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Fridges come to mind, but it depends on what you mean by “quality”. I had a 8 year old fridge, and attempted to replace a shelf bracket that broke because the p

Fridges come to mind, but it depends on what you mean by “quality”. I had a 8 year old fridge, and attempted to replace a shelf bracket that broke because the plastic was flimsy - no parts available after 5 years. By 9 years old the brackets that held the large fan in the back of it in place had crumbled to dust. Meanwhile fridges from the 1960s are still humming along fine. The crumbly new fridge is more energy efficient by a long shot than that workhorse hold fridge - so it does depend on what you consider quality, but longevity and repairability are definitely major factors in what I consider quality.

throwbigdata 4y ago
Are there quality new fridges? Are Subzero fridges quality?
- NegativeLatency 4y ago
  I’ve heard they’re becoming less reliable than they used to be
- _ea1k 4y ago
  Its weird that noone really deeply analyzes this. Munro started a teardown, but it ended somewhat abruptly and with only fairly surface level analysis, IMO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAYj6m9QtDU&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAYj6m9QtDU&t=1s
alach11 4y ago
> Meanwhile fridges from the 1960s are still humming along fine. Fridges that you see from the 1960s are still humming along fine. All the ones that broke decades ago get none of your attention. This is survivorship bias. Reliability of products like fridges has gone up immensely over the last 50 years.
- cameldrv 4y ago
  I'm not sure about the 1960s, but generally all appliances have gotten quite a bit cheaper and had less durability and repairability since the eighties. There was a step change in the late nineties both in price and quality when production moved to China.
- kennywinker 4y ago
  That might be true. But I don't think there will be ANY of the model of fridge I had running at 20 years old. Survivorship bias can't account for plastic that crumbles from being heat-cycled.
Blackthorn 4y ago
On the bright side, a shelf bracket is a pretty cheap wear item to replace. Can be 3d printed. It's not like any of the electronics went bad.
- kennywinker 4y ago
  If I had a 3D printer, yes. But like most people, I don't have a 3d printer. $200-$1200 + a few days of learning trial and error is starting to get into the price range of just buying a new fridge.
  - sfink 4y ago
    Or you can hack it with Sugru: <https://sugru.com/what-is-sugru https://sugru.com/what-is-sugru>. Not necessarily the best for aesthetics, unless you're a clay sculptor hobbyist or something, but it sticks tight to almost everything. Though as per the website: "Sugru does not bond to oily plastics like polypropylene, polyethylene or Teflon." I've used it for all kinds of things. I tend to reinforce it if it's load-bearing (eg I made a bracket for my router under my desk, but molded the Sugru around a screw that I put in the desk). Each pack is very small, so it'll only be enough for corners or wrapping around wires very close to the end or whatever.
    - kennywinker 4y ago
      I’ve not had good luck with sugru. I’ve used it to repair a couple cables that started fraying near one end… the weird lump of sugru covered where i put it, but didn’t stop the fraying - bought me maybe another couple months of use.

throwbigdata 4y ago

Are there quality new fridges? Are Subzero fridges quality?

NegativeLatency 4y ago
I’ve heard they’re becoming less reliable than they used to be
_ea1k 4y ago
Its weird that noone really deeply analyzes this. Munro started a teardown, but it ended somewhat abruptly and with only fairly surface level analysis, IMO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAYj6m9QtDU&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAYj6m9QtDU&t=1s

alach11 4y ago

> Meanwhile fridges from the 1960s are still humming along fine. Fridges that you see from the 1960s are still humming along fine. All the ones that broke decades ago get none of your attention. This is survivorship bias. Reliability of products like fridges has gone up immensely over the last 50 years.

cameldrv 4y ago
I'm not sure about the 1960s, but generally all appliances have gotten quite a bit cheaper and had less durability and repairability since the eighties. There was a step change in the late nineties both in price and quality when production moved to China.
kennywinker 4y ago
That might be true. But I don't think there will be ANY of the model of fridge I had running at 20 years old. Survivorship bias can't account for plastic that crumbles from being heat-cycled.

Blackthorn 4y ago

On the bright side, a shelf bracket is a pretty cheap wear item to replace. Can be 3d printed. It's not like any of the electronics went bad.

kennywinker 4y ago
If I had a 3D printer, yes. But like most people, I don't have a 3d printer. $200-$1200 + a few days of learning trial and error is starting to get into the price range of just buying a new fridge.
- sfink 4y ago
  Or you can hack it with Sugru: <https://sugru.com/what-is-sugru https://sugru.com/what-is-sugru>. Not necessarily the best for aesthetics, unless you're a clay sculptor hobbyist or something, but it sticks tight to almost everything. Though as per the website: "Sugru does not bond to oily plastics like polypropylene, polyethylene or Teflon." I've used it for all kinds of things. I tend to reinforce it if it's load-bearing (eg I made a bracket for my router under my desk, but molded the Sugru around a screw that I put in the desk). Each pack is very small, so it'll only be enough for corners or wrapping around wires very close to the end or whatever.
  - kennywinker 4y ago
    I’ve not had good luck with sugru. I’ve used it to repair a couple cables that started fraying near one end… the weird lump of sugru covered where i put it, but didn’t stop the fraying - bought me maybe another couple months of use.