My fridge, a GE with no electronics has lasted 25 years. Is that a good thing? Are the new fridges really more energy efficient? I've come to the opinion that all appliances with computers are disposable after 8 years. I've done that now for a while with the dishwasher. As soon as it conks out, I remove it and get one from Costco. Washing machines and dryers the same.
My relative had a very fancy fridge at 8 years. It broke, causing a great inconvenience to everyone. He had to yank out the keg in the draft machine to put in milk and cheese. They fiddled around for a week or two with repairmen. The motherboard was fried, and they couldn't find a replacement, and when they finally did, it fried immediately. Needless to say, after all this, they got a new fridge.
The problem is that you can get very fancy with these things, and they have the computing power of an old Cray. My neighbours had their LG fridge go, after 8 years. Very fancy, but now the repairmen come in tag teams. The first guy, showing up after a few days was the computer man. Nothing wrong with the electronics, it looked like a freon leak. Now they are waiting for the coolant guy. They'll need some major parts, probably cost more than a new fridge.
When my fridge goes, I'm looking at the latest from the Costco warehouse, generic solid ugly white, $700 and not a computer in sight. I'll just take my son and he can do all the work. Oh my back!
When you buy a really fancy computerized fridge, with all sorts of displays, just price it over 8 years. Then when it goes, haul it out to the street. The scrap man gets a nice present, and you have probably saved a lot of money.
ps, the big screen is the same. Might not blow, but who wants a simple hd plasma 50 inch after 8 years? We expect no-glasses 3-d the size of a wall. No more need for a fish tank. :)
pps. poor neighbours, they're bringing in a third person.
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