re: So is there anything we as a society can do about appliance quality?

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Old appliances had fewer bells and whistles to go out and had less plastic to wear out.

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Less plastic, maybe, but plastic has been in use for a long time, and newer plastics are higher quality and have been developed for specific purposes. I agree that in general simpler things tend to last longer, but that is mostly canceled by the fact that manufacturing tolerances are much, much tighter than they were decades ago.

Just how many decades-old appliances do you know of that still work? And how many from the same era do you think have long since broken?


There may be a very small amount of truth to it due to the fact that some appliances were probably over-engineered due to looser manufacturing tolerances, but it is mostly explained by survivorship bias.

If the government is serious about conservation and reducing waste then these items need to be made to both last longer and be repairable. They already make rules about energy savings, how about materials savings.

My 1 year old whirlpool smart oven vents into the kitchen (which they all do now for whatever reason) and when you open the top door the steam causes the panel to go haywire for a period of time. Absurd that those features made it to consumers like that

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So is there anything we as a society can do about appliance quality?

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No.
Read up on “planned obsolescence.”

You think those companies wanna sell you a fridge or washer and dryer every 20 years?

Knee grow please.

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Just how many decades-old appliances do you know of that still work? And how many from the same era do you think have long since broken?

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My dad has a refrigerator at his shop made in the 30’s still working.

Older fridges, freezers, and washers were more dependable mostly because of no frills and simple electronics. No doubt about it.

We have a simple large capacity Estate washer and dryer (made by Whirlpool) that’s 12 years old and have never had an issue. Click knobs.

Buying a Samsung dryer was a mistake.

Lots of issues with them.

A dependable clothes dryer? a clothes line. In Louisiana, a clothes line will dry sheets faster than an inside dryer for many, many months of the year.

You're part way there in having the brains to repair your own appliances. Now buy the simplest interiors fixin's.

I repaired an electric can opener late last year. I know they are cheap, but the under the shelf that I like is no longer made by anybody. I took it apart, no broken parts fell out, the circuits tested out, so I cleaned it thoroughly, reassembled it, and it works. No big deal, but it was important to me because I wanted to be in control.

If it looks like Rube Goldberg designed it, we don't buy it.

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Read up on “planned obsolescence.”

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I think it was France that just passed a law against this.

I've rarely had an appliance fail except a dryer needed a switch once. 20 bucks, changed it myself. Had to replace a 25 year old HVAC unit. I ordered a mini fridge for the basement lair last Sunday. It arrived yesterday looking like the Fedex guy played Ace Ventura with it. Loaded it into the MINI today and went to Best Buy and exchanged it. Need some beer to put in the new one.

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Knee grow please.
Come on man

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Gotta get around the censors somehow bro.