throw-away society

[Bryan Burns]

I finally cough up for a dyson animal.. mainly it's got a good warranty ( 5 years )
it really does clean better.. We have 2 cats and a lot of cat hair, and the kitty liter is hard on vacuum's bearings and probably the motor too..

DYSON makes a great vacuum. Ours is 6 years old, which is longer than the Kenmore, Panasonic, Eureka, and Hoovers we had lasted.

Dyson has great suction and is one of the most reliable brands according to Consumer Reports. But, they rank it in the middle of the pack year after year. They always put Kenmore at the top but we went through two Kenmores.

 

[Clarifixer]

I went to replace the light bulb in our fancy schmantzy built-in Kitchen Aid convection/microwave (a $Cha-Ching$ item bought two years ago) expecting to find a screw-in appliance bulb. Silly me.

The &%$# thing is a proprietary item costing about $45 and you have to take the oven out of the wall and remove a panel unaccessible from the inside to get to it. Maybe there is a design/functional reason, but man, what a P.I.T.A.

 

[PaulR]

Miele for vacuum cleaners. Made in Germany. Used by the pro's, you're going to pay probably $1000 for a good one though, after going through 2 $350 "top of the line" vacuums at Target we bought a Miele.

Vacuums these days don't even ****, they just use the brush to spin things up.

Did some research on KitchenAid fridges a while back, I guess they are the worst ever made. Kitchen Aid is hit or miss I guess.

 

[mrholeshot]

My wifes uses Oreck Commercial Vacuum cleaners in her cleaning business. Several factors, light weight, very simple and any repair can be done in less than 10 minutes (most repairs in 5) and interchangability over a long period of time. We buy 3-4 a year so I have plenty of used parts on hand and the actual service life is about 18 months before they are parted out. In our home we own a Kirby we bought new in 1998.(the second new one Ive owned). The Kirby is still running the original belt and brush and gets used daily for the high traffic areas(you cant imagine how much dirt sticks to the wheels of my powerchair) and 2-3 times a week for the rest of the house. Suction is excellant especially on dark hunter green carpet and with the auto transmission is effortless to use. Despite it's initial tremendous cost for a Vacuum it has done very well and it was worth the money. Very well built machine. I wish all our appiances were built as well.

 

[catfish]

Henry vacuums cleaners are good , made in the UK.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numatic_International_Limited

 

[walrus]

I have a 1980 electrolux that still works good, kinked and destroyed a few hoses but that baby still *****

 

[mrholeshot]

I have a 1980 electrolux that still works good, kinked and destroyed a few hoses but that baby still *****

I have one, my Grandmother used when I was a kid. It has no wheels but a pair of chrome rail skids. I'm not sure of the year (before 1950) but it still works great and never had a problem with the unit. I don't have the hose anymore (lost it years ago in a hurricane spawned tornado) but I still have the rest. Just can't seem to throw it out. lol

 

[woody 73]

Funny story,I still shake my head in disbelief but when my wife and I bought our first house, the home inspector told me that the water heater was old and needed to be replaced.

Well one day I went to see if I could maybe clean off the dust and see how big the tank was. Turns out that water heater had a date of built in 1967 and it was 1997,that sucker had been running for 30 years and it was still working,go figure that one out!

 

[Kev442]

I had no idea Goldstar became LG, I didn't know about Lucky Goldstar. I'm actually more inclined to buy LG as my Goldstar Microwave, VCR and my Mom's minifridge were the best bang for the buck we've ever had from small appliances. 20+ years from all of them and all still work. Of course the VCR just tells the time now.

As for washers and dryers, I'm on the flipside of all the throw away mentality. My first washer and dryer cost $40 because "they don't work right" One dryer belt and a loose washer wire crimped, and off they went. Built in '72, bought in '84. Washer retired due to bad water pump 1998, dryer still runs fine with zero repairs.

Guy about two blocks away had "free" on a washer/dryer set. Grabbed them. The problem? He hollered while I was grabbing them "Hey, the washer is noisy, but works, you don't want the dryer, it won't dry!". Cleaned the lint plug out of the heater vent, they both work fine, albeit noisy.

The Matched Maytag set in the laundry room bought in 1995 will probably last me the rest of my life as I run the "beaters" in the basement most of the time.

 

[nw2571]

Search YouTube for "Story of Stuff".
It's a longer video but well researched and produced.
It'll make you think...
It'll make you sad...

Hippie propaganda. Americans are bad, and we're ****** the Earth. Blah blah. It was produced by the Tides Foundation, which is another front for the Socialist, anti-American George Soros.

 

[blue dog]

DYSON, i have the yellow one, not sure what it is called, works unbelievable.
been flawless. and way to dig up an old thread.

 

[kgorman]

I have the lawnmower my dad bought when I was a teenager. It was the top of the line back in the 80's. It needed some maintenance so I hit up the local repair shop. I got a tune up, new blade, wheels, cables, bag,etc. Still a fraction of the cost of a new mower. I asked the guy if it's on it's last leg, he said hell no these where the good ones made back then w/o any plastic parts. He commented I will be giving it to my kids. I couldn't be happier. I get sick thinking that stuff like this goes into a landfill.

 

[rhastings80]

I do like to buy quality things that last. However with cloth furniture such as a couch I just buy cheap as they wear out and get dirty. When the wife and I buy say a dresser or table we will buy quality solid stuff as we don't plan on ever replacing it. The dresser we bought was $1000.00 on sale at a clearance center and was normal like 3000 and made in USA. It is all solid wood with dove tail construction. If the finish wears off I can refinish it and give it to our kids some day. Or we could buy some POS particleboard that breaks when you move it once.

As for appliances I have a good friend that repairs them. Basically what he said is unless you buy commercial grade they are all the same and junk. He told me basically buy the cheapest name brand appliance with plastic round nobs and none of the ones with digital displays and touch bottoms as that stuff seems to break a lot more. When I need one I go to the scratch and dent place and basically buy near the cheapest they have in white.

My buddy also says a lot of folks buy this expensive Viking or whatever it's call commercial stuff and then he goes to install it and can't due to code as some of them need a bigger gas line for stoves and also many require a commercial vent. So that's not always an option either.

 

[amt]

We have a Kirby vacuum, and the only thing that has broken was the wheel coming off. I don't think I can recommend anything else.

We have two fridges, one a 3 year old GE Monogram, which is actually made by a commercial fridge company (forget their name) and not GE. So far it has been great. But then again, who's willing to pay $4-5k for a fridge? You will not find a new fridge with all the features people want that will last for under $3k. Another good commercial brand is Traulsen, which may require some refreshing if you buy one (used), but they are also built like tanks.

The other fridge we have is a GE fridge from the 50's. It still works. Built like a tank, no defrost (which makes it infinitely more reliable) and costs only $4/month to operate. It has the old art deco look, and pretty much everyone who sees it wants to buy it (not for sale!)

Viking probably makes the WORST fridge in the industry. Stay away at all costs! Their ranges aren't really that great either.

Our clothes washer/dryer is LG, and is just OK quality. Washer broke once and dryer's sensor dry is usually wrong. If the washer breaks, I am buying a commercial one (Speed Queen?)

As far as grills, I kicked the gas grill habit years ago and bought a Big Green Egg. I am happy knowing I will probably never have to buy a grill again in my life.

Carpet shampooer: Rug Doctor


The bottom line is if you don't want disposable equipment, stop buying it!!! You must shell out the extra money and do your research to buy the known reliable products.

 

[norry]

Back when I was totally broke, we used to get so much stuff from craigslist...

Lawnmower: free with bad wheel and broken pull string. Fixed with $10 in parts. Still running when we gave it away years later.
Another lawnmower: free, nothing wrong with it (hey, thanks for giving it away instead of throwing it away!)
Buffer: Motor was free, mounted to an old board that was free, added a $8 buffer wheel mount from Eastwood and good to go. Motor is an old school Baldor and works great!
Washer: $25, needed nothing, finally tossed it years later when something wore out and couldn't be economically replaced.
Fridge at work: $25. Not getting my food squished by 50 other lunches or stolen by someone that forgot to bring one - totally worth 25 bucks
Laser printer: Free (thanks to some anonymous person who put it NEXT to a dumpster instead of IN it!)

When my grandma passed away (God rest her soul) we found her old 1960s Hoover and realized that we had forgotten to bring a vacuum to clean the house. I replaced the bag and it was good to go. She kept a clean house, too, I'm sure it got plenty of use.

 

[nissan_crawler]

Old thread I know, but I figured I would update.

Isn't LG Korean?

Yep, it's still working great, and makes a difference on the electrical bill. The thing hardly runs, the frigidaire used to run all the time.

Plus, they have outstanding service. Frigidaire wouldn't even fix warranty items. I called LG and told them I bought the fridge as a demo, so it was missing some items, and asked if they could send me the manual for it, so I could order them. The lady said she would send a manual, but then said if I had a minute, she would just go through everything with me. She had me tell her the number of shelves/drawers in the fridge and freezer. I really just wanted a glass shelf with an undermount drawer that was missing, but she sent me all the accessories that were supposed to go with that were missing. Pop rack, dividers, shelf, drawer, ice cube tray, etc. Oh, and did I mention that all of it was FREE?!

Yep, I told them they were missing because it was a demo, and they said don't worry about, we'll send them for free. Gee, guess which brand gets the nod next time I need something?

 

[Skin]

I remember when I was younger, that if you had to replace a component (e.g. starter, alternator, master cylinder etc.) on a car you had two options: a new unit or a rebuild kit or have someone rebuild it for you (with the kit you bought!). I think we had a situation where parts were expensive but labor was cheaper. Now it seems we have the inverse problem; the parts/products are cheap but labour is very expensive. So, cost effectiveness, cheap offshore products and engineered obsolesce is ruling the day.

Thats basically what it boils down to. Cost of production has been slashed on so many products its effectively become pointless to repair. Even though its a simplistic way of doing it convert the price of many products in the 50s-70s to todays dollars and you'll find that they were priced at what would be considered the "luxury range" today while modern "equivilents" are 1/3 the cost.

Companies like it that way as well since disposable crappy products = more sales.

The human race has been to the moon but nobody can design a light weight trash barrel that doesnt wear through and break into pieces after a couple years.

 

[air]

My mom had a Kirby of similar design when I was a kid. Actually, she still has it.

I have a Kirby that I snagged out of the trash where I work a 5 or 6 years ago or so. Took it to a Vacuum place and the guy said it is a 1957 model. Replaced the belt and used it daily for at least 3 years. Still have it, still works...And you know what? I haven't even replaced the belt.

 

[wafrederick]

Some power tools too.Have a Dewalt circular saw which a roofing company was going to throw out because it had no power.Works fine after replacing the blade which had tons of tar on the old blade.Have a few extension cords from this roofing company that threw them away.They were in good shape after replacing the plug ins.Most of the newer electronic stoves have very small screws that break off easily.The part is aluminum and the screw is a lousy steel

 

[c_mccann]

Nowadays, folks would rather pay on a credit card on a new one than take 10 minutes to troubleshoot the problem on the existing. My neighbors are always in amazement at what I do around the house, like I am some genius inventor. All I do is wash and wax the cars, fix the broken stuff, build new stuff to replace what I cannot fix and keep things tidy. They all owe on their stuff, mine is all paid for..

As for a vacuum- I have a Dyson, and I can honestly say it is an amazing machine- pricey, but what that thing ***** outta my carpets is truly disgusting..

 

[NJHandyGuy]

hmm i've had the same 2 vacuums forever when i am done i clean the filters and throw the debris canister away. every 3 monthes some oly on the brush bearings consistently check the belt. i service it often to be on top of anything i have a bissell pet vac that chrissy vacuums with once sometimes twice a day with runs like new.

My moms gave me a hoover when i left hoem (18) ten years same vaccum runs perfect but again i fire up my blow gun and clean the filters almost ever saturday

 

[wafrederick]

Rainbow makes the most expensive vacuum cleaner,uses water instead of a filter.Cleans carpet very well and picks up things a vacuum with a filter missed.Even with brake parts,No one rebuilds a wheel cylinder since they are not that much money new.

 

[dodge610]

I hate to see people throw away the stuff but it doesnt all go to the landfill i take all the salvagable stuff i can off of it and turn it in so that it can be reused trying to do my part tokeep from fillin the landfill up and get me some chump change in the process.

 

[oldtools]

I didn't know they started as 2 companies and merged...

Either way, moving from "Goldstar" to "LG" has done wonders for the brand; Goldstar was regarded as lower-end, but LG enjoys premium status. It's hard to accomplish that type of change-of-consumer-perception. (At least it's hard to improve a poor brand; it's easy to f/u a good one!)

Hyundai did a very good job of improving the brand as well as Samsung.

 

[MBeaty]

This is kind of an interesting topic. I took a business ethics class back in college and we read some text that talked about the whole "planned obsolescence" that is going on in business.

One of the key measures that they use to analyze our economy is of GDP, but with planned obsolescence, this is no longer a good measure. Sure the total amount of goods produced does increase each year, it is really not increasing. We are making more goods, but only to replace ones that have failed. A good way to compare our GDP is to tire spinning. Rather than getting traction now, the tire is spinning faster, but is is not actually going anywhere, it is just spinning in the mud. It is a tough balance for companies to adjust to. On one hand they could make a product that is designed to last, but then they will not be able to sell as many in successive years. A great example of this is with vises and older machine tools. Look at all the great vises and heavy iron tools that were made in the 50's-60's. Many of these were great products, but some of the companies actually made such good products that they put themselves out of business.

There are still some products that are made right and durable, but these seem to be few and far between. Price is not always an indicator of quality anymore which is easily apparent in appliances today.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Ho do you know when you bona fide-ly getting to be an old codger?

When you remember the past in sepia tones and everything as better! It wasn't. Not to say some things weren't really better, I'm sure some were but not as much as we tend to think.

 

[dodge610]

Ho do you know when you bona fide-ly getting to be an old codger?

When you remember the past in sepia tones and everything as better! It wasn't. Not to say some things weren't really better, I'm sure some were but not as much as we tend to think.

Good question guess im gettin older but not to the codger stage you speak of yet that will probably be another 10 years down that old dirt road.

 

[catfish]

Hyundai did a very good job of improving the brand as well as Samsung.

LG , Hyundai , Samsung.
I believe all South Korean companies?
Now that South Korea has more regulations and quality control (along with higher wages) they have more respect and brand 'value' - what a surprise.

Meanwhile companies like Black & Decker move it all to China and the quality of their product keeps on dropping.Theres a world of difference between Hyundai and Black & Decker.

 

[metal1313]

we are about to buy a dyson..we can get vacuum to last more than 2-3 years no matter how well rated. we have 2 dogs and several cats and alot of fur. the idea of dropping 600 on a vacuum is hard to stomach but we spend that in under 10 years.

however, i have a dirt cheap little dirtdevil one that is tiny, but does a great job on my carpets, just not so good on hardwood. thats ok, i would rather not have any carpet and just have sisel rugs