Appliance Hell

Those are more popular in Europe, I think. First time I ever encountered one was in London in 2010, when I had to stay in a company short-stay apartment during the famous “Icelandic-volcano-ash-cloud-closing-European-airspace” period. I couldn’t believe how long it took to get even a small load of laundry done. It took forever for my clothes to dry, but I think air-drying everything is also more common outside the US.

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I miss the reliability of the Armstrong washers we used in the Navy, but they were hard to operate.

Our Samsung did this. It was a fan issue. They changed the replacement part but never issued a recall :rage:

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My friend in the UK has one in her apartment kitchen

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I had one of those when I lived in London. It took 4 hours to do a load and my clothes came out a wrinkled mess. Imagine what your sheets look like after the spin cycle. Now imagine drying your sheets while they are all twisted up in a ball. It was better than going to the launderette.

The strange thing is some nights this dishwasher really screams and other nights – quiet as a church mouse.
I’ve inspected it and there is only one moving part, the motor and pump are all one assembly, when it finally quits… I’ll change it out.

On some occasions, I’ll scream back at it – “Is that the best you can do??” Now if starts calling me “cheap” or tells me I’m watching too much football, I’ll know its possessed and I’ll pull it out.

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Don’t wait until it’s coming after you …

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This is the first time our igniter bonked out. Our Bosch stove/oven came new with our brand-y new house back in 2013 so I guess we lucked out. We didn’t get backups based on that fact. Call us naive!

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My brand new hot water heater started leaking the week it was installed. Home Depot exchanged it without a fuss but when I mentioned the failure to a friend, she said the exact same thing happened to her last year. Sheesh! I’m 74 and have no desire to see my 80’s so I hope the new appliances last longer than I do. Major home repairs dictated replacing my 44 yr old Amana stove and 5 yr old fridge. Nothing within my budget had consistently good reviews so I chose according to features I wanted. The four-door Whirlpool fridge is named SIDRAT - TARDIS backwards, because it is massive outside but has an unbelievably small interior (I had to shop online). The Samsung induction stove with convection oven has knobs, which seem likely to work longer than digital controls, although that’s what the oven has. I’ve only had them 6 weeks but knock wood, smooth sailing so far.

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The one that came with the oven lasted around 8 years, I think. But the replacements have died a lot sooner.

Yes… I switched to a tankless hot water heater system. Unfortunately, I have very hard water and nothing really lasts. So I purchase these inexpensive ($65-$70) units. They last about 2 years. I’ve installed valves and threaded flex lines, so I can easily swap out the bad one for a new one (takes about 15 minutes). The only real problem is getting my brain to think in Celsius vs Fahrenheit, as these units display in Celsius. I keep a spare unit in stock… ready to go.

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Incandescent lightbulbs made before a certain year used to last for decades, too.

I guess we’ll see if those LED bulbs really last that long. I doubt it.

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My appliance tech has recommended Speed Queen for years. He is the best tech and really keeps up with the industry issues and news, unlike past techies we called out to ‘fix’ something that the roomate couldn’t.

I recently picked up a used Amana washer off of “Craigslist” after the transmission went out in our old whirlpool washer. It shares many parts and architecture of a Speed Queen washer. This washer appears very well made and has a stainless steel tub. The only complaint I have is… it is a bit louder than the whirlpool, but its in the garage… so no big deal.

As a precaution, I’ll probably replace the drive belt and discharge pump as those appear to be the only “weak link” in these washers. I checked and those parts are sold as a kit for under $20.

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I have some 20,000 hour incandescents I got from Hammacher Schlemmer 30 years ago. They are in my foyer fixture. They’re ;re still going strong. I’m not about to get up on a ladder these days to swap them out!

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I know, the Milk Street thing. Oddly enough, he’s better on that show, I think, although I’ve only caught it a couple of times.

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I just had my 19 yo dryer serviced. The Repair guy, who i know and trust, said it’s better to fix the old stuff than go new. He also sells new stuff in his store and could have made a sale. Once I quit cooking in my dryer, it ran much better.

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I have a cookbook of recipes you make in the dishwasher. So …

Now make sure that when you’re cat-sitting, Kitty doesn’t decide that the open dryer isn’t the perfect place to nap.

That was one of my favorite Farside cartoons.

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My grandcats never venture into the basement to see the curious glories in the nether land.

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There are so many of his pieces that are my ‘favorites’.
The one portraying why dinosaurs disapperared is my all time favorite.

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