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I am only aware of one brand of washing machine that explicitly claims to be designed to be repairable by the end-user--Staber. I have never actually owned or

I am only aware of one brand of washing machine that explicitly claims to be designed to be repairable by the end-user--Staber. I have never actually owned or used one before, so I'm not sure how fit for purpose it may be otherwise. I have successfully repaired other brands of washing machine, dryer, and refrigerator, though. It isn't that difficult, but obtaining the replacement parts is absolutely ridiculous. The first-party site for ordering replacement parts often charges 50-80% of the MSRP of a complete new appliance for just one replacement part. If any country wanted to encourage repair over replacement, tax incentives are probably not the best way to do it. Publish national standards for appliance form factors, such as case dimensions, screw hole placement, subassembly dimensions, connectors, drive belts, elastic ring sizes, etc. Then phase in requirements that all new appliances must conform to the standard by 20xx. If all washing machines conform to standard WM-S, WM-M, WM-L, WM-I, or WM-X, and those standards only have three different sizes of drive motor and one kind of power connector and one control connector, then manufacturing third-party replacement motors becomes more economically possible than the current situation, where a Brand X replacement motor might not even fit correctly in two different Brand X models. The chassis, outer panels, and drum of a washing machine just don't really need to be replaced, unless the paint chips and they rust out. Bearings, seals, motors, belts, control electronics, and knobs, on the other hand, those wear out. Perhaps I have just been spoiled by ATX standards for computer parts, and connector standards for ISA, PCI, AGP, PCIe, ATA, SATA, SCSI, M.2, and USB. All those standards mean that third-party manufacturers don't have to maintain separate silos for Apple, Dell, HP, Compaq, Tandy, Amstrad, etc. The third-party motherboard manufacturers can just conform to Intel + ATX to sell a product, and maybe also micro-ATX and mini-ITX to cater to small-system builders. It is not difficult at all to assemble a working computer where the CPU + chipset, motherboard, case, power supply, system memory, SSD, hard drive, removable disk drive, graphics card, monitor(s), keyboard, mouse, speakers, wi-fi, and Bluetooth are all made by different companies. But if you try to replace a single-phase AC 120V 60Hz 5A 0.5hp motor in an appliance with another of a different brand with exactly the same power rating, it probably won't work. The taxes are not the problem--it's getting the parts. As long as the only reliable source of usable replacement parts is the original manufacturer, of course repairing won't be viable. They would much rather sell you an entirely new product!

hlandau 10y ago
I think this is a bad idea. Standards are nice, but companies shouldn't be coerced into using them because there can be legitimate reasons to not use a standard. It prevents innovation not envisioned by the standard. I really think the simplest way to make this sort of thing happen is to increase the minimum warranty period. If 8 year warranties become mandatory, companies will need to be able to stock replacement parts for much longer if they don't want to have to replace the machine outright with a newer model when it breaks. They may then find that standardising parts is in their interests, etc.
- logfromblammo 10y ago
  Standards can change when necessary, in a way that gives all participants in the market ample warning, so that no one goes bankrupt when the big companies suddenly change direction. When PCI was introduced, motherboard manufacturers gradually increased the number of available PCI slots and reduced the number of ISA slots until the point where most of the market really didn't want that last ISA slot as much as they needed another PCI slot. ISA is still a standard. Nobody uses it because PCI was better. Likewise, AGP appeared, and then went away, because PCIe is better. Wi-fi standards have likewise evolved, from A, to B, to G, to N, to AC. Many devices are backward-compatible. But an ATX motherboard manufactured last week will still fit in the ATX tower case I bought in 1999, with a power supply I bought in 2009. The original manufacturer of that case does not need to stock parts for it, or even still be in business, because if I want another 120mm case fan, 10 different companies can sell me a new one that will fit (and 20 more would be willing to buy a fan from one of the former 10, stencil a logo on it, and resell it to me at a markup). Perhaps it would be better to enforce a mandatory standard for 10 years, to establish it in the market, then make it voluntary again, so that innovation could occur. Once a standard exists, there has to be a really good reason for deviating from it, otherwise the market quickly allows the non-standard thing to fail. If it succeeds, it becomes a new de facto standard, and the official standard is likely to either adopt it outright or make the next version compatible. I think you absolutely do have to coerce a standard if one does not already exist. But after it exists, it is largely self-enforcing. To buck off the standard entirely, you literally have to be the size of Apple. And even then, I know for certain that there is at least one person alive that refuses to buy Apple hardware in part because of their proprietary connector shenanigans in a world where USB is a standard.

hlandau 10y ago

I think this is a bad idea. Standards are nice, but companies shouldn't be coerced into using them because there can be legitimate reasons to not use a standard. It prevents innovation not envisioned by the standard. I really think the simplest way to make this sort of thing happen is to increase the minimum warranty period. If 8 year warranties become mandatory, companies will need to be able to stock replacement parts for much longer if they don't want to have to replace the machine outright with a newer model when it breaks. They may then find that standardising parts is in their interests, etc.

logfromblammo 10y ago
Standards can change when necessary, in a way that gives all participants in the market ample warning, so that no one goes bankrupt when the big companies suddenly change direction. When PCI was introduced, motherboard manufacturers gradually increased the number of available PCI slots and reduced the number of ISA slots until the point where most of the market really didn't want that last ISA slot as much as they needed another PCI slot. ISA is still a standard. Nobody uses it because PCI was better. Likewise, AGP appeared, and then went away, because PCIe is better. Wi-fi standards have likewise evolved, from A, to B, to G, to N, to AC. Many devices are backward-compatible. But an ATX motherboard manufactured last week will still fit in the ATX tower case I bought in 1999, with a power supply I bought in 2009. The original manufacturer of that case does not need to stock parts for it, or even still be in business, because if I want another 120mm case fan, 10 different companies can sell me a new one that will fit (and 20 more would be willing to buy a fan from one of the former 10, stencil a logo on it, and resell it to me at a markup). Perhaps it would be better to enforce a mandatory standard for 10 years, to establish it in the market, then make it voluntary again, so that innovation could occur. Once a standard exists, there has to be a really good reason for deviating from it, otherwise the market quickly allows the non-standard thing to fail. If it succeeds, it becomes a new de facto standard, and the official standard is likely to either adopt it outright or make the next version compatible. I think you absolutely do have to coerce a standard if one does not already exist. But after it exists, it is largely self-enforcing. To buck off the standard entirely, you literally have to be the size of Apple. And even then, I know for certain that there is at least one person alive that refuses to buy Apple hardware in part because of their proprietary connector shenanigans in a world where USB is a standard.