Since it seems impossible to win the Appliance Game

[wcd]

So after spending $800 for a dishwasher 5 years ago it started leaking. So I find the leak seems all good except when it leaked it sprayed water all over the control board! Yeah so why put it down at the bottom of the unit? Ah so it will fail one way or another.

so today we go to Lowe’s number one nothing in stock, so we check Home Depot even less, so we drive to another Lowes in a larger town they have your basic stainless steel door, plastic tub no bottle jets, or adjustable racks etc. It has the same warranty as the high dollar ones but it was $400 and some change out the door.


So is there a reason why to pay high dollar prices for something that is going to fail in the same amount of time?

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

It’s not a terribly fiscally sound reason but I’ve found it better to just buy the one my wife wants.

Buying appliances are a crap shoot. Washing machines for example, I’ve had one in particular that would not die (for a long time) and I had a fairly expensive one that cracked the drum in about 5 years.

 

[hammerd13]

I've now settled on mid to low-mid level appliances, for the most part. I like Bosch dishwashers. I've got a 100 series in white. Does the job and doesn't break the bank.

As you explained, the more expensive units don't really last any longer. I would argue that the more features you include, the more likely it is to fail. The chip shortage is also making availability horrible on the feature-rich units.

 

[Cameramonkey]

And do your research and understand how the markets work.
For example: A Trane will get you an expensive HVAC with a 10 year warranty. A Payne is made on the same assembly line using the same parts but only a 5 year warranty.

Whirlpool makes Roper appliances. Same quality, but without the fancy-dancy features. And I THINK you can buy a Roper for a bit less than a bottom of the line Whirlpool, even though the only difference is the badge.

 

[Frosty]

We bought our first brand new washer and dryer about 3 years ago, spent almost $900 for them. Obviously not top of the line but what I would assume to be a decent middle ground for what we need. Damn washer is sitting in the garage broke, won’t finish a rinse or spin cycle, and about the only thing I have left to throw at it is a motherboard to the tune of $400! We replaced it with a washer and dryer my wife found on marketplace for $150. So far, so good. Not much point in buying high end, I’d rather buy old. Our last dryer was probably close to 30 years old, my buddies grandmother had it, gave it to him, he gave it to me and it worked fine for us for over 5 years.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

We bought our first brand new washer and dryer about 3 years ago, spent almost $900 for them. Obviously not top of the line but what I would assume to be a decent middle ground for what we need. Damn washer is sitting in the garage broke, won’t finish a rinse or spin cycle, and about the only thing I have left to throw at it is a motherboard to the tune of $400! We replaced it with a washer and dryer my wife found on marketplace for $150. So far, so good. Not much point in buying high end, I’d rather buy old. Our last dryer was probably close to 30 years old, my buddies grandmother had it, gave it to him, he gave it to me and it worked fine for us for over 5 years.

Did you try googling the symptoms for that washer? I had a fairly new refrigerator a few years ago that went on the fritz and I thought it was a motherboard problem. I found a link to a guy that found a fix for it for almost $0 and about an hour of time. (Most of that was just getting the refrigerator out and the board where i could work on it).

 

[Ark]

Cheap and old seems the way to go now with these damn control boards, which I'm convinced get thrown at appliances because people are too lazy to diag the real problem.

A couple features are nice, though. My dishwasher doesn't have a macerator. I regularly have to clean filter screens and dig gunk out of jets. But, it's dumb and simple.

 

[Brandon]

Payne is a Carrier/ICP brand ;-)

We bought a fancier dishwasher, a bosch stainless steal inside because it is suppose to be quieter. It is, and worth the money to us.

Washing machines i would spend a little more on but i will buy the cheapest dryer.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

We've had a Maytag portable dishwasher since 2005 or 2006 and it's performed flawlessly.

 

[Nazgul]

We bought a new gas stove the other day and I was surprised to see many of the higher end ones had bluetooth connections!! I mean really, I understand the convenience of not getting out of a chair or starting it when not home but....

Fridge stopped working 2 tears ago after a power outage. It was only3 years old. Using my superior troubleshooting skills, found and removed the motherboard. Had a hard soldered fuse that had blown. Soldered in a couple of connectors and now it has a replaceable fuse. No probs since.

Don

 

[Bugzilla]

I have one that’s still running after 60+ years. Yours for $200!

 

[Bugzilla]

But we did get rid of our Samsung after 2 years as the washer would go out of balance if you looked at it wrong. Dryer worked fine. Replaced them with Whirlpool.

 

[cg21]

I was told by an appliance store….. longevity and reliability are not what you’re paying for with the high end appliances. He said you’re paying for the name/features/finishes. I have found that to be a true statement. I also buy my dishwashers from appliance stores and get the warranty because my water kills them, but I refuse to live without.

 

[Frosty]

Did you try googling the symptoms for that washer? I had a fairly new refrigerator a few years ago that went on the fritz and I thought it was a motherboard problem. I found a link to a guy that found a fix for it for almost $0 and about an hour of time. (Most of that was just getting the refrigerator out and the board where i could work on it).

Yeah, I’ve googled the hell out of it unfortunately, there’s not much info about the problem we’re having, however I dug into it and found the technical manual and ran the diagnostic tests and it’s either the drain pump, transmission, belt, or motherboard. I’ve verified the other components are functioning and replaced a few parts I thought were suspect, my only option at this point is to tear into the electronics looking for burns or bulges.

 

[Frosty]

I have one that’s still running after 60+ years. Yours for $200!
View attachment 251402

Tempting… very tempting…

 

[marvin02]

This YouTube channel seems pretty useful:

https://m.youtube.com/@bensappliancesandjunk

He does teardowns of some appliances so you can see how hard, or easy, they are to work on and discussed the quality of the individual components.

 

[wcd]

But we did get rid of our Samsung after 2 years as the washer would go out of balance if you looked at it wrong. Dryer worked fine. Replaced them with Whirlpool.

You may wish to look into the class action on those pos things

 

[wcd]

I was told by an appliance store….. longevity and reliability are not what you’re paying for with the high end appliances. He said you’re paying for the name/features/finishes. I have found that to be a true statement. I also buy my dishwashers from appliance stores and get the warranty because my water kills them, but I refuse to live without.

That seems to be the case. The dishwasher we purchased has stainless steel and the finish is what I would call Rock Island Grade, no big deal the dishwasher is far enough away from the other appliances that it does not stand out.

 

[Ingomike]

First and foremost the appliances are all built to the whim of government, what you need be damned. That is why they run forever to wash a load, so Californians don’t use too much water, and we suffer with awful machines while looking at water just coming out of the ground.

Didn’t need a motherboard until they had to meet government regs…

 

[firecadet613]

This is why I'm never giving up my washer and dryer from 2004...

Every now and then I need to replace the high limit on the dryer... but it takes less than 10 minutes and I keep a spare on hand...