer processing machines.
Production downtime costs a chip-manufacturer a huge amount of money when a machine fails, so having the ability to reduce that downtime by having swappable modules; power module, robot, wafer-stepper, gas section, control module, etc is hugely advantageous.
It took us a year to get past the proof-of-concept milestone then another year to get a functioning prototype up and running.
My task completed I moved on to another company.
It was sold to customers for a while, notably Samsung, but I believe it was also withdrawn for possibly the same reasons as for why the idea got shot down in the consumer product sector - blatant profiteering.




It should of course be a fundamental right to have the ability to repair or have-repaired any consumer product and if I remember correctly those b@stards over at Apple were hit with a big fine recently for putting repair-restrictions in place.
I hate Apple and everything they stand for.

 

[Overundr1]

To that point, a neighbor invested a sizeable sum into a new green agricultural field preparation device complete with full air cruise tilt 125hp 4wd and a chart full of other 'extra's to replace a similar output unit he had had for forty years. What I find intolerable is the fact that every time a trouble lamp code is set the owner ends up getting the dealer involved. No more back to the barn and break out the wrenches. Add to that all the EPA and other alphabet department regulations and just the sheer complexity of what used to be such a simple get it done device becomes apparant. He is now mostly dependent on the dealer for his livelihood as down time tends to be financially detrimental. Not to suggest the consumer has not brought this on themselves by any means of course.
Back to the simpler consumer electronics discussion imo after 35 years in consumer electronics folks today have no time/patience/comprehension to either tolerate product failure or pay for onsite repair, so finding a reason for manufacturers to build in repair-ability or a large parts/service network seems to be quickly becoming a thing of the past.
Add to that an entire generation being immersed in "the easy payment plan" along with the idea that every new product becomes an immediate must have just hastens the whole product life cycle chain.
For at least a decade our consumer service centers were located in just about every mid size population center along with the regional repair facilities, staffed heavily with ex Vietnam veterans who brought back an array of technical 'chops' from their time in the service. Once the pace of technology started to really take off in the late 90's the corporate decision was made to shut those shops down as the cost to repair became untenable along with the miniaturization and large scale integration of what used to be discreet components.
Long post, think I kicked an anthill.

 

[Vynuladikt]

Get a wringer wash machine, they last forever

So do the scars. Earned this almost 60 years ago. 4 years old and tried to wring out my favorite shirt while mom answered the door. Picked me right up off the chair I was standing on. Just continued to spin when it got to the elbow. Safety release was jammed by the pressure, so mom had to reverse it and run it back out.
The doctor wasn't sure I would have full use, or even keep the arm. It was considerably weaker than my right arm until nearly 12 years old.
The scar has continued to reduce and fade. In grade school it was a large rough mass. The nerves have continued to improve as well. Was completely numb to start. Now all but about a fifty cent piece size has pretty good touch sense. I don't think that spot will ever have feeling.

 

[Chris Cables]

Long post, think I kicked an anthill.

..but a good post.
I don't agree with your observation that repairability is ever manufactured-in, except of course in the case I cited at ASM etc.
Repairability has simply just always been there for most products up until recently when the likes of Apple and EV as well as ICE car manufacturers have started to actively put restrictions in place, thus preventing the consumer/3rd parties from carrying out repairs. This is just pure evil and adds exponentially to the waste chain. And woe-betide you if they think you have attempted to make your own repairs -Apple locks you out of the device and car manufacturers void your warranty!

A friend of mine has just wasted a bunch of money on a McLaren supercar thing and complained that he can't even top up his own oil. He got a warning about low oil and assumed it would be a 5-minute job to top it up after sourcing the correct oil. Nope - he had to book it in to get trailered to his dealer with a 3 week wait-time! What a bunch of bullshit!

 

[Overundr1]

Ouch to the wringer pictures.
Agree with you Chris other than feeling the oem's are working too hard to keep any support in house at the purchaser's expense, both time and cost.