How long should your washer, fridge, TV and other appliances last?

What’s a reasonable amount of time for appliances to last? We offer some advice on life expectancy:

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I find the subject of how long things last these days compared to some years ago interesting… Our first refrigerator, a Westinghouse Aussie made lasted some 17 years, our second a Maytag two door side by side made in USA is currently 20 years old only needing a slight repair, The repairer advised me to keep it as long as possible as new ones are expected to survive for about 10 years if your lucky. Manufacturing quality seems to have dropped considerably.

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Thanks for sharing your experience @gejnaj - hope the Maytag keeps serving you well.

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That statement is generally true but it is probably not that straight forward. Once upon a time quality and longevity was the most valued attribute for many products. Today it is price, features, technology, appearance, and efficiency intersecting with planned obsolescence to keep the factories operating by new product cycles.

Although US centric (I could not find any other similar page) this page highlights the hours worked to buy various products, including fridges then and now.

It appears the ‘20-year quality’ product of decades ago cost as much in working hours as 2 x 10 year products today, that generally have more features.

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My Ignus washing machine lasted 25 years. I’m sure it could have been fixed, but I wanted a new one.

My Admiral refrigerator is still going and is 26 years old. We had a ‘white goods’ repairer come out a few years ago. He did a minor thing (can’t remember what it was) and didn’t charge us and it’s still running sweet. Touch wood, I don’t jinx myself here, now that I’ve said that.

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This could also be due to significant changes in efficiency. A refrigerator/appliance manufactured two decades ago would use more energy than a similar appliance manufactured a decade ago…and similar to those manufactured a decade ago to today.

I wonder if manufacturers see change in community attitude to energy efficiency and in response have made their products, while being more efficient, a potentially lower life. The change could be a significant portion of consumers replace appliances before end of life to obtain a more efficient product.

The other hypothesis is maybe designing for energy efficiency pushes the limits of design, and life is compromised as a result.

The other shoe is in a high consumption society, there are many that want to keep up with the Jones’s (apologies if you are a Jones). The younger generations and more affluent amongst us seem to believe that new shows some sort of status or success. All it goes is create waste that is becoming more and more difficult to handle.

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We have just replaced our Bosch dishwasher after 5.5 years of good service as to be expected as thats what Choice test revealed. But reliability only refers to brands not specific models , how could it? The machine stopped mid cycle any cycle and shut down. Serviceman told us that the main console had died and that it would be in vicinity of $400 ( about 2/3 original cost) to obtain and instal new board. As we had already incurred service charge of $160 to receive this news we decided no more Bosch. We have chosen a Miele to replace it at almost twice the cost. The Bosch replaced a Dishlex portable that worked so well for about 20 years. It had most of baskets and so on replaced for minor service charges but otherwise good until finally it died.
In contrast to the Bosch dishwasher we have a Maytag front loading washer that must be about 12 years. A fews years ago it similarly stopped mid cycle and we were told the board at cost there of about $300. We replaced it and its been running happily ever since. Fingers crossed. We payed much more for the Maytag washer initially than the Bosch dishwasher, maybe there is something in that. Lets hope the Miele survives.

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I suggest it is that consumers just like to buy new things after a few years more than they seek a bit of energy efficiency for an otherwise unnecessary $1,000+ purchase.

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@BrendanMays

I wonder what the expected/design defect free period of the same appliances would be…this information has been raised in the past and also aligns with/would be useful when assessing warranties under the ACL.

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Not just the waste it creates but the resources it uses in the first place to make it, how much of those precious/valuable resources are recoverable if the item wasn’t just disposed of, the plastic problem is a good part of this…

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Fully agree. When buying something new the resources (inc. energy) are often not considered in the purchase decision.

What happens at the end of life is another.

Possibly the euphoria of buying something overrides some of these rational thoughts.

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Miele is known to be good; we had an Asko washer ‘designed for 20 years’ that needed a control board at 12 years. The control boards were out of production and out of stock. None anywhere from Asko or any parts house. Asko suggested to try used appliance houses in case they had a used one.

We bought an LG for half the price of the Asko and it has been terrific for 3 years and counting. Considering the volume of the brands I hope if we ever need an LG part there will be plenty available for some time to come. Maybe.

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In August 2016 we bought a house in which the owners had upgraded the kitchen only one year before, with new appliances including a De Dietrich dishwasher and an Ilve microwave/convection oven, both expensive “prestige brand” appliances.
The dishwasher died in early December last year (we paid $50 to find it was not repairable). We had a contact number for the previous owner, so we called to see if he still had the receipt (which he didn’t), but he said he’d ring the place that sold it to him. They said that even if we did have the receipt, the warranty is not transferable to new owners. I tried contacting DeDietrich, couldn’t help, sorry, and its parent company (a reply in French which was basically “go ask DeDietrich”)
The microwave died last week.
What I find particularly galling is not only the lack of quality in these “prestige” appliances, and the appalling waste of money, but the squandering of vast resources - natural, manufacturing, and transport, on a piece of s**t.

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Absolutely useful for assessing claims. I think this is especially relevant when we’re talking about similar priced items, as surely it’s reasonable to expect that those two items would have similar durability… Reasonable and reality might be at a bit of distance sometimes though.

I’m glad the energy efficiency/repair concerns were raised. Beyond the ideal of building appliance to last a longer time frame, manufacturers could come up with much better systems to make things modular and repairable for consumers. This should be done at a much lower costs to the consumer than replacement, and on the right time-frame it’s a win win for both parties, we get cheaper goods and manufacturers achieve better customer retention and more incentive to make their products work at maximum potential.

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They could, but two reasons they will not.

  1. It is against their interests to be positioned to sell new product and have dollars in their pockets.

    1a. Selling parts can be highly profitable but it can put the customer off. To wit, auto and other parts are exorbitant compared to the price of an all new product.

  2. Sometimes design overrides reason (eg smart phones and so many other products w/non-replaceable batteries for one reason or another)

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I always like it when people say they don’t make them like they used to,my last dishwasher/fridge/washing machine lasted 25 years this one only lasted 8,with out giving a thought to the one they bought 33 years ago cost 2months wages and the one they bought 8 years ago cost 2 weeks wages

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Yes the money cost has substantially come down, partly because the cost of the components have come down as the system has become more efficient at making them. But it is not just a money cost that should be weighed up but a cost to our environment (including our finite resources). If you replace your fridge 3 times more frequently than in the past you are using roughly 3 times more finite (not unlimited) resources, 3 times more “damage” to the environment (which is probably irrepairable). Then when the product is “trashed” how much of that resource is recovered and put back into new product?

I don’t think with what are “cheaper to make” products that these things are really taken into account or “costed”. Maybe we need a monetary cost to be imposed at the purchase or on the end of life products that reflects this hidden “other” cost to make us more aware of these hidden issues.

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I wish you luck with the Miele. No more Miele for us after our dishwasher died just out of warranty and Miele could not have been less helpful. Disgusting customer service. Washing machine ditto. 5 years life out of a $3500 machine.
No more Miele for us, ever.

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3 posts were split to a new topic: Fisher and Paykel clothes washer problem

I have a F&P fridge a bit over 20 years old.It’s now showing signs of basically breaking down been like it for the last 3 to 4 months.It just keeps the fridge and freezer to acceptable level.But if it starts getting any warmer it will have to go.Been looking around at fridges also seeing what you guys have been recommending and weigh it all up.Have a fair idea if it was to break down tomorrow what i would choose.Also i noticed the new fridges basically run at half the power than mine does a big difference.My old fridge is a 4 star rating you be lucky to get 1 star now haha

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