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A 3rd world country perspective : I've seen an increasing trend of appliances at home that are intentionally designed to make repair difficult. The manufacturer

by chdir 11y ago

A 3rd world country perspective : I've seen an increasing trend of appliances at home that are intentionally designed to make repair difficult. The manufacturer/dealer nexus forces you to depend on paid but poorly trained mechanics that quote ridiculous prices for repairing (essentially using re-furbished parts). Another case, I've got a water purifier at home that uses a series of filters (sediment, reverse-osmosis, UV radiation, carbon etc.). Due to the quality of water supply, the sediment filter requires manual cleaning every month or two, else everything down the line stands a chance of getting damaged. These filters aren't cheap ($100 every 2 years in a 3rd world country). I find it annoying that the design of these filters is such that it is cumbersome to remove that simple sediment filter. Almost everyone I know ends up paying the service provider for annual maintenance. In reality, a simple design change can make the maintenance super easy. It's the same story with modern cars, gadgets, washing machines, everything. The money to be made from repair is a whole industry. On the brighter side, the industry is begging to be disrupted. P.S. I've tried repairing my laptop for broken hinges, displays, heat sink etc. by watching youtube videos & ordering cheap parts from ebay. It's an immensely satisfying feeling when the gadget starts working again. You not only save money & environment, you can justify your engineering degree too :-)

kevin_thibedeau 11y ago
Why not insert another sediment filter stage in front that uses easily serviceable cartridges? Then leave the problematic one empty or in place with longer service intervals. Bonus points if you can find a suitable filter media and rebuild your own cartridges.
- chdir 11y ago
  That's exactly what I did last year :-) A stand alone sediment filter where I turn two valves to reverse the flow of water. It's not very aesthetic and it takes more space but it does make my life easy. Regarding your 2nd point, most of the cartridges use a "Welded Housing" and carry the "Dow Filmtec" brand. However there are sellers on ebay that supply housing that can be opened and you can fill your own filter material. I'm a little skeptical on taking this route without an understanding or testing ability of what effect it would have on drinking water. I wonder if there's an off-the-shelf complete water test kit or a lab that would do that for me.
  - studentrob 11y ago
    Cool! Would you be willing to share photos or details of your setup? Or point me to a similar one? I live in Taiwan and currently get drinking water from fill-up stations outside due to heavy minerals in the groundwater here. It's not too inconvenient to do it once a week or so, and the water stations are ubiquitous, but I miss having drinking water from the tap. I've visited water filter shops 2-3 times with the intent of buying a filtration system but am put off by the cost of replacement filters which I know I will have to buy frequently. I'm being cheap but the engineer in me keeps saying there's a better way. Also, I was not able to figure out how I can test the water quality without sending it to a lab in the US. Do you test your own water?
    - chdir 11y ago
      The extra only saves the trouble of cleaning the main filter too frequently. The cost of filters, especially the RO membrane (the most expensive component) that removes dissolved impurities would still be there. The advantage of my setup would be to prevent RO membrane from getting clogged too early by sediments. The additional filter would look something like this [1]. It's an inline sediment filter with a separate casing. For the rest of the unit, you might still be able to buy a complete kit off ebay e.g. [2] & assemble it yourself [3]. [1] http://www.osmiowater.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/n/inline_water_filter_15mm_push_fitting_ezfitpro.jpg http://www.osmiowater.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/im... [2] http://www.ebay.com/itm/RO-Zoi-Xi-Pure-Filter-Kit-incl-UV-Bulb-/111509569265?hash=item19f67cfef1 http://www.ebay.com/itm/RO-Zoi-Xi-Pure-Filter-Kit-incl-UV-Bu... [3] http://www.watergeneral.com/support/pdf/RD102.pdf http://www.watergeneral.com/support/pdf/RD102.pdf
mikepurvis 11y ago
I fixed my washing machine's clutch recently, the part was $50, and an appliance part store just a few miles from my house actually had it in stock. The repair took about an hour. YouTube has definitely been a huge enabler of this. I would have been way less likely to attempt it without the confidence of a step by step video to follow along with.

by chdir 11y ago

kevin_thibedeau 11y ago

Why not insert another sediment filter stage in front that uses easily serviceable cartridges? Then leave the problematic one empty or in place with longer service intervals. Bonus points if you can find a suitable filter media and rebuild your own cartridges.

chdir 11y ago
That's exactly what I did last year :-) A stand alone sediment filter where I turn two valves to reverse the flow of water. It's not very aesthetic and it takes more space but it does make my life easy. Regarding your 2nd point, most of the cartridges use a "Welded Housing" and carry the "Dow Filmtec" brand. However there are sellers on ebay that supply housing that can be opened and you can fill your own filter material. I'm a little skeptical on taking this route without an understanding or testing ability of what effect it would have on drinking water. I wonder if there's an off-the-shelf complete water test kit or a lab that would do that for me.
- studentrob 11y ago
  Cool! Would you be willing to share photos or details of your setup? Or point me to a similar one? I live in Taiwan and currently get drinking water from fill-up stations outside due to heavy minerals in the groundwater here. It's not too inconvenient to do it once a week or so, and the water stations are ubiquitous, but I miss having drinking water from the tap. I've visited water filter shops 2-3 times with the intent of buying a filtration system but am put off by the cost of replacement filters which I know I will have to buy frequently. I'm being cheap but the engineer in me keeps saying there's a better way. Also, I was not able to figure out how I can test the water quality without sending it to a lab in the US. Do you test your own water?
  - chdir 11y ago
    The extra only saves the trouble of cleaning the main filter too frequently. The cost of filters, especially the RO membrane (the most expensive component) that removes dissolved impurities would still be there. The advantage of my setup would be to prevent RO membrane from getting clogged too early by sediments. The additional filter would look something like this [1]. It's an inline sediment filter with a separate casing. For the rest of the unit, you might still be able to buy a complete kit off ebay e.g. [2] & assemble it yourself [3]. [1] http://www.osmiowater.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/n/inline_water_filter_15mm_push_fitting_ezfitpro.jpg http://www.osmiowater.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/im... [2] http://www.ebay.com/itm/RO-Zoi-Xi-Pure-Filter-Kit-incl-UV-Bulb-/111509569265?hash=item19f67cfef1 http://www.ebay.com/itm/RO-Zoi-Xi-Pure-Filter-Kit-incl-UV-Bu... [3] http://www.watergeneral.com/support/pdf/RD102.pdf http://www.watergeneral.com/support/pdf/RD102.pdf

mikepurvis 11y ago

I fixed my washing machine's clutch recently, the part was $50, and an appliance part store just a few miles from my house actually had it in stock. The repair took about an hour. YouTube has definitely been a huge enabler of this. I would have been way less likely to attempt it without the confidence of a step by step video to follow along with.