Nobody should have to pay any attorney thousands of dollars to take a warranty case to court anyway. Citizens being unable to use their own country's Justice system because of it's high price is beyond ridiculous.
If the M-M warranty act says attorney fee are covered, then they are covered. Period. If a lawyer fee is $10k for a $1,500 appliance, so be it. Manufactures will learn quickly not to screw their customers and build better products.
several years ago I bought a new LG frig - it was a bit over $1700. Less than 2 yrs later i received a letter in the mail regarding a class action lawsuit against LG for bad refrigerators. My frig was one of the bad ones. It included a check/reimbursement for less than $200. My frig did die within the following year. So - I was reimbursed less than $200 for a 3 yr old $1700+ frig. Every time I'm in Home Depot, I repay LG with a side trip to the appliance dept and tell anyone looking at LG refrigerators, what they can expect regarding quality of said item.
‼️ Inverter and Linear Compressors sucks..🤬 Only "Fixed Speed" Compressors are best and reliable for Refrigerator or ACs. Buy only that, for long life..
I have a cabin in Northern Michigan. Twenty years ago, when electricity was first run to the cabin, I decided to get a refrigerator. There was an old man named Deter (like Peter, but with a D) in the area that ran sort of a permanent garage sale in his retirement. I swung by Old Deter's place and he had an old, pastel yellow, GE refrigerator. It was probably over 30 years old at that time. He wanted $50 for it, but I was apprehensive due to its age. Deter talked me into it by saying, "Give me $40 and take it home, if it doesn't work or it dies before I do, bring it back and I'll give you your money back." Unfortunately, Deter and my warranty died about 3 years later, but that ugly refrigerator is STILL running strong at well over 50 years old!
My family cabin has a running refrigerator from 1970. Only one time the Freon was serviced (I bumped the coils moving it, made it leak in 1990). I am going back there once the snow plow guys makes it accessible.
I really liked the "Avocado" colored ones.."Toast" was good, too..now everybody wants everything a sterile white, black, or silver..they buy their cars that way, too....
You're lucky. In the mid-1980, GE had the same issues with their new rotary compressors -- they failed early and often. They tried replacing bad ones with the same model, but finally gave up and replaced them with traditional piston compressors.
One of my neighbors died about a year ago. She grew up in the house and kept it just the way her mother had it when she was alive and had it built in 1966… ALL OF THE APPLIANCES WERE ORIGINAL IN PERFECT SHAPE LIKE NEW. I grew up two houses down the street. It was like stepping into a time capsule. Everything was original, 60 years old, and worked.
Sears was a brand name, and ie: a washing machine, was manufactured by one of 6 manufactures (one being Roper). But, if something broke, you could go buy the parts to fix. Caroline had a refrigerator, that lasted longer then she did. Her husband bought it about 1970, and when she died, it was still working fine, although they did replace the seals.
I'm on my 3rd washing machine in 8 years. I'm on my 4th dishwasher, and 3rd vent hood/top mount microwave. Mom's avocado green dishwasher from the 70's was still trucking along 5 years ago when she got tired of looking at it. Probably should have snagged it from her😂
If you're gonna spend the amount of money to get 3 washing machines in 8 years. Do yourself a favor and spend the extra to get a Speed Queen and be done with it. For dishwasher Bosch is the only brand to get. They make rubbish for other products but nobody builds a better dishwasher. Hood/microwaves are terrible. They are incredibly expensive compared to a stand alone, Buy a hood, buy a stand alone microwave. Good luck.
There is an epidemic in products across the board. The sooner we get right to repair laws and proper fines for companies abusing warranty laws the better
The real issue is we outsourced everything to countries where those simplistic and cheap design principles are accepted and used to churn out as much product as possible for as cheap as possible, with as few materials as possible. The fridges and things like microwaves that used to be made in America, were already well evolved design wise even by the 1950's. Almost no fridge or microwave today compares to the quality of ones made over 50 years ago, not even really material wise either. But they weren't only built sturdier, they had things like extra compartments, shelves that could be rotated out, and they also ran smoothly without basically any maintenance. Take a fridge built even 10 years ago, and that thing would be rattling and making all sorts of noise today, while even well taken care of interiors would be scratched and scuffed up, cracking, bowed, or broken and missing pieces, while the door seal would be splitting.
Exactly! Appliances now are full of delicate electronic parts (made in China) and fragile features. When they go sour the parts are hard to find and it takes a trained technician to do the repair. They have a life expectancy of less than 10 years.
@@erikwalsh5653 My appliances are 23 years old, and I intend to keep them. Even back then, I had to special order my fridge to get one without an icemaker. Everything has simple, mechanical controls. I don't need a dozen different cycles on my washing machine. Why do people think they have to communicate with appliances using their smart phone?
Charles F. Kettering invented the electric starter and eventually became CEO of GM. He said something that every engineer needs to have tattooed on their forearms: "Parts that aren't there cost nothing and never go wrong."
I have my parents old freezer which they bought used in 1982 and its also going strong. Although the gasket around the opening is getting worn down, but it still works. 45 years+ and still working.
My home was built in 1976. We bought the house from the estate of the original couple who had it built, and lived in it until death. The 1976 Maytag dryer in burnt green still works! Sadly, that kind of Maytag no longer exists.
Because there’s no money in it. The ideal is that lady who kept buying LG fridges. (My house came with Kenmore appliances circa 1991. All are solid workhorses.)
Same story here, but my maytag is 1986 and white. When the main bearing failed 15 years ago I could of bought a new washer which only lasted 10 years, but instead I replaced the bearing myself and have doubled its lifespan.
Our politicians can make a law that charges us 10 cents for a grocery bag because of “the environment,” but they cant make laws that stop the intentional destruction of our appliances (and everything else) that will force us to replace parts on a regular basis. Really goes to show what they are really trying to accomplish.
Think about how much freon is being lost to the atmosphere when these things are junked. I am sure thye have some laws to capture that freon, but probably a lot of it just goes into the air.
@@tqlla yeah, they probably dont just bury it with the rest of the trash. But even if they recycle it, that still takes a lot of energy and other materials to do that.
I bought a house off my in-laws in 1992 where they left the Maytag washer and dryer for us. I was looking online at the pictures of the people who are selling the house now, and that washer and dryer are still there.
My grandmother in law bought a GE refrigerator in 1937, and it was running fine when she passed away in 2019. They know how to make them to last, they simply won't now, to keep you buying them.
It’s not just that. It’s also that when the central bank’s money printer goes brrrrrrr, it makes the input costs of many things to go up. Since people cannot afford to pay $10,000 for a fridge, the manufacturers cut costs every way they can so as to get the price low enough that they can sell it at all. It’s the same reason why the “organic non-gmo” food is so expensive. It used to be called “food” but the need to cut corners arose from the currency debasement which is boring to talk about but CONSTANTLY poisons the economy with problems like this. There is no such thing as free.
Back in the early 1990s I attended one of those survey things where you are asked what you think about a product that exists or is being developed. This one was about refrigerators; they proposed refrigerators that did all kinds of things like storing your digital photos and operating your thermostat. I responded to each idea the same: why would I want my refrigerator to do that? They had an answer and I would disagree. They got a little annoyed with me, but I was being totally honest and open. I began to think I was on a television show like the old Candid Camera; it was all so bizarre. Turned out that's the direction they went with all home appliances just because computers could do such things. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
@@bartsanders1553 Why can't your phone do that? Smart phones are the same story; it's not just a phone, but a mini-computer. That makes a little more sense than a refrigerator, though.
I'm reminded of a computer science class where we were reading someone's story of failing to be hired for Microsoft. As part of the hiring process, they asked the guy, "Let's say Microsoft is going to make a computer-controlled microwave. Describe the use cases and features you would implement." The guy's response was "That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard. Why would anyone want a computer controlled microwave?" Despite it being a hypothetical scenario to elicit his thought processes and design methodology, he couldn't get his head past the inanity of the scenario. Additionally, if you're hired and told to make a computer controlled microwave, you make a computer controlled microwave. You don't argue ad nauseum about how stupid it is. If you're lucky, and in the right position, you might get to argue one time that it's not what consumers want, but once the decision has been made you either get with the programming, or get out. Needless to say he wasn't hired.
That happens with all markets during major tech innovations. Nobody is sure where it will go so they tend to throw out all kinds of silly ideas and see what sticks.
It's called "Planned Obsolescence". I bought a house in 2002 with a Kenmore and have been terrified to replace it. Still works. Fingers crosses. It was already 5 to 10 years old when I bought it.
We too bought a house and the old refrig came with it and now 6 years it is a Timex. Keeps on ticking. I will not replace it. If it has a piston pump then good. and maybe just replace it if it fails. Don't want to spend $2K on a new one that may not last thru warranty.
Dont worry it will keep on working if you give it the proper maintenance every year, get yourself a good and trusted repair man, i have had mine for 12 years plus, still have the same washer and dryer for the past 14 years , and i got them second hand, true i have had to swap some parts along the years, i have them check at least once a year. washer is Kenmore and dryer GE. and don't plan to change any time soon. to finish , my Gran`ma had a top roll washer for almost 50!! yes 50!! years broke only 3 times wile she had it, m y mom was 7 of 9 children , that washer was build like a tank.
If it’s the older style stuff even if it breaks down…it can be rebuilt…im rebuilding a 90s model washer with parts I dug out of the scrap yard…even the washer motor…they can be rebuilt…this new garbage isn’t worth even bothering with…when the manufacturer says u shouldn’t wash more then one to two pairs of jeans by themselves as a load to prevent from overweighting them…what? The old wagers came with a half horsepower motor…the new garbage are these tiny little 1/4 and less hp with enormous bowls on the washer that u can’t fill with clothes more then 2-3” high in the bottom…or u have overweighted the bowl and will burn up that tiny little motor…
It's not even actually planned, you're giving them too much credit. What it really is, is a side effect of western economies shifting from industrial to service based economy - we no longer build our stuff. We outsource it to poor countries, where work is cheap, but QA is spotty. Combine that with the hardware becoming over-engineered with all sorts of extraneous stuff(does a fridge REALLY need Wi-Fi, a 21" android tablet and a literal computer to power it? Really?) adding more and more points of potential failure. More potential failure points, combined with spotty quality control equals stuff breaks more often
I have a GE side-by-side refrigerator I picked up used in 2001. It was a couple of years old then. 2024 and it's still working perfectly after a couple of minor repairs performed by me.
It doesn't have to be this way. A lady requested the door gasket be replaced on her refrigerator. When the door gasket arrived I went out to install it. The refrigerator was a 1932 GE Monitor top. It seemed like fifty or sixty stainless steel screws had to be removed to accomplish the job. It was astounding to see a 90 year old refrigerator still working as designed, but I was more surprised that the replacement gasket could be sourced for it.
That's great ...But yet the govt "suggests" that we throw out all all the old appliances and replace them with more energy efficient units. Spending thousands to save 19 bucks a year
Yup, my parents have a 1936 GE refrigerator. It was used as the extra refrigerator in the basement and milk, soda, or whatever you put in there always was perfectly chilled. way better than the newer refrigerators we had elsewhere. They had the refrigerator before I was born and it’s still running perfectly fine today never been really unplugged, except for occasional defrosting. And I’m getting closer to 50ys old myself 😅
Very cool! The Monitor Top fridges have quite a following and certain parts are reproduced. There are a few devoted repair people in the country who keep them going on the off-chance they need maintenance. I have made several videos of repairing these. They aren't repaired with computer boards and software. They are repaired with a torch and solder and hand tools.
@@frankf.marcus7768 They don’t seem to mind filling landfills 🤔. If they really cared about our environment they would work on making things last forever. But it’s planned obsolescence; big companies need you buying appliances more often.
I have a GE refrigerator that my dad purchased for my grandmother in 1949, the year I was born. It has survived not only the past 74 years, but at least 2 waist deep floods when it was in my dad’s business. I keep my beer cold in it today and it works great. It may outlast me!
Wow. I have (2) GE “garage ready” upright freezers in my backyard. They seem to be okay dealing with the weather, except for the screen/control pad not working properly. My dad wrote to someone on GE’s executive management team when we were waiting for our second one, I forget if it was the president or a VP or what, explaining that our freezer had been ordered months prior and it kept getting delayed. The guy actually responded and told us that GE sold their appliance division to Haier (Chinese) and licensed the GE name to Haier. My dad expressed that they’ve got horrid supply chain issues now, and it’s hard to get these products quickly. Despite GE having sold out, they still had pull because they licensed the use of the GE name to Haier. We had our freezer about 3 days after my dad heard back from the guy at GE. They really are a good company. It’s a shame that they sold their appliance division to a cheap Chinese company.
Yup. They used to last many decades, and come through floods of a foot or two, in my direct experience. The main downside was lack of features -- like no auto-defrost for the freezer. But they just WORKED. I didn't grow up until the early 80's, so I don't know how expensive they were compared to today, inflation adjusted, and they DID use more energy but still...
Stuff just isn't built to last like it use to be. I remember my grandmother had a washing machine that was from the 80s that was still working like a champ the day her estate was sold 5 or 6 years ago.
The same “computer creep” is happening with high-end bicycles, too. Now shifting is handled electronically, so when something breaks, you’re just kind of out of luck until you get a replacement. You also have to plug bicycle parts in now, which is ridiculous. As a kid, I remember grabbing old bikes off hooks in our parents’ garages, pumping up the tires, and going out for a good time. Now the joy has been sucked out and replaced with software updates. It has made even relatively young people like me seek out “vintage” items. They work, they’re adjustable, they’re satisfying to tinker with. I’m looking for a new washer and dryer now. I’d like a front-loader because it uses less energy and water and is easier on clothes. I can’t find a front-loading washer without all the electronic nonsense to save my life. It’s funny that the “entry-level” stuff will probably end up being my pick because I don’t want to have to have a scientist figure out an issue a year from now.
This happened to me last year when my brand new refrigerator stopped working after only 4 months. Called the manufacturer. Called the store where I bought it. Serviceman came out, thawed it out and said it was fixed. Had to come back two weeks later. This time he said it needed a part that he was having trouble finding because the refrigerator model was so new (and made in China). He finally called me back and said he could get the part in 5 months!!!!! Five months?!?!? Thank God I had purchased the store's extended warranty, which is somrthing I usually do not do. Allstate Insurance reimbursed me for the service calls AND they reimbursed my entire purchase price! Had to buy a new refrigerator but at least I'm not out of pocket.
We currently have a refrigerator that is almost 40 years old and it's still kicking. After hearing all these horror stories about modern refrigerators, I am very grateful for having a hand me down. I wholeheartedly believe planned obsolescence is real and these stories further support my belief.
Same for a deep freeze I have but the issue is efficiency of say my moms old 80s fridge uses 600% more hydro than my now 14yr old fridge the 14yr old whirlpool is BASIC model only no fancy shit to go wrong only control for temp in the fridge and for sections plus basic switches for lights etc poof crisper bin broke butter compartment cover in the door cracked due to kids stupidity but otherwise running perfectly Meanwhile dumbass friendnbought a 3000 fridge with lcd tablet built into the door and other fancy shit it needdd service 5 times in the 1st yr and completely died in just over 2yrs he fortunately listened to me and bought the added warranty via costco which saved his ass But he will never buy anything seom samsung again
You have to be a bit thoughtful with old appliances though - some are just really inefficient compared to newer appliances, using far more power/water than the new ones. It can sometimes be more economical to get a more efficient new one even if it only lasts like 5 years or whatever.
I work at a retirement community...we have over 200 units with complete sets of appliances. Some have their original 30 year old appliances and they are trouble free. Most have been updated, and the appliances only last 3-5 years at best. Usually the cost to repair outweighs the cost to replace...we throw away dozens of washers, fridges, and dishwashers annually. When only a few parent companies make 90% of the major brands, you can pretty much write the book on engineered obsolescence, and part discontinuation.
I work maintenance for a corp that runs multiple retirement communities, and we've seen the same problem. New appliances, HVACs and even elevators aren't lasting. The parts used in newer products are cheaply made, and made to fail so that we must buy replacements. I still can't believe the issues we've had with three to five year old Otises. We're even seeing issues with new construction. Older communities we buy have fewer maintenance issues than our brand new buildings. It's really sad to see this decline in quality, but many people today don't seem to take pride in their work or their products and this shows.
My dad had 100+ units. He was a soft heart. After he died, we told the tenants we weren't going to raise the rent but we would no longer provide appliances. As tenants turned over, we accelerated the changeover by pulling appliances out. We started getting a higher quality tenant. When COVID hit we only had 2 tenants stop paying the rent. I have noticed a constant stream of discarded appliances at my dumpsters.
You just explained the absurd ridiculousness of the American "court" system... and why most regular folks hate lawyers. Most people can't even afford to pay the court cost let alone hire a dang lawyer.
After mom passed in 2021 we found the receipt for the Kenmore dryer our parents bought in 1976. It was still working! When dad passed in 2011 he had asked us to buy mom a new dryer because the Kenmore had some rust soots inside the drum. She refused and it was still working perfectly when she passed! ❤
I'm retired from the hvac/Refrigeration trade. I was commonly asked what was the best fridge to buy. Told people to avoid the bells and whistles and buy a simple unit. Refrigerators are are basically quite simple, that's why your grandmother's lasted forever. All it has to do is make cold. Also, ice makers are always a trouble spot, especially when they leak water on your floor and ruin your house.
Truth! As more people experience these techy issues with new stuff, I think the mindset of even the younger generations will revert back to the basics on a lot of things. I've been a tech nerd since the early 1980's and absolutely LOVE new tech, but there's a limit on where it can be useful, and household appliances are past that limit.
I love simple. There are so many things in life, like smart appliances, smart watches, etc., and if they all worked forever without hassle, that would be great -- I could "set and forget". But they don't. One by one, they interrupt my life with something simple like begging me to upgrade (or worse, not even asking, upgrading, and bringing with that some kind of failure), or they quit working, like a security cam, and then I have to find the manual and relearn the magic sequence to set it up again (blink, I'm talking about you).
@@PeterLawton Exactly! As much as I enjoy tech when it's working, I wouldn't be very upset if an EMP or SME destroyed the grid and all electronics. I've got a generator and some essential items in a Faraday cage just waiting for the inevitable.
People used to only replace their refrigerators because they’d get horribly out of style, or because they’d want more modern features like an ice or water dispenser. It wasn’t uncommon to find a fridge built in the 60’s still running 30+ years later, but it was relegated to a garage or a man-cave because it was embarrassingly out of date.
Even modern refrigerators will last for pretty much ever, at least the refrigeration system. It’s usually electronics and other controls that kills them now.
@@cosmicinsane516 "at least the refrigeration system" - NOPE. Look into the problem with LG and their linear compressors, its just ONE of many issues plaguing the basic functions of the "modern" refrigerators - and yes, boards and interface modules for a good number of washers/etc continue to fail at a higher than acceptable rate.
@@jilbertb "and my elec bills are $15-20 less per month." Those saving tend to disappear when paired with having to replace the appliance every 3-4 years.
Mine's from 1989 and I can hear the sediment moving around. Maybe that sediment holds the heat longer so it doesn't have to turn on as much? All I know is that our family of 5 never runs out of hot water for anything, ever.
We are in the midst of repairs on a thre year old fridge and we have (thankfully) a 15-20 year old fridge (whirlpool Gold) working just fine. They have sent parts a month ago, rescheduled the first appointment, now we can’t seem to get through for a new appointment. This video is great info. Thanks
When my dad moved into a farmhouse in 1954, there was an old Kenmore gas stove. It had a top griddle in the middle with a side oven in addition to the regular oven. Later on, it was moved from Ohio to North Carolina to my sister's house to be used for her large family. Just 2 years ago it blew up and was done. That stove saw a LOT of Thanksgivings, Christmas and meals over the years.
If your family is like my family, they blame whoever used the stove last for it's demise. My uncle apparently tried to bake a potato in my parent's oven, and didn't prick it. The potato exploded and somehow blew the oven's element. My parent's wrote off the oven (a hideous 1970's built-in cabinet oven stack) and remodeled the kitchen. For years afterward, it was mentioned how Uncle J ruined the oven.
My nephew came out to visit and wanted to drive my dads classic car for a trip to the store. With dad sitting in the passengers seat my nephew asked if he could turn on the car radio. My dad said "sure, go right ahead". Nephew reached over, turned on the rotary dial to turn it on and...the radio started to smoke and popped the fuse. My dad looked over at my nephew and asked "WHAT DID YOU DO?". After that my nephew was known as the one who burned up my dads car radio! @@hotlavatube
@@hotlavatubewas that a microwave? I have baked potatoes in gas ovens, electric ovens, table top ovens, electric frying pans and crockpots . I am yet to have a potato, Irish or sweet blow up. I've never heard of anybody saying that a potato exploded in their ovens.
Bought a show room floor Kenmore fridge in 1977. Still working fine , with ice maker, to this day in 2024. 47 years. Now almost everything is made with planned obsolescence in mind!
I went to work in a secure facility in 2006. We had a fridge in the office. I left in 2016. Still had the same fridge. Still worked fine. Just had to defrost the freezer every 6 months or so. Fridge was a 1955-57 Westinghouse. 60 years old and still going.
I've had 2 fridges in 7yrs. Both went because of faulty compressors - no cold in lower part, top with freezer was 40 degrees below zero it made dry ice. Don't buy Frigidaire or Hotpoint. Same problem in both,had to junked.
Moved into my own place from my mother and fathers home in 1987. I needed a fridge for my rental house. My parents gve me their refrigerator that they had for a couple of years and they bought a new one. That refrigerator is still working fine. It's a Kenmore and all I've ever done is replace the ice maker. Not a shiny new stainless steel model but it works perfectly 37 years later.
I ended up digging out my ole Kelvinator fridge from 1955. It still works great. It was in a cabin i bought and that guy bought it new. Still has the price tag inside. Made in America.
It is going to suck down electricty like an alcoholic chugs beer. Made in America used to mostly mean quality, now it is as bad as Chinese made. There is a reason why every car designed or built in the US is low quality.
Im an Appliance Specialist at The Home Depot, and i try to tell my customers to never spend too much, because of "planned obsolescence." It's disgusting how many customers i have to help with their non working, 2 month old fridges. Samsung being the worst of the bunch. One lady bought a 20 cu ft, upright freezer, a Frigidaire, model number FFUE2022AW, and we had to send 3 to her over the course of 3 weeks, because 2 of them didn't have a compressor in them🤦🏼♂️
Your company HD is awesome. I had problem with Frigidaire and my local store took it back even though it was outside the normal return time. The warranty was worthless as we never could even get them to come out.
My Maytag washer had a problem where the lid closed circuit blew fuses. I opened it up and there was a schematic glued to the inside. I don't care if the machine can run with the lid open. I also have a MSEE. I figured out how to rewire the circuit board to bypass the lid switch so it would no longer blow fuses. Every time I think of getting a new washer, I think of the Maytag Repairman commercials and stories like this and am happy to have something as reliable as my washing machine. I don't know how old it is, but we used to give our now 43 year old son 25 cents to do the wash when he was pretty young. Now new circuit boards use surface mount parts and are basically unserviceable. They have lots of needless features that the old ones did not. I don't miss them. Great video. Thanks.
Steve as a past landlord, I used to buy my appliances from an elderly lady whose son WAS a service repairman. He collected so many older units that people were getting rid of and were if anything simple to repair if anything. This allowed his mother to survive on her limited retirement since her husband had died years earlier. The appliances were low cost and more reliable than anything new and at a fraction of the cost. Crazy how something so simple could last so long. The newer models they never resold because they guaranteed the models for 5 years and well those warranties were free too! Go figure! Quality still is one of the best things in this world in my opinion!
Let me rewrite the last part, The son never sold newer models he collected, the repairs and durability of them were questionable, and the older models which his mother sold they new the quality and those models was what they sold out of her garage! Wonderful family! Though she has now pasted away, she was well loved!
The newer models are more efficient, not more reliable. One can have both, but few would be willing to bear the much higher cost. :/ I would, largely because of having to replace the contents of fridge and freezer at the most inopportune of times. Twice.
Yah - I always recommend to anyone who wants a washer/dryer/stove/refrigerator to go find the local store that repairs and sells used ones then buy the best condition one they can find that was made before 2007-ish (the further back, the better). Then when that one needs fixed, either learn to repair it or call a handyman because they are incredibly cheap and easy to repair in most cases and it’ll last the rest of your life.
My family purchased a vacation home in 1969. It had an older refrigerator but it worked well and other than needing occasional defrosting worked flawlessly. Other than a few short power failures it has run continuously for close to 60 years. Last week I checked the thermometer hanging from the rack inside the fridge and it was 38 degrees. If you listen carefully you can hear the compressor cycle on and off occasionally and it runs with a smooth purr just like when I was was a kid.
I'm still using my grandma's Westinghouse fridge. It's from the late 1940's or early 50's. It's not my main fridge, but its been running for around 70 years. IT'S NOT FOR SALE
The new ones, POP, crackle and make so much noise, you swear someone is breaking in! I bought an older one for $100 and it keeps the food COLD! And it makes ice, so, bonus, bonus! Simple basics, right, we don't need all the bells and whistles (a freezer light sure is nice though). My mom has to unplug her washer, to reset to open the lid! How nutty, to think kids are falling into washers? UGH, bad parenting? Ban irons, mom hit my fingers, while I was underfoot and holding onto the ironing board! Cured me from being around her, when she was ironing! Everything is a learning curve!
Yes, and they paid about three times as much. It also wasn't regulated by your govt that I dusted these things have energy saving devices in them that can go bad. They are, though, regardless of that, much more energy efficient. The fridges today are not the fridges of yesterday. That old fridge is a box and a compressor. Not all that complicated.
@@spec24 false. You can find videos on YT here that reveal the old ones are as if not more efficient. Anyways does efficiency help your pocket when you are charged more for less electricity than before? Is buying a fridge 10 times vs maybe 2 more green? Think about the carbon footprint to make a fridge. This efficiency stuff along with global warming is a scam.
Same my parents had a fridigere fridge freezer in their basement. It was 40s or 50s, worked beautifully, no service calls ever, still working when we sold the house in 2019.
Hi Steve. First I wonder if these problems occur because the big box stores aren't really in the business of selling appliances. Rather, they are in the business of selling insurance, in the form of extended warranties. So the big box stores may like stories like this, because they make more money in a climate of fear. I am frequently amazed at the extended warranty offering pushed by a cashiers for something as small as a $10 charging cable for a smart phone. Second, an elderly couple that lived nearby was having problems with their new refrigerator. Their backup refrigerator in the garage was an olive green refrigerator from the seventies or sixties. After repair of the newer refrigerator was complete ( thermostat replaced), they noticed their 50 year old refrigerator wasn't quite as cold. The freezer portion had a few inches of ice on the walls. I defrosted the unit over a few days and then cleaned the coils. When restarted, that 50 year old fridge ran like new.
I bought a home that was built in 1956 in 2007. It had an original fridge down in the basement. I sold the home in 2021 and that fridge was still just fine. It just needed to be defrosted like once every couple yrs.
You’re 100% correct. We bought a washer and dryer. Dryer died over and over again. Eventually we bought a used Kenmore for $50 from a local lady who had it in her garage for years. Anyway, the dryer is like 30 years old now and works just fine. It’s not fancy and it doesn’t match the washer, but it runs fine and my clothes get dry.
Seriously, I've seen 3 50s Kenmore fridges still going depressingly well compared to modern units, treat the old beggars with respect and a bit of TLC and they keep going pretty well.
@@MonkeyJedi99nope. I have 25 yrs old whirlpool washer and dryer. Never been cleaned. Heavily abused for years and years. Finally, after many mega loads, I broke the transmission (snapped a gear). Got a barely used replacement on eBay for $75. Took 15 mins to install. Had I not abused it forever, it wouldn't have broke. Meanwhile, you get a yr or 2 at most out of brand new stuff.
@@EASTSIDERIDER707 Line drying is great. When it's warm and dry. - I live in New England, so about 40-60% of the year (depending on rain that year) is no-go for line drying. Still, line drying can save a lot of utility money, though I know people who still use their dryer for socks and underwear and line dry everything bigger.
My parents had an old Kenmore refrigerator that they purchased at a discount because it was a damaged show-room floor model. The plastic water hose to the icemaker started leaking around ten years, but after we shut off the water supply, the rest of the fridge lasted more than 20 years. That thing was incredibly reliable. 😊 Same with our old Kenmore washer/dryer combo. Reminds me of an incredible documentary about lightbulbs--they got so reliable that customers weren't buying many anymore. So manufacturers colluded to develop worse lightbulbs to sell more lightbulbs. We've actually gone backwards!
@@davidszakacs6888 Yup. Copper lines are better for water in general. Disney California Adventure park in Anaheim has a river rapids rafting ride with geysers that shoot water into the air--but they have been incredibly unreliable. Disney recently filed a work permit with the city to replace the underground PVC water pipes with above-ground copper piping!
My daughter's new Mexico made refrigerator was leaking condensate water directly on the floor. When I checked it out some of the base parts were formed opposite which resulted in the drain pan being placed on the right side and the drain line itself on the left side. No telling how many thousands of units were made that way.
It's these judges that are the problem in America. There needs to be an independent oversight committee that consists of everyday Americans who are pulled just like jury duty to investigate these judges and hold them responsible for corruption.
A jury should always be available to the end of every legal issue. That would end so much corruption, and end the enforcement of a lot of regulations and violations.
And the chances that your random gang of Americans knows the nuances of the law, knows the constitution, and are above median intelligence is less than 50%.
@@litigioussociety4249 I would love that to be possible, but having served on a jury, good luck. It's extremely logistically complicated to get a jury in the first place.
My mom still has our original “Wizard” refrigerator from 1964 in her garage as a spare. We bought it from Western Auto from all places. 60 years old this year and still freaking works!
keep in mind that prior to 1980 auto manufactures like General Motors (Frigidaire) also made refrigerators as well. That would explain why an auto parts supplier would have access to sell refrigerators.
My grandmother, a farmer's wife, had the "old" refrigerator plugged in on the porch. But, somehow, there were never enough raspberries that any found their way into it ... 😊 (Yum!)
Thanks for this video. Worked at a factory years ago building air conditioners, place also made refrigerators. Purchasing agent to me there were only 2 manufactures of compressors for air conditioners at that time and numerous manufactures of air conditioners. On assembly line we built the same air conditioners for different brands, put different covers and different looking controls and then put on the name plate.
"There was a time when a refrigerator would be in a house when you bought it and still be there when you moved out working. They used to work forever." That is exactly why they don't make them like they used to; failing products mean more sales.
That is very true to an extent...but other factors are government regulations and the ever-increasing obsession for more and more "tech" on everything....
We bought a house with an ugly yellow GE refrigerator in it in 1993. It was probably 10 years old when we bought the house. We didn’t like the color so we were hoping to replace it with something better but it was still there running fine when we moved out 18 years later. We moved into a new house that came with a new stainless steel which we were happy to get after having the 1980’s yellow refrigerator for so long. The new one didn’t last two years before going out. The service man replaced control boards in it several times so we finally had to replace it. This video is spot on.
I remember being 12 years old with a single mother and fixing our broken washing machine. The older appliances were simple, reliable but easy to repair when needed. I just slid under the washer and easily diagnosed the broken water pump. We took it off and brought it to an appliance store, walked out with a new one on the spot and had it replaced later that day. Those days are just about gone outside of a few brands and their basic models. Linear compressors are fantastic for noise and energy use but they don't seem to last more than 4 or 5 based on everyone I've talked to. I don't know one person with an LG or Samsung fridge that's made it past that. I myself have a basic LG fridge that's 3.5 years old... just waiting at this point. I can already hear periodic quiet screeching coming from the fridge.
I have had my Kenmore refrigerator a little over 30 years and it is still going strong. Same with my clothes dryer--it works great and the buzzer still works on it as well.
I shouldn't say this, but my fridge is 37 years old. My washer lasted 32 years. My oven is also like my fridge is 37 years old. I hope that they keep working for the rest of my life.
You may want to consider ordering parts to have on hand for them. Parts for older stuff is getting harder to find. You definitely don't want any of this new garbage.
I just bought a new washing machine. I bought it from a family owned appliance store. Delivery and installation were reasonably priced. They also hauled off the old unit. I got the most basic, no frills unit and am happy with it! BTW- my mom worked in a small family owned appliance shop for years and her advice- buy the basic units. Increase the tech on your appliances and you increase the failure rate. KISS still applies!
Absolutely. All my appliances are bottom of the line and have lasted me 8 years so far trouble free. Plus, I can replace nearly everything that can go wrong with them super cheap which so far has only been a dishwasher door seal. I take time to clean stuff thoroughly when I can of course and try to use them properly, but high end models cost more in the short and long run.
Too be fair, repair shops should be fixing circuit boards. Part of the problem is techs have not adapted their skills with the technology. They only swap parts, not repair. Manufacturers should be making it easier to access parts and failure rates should not be crazy high, but techs really need the skills to repair stuff.
I make this point to my gf all the time. Yet she buys tech items that I tell her are a bad idea and it always ends the same way. Her looking at me and saying "Don't even say it".
We’ve experienced exactly what you’ve said! These expensive appliances are being made with cheap plastic parts that the companies use with planned breakdowns, expecting people to get tired of the run around service calls, coming out, ordering parts, repeat…. Just like you said! Absolutely need warranties, but even with warranties, they will keep replacing cheap parts, over and over! This is a nationwide issue! Thank you for sharing this important information! 👍🏽
I paid for the extended warranty for a washing machine many years back. the washers internals completely broke apart a month before the warranty ran out. The repair guy who came to the house had to replace more parts than I can count. Put down in his notes the words "Design flaw caused washing machine to self destruct". The cost of the parts to repair it were valued far more than I paid for the washer in the first place.
My sister bought refrigerator, an LG refrigerator I think was the brand, it had major problems. They fixed it twice doing a multi part replacements and that didn’t fix it so replaced it twice under warranty. My sister had to threaten to sue them. She is an attorney and made sure they knew it and said all it would cost was her filing fees and she would be more than happy to run up their bills.
Supposedly Samsungs are better than LG, if I recall Consumer Reports correctly, but I will just stick to the least fancy Whirlpool (or one of the brands they've acquired) from Costco or Best Buy/Pacific Sales. No internet connection ones.
@@SayAhhNo I had to replace Samsung twice how a compressor fails 2 times in 8 months is astounding to me. That part should be robust I have had vending machines outside for years and they're compressors still work fine. They are underpowered and designed to fail. I went with the cheap frigidaire brand and it's lasted 5 years.
Yes, the LG problem with their linear compressor is a known common problem. LG makes some decent washers but many lousy fridges. Kenmore used to carry Whirlpool manufactured appliances but changed to LG years ago, making their fridges unreliable. You are correct that many appliances are too unreliable & overly complex with solutions in search of a problem. When you think about it, this is not green at all. The fridges that lasted 20-30 years that my parents had ultimately made less pollution by being reliable.
There are only a few companies that make refrigerators. All Sears did was apply the Kenmore name to other manufacturers appliances. We had a Kenmore refrigerator that was essentially a Whirlpool with minor trim differences. I have a Maytag refrigerator from 1989 that still works very well. Just like the old coffee commercial, "When something works, you stick with it." GREAT VIDEO!
Steve, the best washer today is the Speed Queen TC5. Simple, no lid lock, and will complete a cycle in a little as 30 minutes, depending on the wash setting.
@@garyssimoA toothless queen is always the best, but that doesn't have much to do with washing machines. 😂 Speedqueen washing machines are beasts as are the older whirlpools. We have a 30 year old whirlpool still works just fine. The only thing that usually wears out in them is a $20 plastic cam easy to replace. Side note. I had to start drinking again after 20 years every time Steve said the word lock.. 😅
Funny you mention it on this. After my expensive front load Samsung kept acting up, I decided to buy a new washer. I had just replaced my 30+ year old gas dryer with a newer version that is pretty good. I shopped all over. Turns out the box stores don’t keep them on the floor anymore. So after talking to the guy at my local appliance store, i learned something important. I kept asking him what the most reliable washer was, because I was “the guy who just got rid of his 30+ year old gas dryer simply because I couldn’t find a replacement bearing for the tub. He told me about Speed Queen. I asked him how big the tub was. I forget the numbers but basically the biggest Speed Queen tub is smaller than most other tubs. Hmmm. Apparently they make the washers most commonly used in commercial laundromats. For some reason, he didn’t seem to want to tell me why the Speed Queen uses a smaller tub. I kept asking and getting; into the technicalities of the things. Finally he told me that the Speed Queens use a slightly different agitator than the others. And that with the bigger tubs, the motors wear out much more quickly . Finally I figured out the correlation. Speed Queen washer last forever mostly because they use a tub that the overbuilt motor and agitator can easily handle . He told me they were expensive. I told him I’d rather pay $1500 for a washer with a smaller tub and few features that will last forever, than a $400 piece of shit. He told me it was my lucky day, because they had Speed Queens starting at $1300. Sold.
We have Speed Queen front loading washer and dryer - Speed Queen for the win. (sold in canada under the HUEBSCH name) , fun fact: the Canada Ontario Teachers Pension Plan owned Alliance Laundry Systems - the owner of Queen, Primus, Huebsch, IPSO, and UniMac
azmax story time: My parents bought a house in NY from my Grandma, and it came with a Norge upright fridge with built=in freezer (single outside door with freezer door inside). It moved to Arizona with us in 1973, where it sat in the garage as a second refrigerator. Once it went out, and the repairman said it was the compressor, and it was NLA. After he left, my dad plugged the fridge back in and it worked. Eventually it moved into the utility room because we needed the space in the garage. It shut down maybe once or twice over the years, and letting it sit unplugged for a while fixed it. In 1999, my parents moved and didn't have room for the fridge. It moved to my house and was in use for 5-6 more years, before I moved to someplace we couldn't take it with us. I gave it away to a friend of a friend to use as a beer fridge. I wish I would have kept it.
I have a Norge refrigerator. It is over 30 years old. I refuse to part with it because when I looked at upgrading about 5 years ago I noticed that all the reviews were bad. They were all dying within around 18 months either the compressors were going out or the refrigerant lines had pin holes. I am not throwing my money down a rat hole just to have a spiffy looking fridge that doesn’t work.
@@garyssimowhen they ice up behind the panel in the freezer. Generally it's one of two things the auto defrost element is bad. Or the evaporator fan is out. Both of these car repairs that most competent people can do themselves.
Long story short, in August 2022 LG said the linear compressor needed replacement (nearing the end of the 10 year warranty but labor wasn’t covered. The first place was a factory authorized service center that has been here many times before but they said they no longer service LG. The next place said $800 if the compressor was all that was needed. I called LG again for more options and they texted 3 more places. The first said $500-700 but they were 60 miles away and didn’t service my area. The next one was just a guy's name and when called, it said “call rejected.” The last one was 250 miles away so obviously that would be a waste of time. I installed a $5 piercing valve (BPV31) on the low side to check the R134a pressure and found the needle barely moved when running and hit a high of about 28 PSI when unplugged for a while. I decided to gamble with an evacuation and recharge. I put a vacuum pump on it for an hour and then let it sit for another hour with the vacuum off. The vacuum maintained so I vacuumed it again and slowly allowed some R134a back in while still unplugged and at some point I let the compressor slowly take it in while frequently noting the PSI pressure. The moment the high side started feeling warm, I unplugged it to let the system equalize. The final recharge ended up being a little less than 40 PSI but at some point the low pressure side started frosting up so I assume I slightly overcharged the refrigerant. Covering it with Armacell rubber self-seal pipe wrap insulation instead of reducing the r134a was what I went with. Anyway that can of 134a was less than $10 at Walmart and it didn’t take the entire can. It’s 2/2024, almost 18 months since LG said it needed a new linear compressor, and the temps have never been lower. I hope I didn’t jinx myself. I can’t believe Consumer Reports rates LG in like 7 out of the top 10 recommended refrigerators. Had to scrap our front load Samsung washer and dryer. The SS dryer drum welded seam split apart. I welded it but it ended up a bit out of round so it thumped a little. The washer spider arm corroded away and failed so I replaced that but it wasn’t long before the circuit control board fried so that was the end of that. Keeping the door ajar to prevent smells was a hassle anyway.
I, too, have just replaced an LG fridge - the compressor died after a couple of years. The original seller has gone out of business and the repairman said his costs would be more than a new fridge. He did say to avoid LG fridges but felt uncomfortable recommending another brand.
My 17 year old, bottom of the line Roper brand, washing machine died about a year ago. I started shopping for a new machine and was appalled by what I found. So I paid $200 for some parts and had my husband fix the old machine. As long as I can keep doing that, I will.
cool, my wife and I do the same thing, we buy parts and just try fixing things. it'll be worth learning from him how to do it in case he can't for whatever reason.
@@saeedhossain6099 there's a ton of stuff on UA-cam that teaches you how to fix stuff, especially purely mechanical (non-electronic) stuff. If you have a little patience, and do a little research, most things can be figured out.
I experienced the LG Linear compressor warranty nightmare. I had a refrigerator with one during the warrantee period, but due to a 3 month backlog on the replacement unit and the expense of having to purge the rest of the refrigeration system after installing the new compressor I had no reasonable recourse other than to replace the fridge. Talking with the tech he was seeing the exact same issue multiple times nearly every day. What I think is even worse is less than 50% of the units he diagnosed with the issue were being repaired due to the extremely long wait for replacement parts. I found when shopping for my new refrigerator multiple brands use the LG Linear compressor, and I made sure that the new refrigerator I purchased did not have one.
I was looking for a 5$ gromet on a dishwasher. Found out that it was sold under 5-6 names. Same thing just different panels and name. The rubber rotted so it leaked right when the warranty was up. Got it for free and fixed it cause the mother in law just bought a new one
As someone living out of coolers right now because our 6 1/2 year old Whirlpool refrigerator/bottom freezer currently has the refrigerator section NOT cooling at all, what BRAND does one "safely" buy??? And finding a reputable/honest repair person these days is nearly impossible. Also Steve, i think you're very fortunate to still have a local "Mom and Pop" store to shop at like that. Don't believe there are any left in my area.(40 miles SW. of Chicago). Thanks
I have a LG fridge that has this same compressor bought in 2014. 10 year warranty is now over. After watching this video I feel fortunate it's still working.
This is exactly what happened to us! We bought a brand new refrigerator and in a week it stopped cooling. They tried to tell us that it was our fault because we put it in the garage. They said they don't work if it gets too cold. Here's the thing. Our garage is heated. It never gets below 60 degrees even when it's really cold outside. They sent someone out to fix it. It still wouldn't cool. He came again with more parts. Still wouldn't cool. After the 4th trip to our house, he said we obviously got a lemon and he gutted it and replaced everything in it and it finally has worked for over a year. I still don't expect it to last but maybe another couple years. On a side note, the fridge that was in our garage prior was over 20 years old and still worked. We should never have decided it was time for a replacement.
My Cabrio washing machine is now resting at the scrap yard. I now have a Kenmore from the 1980's. It contains NO computers or lid lock. It works better than the computer controlled junk I once had.
Oh wow, you are fortunate. Although I know it’s for safety purposes, I hate lid locks. No one is jumping in our washing machine and we have enough sense not to put our hand in a running washing machine. .
@@quietpianist That’s great. We used the magnet trick for about 3-4 years, but we could tell that the machine wasn’t going to make it (real loud grinding noises). We picked up a $300 washing machine on clearance. If it lasts for 3-5 years, we’ll be lucky.
My LG clothes dryer is excellent but I am not impressed with their clothes washers. They replace some Bosch units that were 15 to 20 years old and pretty nice of even lacking capacity. Avoid their dishwashers, pure euro-trash in more ways than one.
I met a guy who worked for a junk hauler who would take home certain old refrigerators and other appliances, repair and re-sell them. One reason was that amongst a certain crowd in the Seattle area, vintage appliances are trendy. The other reason was that older appliances simply lasted longer.
I bought two LG fridge for my small apartment building in 2021. Compressor went out in 20 months on one of them and they fixed it right away under warranty. Tech was great, also said the refrigerant filter was clogged. It’s been about 6 months working now and after this video I have much less confidence in these units. Warranty is only 5 years according to LG. We also recently replaced a fridge in another apartment with Kenmore. The one we took out was still working after 30 years. We live in a world of corporate cost cutting at the expense of services and the consumer.
This will get lost in the volume of comments, but this is based on info from a repair person, and my experience as an engineer leads me to agree that this makes sense. Key things to increase your odds of a fridge lasting longer: Don't get an in-door ice dispenser or, if you must, only get an in-door ice dispenser if you buy a side-by-side. Ice dispensers add more wiring harnesses that can fail, and more moving parts. Ice makers in the fridge area of a French-door model are trying to maintain a cold/dry environment inside of a cool/moist environment, which leads to freezing evap coils typically. Combine both of those, and you're just begging for failure.
I buy the simplest appliances i can, simply for this reason. Also, pay attention to the manual. And if the manual doesn't make sense, call the manufacturer and find out what it means. I didn't do that, and i killed a perfectly fine refrigerator. I killed it by turning the "economy" switch on. The manual only said that it increases efficiency, but may cause condensation on the outside of the fridge. I didn't see that being an issue, so economy it was. Turns out that "economy" switch just turns off the defroster for the freezer coils. Resulted in that freezing solid, and the refrigerator slowly stopped getting cold. Eventually ruined the compressor. But there is a silver lining. When i had the repair guy out, he fixed it, but told me that fridge was living on borrowed time, it could fail any day. The manufacturer called me (due to the service call) and offered an extended warranty. To which i said "yes please." Ended up with a new fridge a few weeks later, for a very low price (the cost of the warranty).
Yep, that's what I found out. After 2 side-by-side units (a GE and an LG) with failing water dispensers, the latest one I had to buy (Whirlpool) has the ice maker in the bottom freezer and the water dispenser inside the refrigerator compartment. I hope it solves that issue!
There's a YT channel, something like Maytag repairman or something....had a video on just this. I believe it's as you say.....complex circuitry and country of origin. Techs were surveyed and they preferred I think Maytag/GE or such. Avoid the bells and whistles, keep it simple. You want french doors....go redneck refrigerator....buy two freezer over fridge units, swap one set of hinges and you have an oversized French door fridge but it's two units....kinda cool, and it costs way less.
Spot on..ice maker needs to be in the freezer..another big failure with new appliances is the refrigerant being used R-290 (propane)..been dealing with this for a few years now..kills compressor life..
Years ago, before I started my business, I was but a lowly electrician’s apprentice on my second job site. We were installing new motors at a large cereal factory, big ones, 200, 250 hp motors. There is dust and all kinds of dirt where the cereal first is augured out of the drier. It is important to make sure the motors are flat, in line with the drive, etc. So important that millwrights are usually hired to shim and use precise lasers to get it within a 1/16th of an inch or less. When I asked the foreman about it, he looked at me and asked why I was trying to take food out of his family’s mouths. I was confused, so he says, “I want to be back here in 5 or 6 years, kid.” Those motors should last 10 years with proper installation. Even 15-20 years with regular maintenance and keeping the area clear. But this was counterproductive because instead of one job per 15 years, he wanted 3 per 15 years. Even clients can’t be bothered to properly maintain their equipment. To them, it is cheaper to run something into the ground and replace it rather than having to hire and pay qualified people to perform “unneeded” preventative maintenance. So it is with a lot of things. Being mechanically inclined, I’ve fixed many home appliances. I can tell you, they are designed with the assumption that no one will ever work on them. The companies would rather you not work on them, either, because repairing a refrigerator doesn’t make a sale. In fact, they would much prefer that your appliances only last as long as it takes for you not to feel ripped off, and not a minute more. Add that to a throw away culture and a general lack of mechanical, plumbing, and electrical skills in the general population, and you have all the incentive to not design things to last. As my dad says, Maytag stopped using the bored repairman because the r-word became a very bad word.
YES - In direct drive, shaft alignment is critical - that's why many machines have couplings - belt drive will also tolerate minor misalignment. Some small HP drives have coupled shafts using hose - pinned or clamped - simple and WORKS.
What gets me is when the newer generation says how we ruined the planet for them when I see how each generation has become more of a throw away and replace than a repair culture.
@@ptx3914I was gonna say... 1/16 alignment is like, someone could do that with a forklift and a prybar and maybe some prescription lenses on their eyeballs if they need em LOL
It's called "Planned Obsolescence". Car manufacturers have done this for years. Now all companies are trying this. In past 5 years, I bought new fridge and oven. Fridge door handle fell off after 6 months. Rubber gasket on door came off. I put it back on. Lasted a week. Kept putting it back on. Finally glued it to door! Now it makes loud noise when compressor kicks on. I hate this fridge! With the oven, the glass door hangs out from body of oven by 3 inches. Clock doesn't work.Oven runs hotter than calibrations. Sheesh!
We had a Hotpoint fridge in the staff canteen at Customs Dept in Jamaica from 1976 & it was still in use 2006 when i visit my friends after i left for America .
My background has been in automotive engineering for 30 years; I'm 70 years old. The problem today, as you noted, is the electronics, engineers who need to be better trained, and bean counters going for profit. Kenmore always privately labeled the appliances, and Maytag was often the clothes washer and drier supplier. We have a 23+ year-old pair, which I've easily repaired a few times. Twice, I've had to replace the washer motor's capacitor, but it was quickly done. Just the other week, the timer, which is a keyed drum, something the Greeks invented BC, due to the mechanical contacts wearing out, was a fifteen-minute repair for $160, and it should be suitable for another 20 years. There is a control board for dispensing soap, bleach, and fabric softener. But the board was soldered with the old lead style solder and won't be prone to the solder cracks the new non-lead solder used is prone to do. Drier is the same; I only once had to replace the ignitor, which does burn out. Just replaced the water valve in the 22-year-old refrigerator; it's simple to do. Also had to replace the de-icing element once two years back. Again, easy to do and not controlled by any electronics. Don't get me started on the new vehicles with six or more modules that have to crosstalk.....
@@Blitterbugthe issues are features - not bugs. If you look at the GDP reports, endless consumerism is the economic engine of the US. Also, there's the ever increasing rules and regulations. The Paris Climate Accords we signed onto has already phased out R-22 refrigerant. Now they're scaling down and phasing out R-134A and R-416. The changes in refrigerants changes compressor pump curves, efficiencies and achievable temperature bands. Add into this stupid executive order mandates regarding appliances - such as how many gallons a dishwasher or washing machine can use, how many watts per hour a refrigerator can use, etc. - this affects duty cycle which impacts performance. Then you throw in "value engineering" and designed obsolescence and all the available consumer products you can buy on the open market are designed to fail within 24 - 48 months. This drives you to consume more, giving Wall Street year over year and quarter over quarter profits and sales growth.
@@GideonMesser Yes, they have! Aside from all the ones that count! EG - none of them have been addressed. English solderer here speaking, I do have many decades experience working with all types of crap solder the EU has foisted on us. And I speak as a supporter of most EU legislation.
I totally agree with you (ex - IT professional here). I am 63. We had one of those old fat refrigerators (the big super heavy ones with the rounded edges), and my parents bought that refrigerator some years before I was born. It lasted another 20 years after that, and the only reason that they finally got rid of it was not because there was anything wrong with it - they just wanted a new one. Quality all the way around has badly deteriorated over the decades. And yeah, don't get me started on vehicles either - there is _so much_ tech in these vehicles that there winds up being too many points of failure, and a software bug/failure in a vehicle can have catastrophic results.
I was an appliance repair guy for several years, and was absolutely astounded by the crap they were selling new. I was straight up told by the manufacturers to never tell a customer the defect in their machine is common, or that I have seen this before etc. Only once did I see a manufacturer stand up and take care of the customer with their fridge. That was a Frigidaire, and soon after this they changed from replacing the fridge to a halfass bandaid solution. NEVER buy a samsung appliance. They are good at electronics, terrible at appliances.
What did you have to do to become a repair guy? How do you get access to repair manuals and software used to diagnose faulty equipment? Can anyone get access to this information without doing a deal with the devil and signing your life away. If the manufactures are telling you to keep hush on keeping the customer in the dark, they must have some kind of agreements with you.
LG fridges suck. Love their phones. I have Samsung phones, TVs, and Tablets. Everything works great. But when I got sick of Defrosting my Frostless LG. I didn't go near a Samsung.
I have been a mechanic type my whole life. Did some tech school, and got hired at an appliance center. One of those small town mom and pop type. They have relationships with the manufacturers to get access to technical info and warantee support. Mostly this sort of info is forbidden for the general public because the manufacturers still think the public are clueless about how crappy the products are.@@thirtythree160
@@robertbelluchi1151 Indeed. The ice maker in my Samsung fridge started icing up every week just short of a year after I bought it. By the time I called them after manually defrosting it once a week for a few weeks, they said it was now out of warranty so I would have to pay to repair it. The contractor they sent out said it was a known defect and Samsung WOULD be paying for it. I never got a bill, but just shy of a year later, it started doing it again. I've had a similar experience with Samsung washer and dryers. I finally decided to spring for a Speed Queen dryer when it broke again, and will be getting their washer soon too. Much happier now.
@@thirtythree160 The manufacturer often hires repair guys to go fix things under warranty, or even if not under warranty, when they get called by the customer, they call the repair guy to go out and do the repair but charge the customer. If you want to get those calls, you have to make nice with the manufacturer.
Nailed it! Same with LG. Was an appliance guy for 15 years. I would always let the customer know whether they had a quality product and whether it was better to repair or replace. Some of those two belt Maytag washers are still going because I would let the customer know they are worth keeping.
You're right about the quality issues I've got a 30 year old Lennox package gas unit that was installed 30 years ago, it's not efficient but still works fine, but if you buy a new one today it might last 10 years.
Steve, The Westinghouse refrigerator in my recroom was made 2/5/48. It is still the best fridge I own and still works as good as the day it was made. It has only been moved out of the spot it sits in 3 times since it was delivered in 1948. My Grandmother and Grandfather bought it brand new. They don't make anything like they used too. If they did you wouldn't have to replace them.
A few years ago I bought a toaster made in the 1940s on ebay because not only is it reliable, it makes toast better than 99% of the toasters currently on the market. The other 1% cost hundreds of dollars and I somehow doubt they'll be working 80 years from now.
My theory is that to get Energy Star ratings they are now using compressors powered buy smaller, low amp high volt (rpm) motors that run a shorter duty cycle but at much higher speeds. think tortoise V hare. Add to that a bunch of features (complexity) that do nothing to help the food stay cold. You use less energy to run the fridge but have to buy it more often, the manufacturer uses the energy saved to make more fridges that you have to buy! No net energy saved, maybe even a net loss, more money vacuumed out of your pocket and into corporate America's pocket. Don't forget the extra sales tax that goes to the state!
@@user-ng3jx1fk2u I have worked union jobs my whole life. I think the biggest problem is the companies want the engineers to make the parts only last for so long. Like 1 to 6 months after the warranty is up so you will have to buy a new one. Not to mention they are only required to make parts available for 10 years so at that point you have to replace it after it fails, no parts to fix it.
We had similar experiences with an LG refrigerator. What an absolute and infuriating ordeal! At one point, I surmised that the repairman was being deliberately inefficient to ensure his income. Thanks to this info, I now know better. We ultimately wound up going to war with the retailer and received a full refund after four months yet wound up losing more than $1K in ruined food.
As a Appliance technician, I HATE LG refrigerators. The new Linear Compressors suck. The full integrated computer boards that have ALL the functions processed on them get hot, lose commands, and simply stop. And LG warranty is a waste. The only one time I saw the LG warranty addressed properly, it was a one week old high end LG, that stopped cooling. They had to replace the compressor and the freon, put special instructions into the computer board to keep it running, and then, after one year, it failed again. And no more warranty coverage. Customer tossed it, purchased a nice Whirlpool. No issues in one year so far. Even box stores (HD, Lowes, etc) stopped selling LG, Samsung and other imports.
I did LG warranty for their air conditioners. They didn't pay me for a whole years worth of work. The warranty and tech support for the whole of Australia's "team" at LG was a single guy. The technician is probably in the same position where he is being bled dry until he realises that LG is playing wolf warrior.
We just replaced a Kenmore Fridge, which we bought originally in 1975. Worked great, only needed two starter kits (capacitor and relay) and one freezer fan. I did these repairs myself because they were so simple. We got rid of it because we put it into cold garage up here, and the thermostats and warming mechanism just could not handle the colder environment. I tried putting a heater and making the light bulb inside stay on, but this was ineffective, and caused the freezer temperatures to go haywire. We diagnosed the real problem (finally), that the compressor oil was so old and degraded, that it dragged the motor down, to the point where if the refrigerator ran well, it drew enough current to kick out the GFI, probably due to leakage from the windings, as well as excessive current draw. Once the breakers started to kick out we decided to trash it. I wish we could buy another one which might have the same life.
My new LG french style door purchased 4 years ago started frosting up in year two, then would not get cold. The repair guy came replaced the linear compressor said "this is a known problem", now going into year 4, the LG is starting to frost up again... Side bar, I have a Montgomery Ward refrigerator we keep in the garage that was purchased back in 1984, aside from my daughter bumping into it with the truck, it still works like a champ.
We still have a GE refrigerator my grandmother bought in 1923. It still works. For 100 years Never broke down. Oh I did replace the electrical plug to fit the 3 wire system.
The difference is the energy cost. You could replace that thing with something more current and still save money. Just don't buy the big name brands crap and nothing with smart in the name.
Impressive, 4 years before GE made their first refrigerator and 7-9 years older than the ‘world’s oldest working refrigerator’. Got yourself something amazing there…. 🙄
When my wife and I got married in 1985, my parents bought us an Amana refrigerator and we got a scratch & dent (remember those?) Maytag Washer & Dryer. All are still going strong. So far I've replaced 3 belts on the dryer and the door gasket on the fridge + new ice maker after 30 years but they all still work just fine.
A few years ago, one of the manufacturers put in a second water level sensor in their top load washers because of a mandate that they use less water per load. The second sensor was used to curtail the amount of water added in the ‘rinse’ cycle to comply with the mandate. It would have been a simple matter to tweak the sensor to add more water on the rinse cycle, but getting caught doing it was a $10,000 fine. So when I got a call for a washer leaking ‘from the top’ instead of th usual ‘leaking from the bottom’, it was a bit of a conundrum. It turns out that with so low a volume of water in the rinse cycle, the water splashed upward right past the lid. Th other complaint was that the clothes came out soapy. I explained the entire situation to one nice older lady, and that it was to save water. She replied that she understood and that she would just run her clothes through a second full cycle without detergent. So much for saving water!
I bought a fridgedare fancy freezer on the bottom, French doors ice and water in 2016. It stopped working last year and I was told the more options you get the more problems you can expect. I bought a side by side Maytag so fingers crossed.. I got one w/o all the features this time
As a commercial laundry equipment technician, I appreciate your technical abilities. Kenmore never manufactured anything. They rebranded others' equipment.
I went to buy a refrigerator approx 3 years ago. Checked all the big box stores. What astounded me was when you looked at the customer reviews and ratings. Even on the best, expensive refrigerators, they were getting very low scores. Instead of spending big money, I bought an inexpensive one. (around $600) So far, so good.
I was helping my parents pick a new fridge and I was shocked at the reviews too! They didn't want one of the really basic ones so we managed to find something mid tier that seemed about as good as we could, but it's so annoying. I don't want Bluetooth, I want a decent compressor!
Per my experience with a major appliance manufacturer in the 1970s, the anticipated lifespan of a refrigerator was 7 years. However, a Samsung side-by-side I bought from Lowe's in 2011 is still going strong -- in the garage no less. (It had a major control board replaced under warranty shortly after purchase.)
My husband and I try to diagnose and repair our automobiles and appliances using UA-cam videos. We just replaced the circuit board and igniter on the furnace this season ($127), the actuator vent switch on our son’s car ($24), the rubber seal on the front loader washing machine (gorilla tape), and the fan on the dryer ($25). We like to keep things running if we can. As for the Frigidaire fridge, we could never keep it running. Gave in and bought a Whirlpool a couple of years ago and have problems already with this one too, not to mention how cheap the drawers and shelves are.
When I came out of school and started to live on my own, I bought a second hand washing machine, that was in 1993. It was a basic but good washing machine. After several years it suddenly stopped working even though I heard the clicks in the clock, the water pump and i hear the general motor. After i removed the screws from the back plate, i noticed that the large sprocket wheel had broken and I replaced it myself the next day. That same washing machine is still working today. That is over 31 years! Greetings from the Caribbean 🇸🇽
The fridge in my garage is the first one my wife and I purchased circa 1990. still works, not pretty but is consistently out-performing the one that came with my current house I bought at the 2006 market peak.
I am absolutely bummed out my mini fridge croaked on me a few weeks ago. I got it out of my neighbors garage and the sticker on the back said it was manufactured in 1971. That's one hell of a fridge to stay working for 53 years, I wonder what kind of food it saw... And what kinds of beer lol.
I’ve had to replace my freezer last year, my son had to replace his refrigerator too. My brother also started have trouble with his refrigerator all about the same time in 2023. We both had to go out and purchase a new freezer and refrigerator.
I have a Whirlpool fridge that came with my condo - manufactured in 2003. It worked fine until a few months ago when the compressor wasn't starting. I bought a $13 motor start capacitor from Amazon and fixed it right up. It also had an occasional issue with the condensate tube freezing up and flooding the fridge, but the manufacturer owned up to the defect and sent me a little loop of wire to stick down there that keeps it warm. No problems since. I considered buying a new fridge at some point because the new ones with the bottom freezer are practical, but honestly the difference in energy use would require 60 years (I did the math) to recoup the cost over keeping my old one, and I know my old one works, and it's so simple I can probably repair it unless the compressor goes. I'd fix that, too, but I lack the tools and the refrigerant isn't easily available anymore. After hearing these horror stories about new fridges over the past few years, I think I'll run my current one into the ground. Less junk in the landfill, too. I had an LG dishwasher that I refused to let die. I'd replaced the water level sensor, sump grinder, and the button circuit board (my fault, spilled vinegar on it, don't ask). Eventually what killed it was a little 'wax motor' that opened and closed a vent inside the door. The replacement part is $30 but discontinued years ago (only a 10 yr old appliance). Some enterprising jokers were selling used versions for $100 on eBay. I threw in the towel and bought a new machine last year (not LG) and I'm hoping it lasts. I'm not a person who mistrusts all the complexity in new appliances. I'm a tech worker, electronics hobbyist, ham radio operator, and all around homeowner/handy person. What I do take issue with is the race to the bottom for the bill of materials to build things, the questionable labor put into assembly, and the planned obsolescence baked into these things. Luckily my other major appliances are doing OK. The range is starting to eat another set of controls due to the arcing on the contacts, so I may get fed up with that and replace it, but I think the next time I'm going to spend a little more and do a bit more research because while I'm usually able to fix these things, my time is valuable and I don't always want to tinker with a washing machine after a long day at work.
Nobody should have to pay any attorney thousands of dollars to take a warranty case to court anyway. Citizens being unable to use their own country's Justice system because of it's high price is beyond ridiculous.
Have you thought about going into law and charging less?
Lawyers make sure you can't use the legal system for anything but high-dollar lawsuits.
@@littlepractice Not smart enough.
If the M-M warranty act says attorney fee are covered, then they are covered. Period. If a lawyer fee is $10k for a $1,500 appliance, so be it. Manufactures will learn quickly not to screw their customers and build better products.
They use Latin phrases for the same reason the old church used Latin. To keep it out of the hands of the people.
Yay! A class action! The lawyers will get $47 million, and everyone else gets a $50-off-a-new-LG-fridge coupon! 🙄
TRUTH!!!
I was part of a class action law suit. My portion of the relief was $.37.
Jelly of the month club.
And these companies will continue to sell broken fridges yay 😐
Was the lawsuit for a major appliance, or a travel size sample of store brand picket lint?
several years ago I bought a new LG frig - it was a bit over $1700. Less than 2 yrs later i received a letter in the mail regarding a class action lawsuit against LG for bad refrigerators. My frig was one of the bad ones. It included a check/reimbursement for less than $200. My frig did die within the following year. So - I was reimbursed less than $200 for a 3 yr old $1700+ frig.
Every time I'm in Home Depot, I repay LG with a side trip to the appliance dept and tell anyone looking at LG refrigerators, what they can expect regarding quality of said item.
Got my grandparents 1977 Frigidaire side by side, still running!😊
The old logo with the GM logo within it. Those old units could be turned down cold enough to slush soda and milk in fridge
Made in the USA
‼️ Inverter and Linear Compressors sucks..🤬
Only "Fixed Speed" Compressors are best and reliable for Refrigerator or ACs.
Buy only that, for long life..
I have a cabin in Northern Michigan. Twenty years ago, when electricity was first run to the cabin, I decided to get a refrigerator. There was an old man named Deter (like Peter, but with a D) in the area that ran sort of a permanent garage sale in his retirement. I swung by Old Deter's place and he had an old, pastel yellow, GE refrigerator. It was probably over 30 years old at that time. He wanted $50 for it, but I was apprehensive due to its age. Deter talked me into it by saying, "Give me $40 and take it home, if it doesn't work or it dies before I do, bring it back and I'll give you your money back." Unfortunately, Deter and my warranty died about 3 years later, but that ugly refrigerator is STILL running strong at well over 50 years old!
It does not sound ugly, it sounds lovely. Now it's only boring plain white/cold steel.
My family cabin has a running refrigerator from 1970. Only one time the Freon was serviced (I bumped the coils moving it, made it leak in 1990). I am going back there once the snow plow guys makes it accessible.
Yes, plain white, plain black, or fake stainless steel front....@@lucialuciferion6720
I really liked the "Avocado" colored ones.."Toast" was good, too..now everybody wants everything a sterile white, black, or silver..they buy their cars that way, too....
You're lucky. In the mid-1980, GE had the same issues with their new rotary compressors -- they failed early and often. They tried replacing bad ones with the same model, but finally gave up and replaced them with traditional piston compressors.
One of my neighbors died about a year ago. She grew up in the house and kept it just the way her mother had it when she was alive and had it built in 1966… ALL OF THE APPLIANCES WERE ORIGINAL IN PERFECT SHAPE LIKE NEW.
I grew up two houses down the street. It was like stepping into a time capsule. Everything was original, 60 years old, and worked.
When Sears died, so did a huge piece of American history and pride in good products made right here.
Sears was a brand name, and ie: a washing machine, was manufactured by one of 6 manufactures (one being Roper). But, if something broke, you could go buy the parts to fix. Caroline had a refrigerator, that lasted longer then she did. Her husband bought it about 1970, and when she died, it was still working fine, although they did replace the seals.
There never was a Sear factory anywhere. Most washers and dryers were Whirlpool Maybe even the fridges too
@@rpk5568 Still the same point!
@@rpk5568 Yup, nor did Sears ever try to hide it. The manufacture code was part of the serial number.
Sears never made their own stuff. All was made by whirlpool, Electrolux, LG, daewoo etc
I'm on my 3rd washing machine in 8 years. I'm on my 4th dishwasher, and 3rd vent hood/top mount microwave.
Mom's avocado green dishwasher from the 70's was still trucking along 5 years ago when she got tired of looking at it. Probably should have snagged it from her😂
It's not a BOSCH is it
If you're gonna spend the amount of money to get 3 washing machines in 8 years. Do yourself a favor and spend the extra to get a Speed Queen and be done with it.
For dishwasher Bosch is the only brand to get. They make rubbish for other products but nobody builds a better dishwasher.
Hood/microwaves are terrible. They are incredibly expensive compared to a stand alone, Buy a hood, buy a stand alone microwave.
Good luck.
Nothing is dumber than an over the stove microwave. Probably has no duct either.
There is an epidemic in products across the board.
The sooner we get right to repair laws and proper fines for companies abusing warranty laws the better
Build in obsolence is to blame as well, they purposely make them not to last.
Add in the "...as a service" model as well as the endgame is In the future "you'll own nothing,. And you'll be happy."
The real issue is we outsourced everything to countries where those simplistic and cheap design principles are accepted and used to churn out as much product as possible for as cheap as possible, with as few materials as possible. The fridges and things like microwaves that used to be made in America, were already well evolved design wise even by the 1950's. Almost no fridge or microwave today compares to the quality of ones made over 50 years ago, not even really material wise either. But they weren't only built sturdier, they had things like extra compartments, shelves that could be rotated out, and they also ran smoothly without basically any maintenance. Take a fridge built even 10 years ago, and that thing would be rattling and making all sorts of noise today, while even well taken care of interiors would be scratched and scuffed up, cracking, bowed, or broken and missing pieces, while the door seal would be splitting.
LG and samsung make these for all kind of brands.
thats why.
its normal for skorean family to replace everything every 5 years. thats how they work.
First off smart appliances are stupid to buy in the first place
The more bells and whistles they add, the more things that can go wrong.
Exactly! Appliances now are full of delicate electronic parts (made in China) and fragile features. When they go sour the parts are hard to find and it takes a trained technician to do the repair. They have a life expectancy of less than 10 years.
So dont buy them with all the bullshit in it. Duh
@@erikwalsh5653 My appliances are 23 years old, and I intend to keep them. Even back then, I had to special order my fridge to get one without an icemaker. Everything has simple, mechanical controls. I don't need a dozen different cycles on my washing machine. Why do people think they have to communicate with appliances using their smart phone?
@@erikwalsh5653 There are fewer and fewer basic appliances available. Duh.
Charles F. Kettering invented the electric starter and eventually became CEO of GM. He said something that every engineer needs to have tattooed on their forearms: "Parts that aren't there cost nothing and never go wrong."
My 55 yr old friend has her GRANDFATHERS refrigerator and its still going strong.
I have my parents old freezer which they bought used in 1982 and its also going strong. Although the gasket around the opening is getting worn down, but it still works. 45 years+ and still working.
Our whirlpool was in a condo we bought. When we sold that house we took it with us when we moved. 23 years later we have never had a problem with it.
My home was built in 1976. We bought the house from the estate of the original couple who had it built, and lived in it until death.
The 1976 Maytag dryer in burnt green still works! Sadly, that kind of Maytag no longer exists.
Because there’s no money in it. The ideal is that lady who kept buying LG fridges. (My house came with Kenmore appliances circa 1991. All are solid workhorses.)
Same story here, but my maytag is 1986 and white. When the main bearing failed 15 years ago I could of bought a new washer which only lasted 10 years, but instead I replaced the bearing myself and have doubled its lifespan.
@@CantankerousDave there is absolutely money in it....
That color isn’t “burnt green” it’s “avocado green”.
@@markm3901 I used to do exactly that.
There needs to be a distinct lemon law for major appliances
But you can’t put lemons in the refrigerator so the law doesn’t make sense! -legislators
He just explained that there is.
@@hugegamer5988Fam, watch me put a bowl of lemons in the refrigerator and take a picture for this express purpose.
That’s a great idea
lemon meringue law
Our politicians can make a law that charges us 10 cents for a grocery bag because of “the environment,” but they cant make laws that stop the intentional destruction of our appliances (and everything else) that will force us to replace parts on a regular basis. Really goes to show what they are really trying to accomplish.
Think about how much freon is being lost to the atmosphere when these things are junked. I am sure thye have some laws to capture that freon, but probably a lot of it just goes into the air.
@@tqlla yeah, they probably dont just bury it with the rest of the trash. But even if they recycle it, that still takes a lot of energy and other materials to do that.
Exactly!!
The ruling cabal doesn’t want us owning anything.
They get rich, thats their goal
I bought a house off my in-laws in 1992 where they left the Maytag washer and dryer for us. I was looking online at the pictures of the people who are selling the house now, and that washer and dryer are still there.
My grandmother in law bought a GE refrigerator in 1937, and it was running fine when she passed away in 2019. They know how to make them to last, they simply won't now, to keep you buying them.
Just checked our fridge.. made in 1971
Yep, we have 2 refrigerators from the 1950's that we still use as extra fridges in the basement.
It’s not just that. It’s also that when the central bank’s money printer goes brrrrrrr, it makes the input costs of many things to go up. Since people cannot afford to pay $10,000 for a fridge, the manufacturers cut costs every way they can so as to get the price low enough that they can sell it at all.
It’s the same reason why the “organic non-gmo” food is so expensive. It used to be called “food” but the need to cut corners arose from the currency debasement which is boring to talk about but CONSTANTLY poisons the economy with problems like this.
There is no such thing as free.
A GE fridge is NOT an LG fridge. There IS a difference, thank God.
BS .....
Back in the early 1990s I attended one of those survey things where you are asked what you think about a product that exists or is being developed. This one was about refrigerators; they proposed refrigerators that did all kinds of things like storing your digital photos and operating your thermostat. I responded to each idea the same: why would I want my refrigerator to do that? They had an answer and I would disagree. They got a little annoyed with me, but I was being totally honest and open. I began to think I was on a television show like the old Candid Camera; it was all so bizarre. Turned out that's the direction they went with all home appliances just because computers could do such things. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
I refuse to buy a hammer that doesn't clear my internet search history or remind me to buy diapers.
@@bartsanders1553 Why can't your phone do that? Smart phones are the same story; it's not just a phone, but a mini-computer. That makes a little more sense than a refrigerator, though.
@@virginiamoss7045 My phone is too busy mixing concrete and painting my roof.
I'm reminded of a computer science class where we were reading someone's story of failing to be hired for Microsoft. As part of the hiring process, they asked the guy, "Let's say Microsoft is going to make a computer-controlled microwave. Describe the use cases and features you would implement."
The guy's response was "That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard. Why would anyone want a computer controlled microwave?" Despite it being a hypothetical scenario to elicit his thought processes and design methodology, he couldn't get his head past the inanity of the scenario. Additionally, if you're hired and told to make a computer controlled microwave, you make a computer controlled microwave. You don't argue ad nauseum about how stupid it is. If you're lucky, and in the right position, you might get to argue one time that it's not what consumers want, but once the decision has been made you either get with the programming, or get out. Needless to say he wasn't hired.
That happens with all markets during major tech innovations. Nobody is sure where it will go so they tend to throw out all kinds of silly ideas and see what sticks.
It's called "Planned Obsolescence".
I bought a house in 2002 with a Kenmore and have been terrified to replace it. Still works. Fingers crosses. It was already 5 to 10 years old when I bought it.
We too bought a house and the old refrig came with it and now 6 years it is a Timex. Keeps on ticking. I will not replace it. If it has a piston pump then good. and maybe just replace it if it fails. Don't want to spend $2K on a new one that may not last thru
warranty.
Dont worry it will keep on working if you give it the proper maintenance every year, get yourself a good and trusted repair man, i have had mine for 12 years plus, still have the same washer and dryer for the past 14 years , and i got them second hand, true i have had to swap some parts along the years, i have them check at least once a year. washer is Kenmore and dryer GE. and don't plan to change any time soon. to finish , my Gran`ma had a top roll washer for almost 50!! yes 50!! years broke only 3 times wile she had it, m y mom was 7 of 9 children , that washer was build like a tank.
If it still runs after five years, it won't break down in the first two years.
If it’s the older style stuff even if it breaks down…it can be rebuilt…im rebuilding a 90s model washer with parts I dug out of the scrap yard…even the washer motor…they can be rebuilt…this new garbage isn’t worth even bothering with…when the manufacturer says u shouldn’t wash more then one to two pairs of jeans by themselves as a load to prevent from overweighting them…what? The old wagers came with a half horsepower motor…the new garbage are these tiny little 1/4 and less hp with enormous bowls on the washer that u can’t fill with clothes more then 2-3” high in the bottom…or u have overweighted the bowl and will burn up that tiny little motor…
It's not even actually planned, you're giving them too much credit.
What it really is, is a side effect of western economies shifting from industrial to service based economy - we no longer build our stuff. We outsource it to poor countries, where work is cheap, but QA is spotty. Combine that with the hardware becoming over-engineered with all sorts of extraneous stuff(does a fridge REALLY need Wi-Fi, a 21" android tablet and a literal computer to power it? Really?) adding more and more points of potential failure.
More potential failure points, combined with spotty quality control equals stuff breaks more often
I have a GE side-by-side refrigerator I picked up used in 2001. It was a couple of years old then. 2024 and it's still working perfectly after a couple of minor repairs performed by me.
It doesn't have to be this way. A lady requested the door gasket be replaced on her refrigerator. When the door gasket arrived I went out to install it. The refrigerator was a 1932 GE Monitor top. It seemed like fifty or sixty stainless steel screws had to be removed to accomplish the job. It was astounding to see a 90 year old refrigerator still working as designed, but I was more surprised that the replacement gasket could be sourced for it.
thanks! its awesome to hear.
That's great ...But yet the govt "suggests" that we throw out all all the old appliances and replace them with more energy efficient units. Spending thousands to save 19 bucks a year
Yup, my parents have a 1936 GE refrigerator.
It was used as the extra refrigerator in the basement and milk, soda, or whatever you put in there always was perfectly chilled. way better than the newer refrigerators we had elsewhere.
They had the refrigerator before I was born and it’s still running perfectly fine today never been really unplugged, except for occasional defrosting.
And I’m getting closer to 50ys old myself 😅
Very cool! The Monitor Top fridges have quite a following and certain parts are reproduced. There are a few devoted repair people in the country who keep them going on the off-chance they need maintenance. I have made several videos of repairing these. They aren't repaired with computer boards and software. They are repaired with a torch and solder and hand tools.
@@frankf.marcus7768 They don’t seem to mind filling landfills 🤔. If they really cared about our environment they would work on making things last forever. But it’s planned obsolescence; big companies need you buying appliances more often.
I have a GE refrigerator that my dad purchased for my grandmother in 1949, the year I was born. It has survived not only the past 74 years, but at least 2 waist deep floods when it was in my dad’s business. I keep my beer cold in it today and it works great. It may outlast me!
Sounds like it might become a generational heirloom to keep it cool.
Wow. I have (2) GE “garage ready” upright freezers in my backyard. They seem to be okay dealing with the weather, except for the screen/control pad not working properly.
My dad wrote to someone on GE’s executive management team when we were waiting for our second one, I forget if it was the president or a VP or what, explaining that our freezer had been ordered months prior and it kept getting delayed. The guy actually responded and told us that GE sold their appliance division to Haier (Chinese) and licensed the GE name to Haier. My dad expressed that they’ve got horrid supply chain issues now, and it’s hard to get these products quickly. Despite GE having sold out, they still had pull because they licensed the use of the GE name to Haier. We had our freezer about 3 days after my dad heard back from the guy at GE.
They really are a good company. It’s a shame that they sold their appliance division to a cheap Chinese company.
Yup. They used to last many decades, and come through floods of a foot or two, in my direct experience.
The main downside was lack of features -- like no auto-defrost for the freezer. But they just WORKED. I didn't grow up until the early 80's, so I don't know how expensive they were compared to today, inflation adjusted, and they DID use more energy but still...
GE is a good company back then. I buy used older top load washers and older dryers because I know I can fix them and they last multiple decades.
Stuff just isn't built to last like it use to be. I remember my grandmother had a washing machine that was from the 80s that was still working like a champ the day her estate was sold 5 or 6 years ago.
The same “computer creep” is happening with high-end bicycles, too. Now shifting is handled electronically, so when something breaks, you’re just kind of out of luck until you get a replacement. You also have to plug bicycle parts in now, which is ridiculous. As a kid, I remember grabbing old bikes off hooks in our parents’ garages, pumping up the tires, and going out for a good time. Now the joy has been sucked out and replaced with software updates. It has made even relatively young people like me seek out “vintage” items. They work, they’re adjustable, they’re satisfying to tinker with. I’m looking for a new washer and dryer now. I’d like a front-loader because it uses less energy and water and is easier on clothes. I can’t find a front-loading washer without all the electronic nonsense to save my life. It’s funny that the “entry-level” stuff will probably end up being my pick because I don’t want to have to have a scientist figure out an issue a year from now.
This happened to me last year when my brand new refrigerator stopped working after only 4 months. Called the manufacturer. Called the store where I bought it. Serviceman came out, thawed it out and said it was fixed. Had to come back two weeks later. This time he said it needed a part that he was having trouble finding because the refrigerator model was so new (and made in China). He finally called me back and said he could get the part in 5 months!!!!! Five months?!?!? Thank God I had purchased the store's extended warranty, which is somrthing I usually do not do. Allstate Insurance reimbursed me for the service calls AND they reimbursed my entire purchase price! Had to buy a new refrigerator but at least I'm not out of pocket.
We currently have a refrigerator that is almost 40 years old and it's still kicking. After hearing all these horror stories about modern refrigerators, I am very grateful for having a hand me down. I wholeheartedly believe planned obsolescence is real and these stories further support my belief.
anything more than 30 years old is guaranteed to be a better buy than new.
Same for a deep freeze I have but the issue is efficiency of say my moms old 80s fridge uses 600% more hydro than my now 14yr old fridge the 14yr old whirlpool is BASIC model only no fancy shit to go wrong only control for temp in the fridge and for sections plus basic switches for lights etc poof crisper bin broke butter compartment cover in the door cracked due to kids stupidity but otherwise running perfectly
Meanwhile dumbass friendnbought a 3000 fridge with lcd tablet built into the door and other fancy shit it needdd service 5 times in the 1st yr and completely died in just over 2yrs he fortunately listened to me and bought the added warranty via costco which saved his ass
But he will never buy anything seom samsung again
Keep it and repair it when necessary. The older stuff is better than the new stuff.
@@konnorj6442 The Koreans have them made in China.
You have to be a bit thoughtful with old appliances though - some are just really inefficient compared to newer appliances, using far more power/water than the new ones. It can sometimes be more economical to get a more efficient new one even if it only lasts like 5 years or whatever.
I work at a retirement community...we have over 200 units with complete sets of appliances. Some have their original 30 year old appliances and they are trouble free. Most have been updated, and the appliances only last 3-5 years at best. Usually the cost to repair outweighs the cost to replace...we throw away dozens of washers, fridges, and dishwashers annually. When only a few parent companies make 90% of the major brands, you can pretty much write the book on engineered obsolescence, and part discontinuation.
I work maintenance for a corp that runs multiple retirement communities, and we've seen the same problem. New appliances, HVACs and even elevators aren't lasting. The parts used in newer products are cheaply made, and made to fail so that we must buy replacements. I still can't believe the issues we've had with three to five year old Otises. We're even seeing issues with new construction. Older communities we buy have fewer maintenance issues than our brand new buildings. It's really sad to see this decline in quality, but many people today don't seem to take pride in their work or their products and this shows.
These newer washers have plastic gears inside of them. Most people don't understand that. And it's not just the cheaper models. It's most of them
@@gregorylyon1004 even the old stuff had plastic gears, its just where and why theyre used that differs.
My dad had 100+ units. He was a soft heart. After he died, we told the tenants we weren't going to raise the rent but we would no longer provide appliances. As tenants turned over, we accelerated the changeover by pulling appliances out. We started getting a higher quality tenant. When COVID hit we only had 2 tenants stop paying the rent. I have noticed a constant stream of discarded appliances at my dumpsters.
You nailed it my man.
You just explained the absurd ridiculousness of the American "court" system... and why most regular folks hate lawyers.
Most people can't even afford to pay the court cost let alone hire a dang lawyer.
If it’s $1,000, I’d do small claims and just hope they don’t bother to show up.
After mom passed in 2021 we found the receipt for the Kenmore dryer our parents bought in 1976. It was still working! When dad passed in 2011 he had asked us to buy mom a new dryer because the Kenmore had some rust soots inside the drum. She refused and it was still working perfectly when she passed! ❤
I'm retired from the hvac/Refrigeration trade. I was commonly asked what was the best fridge to buy. Told people to avoid the bells and whistles and buy a simple unit. Refrigerators are are basically quite simple, that's why your grandmother's lasted forever. All it has to do is make cold. Also, ice makers are always a trouble spot, especially when they leak water on your floor and ruin your house.
Truth! As more people experience these techy issues with new stuff, I think the mindset of even the younger generations will revert back to the basics on a lot of things. I've been a tech nerd since the early 1980's and absolutely LOVE new tech, but there's a limit on where it can be useful, and household appliances are past that limit.
favorite culprit is the .50¢ PTC compressor "starter" good for 3 years.... 5mn to replace that with an Embraco electronic starter ... perfect !!
👍
…ruined my dads rug
I love simple.
There are so many things in life, like smart appliances, smart watches, etc., and if they all worked forever without hassle, that would be great -- I could "set and forget". But they don't. One by one, they interrupt my life with something simple like begging me to upgrade (or worse, not even asking, upgrading, and bringing with that some kind of failure), or they quit working, like a security cam, and then I have to find the manual and relearn the magic sequence to set it up again (blink, I'm talking about you).
@@PeterLawton Exactly! As much as I enjoy tech when it's working, I wouldn't be very upset if an EMP or SME destroyed the grid and all electronics. I've got a generator and some essential items in a Faraday cage just waiting for the inevitable.
People used to only replace their refrigerators because they’d get horribly out of style, or because they’d want more modern features like an ice or water dispenser. It wasn’t uncommon to find a fridge built in the 60’s still running 30+ years later, but it was relegated to a garage or a man-cave because it was embarrassingly out of date.
My reason was power consumption. I had a 22 y.o. frig, got a new one, much larger one, and my elec bills are $15-20 less per month.
Even modern refrigerators will last for pretty much ever, at least the refrigeration system. It’s usually electronics and other controls that kills them now.
@@cosmicinsane516 "at least the refrigeration system" - NOPE. Look into the problem with LG and their linear compressors, its just ONE of many issues plaguing the basic functions of the "modern" refrigerators - and yes, boards and interface modules for a good number of washers/etc continue to fail at a higher than acceptable rate.
@@jilbertb "and my elec bills are $15-20 less per month."
Those saving tend to disappear when paired with having to replace the appliance every 3-4 years.
I would give anything for an old, ugly, out of date refrigerator, washing machine, etc!
I have a rudd water heater in my home in UP. 1973 install. Still working. Gurgling but still works.
1973!!!
Mine's from 1989 and I can hear the sediment moving around. Maybe that sediment holds the heat longer so it doesn't have to turn on as much? All I know is that our family of 5 never runs out of hot water for anything, ever.
We are in the midst of repairs on a thre year old fridge and we have (thankfully) a 15-20 year old fridge (whirlpool Gold) working just fine.
They have sent parts a month ago, rescheduled the first appointment, now we can’t seem to get through for a new appointment. This video is great info. Thanks
When my dad moved into a farmhouse in 1954, there was an old Kenmore gas stove. It had a top griddle in the middle with a side oven in addition to the regular oven. Later on, it was moved from Ohio to North Carolina to my sister's house to be used for her large family. Just 2 years ago it blew up and was done. That stove saw a LOT of Thanksgivings, Christmas and meals over the years.
If your family is like my family, they blame whoever used the stove last for it's demise. My uncle apparently tried to bake a potato in my parent's oven, and didn't prick it. The potato exploded and somehow blew the oven's element. My parent's wrote off the oven (a hideous 1970's built-in cabinet oven stack) and remodeled the kitchen. For years afterward, it was mentioned how Uncle J ruined the oven.
@@hotlavatube That's funny. Great story.
My nephew came out to visit and wanted to drive my dads classic car for a trip to the store. With dad sitting in the passengers seat my nephew asked if he could turn on the car radio. My dad said "sure, go right ahead". Nephew reached over, turned on the rotary dial to turn it on and...the radio started to smoke and popped the fuse. My dad looked over at my nephew and asked "WHAT DID YOU DO?". After that my nephew was known as the one who burned up my dads car radio! @@hotlavatube
@@hotlavatube Oh yeah, that is definitely the type of story that gets brought up at _every_ family reunion, lol 🤣
@@hotlavatubewas that a microwave? I have baked potatoes in gas ovens, electric ovens, table top ovens, electric frying pans and crockpots . I am yet to have a potato, Irish or sweet blow up. I've never heard of anybody saying that a potato exploded in their ovens.
Bought a show room floor Kenmore fridge in 1977. Still working fine , with ice maker, to this day in 2024. 47 years. Now almost everything is made with planned obsolescence in mind!
WORSE THAN PLANNED OBSOLENCENCE IS OVER ENGINEERING
I went to work in a secure facility in 2006. We had a fridge in the office. I left in 2016. Still had the same fridge. Still worked fine. Just had to defrost the freezer every 6 months or so.
Fridge was a 1955-57 Westinghouse. 60 years old and still going.
😢I
I've had 2 fridges in 7yrs. Both went because of faulty compressors - no cold in lower part, top with freezer was 40 degrees below zero it made dry ice. Don't buy Frigidaire or Hotpoint. Same problem in both,had to junked.
Moved into my own place from my mother and fathers home in 1987. I needed a fridge for my rental house. My parents gve me their refrigerator that they had for a couple of years and they bought a new one. That refrigerator is still working fine. It's a Kenmore and all I've ever done is replace the ice maker. Not a shiny new stainless steel model but it works perfectly 37 years later.
I ended up digging out my ole Kelvinator fridge from 1955. It still works great. It was in a cabin i bought and that guy bought it new. Still has the price tag inside. Made in America.
Made in America
It is going to suck down electricty like an alcoholic chugs beer.
Made in America used to mostly mean quality, now it is as bad as Chinese made. There is a reason why every car designed or built in the US is low quality.
So what was the price ?
Im an Appliance Specialist at The Home Depot, and i try to tell my customers to never spend too much, because of "planned obsolescence." It's disgusting how many customers i have to help with their non working, 2 month old fridges. Samsung being the worst of the bunch. One lady bought a 20 cu ft, upright freezer, a Frigidaire, model number FFUE2022AW, and we had to send 3 to her over the course of 3 weeks, because 2 of them didn't have a compressor in them🤦🏼♂️
You say Samsung is the worst. The lawsuit Steve talked about was against LG. What do Samsung and LG have in common? Both are South Korean companies.
Your company HD is awesome. I had problem with Frigidaire and my local store took it back even though it was outside the normal return time. The warranty was worthless as we never could even get them to come out.
LG is shit for fridges if samsung is worse thats horrid
No compressor? Send it back to Mexico! At least the Chinese fridges have all the parts!
@@garyhempel6316 they are.
I have one that is 50 years old. Still works, never did a thing to it
My Maytag washer had a problem where the lid closed circuit blew fuses. I opened it up and there was a schematic glued to the inside. I don't care if the machine can run with the lid open. I also have a MSEE. I figured out how to rewire the circuit board to bypass the lid switch so it would no longer blow fuses. Every time I think of getting a new washer, I think of the Maytag Repairman commercials and stories like this and am happy to have something as reliable as my washing machine. I don't know how old it is, but we used to give our now 43 year old son 25 cents to do the wash when he was pretty young. Now new circuit boards use surface mount parts and are basically unserviceable. They have lots of needless features that the old ones did not. I don't miss them. Great video. Thanks.
Steve as a past landlord, I used to buy my appliances from an elderly lady whose son WAS a service repairman. He collected so many older units that people were getting rid of and were if anything simple to repair if anything. This allowed his mother to survive on her limited retirement since her husband had died years earlier. The appliances were low cost and more reliable than anything new and at a fraction of the cost. Crazy how something so simple could last so long. The newer models they never resold because they guaranteed the models for 5 years and well those warranties were free too! Go figure! Quality still is one of the best things in this world in my opinion!
Let me rewrite the last part, The son never sold newer models he collected, the repairs and durability of them were questionable, and the older models which his mother sold they new the quality and those models was what they sold out of her garage! Wonderful family! Though she has now pasted away, she was well loved!
The newer models are more efficient, not more reliable. One can have both, but few would be willing to bear the much higher cost. :/
I would, largely because of having to replace the contents of fridge and freezer at the most inopportune of times. Twice.
Yah - I always recommend to anyone who wants a washer/dryer/stove/refrigerator to go find the local store that repairs and sells used ones then buy the best condition one they can find that was made before 2007-ish (the further back, the better). Then when that one needs fixed, either learn to repair it or call a handyman because they are incredibly cheap and easy to repair in most cases and it’ll last the rest of your life.
Quality and manual operation. Forget these ridiculous circuit boards.
thats one reaon why I dont travel...coming home to rotten food.
Other reason ?
4 loving cats..
My family purchased a vacation home in 1969. It had an older refrigerator but it worked well and other than needing occasional defrosting worked flawlessly. Other than a few short power failures it has run continuously for close to 60 years. Last week I checked the thermometer hanging from the rack inside the fridge and it was 38 degrees. If you listen carefully you can hear the compressor cycle on and off occasionally and it runs with a smooth purr just like when I was was a kid.
I'm still using my grandma's Westinghouse fridge. It's from the late 1940's or early 50's.
It's not my main fridge, but its been running for around 70 years. IT'S NOT FOR SALE
The new ones, POP, crackle and make so much noise, you swear someone is breaking in! I bought an older one for $100 and it keeps the food COLD! And it makes ice, so, bonus, bonus! Simple basics, right, we don't need all the bells and whistles (a freezer light sure is nice though). My mom has to unplug her washer, to reset to open the lid! How nutty, to think kids are falling into washers? UGH, bad parenting? Ban irons, mom hit my fingers, while I was underfoot and holding onto the ironing board! Cured me from being around her, when she was ironing! Everything is a learning curve!
Yes, and they paid about three times as much. It also wasn't regulated by your govt that I dusted these things have energy saving devices in them that can go bad. They are, though, regardless of that, much more energy efficient. The fridges today are not the fridges of yesterday. That old fridge is a box and a compressor. Not all that complicated.
@@spec24 false. You can find videos on YT here that reveal the old ones are as if not more efficient.
Anyways does efficiency help your pocket when you are charged more for less electricity than before?
Is buying a fridge 10 times vs maybe 2 more green?
Think about the carbon footprint to make a fridge.
This efficiency stuff along with global warming is a scam.
Same my parents had a fridigere fridge freezer in their basement. It was 40s or 50s, worked beautifully, no service calls ever, still working when we sold the house in 2019.
Hi Steve.
First I wonder if these problems occur because the big box stores aren't really in the business of selling appliances. Rather, they are in the business of selling insurance, in the form of extended warranties. So the big box stores may like stories like this, because they make more money in a climate of fear. I am frequently amazed at the extended warranty offering pushed by a cashiers for something as small as a $10 charging cable for a smart phone.
Second, an elderly couple that lived nearby was having problems with their new refrigerator. Their backup refrigerator in the garage was an olive green refrigerator from the seventies or sixties. After repair of the newer refrigerator was complete ( thermostat replaced), they noticed their 50 year old refrigerator wasn't quite as cold. The freezer portion had a few inches of ice on the walls. I defrosted the unit over a few days and then cleaned the coils. When restarted, that 50 year old fridge ran like new.
I bought a home that was built in 1956 in 2007. It had an original fridge down in the basement. I sold the home in 2021 and that fridge was still just fine. It just needed to be defrosted like once every couple yrs.
You’re 100% correct. We bought a washer and dryer. Dryer died over and over again. Eventually we bought a used Kenmore for $50 from a local lady who had it in her garage for years. Anyway, the dryer is like 30 years old now and works just fine. It’s not fancy and it doesn’t match the washer, but it runs fine and my clothes get dry.
And the old washer and dryer will typically need an "inside parts" cleaning every 6-12 months, and maybe new drive belts every 6-12 years.
Seriously, I've seen 3 50s Kenmore fridges still going depressingly well compared to modern units, treat the old beggars with respect and a bit of TLC and they keep going pretty well.
@@MonkeyJedi99nope. I have 25 yrs old whirlpool washer and dryer. Never been cleaned. Heavily abused for years and years. Finally, after many mega loads, I broke the transmission (snapped a gear). Got a barely used replacement on eBay for $75. Took 15 mins to install.
Had I not abused it forever, it wouldn't have broke. Meanwhile, you get a yr or 2 at most out of brand new stuff.
My mom Jada rope in the back yard. Remember clothes pins.
@@EASTSIDERIDER707 Line drying is great. When it's warm and dry.
-
I live in New England, so about 40-60% of the year (depending on rain that year) is no-go for line drying.
Still, line drying can save a lot of utility money, though I know people who still use their dryer for socks and underwear and line dry everything bigger.
My parents had an old Kenmore refrigerator that they purchased at a discount because it was a damaged show-room floor model. The plastic water hose to the icemaker started leaking around ten years, but after we shut off the water supply, the rest of the fridge lasted more than 20 years. That thing was incredibly reliable. 😊 Same with our old Kenmore washer/dryer combo.
Reminds me of an incredible documentary about lightbulbs--they got so reliable that customers weren't buying many anymore. So manufacturers colluded to develop worse lightbulbs to sell more lightbulbs. We've actually gone backwards!
My own grandmother told me many years ago; they did the same thing with nylon stockings. SMH.
I learned years ago that copper lines are best for ice makers.
@@davidszakacs6888 Yup. Copper lines are better for water in general. Disney California Adventure park in Anaheim has a river rapids rafting ride with geysers that shoot water into the air--but they have been incredibly unreliable. Disney recently filed a work permit with the city to replace the underground PVC water pipes with above-ground copper piping!
Now you know the truth. Follow the money! Got to keep that stock price up so those big executives get their bonuses!!!
So true. I'm still using a free RCA refrigerator that dates back to the early '80's. It needed a good cleaning and a fresh door seal.
My daughter's new Mexico made refrigerator was leaking condensate water directly on the floor. When I checked it out some of the base parts were formed opposite which resulted in the drain pan being placed on the right side and the drain line itself on the left side. No telling how many thousands of units were made that way.
Billions
It's these judges that are the problem in America. There needs to be an independent oversight committee that consists of everyday Americans who are pulled just like jury duty to investigate these judges and hold them responsible for corruption.
A jury should always be available to the end of every legal issue. That would end so much corruption, and end the enforcement of a lot of regulations and violations.
And the chances that your random gang of Americans knows the nuances of the law, knows the constitution, and are above median intelligence is less than 50%.
98% of judges lie about being corrupt. 1% admit it.
@@litigioussociety4249 I would love that to be possible, but having served on a jury, good luck. It's extremely logistically complicated to get a jury in the first place.
Lawyers become judges. They work hand-in-hand, make sure they all get rich.
My mom still has our original “Wizard” refrigerator from 1964 in her garage as a spare. We bought it from Western Auto from all places. 60 years old this year and still freaking works!
keep in mind that prior to 1980 auto manufactures like General Motors (Frigidaire) also made refrigerators as well. That would explain why an auto parts supplier would have access to sell refrigerators.
My grandmother, a farmer's wife, had the "old" refrigerator plugged in on the porch. But, somehow, there were never enough raspberries that any found their way into it ... 😊 (Yum!)
I remember that store and it's brands
@@lockman004 my friend has a Ford refrigerator in his garage.
Do not buy LG or Samsung. Look at the reviews for something before you buy.
Absolutely loved your automobile analogy , so true and simple .
Thanks for this video. Worked at a factory years ago building air conditioners, place also made refrigerators. Purchasing agent to me there were only 2 manufactures of compressors for air conditioners at that time and numerous manufactures of air conditioners. On assembly line we built the same air conditioners for different brands, put different covers and different looking controls and then put on the name plate.
"There was a time when a refrigerator would be in a house when you bought it and still be there when you moved out working. They used to work forever." That is exactly why they don't make them like they used to; failing products mean more sales.
That is very true to an extent...but other factors are government regulations and the ever-increasing obsession for more and more "tech" on everything....
They don't even last 3 years now.
That is an incentive for the manufacturer. It's referred to as planned obsolescence, meaning it's made to fail about 1 month after warranty expires.
The new refrigerators now have a one year warranty. Those LG compressor circuits, when they failed, usually did it at the four year mark.
We bought a house with an ugly yellow GE refrigerator in it in 1993. It was probably 10 years old when we bought the house. We didn’t like the color so we were hoping to replace it with something better but it was still there running fine when we moved out 18 years later. We moved into a new house that came with a new stainless steel which we were happy to get after having the 1980’s yellow refrigerator for so long. The new one didn’t last two years before going out. The service man replaced control boards in it several times so we finally had to replace it. This video is spot on.
The operative words there are: "Control boards" There's your reason.
They buy parts from Chinese suppliers.
@@jmlin501 Shouldn't have to be buying parts for something nearly new.
Buy plain. Fridge plus freezer. Analog
I have a 1968 GE running in the house. A 1980 or so Kenmore in the garage.
I remember being 12 years old with a single mother and fixing our broken washing machine. The older appliances were simple, reliable but easy to repair when needed. I just slid under the washer and easily diagnosed the broken water pump. We took it off and brought it to an appliance store, walked out with a new one on the spot and had it replaced later that day. Those days are just about gone outside of a few brands and their basic models.
Linear compressors are fantastic for noise and energy use but they don't seem to last more than 4 or 5 based on everyone I've talked to. I don't know one person with an LG or Samsung fridge that's made it past that. I myself have a basic LG fridge that's 3.5 years old... just waiting at this point. I can already hear periodic quiet screeching coming from the fridge.
I have had my Kenmore refrigerator a little over 30 years and it is still going strong. Same with my clothes dryer--it works great and the buzzer still works on it as well.
I shouldn't say this, but my fridge is 37 years old. My washer lasted 32 years. My oven is also like my fridge is 37 years old. I hope that they keep working for the rest of my life.
You may want to consider ordering parts to have on hand for them. Parts for older stuff is getting harder to find. You definitely don't want any of this new garbage.
BS ...
I’ve had three refrigerators in 12 years. Old appliances are like gold. 0:16
Why shouldn't you say it?
I just bought a new washing machine. I bought it from a family owned appliance store. Delivery and installation were reasonably priced. They also hauled off the old unit. I got the most basic, no frills unit and am happy with it! BTW- my mom worked in a small family owned appliance shop for years and her advice- buy the basic units. Increase the tech on your appliances and you increase the failure rate. KISS still applies!
Absolutely. All my appliances are bottom of the line and have lasted me 8 years so far trouble free. Plus, I can replace nearly everything that can go wrong with them super cheap which so far has only been a dishwasher door seal. I take time to clean stuff thoroughly when I can of course and try to use them properly, but high end models cost more in the short and long run.
sun/moon roofs in cars-puhleeze!
Exactly. My $500 Fridge is just as cold as a $2500 Fridge.
Too be fair, repair shops should be fixing circuit boards. Part of the problem is techs have not adapted their skills with the technology. They only swap parts, not repair. Manufacturers should be making it easier to access parts and failure rates should not be crazy high, but techs really need the skills to repair stuff.
I make this point to my gf all the time. Yet she buys tech items that I tell her are a bad idea and it always ends the same way. Her looking at me and saying "Don't even say it".
We’ve experienced exactly what you’ve said! These expensive appliances are being made with cheap plastic parts that the companies use with planned breakdowns, expecting people to get tired of the run around service calls, coming out, ordering parts, repeat…. Just like you said! Absolutely need warranties, but even with warranties, they will keep replacing cheap parts, over and over! This is a nationwide issue! Thank you for sharing this important information! 👍🏽
So ridiculous. What a great segment. Great job Steve.
My refrigerator is 15 years old and still running...
I paid for the extended warranty for a washing machine many years back. the washers internals completely broke apart a month before the warranty ran out. The repair guy who came to the house had to replace more parts than I can count. Put down in his notes the words "Design flaw caused washing machine to self destruct". The cost of the parts to repair it were valued far more than I paid for the washer in the first place.
My sister bought refrigerator, an LG refrigerator I think was the brand, it had major problems. They fixed it twice doing a multi part replacements and that didn’t fix it so replaced it twice under warranty. My sister had to threaten to sue them. She is an attorney and made sure they knew it and said all it would cost was her filing fees and she would be more than happy to run up their bills.
Supposedly Samsungs are better than LG, if I recall Consumer Reports correctly, but I will just stick to the least fancy Whirlpool (or one of the brands they've acquired) from Costco or Best Buy/Pacific Sales. No internet connection ones.
@@SayAhhNo I had to replace Samsung twice how a compressor fails 2 times in 8 months is astounding to me. That part should be robust I have had vending machines outside for years and they're compressors still work fine. They are underpowered and designed to fail.
I went with the cheap frigidaire brand and it's lasted 5 years.
@@SayAhh Samsung's are just as bad.. NEVER buy an appliance from a "tech" company.
@@SayAhhSamsung and LG need to stick to making phones and TVs.
Yes, the LG problem with their linear compressor is a known common problem. LG makes some decent washers but many lousy fridges.
Kenmore used to carry Whirlpool manufactured appliances but changed to LG years ago, making their fridges unreliable. You are correct that many appliances are too unreliable & overly complex with solutions in search of a problem. When you think about it, this is not green at all. The fridges that lasted 20-30 years that my parents had ultimately made less pollution by being reliable.
There are only a few companies that make refrigerators. All Sears did was apply the Kenmore name to other manufacturers appliances. We had a Kenmore refrigerator that was essentially a Whirlpool with minor trim differences. I have a Maytag refrigerator from 1989 that still works very well. Just like the old coffee commercial, "When something works, you stick with it." GREAT VIDEO!
Steve, the best washer today is the Speed Queen TC5. Simple, no lid lock, and will complete a cycle in a little as 30 minutes, depending on the wash setting.
I knew a speed queen...
shes got no TEETH NOW!
@@garyssimoA toothless queen is always the best, but that doesn't have much to do with washing machines. 😂 Speedqueen washing machines are beasts as are the older whirlpools. We have a 30 year old whirlpool still works just fine. The only thing that usually wears out in them is a $20 plastic cam easy to replace.
Side note. I had to start drinking again after 20 years every time Steve said the word lock.. 😅
Agreed. Got one, love it.
Funny you mention it on this. After my expensive front load Samsung kept acting up, I decided to buy a new washer. I had just replaced my 30+ year old gas dryer with a newer version that is pretty good. I shopped all over. Turns out the box stores don’t keep them on the floor anymore. So after talking to the guy at my local appliance store, i learned something important. I kept asking him what the most reliable washer was, because I was “the guy who just got rid of his 30+ year old gas dryer simply because I couldn’t find a replacement bearing for the tub. He told me about Speed Queen. I asked him how big the tub was. I forget the numbers but basically the biggest Speed Queen tub is smaller than most other tubs. Hmmm. Apparently they make the washers most commonly used in commercial laundromats. For some reason, he didn’t seem to want to tell me why the Speed Queen uses a smaller tub. I kept asking and getting; into the technicalities of the things. Finally he told me that the Speed Queens use a slightly different agitator than the others. And that with the bigger tubs, the motors wear out much more quickly . Finally I figured out the correlation. Speed Queen washer last forever mostly because they use a tub that the overbuilt motor and agitator can easily handle . He told me they were expensive. I told him I’d rather pay $1500 for a washer with a smaller tub and few features that will last forever, than a $400 piece of shit. He told me it was my lucky day, because they had Speed Queens starting at $1300. Sold.
We have Speed Queen front loading washer and dryer - Speed Queen for the win. (sold in canada under the HUEBSCH name) , fun fact: the Canada Ontario Teachers Pension Plan owned Alliance Laundry Systems - the owner of Queen, Primus, Huebsch, IPSO, and UniMac
azmax story time: My parents bought a house in NY from my Grandma, and it came with a Norge upright fridge with built=in freezer (single outside door with freezer door inside). It moved to Arizona with us in 1973, where it sat in the garage as a second refrigerator. Once it went out, and the repairman said it was the compressor, and it was NLA. After he left, my dad plugged the fridge back in and it worked. Eventually it moved into the utility room because we needed the space in the garage. It shut down maybe once or twice over the years, and letting it sit unplugged for a while fixed it.
In 1999, my parents moved and didn't have room for the fridge. It moved to my house and was in use for 5-6 more years, before I moved to someplace we couldn't take it with us. I gave it away to a friend of a friend to use as a beer fridge. I wish I would have kept it.
I have a Norge refrigerator. It is over 30 years old. I refuse to part with it because when I looked at upgrading about 5 years ago I noticed that all the reviews were bad. They were all dying within around 18 months either the compressors were going out or the refrigerant lines had pin holes. I am not throwing my money down a rat hole just to have a spiffy looking fridge that doesn’t work.
They ice up and need to be warmed up...then they work again! u cant see this ice...its behind the freezer panel where we cant see it.
Too funny! just had a ma!function in doling a comment. Three identicals wound up posted!!! first time in hundreds of comments on u tube.
@@garyssimowhen they ice up behind the panel in the freezer. Generally it's one of two things the auto defrost element is bad. Or the evaporator fan is out. Both of these car repairs that most competent people can do themselves.
Long story short, in August 2022 LG said the linear compressor needed replacement (nearing the end of the 10 year warranty but labor wasn’t covered. The first place was a factory authorized service center that has been here many times before but they said they no longer service LG. The next place said $800 if the compressor was all that was needed. I called LG again for more options and they texted 3 more places. The first said $500-700 but they were 60 miles away and didn’t service my area. The next one was just a guy's name and when called, it said “call rejected.” The last one was 250 miles away so obviously that would be a waste of time.
I installed a $5 piercing valve (BPV31) on the low side to check the R134a pressure and found the needle barely moved when running and hit a high of about 28 PSI when unplugged for a while. I decided to gamble with an evacuation and recharge. I put a vacuum pump on it for an hour and then let it sit for another hour with the vacuum off. The vacuum maintained so I vacuumed it again and slowly allowed some R134a back in while still unplugged and at some point I let the compressor slowly take it in while frequently noting the PSI pressure. The moment the high side started feeling warm, I unplugged it to let the system equalize. The final recharge ended up being a little less than 40 PSI but at some point the low pressure side started frosting up so I assume I slightly overcharged the refrigerant. Covering it with Armacell rubber self-seal pipe wrap insulation instead of reducing the r134a was what I went with.
Anyway that can of 134a was less than $10 at Walmart and it didn’t take the entire can. It’s 2/2024, almost 18 months since LG said it needed a new linear compressor, and the temps have never been lower. I hope I didn’t jinx myself.
I can’t believe Consumer Reports rates LG in like 7 out of the top 10 recommended refrigerators.
Had to scrap our front load Samsung washer and dryer. The SS dryer drum welded seam split apart. I welded it but it ended up a bit out of round so it thumped a little. The washer spider arm corroded away and failed so I replaced that but it wasn’t long before the circuit control board fried so that was the end of that. Keeping the door ajar to prevent smells was a hassle anyway.
I, too, have just replaced an LG fridge - the compressor died after a couple of years. The original seller has gone out of business and the repairman said his costs would be more than a new fridge. He did say to avoid LG fridges but felt uncomfortable recommending another brand.
My 17 year old, bottom of the line Roper brand, washing machine died about a year ago. I started shopping for a new machine and was appalled by what I found. So I paid $200 for some parts and had my husband fix the old machine. As long as I can keep doing that, I will.
That's the Spirit!🎉😊
And my solution as well!
cool, my wife and I do the same thing, we buy parts and just try fixing things. it'll be worth learning from him how to do it in case he can't for whatever reason.
@@saeedhossain6099 there's a ton of stuff on UA-cam that teaches you how to fix stuff, especially purely mechanical (non-electronic) stuff. If you have a little patience, and do a little research, most things can be figured out.
I experienced the LG Linear compressor warranty nightmare. I had a refrigerator with one during the warrantee period, but due to a 3 month backlog on the replacement unit and the expense of having to purge the rest of the refrigeration system after installing the new compressor I had no reasonable recourse other than to replace the fridge. Talking with the tech he was seeing the exact same issue multiple times nearly every day. What I think is even worse is less than 50% of the units he diagnosed with the issue were being repaired due to the extremely long wait for replacement parts. I found when shopping for my new refrigerator multiple brands use the LG Linear compressor, and I made sure that the new refrigerator I purchased did not have one.
I was looking for a 5$ gromet on a dishwasher. Found out that it was sold under 5-6 names. Same thing just different panels and name. The rubber rotted so it leaked right when the warranty was up. Got it for free and fixed it cause the mother in law just bought a new one
So which other refrigerator brands are using this faulty LG linear compressor?
This is just rotten how nightmareish appliance shopping has become!
@@deemelody2396name a brand, it most likely uses this compressor.
Same problem here. They keep making this compressor many years after they know they were a problem.
As someone living out of coolers right now because our 6 1/2 year old Whirlpool refrigerator/bottom freezer currently has the refrigerator section NOT cooling at all, what BRAND does one "safely" buy??? And finding a reputable/honest repair person these days is nearly impossible. Also Steve, i think you're very fortunate to still have a local "Mom and Pop" store to shop at like that. Don't believe there are any left in my area.(40 miles SW. of Chicago). Thanks
I have a LG fridge that has this same compressor bought in 2014. 10 year warranty is now over. After watching this video I feel fortunate it's still working.
I have one from 2005, it is great, every 6 month clean the compressor, no noise.
Wow. No repairs either?
This is exactly what happened to us! We bought a brand new refrigerator and in a week it stopped cooling. They tried to tell us that it was our fault because we put it in the garage. They said they don't work if it gets too cold. Here's the thing. Our garage is heated. It never gets below 60 degrees even when it's really cold outside. They sent someone out to fix it. It still wouldn't cool. He came again with more parts. Still wouldn't cool. After the 4th trip to our house, he said we obviously got a lemon and he gutted it and replaced everything in it and it finally has worked for over a year. I still don't expect it to last but maybe another couple years. On a side note, the fridge that was in our garage prior was over 20 years old and still worked. We should never have decided it was time for a replacement.
Seems like the only thing they can get right is the styrofoam box...
Seems like by the 4th trip it would have been more economical to just replace the whole unit and scrap the broken one.
My Cabrio washing machine is now resting at the scrap yard. I now have a Kenmore from the 1980's. It contains NO computers or lid lock. It works better than the computer controlled junk I once had.
Oh wow, you are fortunate. Although I know it’s for safety purposes, I hate lid locks. No one is jumping in our washing machine and we have enough sense not to put our hand in a running washing machine.
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I forced open my Cabrio which broke the mechanism, I can open the washer whenever I want and the washer still works. lol
@@quietpianist That’s great. We used the magnet trick for about 3-4 years, but we could tell that the machine wasn’t going to make it (real loud grinding noises). We picked up a $300 washing machine on clearance. If it lasts for 3-5 years, we’ll be lucky.
My LG clothes dryer is excellent but I am not impressed with their clothes washers. They replace some Bosch units that were 15 to 20 years old and pretty nice of even lacking capacity. Avoid their dishwashers, pure euro-trash in more ways than one.
Lid locks can be simply made with a bimetal. '60's tech.
I met a guy who worked for a junk hauler who would take home certain old refrigerators and other appliances, repair and re-sell them. One reason was that amongst a certain crowd in the Seattle area, vintage appliances are trendy. The other reason was that older appliances simply lasted longer.
I bought two LG fridge for my small apartment building in 2021. Compressor went out in 20 months on one of them and they fixed it right away under warranty. Tech was great, also said the refrigerant filter was clogged. It’s been about 6 months working now and after this video I have much less confidence in these units. Warranty is only 5 years according to LG. We also recently replaced a fridge in another apartment with Kenmore. The one we took out was still working after 30 years. We live in a world of corporate cost cutting at the expense of services and the consumer.
This will get lost in the volume of comments, but this is based on info from a repair person, and my experience as an engineer leads me to agree that this makes sense. Key things to increase your odds of a fridge lasting longer: Don't get an in-door ice dispenser or, if you must, only get an in-door ice dispenser if you buy a side-by-side. Ice dispensers add more wiring harnesses that can fail, and more moving parts. Ice makers in the fridge area of a French-door model are trying to maintain a cold/dry environment inside of a cool/moist environment, which leads to freezing evap coils typically. Combine both of those, and you're just begging for failure.
Yea, I found an alternative to the ice-maker. It's called an ice cube tray.
I buy the simplest appliances i can, simply for this reason. Also, pay attention to the manual. And if the manual doesn't make sense, call the manufacturer and find out what it means.
I didn't do that, and i killed a perfectly fine refrigerator. I killed it by turning the "economy" switch on. The manual only said that it increases efficiency, but may cause condensation on the outside of the fridge. I didn't see that being an issue, so economy it was. Turns out that "economy" switch just turns off the defroster for the freezer coils. Resulted in that freezing solid, and the refrigerator slowly stopped getting cold. Eventually ruined the compressor.
But there is a silver lining. When i had the repair guy out, he fixed it, but told me that fridge was living on borrowed time, it could fail any day. The manufacturer called me (due to the service call) and offered an extended warranty. To which i said "yes please." Ended up with a new fridge a few weeks later, for a very low price (the cost of the warranty).
Yep, that's what I found out. After 2 side-by-side units (a GE and an LG) with failing water dispensers, the latest one I had to buy (Whirlpool) has the ice maker in the bottom freezer and the water dispenser inside the refrigerator compartment. I hope it solves that issue!
There's a YT channel, something like Maytag repairman or something....had a video on just this. I believe it's as you say.....complex circuitry and country of origin. Techs were surveyed and they preferred I think Maytag/GE or such. Avoid the bells and whistles, keep it simple. You want french doors....go redneck refrigerator....buy two freezer over fridge units, swap one set of hinges and you have an oversized French door fridge but it's two units....kinda cool, and it costs way less.
Spot on..ice maker needs to be in the freezer..another big failure with new appliances is the refrigerant being used R-290 (propane)..been dealing with this for a few years now..kills compressor life..
Years ago, before I started my business, I was but a lowly electrician’s apprentice on my second job site. We were installing new motors at a large cereal factory, big ones, 200, 250 hp motors. There is dust and all kinds of dirt where the cereal first is augured out of the drier. It is important to make sure the motors are flat, in line with the drive, etc. So important that millwrights are usually hired to shim and use precise lasers to get it within a 1/16th of an inch or less.
When I asked the foreman about it, he looked at me and asked why I was trying to take food out of his family’s mouths. I was confused, so he says, “I want to be back here in 5 or 6 years, kid.” Those motors should last 10 years with proper installation. Even 15-20 years with regular maintenance and keeping the area clear. But this was counterproductive because instead of one job per 15 years, he wanted 3 per 15 years.
Even clients can’t be bothered to properly maintain their equipment. To them, it is cheaper to run something into the ground and replace it rather than having to hire and pay qualified people to perform “unneeded” preventative maintenance.
So it is with a lot of things. Being mechanically inclined, I’ve fixed many home appliances. I can tell you, they are designed with the assumption that no one will ever work on them. The companies would rather you not work on them, either, because repairing a refrigerator doesn’t make a sale. In fact, they would much prefer that your appliances only last as long as it takes for you not to feel ripped off, and not a minute more. Add that to a throw away culture and a general lack of mechanical, plumbing, and electrical skills in the general population, and you have all the incentive to not design things to last. As my dad says, Maytag stopped using the bored repairman because the r-word became a very bad word.
YES - In direct drive, shaft alignment is critical - that's why many machines have couplings - belt drive will also tolerate minor misalignment. Some small HP drives have coupled shafts using hose - pinned or clamped - simple and WORKS.
And shims at .0005 are common. I would have flunked so hard in my industrial tech classes if I said 1/16 is good enough. Lol.
What gets me is when the newer generation says how we ruined the planet for them when I see how each generation has become more of a throw away and replace than a repair culture.
@@ptx3914I was gonna say... 1/16 alignment is like, someone could do that with a forklift and a prybar and maybe some prescription lenses on their eyeballs if they need em LOL
It's called "Planned Obsolescence". Car manufacturers have done this for years. Now all companies are trying this. In past 5 years, I bought new fridge and oven. Fridge door handle fell off after 6 months. Rubber gasket on door came off. I put it back on. Lasted a week. Kept putting it back on. Finally glued it to door! Now it makes loud noise when compressor kicks on. I hate this fridge! With the oven, the glass door hangs out from body of oven by 3 inches. Clock doesn't work.Oven runs hotter than calibrations. Sheesh!
Bought my home new in 1999 - came with GE appliances (stove, dishwasher and refrigerator). All three still work fine.
We had a Hotpoint fridge in the staff canteen at Customs Dept in Jamaica from 1976 & it was still in use 2006 when i visit my friends after i left for America .
My background has been in automotive engineering for 30 years; I'm 70 years old. The problem today, as you noted, is the electronics, engineers who need to be better trained, and bean counters going for profit.
Kenmore always privately labeled the appliances, and Maytag was often the clothes washer and drier supplier. We have a 23+ year-old pair, which I've easily repaired a few times. Twice, I've had to replace the washer motor's capacitor, but it was quickly done. Just the other week, the timer, which is a keyed drum, something the Greeks invented BC, due to the mechanical contacts wearing out, was a fifteen-minute repair for $160, and it should be suitable for another 20 years. There is a control board for dispensing soap, bleach, and fabric softener. But the board was soldered with the old lead style solder and won't be prone to the solder cracks the new non-lead solder used is prone to do.
Drier is the same; I only once had to replace the ignitor, which does burn out.
Just replaced the water valve in the 22-year-old refrigerator; it's simple to do. Also had to replace the de-icing element once two years back. Again, easy to do and not controlled by any electronics.
Don't get me started on the new vehicles with six or more modules that have to crosstalk.....
yay to lead solder. I refuse to use anything else 'til they fix the issues.
@@Blitterbugthe issues are features - not bugs. If you look at the GDP reports, endless consumerism is the economic engine of the US. Also, there's the ever increasing rules and regulations. The Paris Climate Accords we signed onto has already phased out R-22 refrigerant. Now they're scaling down and phasing out R-134A and R-416. The changes in refrigerants changes compressor pump curves, efficiencies and achievable temperature bands. Add into this stupid executive order mandates regarding appliances - such as how many gallons a dishwasher or washing machine can use, how many watts per hour a refrigerator can use, etc. - this affects duty cycle which impacts performance.
Then you throw in "value engineering" and designed obsolescence and all the available consumer products you can buy on the open market are designed to fail within 24 - 48 months. This drives you to consume more, giving Wall Street year over year and quarter over quarter profits and sales growth.
Most of the lead-free solder issues have been addressed.
@@GideonMesser Yes, they have! Aside from all the ones that count! EG - none of them have been addressed. English solderer here speaking, I do have many decades experience working with all types of crap solder the EU has foisted on us. And I speak as a supporter of most EU legislation.
I totally agree with you (ex - IT professional here).
I am 63.
We had one of those old fat refrigerators (the big super heavy ones with the rounded edges), and my parents bought that refrigerator some years before I was born.
It lasted another 20 years after that, and the only reason that they finally got rid of it was not because there was anything wrong with it - they just wanted a new one.
Quality all the way around has badly deteriorated over the decades.
And yeah, don't get me started on vehicles either - there is _so much_ tech in these vehicles that there winds up being too many points of failure, and a software bug/failure in a vehicle can have catastrophic results.
I was an appliance repair guy for several years, and was absolutely astounded by the crap they were selling new. I was straight up told by the manufacturers to never tell a customer the defect in their machine is common, or that I have seen this before etc. Only once did I see a manufacturer stand up and take care of the customer with their fridge. That was a Frigidaire, and soon after this they changed from replacing the fridge to a halfass bandaid solution. NEVER buy a samsung appliance. They are good at electronics, terrible at appliances.
What did you have to do to become a repair guy? How do you get access to repair manuals and software used to diagnose faulty equipment? Can anyone get access to this information without doing a deal with the devil and signing your life away. If the manufactures are telling you to keep hush on keeping the customer in the dark, they must have some kind of agreements with you.
LG fridges suck. Love their phones. I have Samsung phones, TVs, and Tablets. Everything works great. But when I got sick of Defrosting my Frostless LG. I didn't go near a Samsung.
I have been a mechanic type my whole life. Did some tech school, and got hired at an appliance center. One of those small town mom and pop type. They have relationships with the manufacturers to get access to technical info and warantee support. Mostly this sort of info is forbidden for the general public because the manufacturers still think the public are clueless about how crappy the products are.@@thirtythree160
@@robertbelluchi1151 Indeed. The ice maker in my Samsung fridge started icing up every week just short of a year after I bought it. By the time I called them after manually defrosting it once a week for a few weeks, they said it was now out of warranty so I would have to pay to repair it. The contractor they sent out said it was a known defect and Samsung WOULD be paying for it. I never got a bill, but just shy of a year later, it started doing it again. I've had a similar experience with Samsung washer and dryers. I finally decided to spring for a Speed Queen dryer when it broke again, and will be getting their washer soon too. Much happier now.
@@thirtythree160 The manufacturer often hires repair guys to go fix things under warranty, or even if not under warranty, when they get called by the customer, they call the repair guy to go out and do the repair but charge the customer. If you want to get those calls, you have to make nice with the manufacturer.
Nailed it! Same with LG. Was an appliance guy for 15 years. I would always let the customer know whether they had a quality product and whether it was better to repair or replace. Some of those two belt Maytag washers are still going because I would let the customer know they are worth keeping.
You're right about the quality issues I've got a 30 year old Lennox package gas unit that was installed 30 years ago, it's not efficient but still works fine, but if you buy a new one today it might last 10 years.
Steve, The Westinghouse refrigerator in my recroom was made 2/5/48. It is still the best fridge I own and still works as good as the day it was made. It has only been moved out of the spot it sits in 3 times since it was delivered in 1948. My Grandmother and Grandfather bought it brand new. They don't make anything like they used too. If they did you wouldn't have to replace them.
My brother was using a GE refrigerator made around 1940 until it failed about 3 years ago. Our mother bought it at a household auction in the 1960's.
A few years ago I bought a toaster made in the 1940s on ebay because not only is it reliable, it makes toast better than 99% of the toasters currently on the market. The other 1% cost hundreds of dollars and I somehow doubt they'll be working 80 years from now.
You are destroying the planet using that refrigerator. You should buy a new one every 3 years it's way greener
My theory is that to get Energy Star ratings they are now using compressors powered buy smaller, low amp high volt (rpm) motors that run a shorter duty cycle but at much higher speeds. think tortoise V hare. Add to that a bunch of features (complexity) that do nothing to help the food stay cold. You use less energy to run the fridge but have to buy it more often, the manufacturer uses the energy saved to make more fridges that you have to buy! No net energy saved, maybe even a net loss, more money vacuumed out of your pocket and into corporate America's pocket. Don't forget the extra sales tax that goes to the state!
@@user-ng3jx1fk2u I have worked union jobs my whole life. I think the biggest problem is the companies want the engineers to make the parts only last for so long. Like 1 to 6 months after the warranty is up so you will have to buy a new one. Not to mention they are only required to make parts available for 10 years so at that point you have to replace it after it fails, no parts to fix it.
We had similar experiences with an LG refrigerator. What an absolute and infuriating ordeal! At one point, I surmised that the repairman was being deliberately inefficient to ensure his income. Thanks to this info, I now know better. We ultimately wound up going to war with the retailer and received a full refund after four months yet wound up losing more than $1K in ruined food.
Your homeowners or ventures insurance might cover this!
As a Appliance technician, I HATE LG refrigerators. The new Linear Compressors suck. The full integrated computer boards that have ALL the functions processed on them get hot, lose commands, and simply stop. And LG warranty is a waste. The only one time I saw the LG warranty addressed properly, it was a one week old high end LG, that stopped cooling. They had to replace the compressor and the freon, put special instructions into the computer board to keep it running, and then, after one year, it failed again. And no more warranty coverage. Customer tossed it, purchased a nice Whirlpool. No issues in one year so far. Even box stores (HD, Lowes, etc) stopped selling LG, Samsung and other imports.
I did LG warranty for their air conditioners. They didn't pay me for a whole years worth of work. The warranty and tech support for the whole of Australia's "team" at LG was a single guy. The technician is probably in the same position where he is being bled dry until he realises that LG is playing wolf warrior.
Stop buying LG and Samsung fridges and washing machines.
@@Zellio2011 "L.G." direct drive washing machines aren't so bad. Or they wheren't in 2016.
We just replaced a Kenmore Fridge, which we bought originally in 1975. Worked great, only needed two starter kits (capacitor and relay) and one freezer fan. I did these repairs myself because they were so simple. We got rid of it because we put it into cold garage up here, and the thermostats and warming mechanism just could not handle the colder environment. I tried putting a heater and making the light bulb inside stay on, but this was ineffective, and caused the freezer temperatures to go haywire. We diagnosed the real problem (finally), that the compressor oil was so old and degraded, that it dragged the motor down, to the point where if the refrigerator ran well, it drew enough current to kick out the GFI, probably due to leakage from the windings, as well as excessive current draw. Once the breakers started to kick out we decided to trash it. I wish we could buy another one which might have the same life.
My new LG french style door purchased 4 years ago started frosting up in year two, then would not get cold. The repair guy came replaced the linear compressor said "this is a known problem", now going into year 4, the LG is starting to frost up again... Side bar, I have a Montgomery Ward refrigerator we keep in the garage that was purchased back in 1984, aside from my daughter bumping into it with the truck, it still works like a champ.
We still have a GE refrigerator my grandmother bought in 1923. It still works. For 100 years Never broke down. Oh I did replace the electrical plug to fit the 3 wire system.
Natural gas type I bet
Them Ice Boxes were made to last!
Mine from the 70's lasted about 30 years before the compressor died. I replaced it with another GE. The place was eventually sold.
The difference is the energy cost. You could replace that thing with something more current and still save money. Just don't buy the big name brands crap and nothing with smart in the name.
Impressive, 4 years before GE made their first refrigerator and 7-9 years older than the ‘world’s oldest working refrigerator’. Got yourself something amazing there…. 🙄
When my wife and I got married in 1985, my parents bought us an Amana refrigerator and we got a scratch & dent (remember those?) Maytag Washer & Dryer. All are still going strong. So far I've replaced 3 belts on the dryer and the door gasket on the fridge + new ice maker after 30 years but they all still work just fine.
A few years ago, one of the manufacturers put in a second water level sensor in their top load washers because of a mandate that they use less water per load. The second sensor was used to curtail the amount of water added in the ‘rinse’ cycle to comply with the mandate. It would have been a simple matter to tweak the sensor to add more water on the rinse cycle, but getting caught doing it was a $10,000 fine. So when I got a call for a washer leaking ‘from the top’ instead of th usual ‘leaking from the bottom’, it was a bit of a conundrum. It turns out that with so low a volume of water in the rinse cycle, the water splashed upward right past the lid. Th other complaint was that the clothes came out soapy. I explained the entire situation to one nice older lady, and that it was to save water. She replied that she understood and that she would just run her clothes through a second full cycle without detergent. So much for saving water!
I bought a fridgedare fancy freezer on the bottom, French doors ice and water in 2016. It stopped working last year and I was told the more options you get the more problems you can expect. I bought a side by side Maytag so fingers crossed.. I got one w/o all the features this time
As a commercial laundry equipment technician, I appreciate your technical abilities. Kenmore never manufactured anything. They rebranded others' equipment.
I went to buy a refrigerator approx 3 years ago. Checked all the big box stores. What astounded me was when you looked at the customer reviews and ratings. Even on the best, expensive refrigerators, they were getting very low scores. Instead of spending big money, I bought an inexpensive one. (around $600) So far, so good.
Is it "smart"?
I was helping my parents pick a new fridge and I was shocked at the reviews too! They didn't want one of the really basic ones so we managed to find something mid tier that seemed about as good as we could, but it's so annoying. I don't want Bluetooth, I want a decent compressor!
EPA efficiency and water use mandates. The manufacturers are stuck in the middle.
Same here. I have never bothered even getting an ice maker. I do not know anyone with an ice maker that hasn’t had issues.
a refrigerator should just keep your food cold and thats it. The cheap apartment sized fridge is all anyone needs@@SteamCrane
Per my experience with a major appliance manufacturer in the 1970s, the anticipated lifespan of a refrigerator was 7 years. However, a Samsung side-by-side I bought from Lowe's in 2011 is still going strong -- in the garage no less. (It had a major control board replaced under warranty shortly after purchase.)
My husband and I try to diagnose and repair our automobiles and appliances using UA-cam videos. We just replaced the circuit board and igniter on the furnace this season ($127), the actuator vent switch on our son’s car ($24), the rubber seal on the front loader washing machine (gorilla tape), and the fan on the dryer ($25). We like to keep things running if we can. As for the Frigidaire fridge, we could never keep it running. Gave in and bought a Whirlpool a couple of years ago and have problems already with this one too, not to mention how cheap the drawers and shelves are.
When I came out of school and started to live on my own, I bought a second hand washing machine, that was in 1993. It was a basic but good washing machine. After several years it suddenly stopped working even though I heard the clicks in the clock, the water pump and i hear the general motor. After i removed the screws from the back plate, i noticed that the large sprocket wheel had broken and I replaced it myself the next day. That same washing machine is still working today. That is over 31 years!
Greetings from the Caribbean 🇸🇽
That's the way we used to do it. The obsolescence that's built in begins with the chip board followed by Made In China.
@@taroman7100 Good, that means that Chinese chips will hopefully fail in their military equipment.
The fridge in my garage is the first one my wife and I purchased circa 1990. still works, not pretty but is consistently out-performing the one that came with my current house I bought at the 2006 market peak.
That's because Caribbean people still know how to fix things. Americans not
I am absolutely bummed out my mini fridge croaked on me a few weeks ago. I got it out of my neighbors garage and the sticker on the back said it was manufactured in 1971. That's one hell of a fridge to stay working for 53 years, I wonder what kind of food it saw... And what kinds of beer lol.
It probably isn't hard to fix. Look it up before tossing. Whirlpool still makes parts for lots of brands.
I’ve had to replace my freezer last year, my son had to replace his refrigerator too. My brother also started have trouble with his refrigerator all about the same time in 2023. We both had to go out and purchase a new freezer and refrigerator.
I have a Whirlpool fridge that came with my condo - manufactured in 2003. It worked fine until a few months ago when the compressor wasn't starting. I bought a $13 motor start capacitor from Amazon and fixed it right up. It also had an occasional issue with the condensate tube freezing up and flooding the fridge, but the manufacturer owned up to the defect and sent me a little loop of wire to stick down there that keeps it warm. No problems since.
I considered buying a new fridge at some point because the new ones with the bottom freezer are practical, but honestly the difference in energy use would require 60 years (I did the math) to recoup the cost over keeping my old one, and I know my old one works, and it's so simple I can probably repair it unless the compressor goes. I'd fix that, too, but I lack the tools and the refrigerant isn't easily available anymore. After hearing these horror stories about new fridges over the past few years, I think I'll run my current one into the ground. Less junk in the landfill, too.
I had an LG dishwasher that I refused to let die. I'd replaced the water level sensor, sump grinder, and the button circuit board (my fault, spilled vinegar on it, don't ask). Eventually what killed it was a little 'wax motor' that opened and closed a vent inside the door. The replacement part is $30 but discontinued years ago (only a 10 yr old appliance). Some enterprising jokers were selling used versions for $100 on eBay. I threw in the towel and bought a new machine last year (not LG) and I'm hoping it lasts.
I'm not a person who mistrusts all the complexity in new appliances. I'm a tech worker, electronics hobbyist, ham radio operator, and all around homeowner/handy person. What I do take issue with is the race to the bottom for the bill of materials to build things, the questionable labor put into assembly, and the planned obsolescence baked into these things.
Luckily my other major appliances are doing OK. The range is starting to eat another set of controls due to the arcing on the contacts, so I may get fed up with that and replace it, but I think the next time I'm going to spend a little more and do a bit more research because while I'm usually able to fix these things, my time is valuable and I don't always want to tinker with a washing machine after a long day at work.
Maybe you should write a book.
LG dishwashers and fridges suck. Strangely however their washers and dryers are top notch in quality and performance.