Be aware that Speed Queen was forced to change the washer's water usage by . gov . right after we bought ours.
Our washer is like a 1970's Whirlpool , 30 gallons , 20 minutes and your , done and have clean clothes !
The Lifespan of Large Appliances Is Shrinking
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
Be aware that Speed Queen was forced to change the washer's water usage by . gov . right after we bought ours.
Our washer is like a 1970's Whirlpool , 30 gallons , 20 minutes and your , done and have clean clothes !
I would do whatever I needed to do to fix an old unit vs buying a new one. You might spend a couple hours replacing a $10 part and get another 15 years out of it.
I'm not sure I'd even trust the basic new units unless someone could assure me they're still built the way they used to be. The thing about electronics is they can get REALLY cheap when you're making a million of them, far cheaper than mechanical relays and timers. The "high end" models compound the issue by using poorly written code to build in all sorts of fancy "features" that would have cost a fortune doing it the old fashioned way, and then use those features to justify charging triple even though you're not getting any more quality.
I think I brought it up earlier in the thread but I'm still happy to say that my Kenmore pair is now old enough to buy cigarettes and still going strong with ZERO repairs and being moved NINE times.
My cheapness has started to take over and I am going to tear into it later. Guessing I have lost a heating element years ago and now have a bad thermal fuse or switch. Probably no more than $50 to fix.
I have rental properties where I supply the washer and dryer. In my 17 years of experience maintaining all these, it's almost always way less expensive to repair than to replace (assuming I'm doing the repair). At home, I finally replaced the wash machine when the tub rusted out at the bottom and started leaking. Buying a tub, especially with shipping, was prohibitively expensive.
100%!
The Kenmore washer that the Speed Queen replaced was made in 1971. We got it in 1987 for $25.00 at a garage sale.
At 43 years of service everything was worn out , the final straw was the pivot ball joint that support the wash drum were only supported by 0.010" at the edge of the cups , and were ready to pull through.
The least electronics the better. I stay away from LG and Samsung for those reasons. Washers, dryers and stoves are easy and cheap fixes. Dishwashers get tossed unless it’s an easy fix. Most often for me it’s a bad door seal. For under cabinet microwaves the magnetrons fail and new ones run between $80-120. I have several rentals so I’ve learned how to fix most appliances. Parts supplier is 15 min away. Most brands have common parts. The hardest part with repairing an appliance is figuring how to take them apart to work on them. Youtube is my friend. For my rentals I’ve found that buying an appliance with the simplest controls works best. I don’t supply refrigerators because the moat common non electronic problems are cause by not cleaning the cooling coils. I don’t care how clean you keep your home shit accumulates on them over time and cause oveheating.
I had the same thought. Is that an old Mercedes on the side?
Looks like a VW to me.
Insert rant {HERE} about shit code written by idiot code monkeys that never saw the inside of a CS-101 class...
Here's a little more on the upcoming HVAC refrigerant change I mentioned a few pages back. My HVAC family members are sure it's coming, and it's going to cost more right away, just like the guy in the video. My AC unit is old and I'm not sure which way to go. Should I buy the current stuff while they slowly quit making the refrigerant, or new stuff and pay the price while also having a "mildly flammable" refrigerant in my house, which I don't like. Either way, the change is happening soon.
I wouldn't worry too much about the mildly flammable stuff. The systems designed for it have the safety measures necessary to reduce the likelihood of exposing it to sparks when the concentration is appropriate to ignite (for example, R454b must be at volume concentration between 11% and 24% to ignite).
You won't be able to get R-410a equipment past January of 2025 but the production of the gas itself undergoes a gradual phase-down lasting more than a decade. It's already been cut to 90% of 2023 production and in 2036 it'll be at 15%. 12 years is within the typical lifespan so if I was buying today and planned to still live in the house by then it would have to be a really good deal to put myself into a situation where I might have to replace a serviceable system just because I can't get gas for it.
If you plan on moving out in 5 years and don't think your stuff will last that long, save your money and get the current generation, before the end of this year.
Edit: manufacturers do have another 3 years to sell the 410a equipment that they've already made by the end of this year, but that's kind of a crap shoot so I wouldn't count on that extra time to make your decision.
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I have no idea how much of the gas is use in a typical system, do you think there is enough to reach that 11% level in a 1,000 sf or 1,500 sf basements?
I'm pretty sure I'll still own the house in 10 years. I'm in this weird position where my current system is still running and not giving any issues other than a very minor leak. (I have to recharge a few pound every 2-3 years) Having said that, my AC system is from the mid '70s, so I'm well past the expected life expectancy, so I know it's coming. I'm in no hurry to rip out a working system, but I just can't decide if I should jump in and buy a 410 system which is going to be abandoned, or just take a chance and see how the new stuff works out. I assume the "new" refrigerant has been out for a while, maybe in commercial, is that a safe assumption?
It's only a few pounds, not a chance. The best odds to reach it would be inside the cabinet. I don't know exactly what residential is doing but there are a number of measures used. Some use a sensor to detect a leak and force the fan on to disperse the gas. Others depend on a maximum charge so there's just not enough there to get to the lower flammability limit. The industry has known this was coming for a long time so there's been years of R&D. It also does a decent job of self regulating because of we don't, what the gov comes up with would be worse.
Is your current setup at least 410a or is it from the R22 days? I would just let it ride, for sure if 410a. If it's 22 I'd probably change it out because it's got to cost a fortune to keep topping it off.
R22. My AC equipment was built in '76 IIRC, and I only have to top it off every 2 or 3 years. I have family "hook-up".
My cousin will recharge it at cost, which I think was around $40/lb 5 yeas ago, and my BIL does it for free. I think he's bribing me to keep my mother out of his hair. 
There's potential I could skip the 410 equipment entirely.
R22. My AC equipment was built in '76 IIRC, and I only have to top it off every 2 or 3 years. I have family "hook-up".
Wow, you weren't kidding about being old. That's a testament to the manufacturer though whoever it was, it's unlikely their current offerings will last 48 years.
R22 has been banned for manufacture or import since 2020 so it's down to supply and demand now. Cost per pound has tripled since 2021 but might as well let it ride until it becomes unaffordable to top off if you have a connection.
Not an appliance exactly, but this is exactly my point.
My 2013 model John Deere x304, which is the series you get at a Deere dealer, not at the big box stores, and is supposed to be higher quality, has an little electronic "interlock module" which executes the safety interlocks that keep me from doing things like getting off the mower without setting the parking brake, mowing in reverse (without closing the reverse-in-operation switch), or starting the engine without the brake applied.
All of these functions could have easily been done without a solid state module by wiring the seat switch, brake switch, and PTO switch in various arrangements of series and parallel, maybe add a pole to a couple of them, or add a $7 relay or two. But instead I have a heat-intolerant electronic that costs $120+ to replace and cripples the mower if it fails.
Earlier this year I replaced one because it was locking out the ignition so I had a crank-no-start. I bought the $70 off brand on Amazon which soon proved a mistake because it lasted just beyond the return window before it started doing stupid junk like running the PTO when I didn't engage the switch, so I had to pull the fuse to turn the mower deck off. Then i put the fuse back in and it wouldn't run the PTO at all. Since I couldn't mow I attached the rake and started cleaning up a big area of mulch/twigs/leaves and it started shutting off the engine every time I released the brake. Got on ebay and ordered the Deere module while I let it cool off before it would drive back up to the garage.
This was all last weekend. The new module came in and I installed yesterday and it once again functions normally.
My 2013 model John Deere x304, which is the series you get at a Deere dealer, not at the big box stores, and is supposed to be higher quality, has an little electronic "interlock module" which executes the safety interlocks that keep me from doing things like getting off the mower without setting the parking brake, mowing in reverse (without closing the reverse-in-operation switch), or starting the engine without the brake applied.
All of these functions could have easily been done without a solid state module by wiring the seat switch, brake switch, and PTO switch in various arrangements of series and parallel, maybe add a pole to a couple of them, or add a $7 relay or two. But instead I have a heat-intolerant electronic that costs $120+ to replace and cripples the mower if it fails.
Earlier this year I replaced one because it was locking out the ignition so I had a crank-no-start. I bought the $70 off brand on Amazon which soon proved a mistake because it lasted just beyond the return window before it started doing stupid junk like running the PTO when I didn't engage the switch, so I had to pull the fuse to turn the mower deck off. Then i put the fuse back in and it wouldn't run the PTO at all. Since I couldn't mow I attached the rake and started cleaning up a big area of mulch/twigs/leaves and it started shutting off the engine every time I released the brake. Got on ebay and ordered the Deere module while I let it cool off before it would drive back up to the garage.
This was all last weekend. The new module came in and I installed yesterday and it once again functions normally.
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