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(The Register)   Your "smart" appliance should last for at least a few years - but what if the manufacturer ends support after only a couple?   (theregister.com) divider line
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    More: Dumbass, Consumer protection, Computer software, Home appliances, Risk, WASH, Washing machine, Application software, smart devices  
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343 clicks; posted to Discussion » on 16 Jan 2023 at 11:35 AM (9 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



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View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
spongeboob [TotalFark]
2023-01-16 10:54:02 AM  
My Smart TV Hissense randomly shuts down when watching YouTube seems like it is mostly to do with the ads
Sometimes requires me to unplug the TV as the remote and power button won't work.

Also when my mother-in-law lost the remote I tried to buy a new remote from Hissense but they didn't sell them, okay sucks that I can't use most of the features but I'll just get a universal remote. Asked Hissense for their remote code, they refused to give it to me. Eventually got a bunch of possibly remote codes from Dish and found one that worked for a few things like power, volume and channel changing


Eventually found the remote, but not buying another Hissense TV ever
Excuse not buying anything from Hissense no matter how good the price is
 
enry [TotalFark]
2023-01-16 11:16:25 AM  
Manufacturers should release specs and source code for items they no longer support.  There's a lot of 40-50+ year old equipment that can be brought back to life because schematics were included.
 
tom baker's scarf
2023-01-16 11:54:20 AM  

enry: Manufacturers should release specs and source code for items they no longer support.  There's a lot of 40-50+ year old equipment that can be brought back to life because schematics were included.


we're looking to replace our washer and dryer and have found someone who buys, rehabs and sells stuff from the 80s -->early 2000s. no smart cycles, no digital displays and much more rugged builds.  i'm really looking forward to a dryer that will go more than 18 months w/o burning out it's heating element.
 
desertfool [TotalFark]
2023-01-16 11:56:07 AM  
If they shut down the servers online you should not have a bricked oven/fridge/washer etc. But you really could. Internet down? Sorry, can't cook dinner.

When we built our new home a little over 2 years ago I insisted on no 'smart' appliances or home automation. They were shocked that I didn't want a 'smart' thermostat.
 
optikeye [TotalFark]
2023-01-16 12:06:12 PM  
enry: Manufacturers should release specs and source code for items they no longer support.  There's a lot of 40-50+ year old equipment that can be brought back to life because schematics were included.

HAHAHAHA.JPG
 
cryinoutloud [BareFark]
2023-01-16 12:11:57 PM  
I don't talk to people who are stupider than their appliances.
 
northernmanor
2023-01-16 12:13:51 PM  
FTA: "a household appliance should have a useful lifetime of 5-10 years"

And once again, why? Why 5-10 years as opposed to 20-40 years, or more? There are plenty of 'harvest gold' refers and ranges from the 70s that are still around and operating quite well. How did you get so bad at what you do??
 
optikeye [TotalFark]
2023-01-16 12:16:49 PM  

tom baker's scarf: enry: Manufacturers should release specs and source code for items they no longer support.  There's a lot of 40-50+ year old equipment that can be brought back to life because schematics were included.

we're looking to replace our washer and dryer and have found someone who buys, rehabs and sells stuff from the 80s -->early 2000s. no smart cycles, no digital displays and much more rugged builds.  i'm really looking forward to a dryer that will go more than 18 months w/o burning out it's heating element.


Or want faint every time Thor farts a lighting bolt.
We HAD to replace washer with digital panel as the one from the 70's that came with the house, was on it's second motor....and the timer/control was farking up...but worse, it leak. And as you get older, getting leaky isn't good.


Tho we got super surge protector for washer/dryers/window acs/ fridge.
They detect a surge problem that happens in waves.... like blink, on, blink off, blink on 50 percent.
And create a 'time out' until it feeds power to device when the grid is having hiccoughs
 
Carter Pewterschmidt [TotalFark]
2023-01-16 12:44:15 PM  

desertfool: When we built our new home a little over 2 years ago I insisted on no 'smart' appliances or home automation. They were shocked that I didn't want a 'smart' thermostat.


My thermostat and central heating system is a basic dumb system, but I have individual thermostatic valves on each radiator that I control with my smartphone. But they are Bluetooth, no internet connection, no central server, nothing. Just smartphone direct to the radiator, allowing me to set temperatures and schedules for each room.
I have a Sensibo controller for a split unit AC which does use the internet, and their server, so that could stop working at any time, but the AC unit itself would still work.
 
Carter Pewterschmidt [TotalFark]
2023-01-16 12:47:26 PM  

northernmanor: FTA: "a household appliance should have a useful lifetime of 5-10 years"

And once again, why? Why 5-10 years as opposed to 20-40 years, or more? There are plenty of 'harvest gold' refers and ranges from the 70s that are still around and operating quite well. How did you get so bad at what you do??


My original Miele washing machine lasted twenty three years before it had a single problem. Replaced it and the new Miele is now nearly a decade old and still as good as new. I had a Bosch dishwasher that lasted over twenty years, and replaced it with a Miele when it finally broke.
 
LineNoise [OhFark]
2023-01-16 12:56:07 PM  

desertfool: When we built our new home a little over 2 years ago I insisted on no 'smart' appliances or home automation. They were shocked that I didn't want a 'smart' thermostat.


Thats just silly.

I did smart thermostats\vents in our house. The energy saving is huge because it can adjust to zones that are essentially just a single room, based on schedules or who it detects in the house. It can also drop\lower the temp in the most efficient way.

Like, literally cut my electric\NG bill in half and notice no difference in comfort, if anything its nicer because I can have the bedrooms cooler than the rest of the house, etc.

Short of doing minsplits and heat pumps in every room, those thermostats are the greatest thing ever if you are trying to be green and save some scratch.

Plus they are like a hundred bucks for a new one (actually my utility gave me the thermostats for free, and no, they don't control them or pull data, and the vents were pretty inexpensive), who cares if it only lasts me 5 years or is supported for that long.
 
LineNoise [OhFark]
2023-01-16 12:59:49 PM  

Carter Pewterschmidt: northernmanor: FTA: "a household appliance should have a useful lifetime of 5-10 years"

And once again, why? Why 5-10 years as opposed to 20-40 years, or more? There are plenty of 'harvest gold' refers and ranges from the 70s that are still around and operating quite well. How did you get so bad at what you do??

My original Miele washing machine lasted twenty three years before it had a single problem. Replaced it and the new Miele is now nearly a decade old and still as good as new. I had a Bosch dishwasher that lasted over twenty years, and replaced it with a Miele when it finally broke.


The big difference between older stuff and newer stuff is the newer ones use far less water and energy. Like, comical amounts less, and newer phosphate free detergent relies on that concept.

But sure, shiat all over the world so you can get an extra 5 years out of an appliance.

Not to mention the better cycles will let your clothes last longer, or wash stuff that you shouldn't just throw in a simple 3 cycle dumb washer.
 
LineNoise [OhFark]
2023-01-16 1:02:39 PM  

northernmanor: There are plenty of 'harvest gold' refers


My 20 or so year old "beer fridge" in the basement, used 5x the electricity that our newish one in the kitchen uses, despite being opened maybe once every few days, and usually fully stocked. The seals on it are all good too. It was just that inefficient.

The ROI to replace it with something newer of similar capabilities was less than 2 years.
 
northernmanor
2023-01-16 1:24:12 PM  
LineNoise:But sure, shiat all over the world so you can get an extra 5 years out of an appliance.

It's almost as if you're suggesting that replacing a major appliance every 5 years is more cost effective AND more environmentally friendly than replacing a single unit after 30 years or more of service.

The 30 year old appliance may be less energy efficient but it doesn't leave 6 useless large [expensive] appliances in the landfill.
 
Slypork
2023-01-16 1:38:13 PM  
A scarier thought is what if you get an implantable medical device like a defibrillator or cochlear implant and the company goes out of business.
 
LineNoise [OhFark]
2023-01-16 2:07:23 PM  

northernmanor: LineNoise:But sure, shiat all over the world so you can get an extra 5 years out of an appliance.

It's almost as if you're suggesting that replacing a major appliance every 5 years is more cost effective AND more environmentally friendly than replacing a single unit after 30 years or more of service.

The 30 year old appliance may be less energy efficient but it doesn't leave 6 useless large [expensive] appliances in the landfill.


It depends on the appliance honesty, yeah 5 years is a bit short, but it isn't like if you throw out a refrigerator the whole thing ends up in a landfill, Same with your e-waste if you recycle it responsibly as you should. We shouldn't needlessly pitch stuff and constantly be in an upgrade race, but at the same time my old fridge (we keep will keep it around until it dies and only plug it in for the holidays when the added space is nice) will have a much smaller environmental impact sitting in a landfill than me powering it 24/7 x 365. (not to mention added load on our generator when needed, god knows what refrigerant it uses, etc).

But when you are talking about the benefits that come with efficiency and technology over 20+ years, then yeah, there are points where you go, "well this one runs, but this one will do its job better and more environmentally friendly"

Diminishing returns and all that.

Point being there is a balance to everything.

One thing people miss is in a lot of stuff, there isn't a middle ground anymore. We bought this house about 7 years ago, and i replaced most of the appliances at that point, since i was writing checks like it was going out of style.

Like furniture, you have GOOD appliances. They will last you forever. Then you have regular appliances, which yeah, won't, may not be serviceable or worth being servicable 10 years from now.

I ended up with a mix of the two, like i couldn't buy the kitchen stuff i wanted because we knew we would remodel the kitchen (some day, shakes angry fist at pandemic) so what i REALLY wanted wouldn't work in what we had to work with.....but on other stuff i said, "This will work for our plans for the long term" and sprung for it.

Honestly the only thing that has given us issues in that time was our water heater (blew 2 of them, we have really hard water), and the only reason i haven't sprung to replace it with something tankless that is good is it requires a pretty substantial rework of our plumbing\furnace room, which is part of a bigger project, and the farking thing managed to go at the least coinvent time without warning each time.

But that is also what i get for putting in a cheap hot water heater, and then going, "well fark that, i'm taking them up on the warranty" instead of getting out  my wallet when it went the first time.
 
drjekel_mrhyde
2023-01-16 2:08:54 PM  

spongeboob: My Smart TV Hissense randomly shuts down when watching YouTube seems like it is mostly to do with the ads
Sometimes requires me to unplug the TV as the remote and power button won't work.

Also when my mother-in-law lost the remote I tried to buy a new remote from Hissense but they didn't sell them, okay sucks that I can't use most of the features but I'll just get a universal remote. Asked Hissense for their remote code, they refused to give it to me. Eventually got a bunch of possibly remote codes from Dish and found one that worked for a few things like power, volume and channel changing


Eventually found the remote, but not buying another Hissense TV ever
Excuse not buying anything from Hissense no matter how good the price is


Was it the Roku one? If so you can control it with the Roku app
 
LineNoise [OhFark]
2023-01-16 2:13:28 PM  
Comparative example.....

I bought my first tv as a big boy in the late 90s. I still remember it, it was 1k. It was my biggest purchase at the time, more expensive than any of the cars i bought before it. That's equivalent to about 1700 bucks today.

It was a decent size (want to say a 36") and a nicer TV, but by far nothing crazy compared to what is on the market. It also made the electric meter spin like Christmas Vacation, i'm pretty sure irradiated the room, it certainly heated it, and interfered with air traffic control.

A few months ago i bought a 60" to throw on the wall of my workshop downstairs so i could throw the game on or whatever while i'm working down there. I paid under 300 bucks for it. I think i have turned it on maybe a dozen times, and half of them were just me testing stuff. I could probably power the thing for a few hours on some AA batteries.

Am i going to be angry when it can't keep up with its os or app support for it drops? No, what the fark do i expect for 300 bucks, a lifetime of support? I can always just piggy back any of countless 30 dollar devices into it to take over that side of it, as its just a frigging monitor at the end of the day.
 
LineNoise [OhFark]
2023-01-16 2:18:10 PM  
I just find it amusing that on a place as fark that loves to shiat over every conservative thought, its, "Hey my environmental mess of appliances\utilities makes me a good person, and me washing my clothes by beating them against a rock with a cup full of borax has nothing to do with me being cheap and ignoring everything else because of that, so i'll biatch about it having bluetooth".

And you know what, screw you, its nice being able to get an alert on my phone\alexa when my washer is done, because i can't hear its little alarm from upstairs. Its also nice to be able to load it in the morning and then hit a button on my phone to say, "i'll be ready to empty you in an hour so my clothes don't sit in a damp mess for 6 hours" for it to start.
 
LineNoise [OhFark]
2023-01-16 2:25:58 PM  

northernmanor: LineNoise:But sure, shiat all over the world so you can get an extra 5 years out of an appliance.

It's almost as if you're suggesting that replacing a major appliance every 5 years is more cost effective AND more environmentally friendly than replacing a single unit after 30 years or more of service.

The 30 year old appliance may be less energy efficient but it doesn't leave 6 useless large [expensive] appliances in the landfill.


I'll give you another example. About a month ago when i was switching our shed from fall to winter, i put a few gas powered lawn things out on the curb with a free sign. All perfectly useable, all relatively new, but the size of our place and the tech has had me move more and more over to battery for it (a conversation for another day, i still question the green-ness of it in certain uses and hang on to some gas stuff for what really matters).

Now maybe whomever snagged them (playing how long will it last on the curb isn't as fun in a nice town with your 7 year old as it is with some drunk 20 year old roommates in the hood, but she did enjoy making the signs) will end up reselling them, but hey, that is some coin in some dudes pocket, and hopefully some crappy 20 year old 2 stroke out of service replaced with something CARB compliant and running like a top.

Just like if i get rid of my washing machine for something new and shinier, that is something that blows through multiples of its water usage hopefully replaced. There is a huge secondary market for good appliances.
 
Carter Pewterschmidt [TotalFark]
2023-01-16 2:43:00 PM  

LineNoise: Carter Pewterschmidt: northernmanor: FTA: "a household appliance should have a useful lifetime of 5-10 years"

And once again, why? Why 5-10 years as opposed to 20-40 years, or more? There are plenty of 'harvest gold' refers and ranges from the 70s that are still around and operating quite well. How did you get so bad at what you do??

My original Miele washing machine lasted twenty three years before it had a single problem. Replaced it and the new Miele is now nearly a decade old and still as good as new. I had a Bosch dishwasher that lasted over twenty years, and replaced it with a Miele when it finally broke.

The big difference between older stuff and newer stuff is the newer ones use far less water and energy. Like, comical amounts less, and newer phosphate free detergent relies on that concept.

But sure, shiat all over the world so you can get an extra 5 years out of an appliance.

Not to mention the better cycles will let your clothes last longer, or wash stuff that you shouldn't just throw in a simple 3 cycle dumb washer.


You'd have to consider the environmental cost of building a new appliance. Getting an extra five years from an appliance might work out better than throwing it away and buying a brand new slightly more efficient one.

Plus even back in the early nineties when I bought the original Miele it was already a model that used far less water and detergent. That tech originated in the UK at least with Zanussi Jetsystem in the mid eighties. The Miele had sensors that measured how much water was being absorbed by the clothes and only used what was needed. Even on a full load the water never reached the level of the glass window.
 
Carter Pewterschmidt [TotalFark]
2023-01-16 2:47:22 PM  

LineNoise: I just find it amusing that on a place as fark that loves to shiat over every conservative thought, its, "Hey my environmental mess of appliances\utilities makes me a good person, and me washing my clothes by beating them against a rock with a cup full of borax has nothing to do with me being cheap and ignoring everything else because of that, so i'll biatch about it having bluetooth".


Miele were at the time I bought them just about the most expensive machines on the market, and still are. That's why mine lasted twenty three years and was very economical on water and detergent.
 
LineNoise [OhFark]
2023-01-16 2:50:42 PM  
We aren't talking 5 years here, we are talking a decade (or several).

I wholeheartedly agree, unless you are buying your major appliances at walmart, 10 years is a reasonable expectation for it to last, and for you to be able to get common wear parts for, assuming you take correct care of and use it for the level of work it was built for.

It doesn't mean nothing is going to break on it, it doesn't mean that not every "smart" feature will work indefinitely as platforms evolve, someone finds a security hole in whatever that your dishwasher didn't intentionally use, but now closing it requires a firmware update to something that not many people bought or use, and doesn't make sense for them to put the effort into re-developing, but that isn't the case here.

With stuff like streaming, yes, i expect my TV's to no longer be able to keep up with the latest and greatest app, but, you know, they have inputs i can throw something against when that happens, and i make sure when i buy one, it has one more input than i think i need for that reason. My other devices drop support for whatever bluetooth protocol my dryer uses? well its still a dryer, probably getting old, maybe makes sense to replace for other reasons, lets consider them, if not, oh no, i'm back to where you are with your 40 year old dryer, although still better. I just don't get an alert when its done anymore.

If you guys step back and think for a second, you are almost arguing for incandescent lightbulbs.
 
LineNoise [OhFark]
2023-01-16 2:54:55 PM  

Carter Pewterschmidt: Miele were at the time I bought them just about the most expensive machines on the market, and still are. That's why mine lasted twenty three years and was very economical on water and detergent.


See my previous comment about when you spend up, you SHOULD expect that. When you buy whatever LG or the like is on sale in Best Buy that week....you get what you pay for.

At the same time not everyone can afford or be expected to buy a Viking or SubZero fridge.

Our dishwasher went last year, and what i WANTED wouldn't work in our current kitchen and just looked silly. I also want to have a dishwasher. So we bought some random whirlpool thing, that checked the boxes we really cared about, knowing it will hopefully end up on craigslist or the like in a few years.

I also don't expect it to take a ton of abuse and i'm sure some crappy plastic stuff on it will snap in the intervening years.

Again, you get what you pay for.
 
Smelly Pirate Hooker
2023-01-16 4:43:50 PM  
I bought a security cam (Wyze) a month or so ago. Just put the app on my phone. And they're already trying to upsell me on the next version.

I only paid $35 for it and hopefully it'll work well enough that even if the app stops working at some point, the thing will have done what it's supposed to. Honestly, I bought it not because I need one but because it's a well-regarded camera and it was inexpensive and I figured why not try it out as long as the cost of entry is so low? *shrug*

Otherwise, smart appliances are a crap idea. You don't need a "smart oven." You can get by just fine with a regular oven. And a regular TV and a regular whatever.

I have a "smart" TV but if you don't set it up to function that way, it doesn't. It works well enough without it.
 
ChicagoKev
2023-01-16 5:14:07 PM  
I went with Z-wave for "smart" devices because the individual devices don't have an IP address,, can't "phone home" to the parent company.   They talk to the hub, which also doesn't have to see the internet to function.

Pull the Z-wave daughterboard out of my thermostat and it... continues to work as a thermostat.   Even follows the 7-day program despite yanking out the "smart" board.

The problem isn't so much "smart" devices as it is "cloud-tethered" Internet-of-shiatty-Things devices.
 
Oreamnos
2023-01-16 5:28:41 PM  

optikeye: we got super surge protector for washer/dryers/window acs/ fridge.


Did you shop around and pick the linked example specifically? If so, what was the reason for the selection? I have about five browser shopping tabs open right now with variations on this type of device (including the one you linked).
 
kittyhas1000legs [TotalFark]
2023-01-16 9:38:32 PM  

ChicagoKev: I went with Z-wave for "smart" devices because the individual devices don't have an IP address,, can't "phone home" to the parent company.   They talk to the hub, which also doesn't have to see the internet to function.

Pull the Z-wave daughterboard out of my thermostat and it... continues to work as a thermostat.   Even follows the 7-day program despite yanking out the "smart" board.

The problem isn't so much "smart" devices as it is "cloud-tethered" Internet-of-shiatty-Things devices.


I follow the Internet of shiat to laugh at all the terrible, cloud-dependent devices and know what to avoid. I like the idea of controlling things from my phone, but I don't want my coffee maker sending thousands of messages trying to reach a server that's down, and I don't want to have to delay dinner due to a forced firmware update.
 
OlderGuy [TotalFark]
2023-01-17 9:51:12 AM  

LineNoise: northernmanor: There are plenty of 'harvest gold' refers

My 20 or so year old "beer fridge" in the basement, used 5x the electricity that our newish one in the kitchen uses, despite being opened maybe once every few days, and usually fully stocked. The seals on it are all good too. It was just that inefficient.

The ROI to replace it with something newer of similar capabilities was less than 2 years.


Moisture builds up / collects in the insulation of the refrigerator...  yearly maintenance on the refrigerator includes emptying it out, cleaning it, and leaving it off, with doors open, for a week, with a small fan inside, to circulate air..freezer side is the prime culprit, attracts the most moisture.   '96 Jenn Air S/S, looks good, works great, low runtime...  absorbed moisture is the compressor killer : works it to death..
 
OlderGuy [TotalFark]
2023-01-17 9:53:06 AM  

OlderGuy: LineNoise: northernmanor: There are plenty of 'harvest gold' refers

My 20 or so year old "beer fridge" in the basement, used 5x the electricity that our newish one in the kitchen uses, despite being opened maybe once every few days, and usually fully stocked. The seals on it are all good too. It was just that inefficient.

The ROI to replace it with something newer of similar capabilities was less than 2 years.

Moisture builds up / collects in the insulation of the refrigerator...  yearly maintenance on the refrigerator includes emptying it out, cleaning it, and leaving it off, with doors open, for a week, with a small fan inside, to circulate air..freezer side is the prime culprit, attracts the most moisture.   '96 Jenn Air S/S, looks good, works great, low runtime...  absorbed moisture is the compressor killer : works it to death..


Also, has a $20 defrost timer, not a $300 logic board that goes belly up from a power surge....
 
optikeye [TotalFark]
2023-01-17 10:26:27 AM  

Oreamnos: optikeye: we got super surge protector for washer/dryers/window acs/ fridge.

Did you shop around and pick the linked example specifically? If so, what was the reason for the selection? I have about five browser shopping tabs open right now with variations on this type of device (including the one you linked).


A little late. Basically fits in standard wall plug for 120v, tho the some or built for the stove which draws more power...but I think that's more marketing than differences in the device. (think they do build one for our basic 220v)

It  has 'slow start' built in, as a 'chill out' timer built in to stop it from turning off and on if you're getting black out for a few seconds, then power, then blackout, then power
That off/on/off/on in a few seconds is hell on compressor motors in AC's and Fridge. (well anything with a CPU or LED display that's plugged in while your power is blinking) these detect that situation and have a time out/rest period.

It's also hell on your fuse box and neighbor hood when every ac and 'fridge on the grid goes on at once.
It ignores that type of power flashes and won't return power to your appliance until there's a good 5 min or so steady stretch of full power.
 
OlderGuy [TotalFark]
2023-01-17 2:24:06 PM  

optikeye: Oreamnos: optikeye: we got super surge protector for washer/dryers/window acs/ fridge.

Did you shop around and pick the linked example specifically? If so, what was the reason for the selection? I have about five browser shopping tabs open right now with variations on this type of device (including the one you linked).

A little late. Basically fits in standard wall plug for 120v, tho the some or built for the stove which draws more power...but I think that's more marketing than differences in the device. (think they do build one for our basic 220v)

It  has 'slow start' built in, as a 'chill out' timer built in to stop it from turning off and on if you're getting black out for a few seconds, then power, then blackout, then power
That off/on/off/on in a few seconds is hell on compressor motors in AC's and Fridge. (well anything with a CPU or LED display that's plugged in while your power is blinking) these detect that situation and have a time out/rest period.

It's also hell on your fuse box and neighbor hood when every ac and 'fridge on the grid goes on at once.
It ignores that type of power flashes and won't return power to your appliance until there's a good 5 min or so steady stretch of full power.


Thermostats and outdoor unit of AC / heat pump systems have a 5 minute delay built in.. allows pressures to equalize before a restart, reducing the strain on the compressor...  SOP...  of course, the delay starts when the power is restored, so you still have HVAC systems starting at the same time.. other electrical loads are already running...
 
OlderGuy [TotalFark]
2023-01-17 2:30:39 PM  

tom baker's scarf: enry: Manufacturers should release specs and source code for items they no longer support.  There's a lot of 40-50+ year old equipment that can be brought back to life because schematics were included.

we're looking to replace our washer and dryer and have found someone who buys, rehabs and sells stuff from the 80s -->early 2000s. no smart cycles, no digital displays and much more rugged builds.  i'm really looking forward to a dryer that will go more than 18 months w/o burning out it's heating element.


Not necessarily the dryer... prime cause is blocked vents and hoses/lines blocked by lint..  Also, dryer vents should NOT have screens of any type on them.. just a flap that air flow opens... fwiw...
 
optikeye [TotalFark]
2023-01-17 2:41:55 PM  

OlderGuy: tom baker's scarf: enry: Manufacturers should release specs and source code for items they no longer support.  There's a lot of 40-50+ year old equipment that can be brought back to life because schematics were included.

we're looking to replace our washer and dryer and have found someone who buys, rehabs and sells stuff from the 80s -->early 2000s. no smart cycles, no digital displays and much more rugged builds.  i'm really looking forward to a dryer that will go more than 18 months w/o burning out it's heating element.

Not necessarily the dryer... prime cause is blocked vents and hoses/lines blocked by lint..  Also, dryer vents should NOT have screens of any type on them.. just a flap that air flow opens... fwiw...


And open up the back of the dryer. Wooo Boy. It can be a fuzzy mess.
 
OlderGuy [TotalFark]
2023-01-17 6:39:39 PM  

optikeye: OlderGuy: tom baker's scarf: enry: Manufacturers should release specs and source code for items they no longer support.  There's a lot of 40-50+ year old equipment that can be brought back to life because schematics were included.

we're looking to replace our washer and dryer and have found someone who buys, rehabs and sells stuff from the 80s -->early 2000s. no smart cycles, no digital displays and much more rugged builds.  i'm really looking forward to a dryer that will go more than 18 months w/o burning out it's heating element.

Not necessarily the dryer... prime cause is blocked vents and hoses/lines blocked by lint..  Also, dryer vents should NOT have screens of any type on them.. just a flap that air flow opens... fwiw...

And open up the back of the dryer. Wooo Boy. It can be a fuzzy mess.


Yup... time to disassemble it and get busy with a vacuum... and some compressed air.. lint will eat bearings... can kill the motor too...
 
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