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  #61  
Old 10-10-2012, 02:15 PM
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Kamakiri Kamakiri is offline
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Originally Posted by mstaton View Post
I just fixed up an old late 1950's or early 1960's Imperial(Western Auto) Freezer for a friend. It was at another friends appliance repair shop waiting to go to scrap. I wanted to see if i could fix it. It is in really good shape and super clean inside. All that was wrong with it is some of the wiring to the relays went bad. All replaced and it works great. It pulls less than 4 amps. The newer freezers pull around 4 amps so why would I want that newer stuff that fails at an early age when I can have something still working 50 years later(and looks cool)?
As for front load washers, I work on those all the time, bad pumps, bad bearings, torn boots, burnt computers. gets expensive to have to replace those parts when it is 5 years old(some are overloaded and abused). A lot of customers go back to top load Whirlpool made bullet proof easy to repair washers. Parts are cheap and plentiful. DON'T EVER buy a GE front load washer!! They are Chinese junk!!!! Those GE fridges have those computer boards go bad all the time. Keeps the repair guys in business.
I actually have a GE front load washer, that I got for free from a friend. I believe it's a 2008 model, and has barely been used. As it turns out, it was under recall by GE, so I had a repairman come over and look it over before I hooked it up to replace my absolutely perfect 1991 Maytag top loader.

He told me that the lifespan of the GE unit is about 8 years, before the door seals go bad and you have a flood on your hands. Mine, fortunately, was about one of the best he'd seen, as it was used very little. I guess the worst are the LG, as they only last 5-7 years MAX.

I decided to put new belts in my Maytag, and keep it. The GE, I'm going to hook up for heavy work, such as comforters and blankets, to thereby extend its life until the GE inevitably fails.....
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  #62  
Old 10-10-2012, 03:01 PM
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Top loaders are a proven product and pretty much trouble free and easy to fix. Water doesn't mind staying in a tub with an open top, but it likes to get out of a tub turned on its side. Front loaders like to grow mold and smell, too. Plus top loaders are more versatile: you can stop cycles and turn the dial to some other point, put in a heavy soaked rug and just run the spin cycle, etc. You're not faced with a locked door. Give me a top loader with a mechanical timer and as little electronics as possible.
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  #63  
Old 10-10-2012, 05:16 PM
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I have a few random thoughts on this topic:

Dehumidifiers:
I bought an 80s model (I forget the brand) for a rental house I had. I sold the rental, and moved the dehumidifier over to the basement at my house. An opportunity came to upgrade to a new "energy star" model, so I bought it. That thing did half as good, and my electric bill went up $40! Good thing I kept the ol' 80s model...

Fridges:
At my day job, at the recycler, I see a few fridges. Most of the new ones have the coils in the side walls! If you get a slight dent in the side wall, it kinks the line, and it's dead. They are sealed with spray foam, so there's no way to fix them.

Older Plasma TVs:
My 50" 1998 Pioneer Plasma is rated at 640w I believe, heh. I never put a meter on it though. Oh well, that's one luxury I will continue to pay to run. What's cheaper, a TV that lasts, or a cheap TV that I have to buy 5 times? Plus, it keeps my TV room toasty in the winter. It sees daily action, but not crazy amounts of hours.

AC Units:
I have an ancient GoldStar unit in my garage. It has no front on it, so I don't know anything about it. I keep the fins clean, and it keeps the shop cool. No fancy thermostats, just a two big knobs, "off, cool, fan" and "low,med,high" lol. At the recycler I see many of the rolling portable AC units junked for leaks and bad exhaust motors. Those things are crazy expensive and total crap.

Light bulbs:
I do use the CFL bulbs. Only the yellow-ish ones, I hate the blue-ish ones. I don't really have common the longevity problems. I think I have had one in the house burn out in 5 years. Now, the one in the porch light burns out all the time, but I bet the cold weather kills it. I do also like the LED floodlights. I use them for my ebay picture booth, and in a billiard-style light that hangs over my workbench. Nice white light with no heat.
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  #64  
Old 10-12-2012, 07:25 AM
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Originally Posted by Reece View Post
Top loaders are a proven product and pretty much trouble free and easy to fix. Water doesn't mind staying in a tub with an open top, but it likes to get out of a tub turned on its side. Front loaders like to grow mold and smell, too. Plus top loaders are more versatile: you can stop cycles and turn the dial to some other point, put in a heavy soaked rug and just run the spin cycle, etc. You're not faced with a locked door. Give me a top loader with a mechanical timer and as little electronics as possible.
You know, years ago we lived in a townhouse and had a stacked White-Westinghouse washer & dryer. The washer was a front loader with a little round window in the rectangular door. It was a 1980 or 81 model and we never had a problem with gaskets, mold, etc. It was about 13 years old when we moved from there. So I wonder why the newer machines have these issues when the front-loader is far from a new concept.
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  #65  
Old 10-12-2012, 07:43 AM
tvtimeisfun tvtimeisfun is offline
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Because new stuff is junk that is why there are so many issues with things not enough pride in the factories and employees it is all about the money...Timothy
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  #66  
Old 10-12-2012, 11:35 AM
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My uncle had an old Westinghouse front load washer that was probably no newer than the early '60's. It finally took a dump in the early '90's and was replaced by a Roper top load model. His dryer was a GE gas model that was probably as old as the washer. The dryer was still working when he died in '94.
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  #67  
Old 10-15-2012, 09:15 AM
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Those old Westinghouse front loaders were not that great, but they were eons better than the front loaders out there, today. I worked on a bunch of the front loaders built in the 1970's... I just installed a new spin belt for a friend, and had to special order it.... and it continues to wash perfectly. I always tell my friend that owns this that at anytime, something can go wrong that can't be replaced, and this will be the end of it.

I, myself, had a pair of early 1980's Maytag machines... the last of the really good ones, that ran perfectly, until I traded them for a pair of 1969 Whirlpools.. Nice avocado paint job... actually matches the laundry room now. I replaced the top tub seal, the pump, the drive belt, and the water inlet valve when I got these machines in 2006. Working perfectly every day. They came from the condo of a little old lady that rarely even used them. I am a firm believer of recycling, and not adding to the destruction of old appliances. I've got a 1958 Fridgidare in my garage... unplugged, with the door propped open, that I know will work just fine when I move it into the new house. I run it about once a month for an hour or two, just to lubricate the refrigeration system. It runs just fine. I recently found a NOS thermostat on eGroan that will cure all the problems it had when I got it.

Last edited by holmesuser01; 10-17-2012 at 03:08 PM.
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  #68  
Old 10-16-2012, 12:26 AM
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[QUOTE=Kamakiri;3050572]I actually have a GE front load washer, that I got for free from a friend. I believe it's a 2008 model, and has barely been used. As it turns out, it was under recall by GE, so I had a repairman come over and look it over before I hooked it up to replace my absolutely perfect 1991 Maytag top loader.

I'm talking about the one in the picture. Is that the one you have? These are NOT under recall. Total crap(IMHO).
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File Type: jpg spin_prod_614804801.jpg (5.2 KB, 15 views)
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  #69  
Old 10-17-2012, 01:20 AM
Dude111 Dude111 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DavGoodlin
I can no longer remain silent about this heinous baloney.
Our classic 50's refrigerators are being slandered in a most despicable way.
First it was the compact fluorescent lamps, now its refrigerators.
Yes i know my friend.... EVERYTHING IS BEING REPLACED WITH CHEAP GARBAGE AND ITS SAD!!!!!

People are to blame for this,NOT ENOUGH TO STAND UP AND DEMAND BETTER QUALITY (Like what we used to have)
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  #70  
Old 10-17-2012, 07:32 AM
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Originally Posted by Dude111 View Post
Yes i know my friend.... EVERYTHING IS BEING REPLACED WITH CHEAP GARBAGE AND ITS SAD!!!!!

People are to blame for this,NOT ENOUGH TO STAND UP AND DEMAND BETTER QUALITY (Like what we used to have)
Problem is, people still want to pay the same now that they paid then for appliances. That old Frigidaire we had in the '50s when I was a kid would cost thousands today, and you'd still have to manually defrost it.
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  #71  
Old 10-17-2012, 07:55 AM
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Kamakiri Kamakiri is offline
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And that's exactly it. This is why some people complain that McDonalds food is crap. Well, if you want a char broiled burger served on artisan bread with a nice slice of fresh tomato, then go pay more than 99 cents. Everything is made to a price point.

The American factory worker won't go for slave labor wages, and Ed, you've nailed it.....we can't make and sell products like they once made and expect people to have the money to buy them, or even want to pay that much.

The cheapest RCA color TV you could get in 1960 was $495.00, which translates to $3707.12 in 2011 dollars. By the same token, a flat panel TV that costs say $500 now, would have cost just $66.76 in 1960 dollars! How bout them apples!

It's no wonder these things are around long past their usable lifespans. It was a capital investment.
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  #72  
Old 10-17-2012, 06:32 PM
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CoogarXR CoogarXR is offline
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Yeah, people say "they don't make them like they used to" (applied to any item). But we also don't pay like they used to. I remember my dad buying his first Mitsubishi Stereo 20" TV. It was almost $900 if I remember right, in the early 80s. $900 now will fill your wall with TV. Yeah, it will blow up (and that mitsubishi is still running today, at my mother-in-law's house, hehe).

But that's the deal. The people have spoken. Instant gratification, screw what tomorrow brings. They want it big, loud, and NOW! Oh yeah, and cheap. People don't care. I work at a recycler, I see it all day long. People dumping TVs, and saying "This one gave me 3 years, that's not too bad!"... I guess if you spent $3000 on a TV that lasts 30 years, or 10 $300 TVs that last 3 years, it all washes out, save for the hassle factor.
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  #73  
Old 10-17-2012, 10:00 PM
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Yes, this is precisely the problem. The price of bottom-of-the-line major appliances hasn't really budged in decades, along with many other goods. At the grocery store they hold the price down by making the container smaller but you can't get by with a smaller washing machine...

One of the problems I'm facing in my small business is that cash customers expect things to cost what they did 10, 20, even 30 years ago. I'd love to accomodate them but the cost of labor/overhead makes it impossible. Brutal competition (all of us in my line of work are well below capacity, and hungry) means that pricing is cutthroat, so none of us are making a decent profit. One shop has apparently decided to just maximize profits on the work they do, never mind if they lose a good percentage of the work. In the last week I've pulled in three jobs that they bid w-a-a-a-y high, and I was still able to make a decent profit in each case. One example, car needed a blower motor resistor. $25 part, my markup is about $10, takes 2 minutes to install, I didn't even charge her labor since she is a good customer. She had just come from that other shop that wanted to charge her over $300 for the same exact job, including a $100 "diagnostic charge".

Sorry, getting off topic here...
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  #74  
Old 10-18-2012, 07:24 AM
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Kamakiri wrote: The cheapest RCA color TV you could get in 1960 was $495.00, which translates to $3707.12 in 2011 dollars.

No wonder it took me forever to save up the $34.19 for my first Heathkit!
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  #75  
Old 10-18-2012, 10:25 PM
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I just saw an ad on TV, from one of the local TV/appliance dealers, advertising a 32" TV for $229. I'm sure these idiots around here will flock down there to buy one of those stellar TV's. They don't think about the fact that it will likely be in the dump in two years (or less). All they are thinking about is that they can buy a new, decent sized, TV for a low price. Heck, I remember when 19" color TV's with rotary tuners cost more than that; and, many of those sets are still going (30+ years later).
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