Appliance Repair

[x-trainer ben]

So the GE tech just left and told me that the circuit board on the dryer is bad and showed me in the computer that it is not made any longer, which means buying a new dryer.
This dryer has a manufacture date of 2010, which means i got just beyond the "planned obsolescence" date of 10 years+/-....WTF?
I began doing my research yesterday and a link said that there was **no money in making products that last 20-40** years like they used to, so now you are lucky to get 10 years.

This is some bullchit for a lightly used machine, maybe 1-2 times a week and was a top of the line product for the time.
OH well, LG and Samsung are the top dawgs now.

[ajdahlheimer]

I hear yah, man. I've been in my house 18 years and am on my 3rd water heater, 3rd washer, and at least the 2nd of pretty much everything else (fridge, oven, dryer, dishwasher, etc.).

I have a Samsung washer and dryer. One thing I noticed with the dryer (which is probably less than 5 years old) is that the paint/finish on the inside of it seems to be wearing/flaking off in the back already. So might be worth asking about if you go the Samsung route.

-AJ

[Tommy W.]

Buyers are price driven and building things that last are too expensive to produce.

[coachcalande]

So the GE tech just left and told me that the circuit board on the dryer is bad and showed me in the computer that it is not made any longer, which means buying a new dryer.
This dryer has a manufacture date of 2010, which means i got just beyond the "planned obsolescence" date of 10 years+/-....WTF?
I began doing my research yesterday and a link said that there was **no money in making products that last 20-40** years like they used to, so now you are lucky to get 10 years.

This is some bullchit for a lightly used machine, maybe 1-2 times a week and was a top of the line product for the time.
OH well, LG and Samsung are the top dawgs now.

Lol, Samsung….no.

[coachcalande]

So the GE tech just left and told me that the circuit board on the dryer is bad and showed me in the computer that it is not made any longer, which means buying a new dryer.
This dryer has a manufacture date of 2010, which means i got just beyond the "planned obsolescence" date of 10 years+/-....WTF?
I began doing my research yesterday and a link said that there was **no money in making products that last 20-40** years like they used to, so now you are lucky to get 10 years.

This is some bullchit for a lightly used machine, maybe 1-2 times a week and was a top of the line product for the time.
OH well, LG and Samsung are the top dawgs now.

My son is an appliance repair specialist. I know he will know what you need and where you can get it. I know he’s bought old circuit boards and things off eBay. In any case, I’ll show him your post later and see what he says.

[blueberryboy]

Good luck man
About to move to a condo soon
Hopefully the appliances are solid for awhile

[lsiberian]

I would DIY repair my appliances when I owned a home. What failed on the circuit? You might be able to repair it. Also a lot of the problems with new electronics are due to environmental regulations. Newer solder requires higher temps and is more failure prone than the old leaded kind.

[Tommy W.]

Lol, I remember buying this old dryer for 25 bucks at a thrift store back in 1985. Damn thing lasted 10 years more.

[lsiberian]

Lol, I remember buying this old dryer for 25 bucks at a thrift store back in 1985. Damn thing lasted 10 years more.

That's really the way to go. Probably could have been easily repaired and lasted till now too.

[x-trainer ben]

Lol, Samsung….no.

That is what the appliance repair store(Tribbles) just told me.
He said that he sells the parts and Lg and Samsung break down the most often and to stick with Whirpool and GE( lord, lol)

[Tommy W.]

That's really the way to go. Probably could have been easily repaired and lasted till now too.

Lol, it had 1 dial and 1 setting "DRY". Worked great. My new one has a setting for everything confusing AF.

[LWW]

Hang dry!

[Desparado]

I asked a repairman who was fixing my washer, which was only 5 years old, why my parent's washer and dryer are 20 years old and still going strong. He said appliances now are more energy efficient (use less water, less gas, less electricity, etc.) but the trade off is they don't last long. Shocked to hear that the life expectancy of a front loader washer is only 5 years. Wow. I guess you gotta choose your poison.

[supramax]

That is what the appliance repair store(Tribbles) just told me.
He said that he sells the parts and Lg and Samsung break down the most often and to stick with Whirpool and GE( lord, lol)

LG (life's good) is crappy. Whatever you end up getting, make sure the controls are mechanical.

[x-trainer ben]

I asked a repairman who was fixing my washer, which was only 5 years old, why my parent's washer and dryer are 20 years old and still going strong. He said appliances now are more energy efficient (use less water, less gas, less electricity, etc.) but the trade off is they don't last long. Shocked to hear that the life expectancy of a front loader washer is only 5 years. Wow. I guess you gotta choose your poison.

5 years, wtf, i need a new washer too, omg!

[induced_drag]

Lots of stuff like that can be had on ebay. But some things are not worth fixing. If you live in a large area, things like washers / dryers / fridges are cheaper to just buy a nice used set vs new. Many times people are moving in and out of an area, and dont want to move things like that so they sell cheap on craigs or FB. I supply washers and dryers and fridges in the homes I rent. If I have a fridge go bad, I just pick up another one (if I cant figure out an obvious fix.)

[paulinkansas]

I've got about 25 washers/dryers/refrigerators in my rentals. They were built in the last century. They are still working. Average purchase price for each appliance was about $50. Same price for nat gas cook stoves too. Fridges are about $75.

[Bando]

I've got about 25 washers/dryers/refrigerators in my rentals. They were built in the last century. They are still working.

My SIL was coming over to do laundry all the time so as a lark I bought this used commercial washer complete with coin slide when our cheap one broke down. I would say it was 650 lbs. Thing ran like a champ for 6-7 years, would spin out clothes so dry they hardly needed to go into the dryer.

Was a Whirlpool IIRC.

[Spncrr]

So the GE tech just left and told me that the circuit board on the dryer is bad and showed me in the computer that it is not made any longer, which means buying a new dryer.

There is a special organization 'Consumer Product Safety Commission' which receives requests from end users. If you analyze the data on GE dryers (as new user, will put non-active link to source with good visualisation: applianceproblem.com/ge/dryers/ ), you can find that out of 43 problems, 11 are connected precisely with the control board.
So this is either a serious problem of the manufacturer, who did not recognize it, because there are no recalls, or you are 100% right and this is an artificially created problem for making money regularly.

[x-trainer ben]

Thanks for all of the helpful advice guys, i found a survey of repair professionals online and they rank whirpool#1, their parent company maytag #2, so my search begins with those 2.

http://www.cnet.com/home/kitchen-and...le-appliances/

[Lou1se]

I'm aware older appliances last longer, they may not be as energy or water efficient though. We moved into a mid70s home which has some relics. Mostly small stuff which I think should also go into a museum lol The dryer is a GEC and wasn't spinning or blowing hot air. The first appliance centre we called said it was too old and they don't have parts for it. So we asked if they would take a look anyway and they said no. We called another, he came out, laughed at it for being geriatric and having not seen one for a number of years .. he found it was a simple fix by replacing the capacitor. This thing is over 50 years old, he was marveling at it saying they are solid machines compared to the newer appliances we see today. No doubt some are better quality than others..

We also have a Westinghouse by EMAIL dishwasher (same vintage). We were $ht scared to start it and decided to have a plumber present when we turned it on. This unit was only used a couple of times as the previous owner (my FIL) was gobsmacked how much water it used and never used it again. So anyway, funny story. I was at the other end of the house and I shake my head still! My hubby and this young plumber are trying to work out how to start it but can't seem to pull it out from under the bench. It has one big round knob at the front.. no idea how to make it go, turning it did nothing.. until some bright spark pulled the knob. So water fills the dw and when the the wash cycle begins!!! Well, the noise is like nothing you will ever hear inside a house lolol It was LOUD like a truck, not a small one, think HUGE...this thing is located at the epicenter of the house. It stops and begins to pump out water... Now this is where I get sore, as in annoyed but 10x worse than that.The hose running at the back of it and through the cupboards and into the drain under the sink - BURSTS! That old rubber hose had hardened with age and maybe the shifting of the unit cracked it. You would think a plumber would know to replace pipes before operating old appliances, or hubby could have mentioned.. as the story goes ahh a communication problem, he's not a mind reader and silly me to ass-ume .. it was a disaster and you can't know what 50yrs of accumulated kitchen grime and what have you looks and smells like when turned into swill

Not to worry.

There is also a large Kelvinator Freezer, that works

Glad you found some good leads and tips, Ben. Goodluck!

[Bando]

It was LOUD like a truck, not a small one, think HUGE...this thing is located at the epicenter of the house

If you want to salvage it I would run it a few more times without dishes, I suspect it will quiet down.

I bought a used dishwasher from a retired couple and it's been a workhorse for 10+ years.

[Lou1se]

If you want to salvage it I would run it a few more times without dishes, I suspect it will quiet down.

I bought a used dishwasher from a retired couple and it's been a workhorse for 10+ years.

Yep. They are worth searching for if needing an appliance.

I'm a little nervous with running it as the seals are hardened from age. Amazingly, it didn't leak on the first run. I hope you are right and will give it a go soon.

[x-trainer ben]

So after the gym i went to Lowes to browse and it was overwhelming to say the least. At least 6 types by each of your fav brands. I had a list of what the best was supposed to be but this store had the "older" models and probably not the 2022's. It looks like you have the stackables, the 1,000 price point the 900, the 750, and the old fashioned white... 550 price point. This is going to take a bit more research, and lol, ironically the new GE's say 10 year warranty, well duh...we know why.

[jdboyd78]

We moved into this house the previous owner left the washer and dryer. The washer was a front loading maytag, it had all kinda electronics and sh*t. It stopped running, I googled it and got the error code off of it, the valve assembly was bad. I took it out, set of valves with a computer board on it, I took it to an appliance part store, guy said a replacement was $200. I left and went to Nebraska Furniture Mart and told the sales guy to sell me the dumbest, least energy efficient washer he could legally sell me. It's a top loader with an agitator, a mechanical timer, and a hot/cold switch. Works fantastic, was like 500 bucks, bought it almost 10 years ago, if something breaks on it, should be a cheap and easy fix.

[weiss1967]

You can always find parts on eBay, even the most obsolete ones.

[therealocgamer]

Planned obsolescence is a bugbear of mine... you can still buy all sorts of vintage kitchen appliances, stoves, fridges, whatever - that were built in the 1950s and still work today. Boggles the mind