2021, home, Technology, Uncategorized

New Appliances

70 Comments

Husband and I have been fortunate in the longevity of our appliances. Until this summer, everything seemed to be fine. Then, the 15 year old washing machine began to make a very loud noise during the spin cycle. By loud, I mean that conversations could not be held until the spin cycle was completed. (Our laundry area is on the main floor of our house.) It sounded as though a B52 was coming in for a landing. The repair guy told us that our repairs would cost $500 to replace the bearing in the drum. A new washer would cost about $900.

We will buy a new washer this weekend. It is time. I wonder, though, how many more washers I will have in my lifetime. The only one I am interested in is connected to Bluetooth. Whatever for? That is strange!

How have your appliances held up? What have you had the best and worst luck with? Any good repair stories? When have you lost your bearings?

70 thoughts on “New Appliances”

  1. In Robbinsdale, we stayed with non-computerized washer for as long as we could – even bought a “pre-owned” washer from a used appliance place, which lasted us a good long time. Then bought a front-loader from an acquaintance. Arrived here in this Winona house to find a stacker washer/dryer, which is also a “manual” rather than computers..

    Not exactly an appliance, but we did have a plumber out yesterday to replace bathroom faucet. No drips, no squeaks, a steady stream of water, and SHINY.

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  2. we have home service plus and it’s worth it’s weight in gold
    the repairs are covered on furnace air conditioner washer dryer refrigerator freezer garbage disposal water conditioner backyard bbq and other stuff like the humidifier attached to the furnace
    it fixes everything that a part can be found for
    if your appliance company stops offering the part from the factory they will still find it out there in someone’s back room for you
    i think it’s $50 to cover everything and they come pretty quick and repair guys know their stuff
    glad i don’t live in north dakota

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    2. I am also a home service plus devotee. I’m guessing I’m one of their loss leaders. They’ve been out SO many times over the decades. I feel like I should knock on wood before I say this… when I moved into my house (30 years ago) I purchased new washer, dryer, fridge and dishwasher. Have had to replace the fridge a few years ago. I also had to replace the stove a few years back, but I don’t know how old it was when I moved in.

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  3. We bought a fridge shortly after we got married in 1990. We replaced it in 2018, just because we figured it was on borrowed time. New fridge has had 3 repair calls already… nothing serious, just quirks.
    Washer and dryer were from 1991. Replaced in 2015 again, just because.
    We had a chest freezer that was in the garage as I was growing up. I found a note that my great aunt bought it in 1954. Sometime in the mid ’90’s, it finally died and we got a new one and had it put down in the basement. That old one, the guys had to cut it in half to get it in the truck; it was too heavy to handle in one piece.

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  4. Appliances are the poster child for “they don’t make ’em like they used to.” Our first-generation appliances (purchased in the late 70s and early 80s) were reliable and lasted for decades. Forced to buy new because repair costs were prohibitive–or the parts for the old machines were no longer availabe–we’ve gone through two refrigerators, two dishwashers a stove, two lawnmowers, and two propane grills in the past 20 years.

    Just give me an appliance that does the basics really well, and will last for 20-30 years. I don’t need no stinkin’ Bluetooth connection!

    Chris in Owatonna (back from hiatus–a two-week road trip to AZ and back)

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  5. The saga of our stove repair is ongoing. Twice they called and told us they had found a source for the missing part and it was on its way, and twice they called and told us that, oops, the part was out of stock. We have no idea when we’ll be able to use the oven. Meanwhile, I found a brand new tabletop convection oven on the internet, a wedding present that they didn’t need, for $150.00. It works just fine for roasting vegetables and whatever else I use the oven for, but is too small for husband’s baking. Tee-hee, no flour mess to clean up for the time being.

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  6. I tend to lose my bearings when my inner and middle ears are plugged, since I then have vertigo. I don’t know which is worse for me-being dizzy or putting up with the side effects of the prednisone I am invariably prescribed. I get goofy on prednisone. I tend to tell too many jokes and have problems sleeping.

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      3. Renee, I started reading the comments from the bottom up, and thought your one about besrings was going to be a pun jn someone’s repair saga.
        And now I’ve messed up my chance of making a similar pun myself.

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  7. I’ve lost track of the appliances we’ve had in 29 years and seven moves.
    We were short of freezer space around when Isaac was born, and John saw two upright freezers at a car boot sale, which are popular in England now. They were far from new, but worked well, and are still plodding on, though they frost up rapidly now and probably use a fortune in electricity. We were talking about replacing them, but can always use the money elsewhere. And the single, upright, full height model we’d replace it with would entail going back to yesterday’s blog about changes. I worked hard arranging things the way they are.

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  9. OT: I said yesterday that I’m good at sleeping. I’ve mentioned earlier about falling asleep in the middle of comments. I’ve suddenly seen the connection between those two facts. Last night, alert, I was typing an answer to Barbara about Angus. Next thing, it was six fifteen am, the phone was beside me, pretty much mid comment, and cats were running over my face (they possibly had been all night.)
    Barbara, yes. Angus, now preferring to be known as Angelina, is my older brother. My sister Jane, the only sibling he’s interested in, tells me he is transvestite, not transexual. For the record, yes he’s embarrassed me with his terrible singing, and other things, for over fifty years. He doesn’t embarrass me by cross dressing, and in fact I think back to various things, and maybe have a little insight now.
    I’m next, Neil, my best friend who doesn’t answer my messages, is third. He’s now the South West Co-ordinator for the Green Party. His son Robbie will be be running for Parliament next election, last I heard. Then it’s Jane, who appeared briefly on the blog. She’s an amateur poet, and astonished me when I finally read some of her stuff. Chris is youngest at 64, she’s finally started selling paintings after a lifetime of wishing. Maybe she’ll be famous in time for retirement from care work. I wouldn’t know, but I believe she’s very talented at that painting lark.
    I’m a farm boy.

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  10. Our washer and dryer were here in the house when we moved in 16 years ago. I’ve fixed the washer a couple of times when parts failed—the spin cycle clutch and a similar part in the agitator. Both were nylon and designed to fail rather than overload the motor. In my case the motor hadn’t been overloaded but the nylon just got fatigued. The repair is so common that the parts place keeps the replacement parts near the counter. Washing machines don’t need to be that complex and I think the complexity and frivolous features are just a way to justify the exorbitant price.

    We don’t presently have a dishwasher but when we did, those seemed to have an especially limited life. I’ve had to replace a couple—not difficult, especially if the connections are already in place

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    1. When we bought our Maytag refrigerator, I’m guessing about twelve years ago, the compressor quit two weeks before the two year warranty ran out. The repairman, the same dude who is supposedly working on getting our stove fixed, informed us that we were lucky. The warranty on Maytag refrigerators, in the interim between when we bought ours and the compressor quit, had been shortened to one year. So ours was covered, but the new one installed would only be under warranty for one year. Ten years later, it’s still running; knock on wood.

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  12. Been lucky all our lives with appliances. Not other things, but appliances. Had some go for years. Bought a refrigerator years ago with damage on the side nobody would see. Can only go one place in that kitchen. Got a large deduction. It went for 29 years without repair when we left it for couple who bought the office. After that I do not know.same with built in double oven and dishwasher. Built in cooktop went 15 years. Could have been fixed but Sandy wanted glass top. We have had great luck with glass tops. All but dishwasher have been replaced in our apartment. They all went 16-17 years. All replaced with better models, especially stacked washer/dryer with is close to full size unlike older one. All of them are rather basic, no WiFi connections. All are made for rental places.
    OT a favorite former student and classmate of daughter has a new book out, co-edited with a friend. Articles by other authors of what is learned from sci-fi writing, emphasis on military and strategy, because he is a graduate of West Point and teaches military history and strategy. He added a nice note in front thanking Sandy for her children’s library methods and to me for teaching him for parts of 6 years.

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  13. Hello friends! It’s so nice to get back to Baboon chatter. My life has been entirely too dramatic lately. I died on Friday, but I assure you I’m much better now.

    Renee has been sitting on a post I wrote last week, kindly deferring to my sense I should be functional and on the computer when the piece runs. Which I assume will be tomorrow or Friday. As the piece mentions a hunting and fishing partner, it might distress poor Fenton, but Fenton is a forgiving person who does well at accepting me for who I am.

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    4. Steve-my old friends Graham and Lynn, whose farm I lived on for twelve years, twelve often infuriating years for them, no doubt: Graham, at thirteen, became the master of a beagle pack, which existed for the purpose of spending Saturdays chasing hares about the place. He was, surprise, surprise, the youngest master of hounds in the country. His father, Frank Heal, was at that time master of the Torrington Farmers’ Hunt, and was nationally known in hunt circles. The beagle enthusiasts would run on foot, a small, devoted bunch. Normal hunting, as Frank practiced, was done on horseback, which Graham eventually decided would be easier. Frank died, and the Morrish brothers took on the Torrington Farmers’, which was based at Stevenstone. A few years later, Graham disbanded the beagle pack (I assume no one else would take it on), and was appointed Master of the Stevenstone Hunt, which was based at Torrington. Are you still with me?
      Both these outfits rode horses and chased foxes. We actually lived in Torrington Farmers’ territory, so Graham had to travel to his new job.
      My rambling point being:this was Graham’s life. When he wasn’t doing that, he was busy at home running a successful stud farm, with people coming from far and wide with mares they wanted to breed from. Some of them people who were wrapped up in the whole mystique of doing horrible things to animals. Those kind of people seemed to be around the place all the time. I could have stayed away. But I liked Graham and Lynn, and still do. Graham would pretty much give you anything, and Lynn would try to stop him. They are what they are. I love them.

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      1. I had a grad school friend from St John’s, Newfoundland, who had a foxhound named Bruce. She was always annoyed when people referred to him as a beagle.

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        3. The sad part, PJ, was the witness. My daughter was there observing everything when I was going down, and I really regretted that. The good part was experiencing death and, in so doing, getting a sense that a dying person is often in shock or is otherwise disassociated from the death itself. I observed things almost as if they were happening to someone else.

          I should explain a bit. I entered the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. There were about seven or eight doctors in the room. I came in a real mess with hypothermia so bad a shook all over. I wasn’t breathing well. The doctors needed to prep me for treatment, so they began removing clothing. I kept telling them, ” I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” Somehow, they didn’t hear me, possibly because they were all talking at once. When they began lowering me into a bed, I tried to tell them I was getting no oxygen. They went on fussing with my clothes and the bed. I remembering find breath to say, “You aren’t hearing me! I can’t breathe!” Then I passed out. Poor Molly thought that was “it” forever.

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        5. I’m back home, smiling big as I catch up on email and all that, drinking apple cider from this year’s pressing.

          I’ve been suffering from COVID and an old body, with oxygen intake falling below where we want it. So . . . “heart” is not quite the issue.

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        6. In the immortal words of Joe Gideon to the menu lady, from the movie ‘All That Jazz’, “Friday I plan to be dead so, I’ll just have something lite.”

          We Missed You Steve! Glad you were only a little bit dead.

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        9. I can’t imagine how Molly felt. But she should have known you weren’t going to just leave without analysing the whole thing.

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  15. My 17 year old top loading washer died a few months ago. Because it is no longer manufactured, there were no parts for it. So I bit the bullet and replaced both the washer and dryer with an LG laundry tower (on sale so I saved a bundle). I love it since it creates more space in my tiny laundry room, uses less detergent and water, and it very quiet. There is no WiFi capability (thankfully) and both washer and dryer play a little tune when done. In the 30+ years I have lived here, I have replaced the stove once, the dishwasher twice, the water heater twice, the refrigerator twice, the furnace once, the A/C twice (ouch!), and the laundry appliances twice. I should be good for awhile.

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  16. Brakes aren’t necessarily appliances, but this morning I noticed on the drive to work the my brake pedal was “mushy”, and I had to push the pedal twice as far down for the brakes to engage. That was alarming. The van is at the dealership right now.

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    2. Just found out that the brake fluid was low because the brake pads are really worn down, an after 140,000 Mike’s need to be replaced. Worn down brake pads use up more brake fluid to work.

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      1. Mike’s is really hard on brake pads. Glad you were close to home when it happened, shouldn’t be that hard or expensive to fix.

        Meanwhile, I’m sitting here with smoke coming out my ears. Channel 11, my Jeopardy! channel, has upgraded something or other that requires viewers to rescan their TVs or remotes or something. Couldn’t watch today’s episode, so I don’t know if Jonathan won again or if he was dispatch by some challenger. Aaaargh!

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        4. Is it allergies that are causing it, Renee? You have my sympathies, whatever the cause. I really do love you, hope you know that. And yes, putting it kindly, I can be a smartypants, I admit it and own it. Hope Sudafed does the trick.

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  17. Most of my appliances have hung in there a longtime, especially the dryer that I bought in about 1986. The door is a little off kilter, but it still runs. It moved with me from my last place. I think I bought it from Sears… it certainly was a good investment. Another relic I still have was the first microwave oven I ever bought, a Samsung. I got it from a sale at an office in the building where I was working in the 80’s. I replaced some part it in maybe ten years later. It has always worked well for me ever since.

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  18. We have pretty good luck with appliances, but prior to re-doing the kitchen last winter, our kitchen appliances were giving up on us,which was part of the reason we had it re-modeled. Most of those appliances were about 20 years old. First the dishwasher died, then the stove, then the microwave. I was satisfied with the length of their lives. MOst of them were Kenmore appliances. Sears has since closed, but we found that a place called American Freight now sells Kenmore.

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    1. When we moved into the townhouse we had before our house where I now live, I tried out the dryer that was there when we bought it. It caught on fire. We replaced that. That did not take much thought.

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  19. Update on our stove. Got a phone call this afternoon from Chris the repair man, poor guy. He offered that they’d come and take our stove out of here, and replace it ,while they’re waiting for the needed part, with a used stove with a working oven – free of charge. Then when the needed part arrives, fix the old stove and return it, and switch out the two stoves. Now that seems like a lot of trouble to me, and since the convection oven is working just fine at the moment, I think we’ll wait and see. He told me if I change my mind, to call him, and they’ll do the switch. I was pleased that they finally seem to realize it might be a good idea to communicate somehow, that they’re not shrugging their shoulders and saying “tough luck, lady.”

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