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Ask HN: What are household items that can be repaired but people often replace?

• max_ 4y ago
  Furniture
  • Moto7451 4y ago
    This especially. Glue ups are poorly done on a lot of Wayfare and similar tier furniture and the fascia falls off. The MDF fails when the legs support the weight at an angle. I just repaired a dresser that had both of these issues with wood glue and finish nails for the fascia and bondo and a drill for the failed MDF foot mounts. Cheap furniture will not stand up to many moves but you can definitely repair a lot of it for very little time and money.
    • bmitc 4y ago
      I find that using wood glue when piecing together for furniture you never intend to take apart again will go a long way to extending the life. I do this to certain IKEA furniture, which locks it up nicely and prevents downstream issues.
    • voisin 4y ago
      I always find lower cost couches quickly (3-4 years) get “saggy” wherever people sit the most. I wonder how difficult it would be to source higher quality after market springs and replace them. I always feel like it’s a waste to buy a new couch when the old one looks fine but has just lost support.
    • digitalsushi 4y ago
      I have this West Elm brand credenza in my office, with walnut veneer. Damned thing took 9 months to get delivered, but that's a covid logistics issue, not a company issue. I think. So it shows up, and it's quite handsome - but then this random thing intersects the corner, was it a vacuum cleaner? A box? And now there's a blemish, and it no longer feels 'new', it feels like cheap veneered furniture I got as a hand-me-down. I was incensed with myself for causing the blemish so early in my ownership of this overpriced thing. My wife heard me grumbling, and she came to see what the fuss was. A moment later she re-appeared in my office with a single walnut from our pantry. And then a moment after that, I couldn't find the blemish on my credenza, for the walnut had completely rubbed into it and covered it!
  • francisofascii 4y ago
    Quality slip covers can make a sofa seem brand new.
• is_true 4y ago
  Almost everything. The problem is figuring out what is broken. There are some things that require extra attention, like a microwave oven
• h2odragon 4y ago
  I've seen two people replace dishwashers because the power cord wasn't connected well and failed. They don't include a power cord with the appliance, here; you buy your own and wire it up yourself, or the installers do it for most people I guess. So when this hurried connection made in an awkward place turns out to have been poor and breaks after a few years; "the dishwasher is broken" and a repair shop charges half the cost of a new one to come out and look at it... It made sense to these folks to just go ahead and get a new one without the stains etc. Lots of electronics get that treatment, its too complicated to think about what's inside it; so the whole unit is either working or broken but not considered repairable.
  • jackmott 4y ago
    It is tough calculus to choose a repair even if you do it all yourself. Say a 400 appliance. Its old so worth say 200 now. You need a 75 dollar part. There is some large chance the part you buy isnt quite the right variant you need or you screw up then install and then you just lost another 75 dollars and still no working appliance!
    • cuu508 4y ago
      We recently had a dishwasher repairman fix our ~15 year old dishwasher. We chatted about buy vs repair and he noted our fixed-and-woking-again dishwasher could potentially still last longer than a new replacement, because of worse quality of the new ones.
      • doubled112 4y ago
        That sounds about right. My mother had a washing machine for 25 years and it had only had a couple of belts replaced. Her new washer failed within a year, and has been replaced by a washer that has also failed within a couple of years. Electronics failure in both. The control board is expensive. Not like a $25 belt.
        • nikonyrh 4y ago
• zevv 4y ago
  [flagged]
  • culopatin 4y ago
    Not to say what you stated doesn’t make sense but you avoided answering the question completely and just kept swirling around the tangent statement in your first paragraph without going anywhere.
    • nuclearnice1 4y ago
      I suspect it’s gpt-speak.
  • Frost1x 4y ago
    >Repairing costs time and effort, throwing away and buying new is fast and often cheap That analysis can depend on how well total costs are captured. Often what seems cheap is only cheap because you externalize the actual costs elsewhere and don't factor them in. I often host small get-togethers at home and very often use disposable plates (sometimes plastic) as well as utensils, cups, etc. It's quite cheap in terms of my time when it comes to cleanup, broken item replacement, no water for cleanup usage, etc. but I suspect using durable reusable utensils and dining ware are actually cheaper holistically because they can often be used for many years and require very little to clean up beyond time and access to some clean water which is already a requirement and soaps. Factor in costs of recycling, how recyclable those goods are, transport costs to get those goods to my home, waste disposal and long term effects of non-recyclables on the environment... at some point its not so cheap, I'm externalizing my time costs in other forms on the rest of society.
• digitalsushi 4y ago
  Oh, my holiday altercation with Kitchenaid brand stand mixers. We have a Kitchenaid mixer. It came with aluminum whisks and dough hooks, which don't dishwash. So I splurged on a 150 dollar set of stainless steel upgrades. They arrived, and I test fit them - they attached! And being the wise, old, fool that I am, I discarded the original attachments in a ceremony over jack daniels laced eggnog. So then, Christmas Eve, we go to attach them and whip up a bunch of dough to make puff pastry, which is how one might make a raspberry turnover. Alas, the little attachments are barely too small to reach the bowl! And so everything is asunder, a bowl of un-kneaded dough. Fortunately we live in a country that really rewards consumerism, and so 75 minutes later on Christmas Eve itself, I was back from the store with a replacement Kitchenaid, the 'Artisan' series, which I wisely spent a brief moment verifying would double my sunk-cost fallacy in 150 dollar attachments. I hop into the shower, and my wife starts kneading the 6 cups of dough. Our ceiling fan wafts air in from the kitchen, which generally ends a shower prematurely for wont of sprinting to confectionary delights. This time, I spelled a burning motor. A moment later, my hands were feeling the motor casing for heat: blistering hot! Of course, being an infrastructure engineer for the public cloud, I instantly knew that this was 'bad' and turned the device off quickly. "Ahah!" I declared victory with a sardonic undertone, "This mixer voids the warranty for more than two cups of flour, with the speed above 'low', for any dough kneading!" Well, we ended up going back to the Kitchenaid professional. It's got a speed control issue and needs a new controller board. The gearbox often breaks little gear bits off and also requires repair on these. And many of the newer models have a plastic cases that warps under extreme heat - some describe this as a safety design feature to protect the metal gears, and others say its a cheaper component and unintentional downgrade. Either way, the parts are user accessible and replaceable. People who rely on these devices will apparently keep extra parts in anticipation of their failure, to carry on with minimal downtime. And yes, there is another box of 150 dollar attachments somewhere in the mail, to replace the aluminum ones I brazenly tossed into the recycling bin. And yes, I lost the packaging for the ones too-small. So my friend gets a set for his artisan I confirmed he randomly owns sheepishly, and I get the original functionality back; I end up with exactly what I had, plus also a lesson hard-earned, for the low cost of 300 dollars. There is no age limit on feeling dumb :D Happy Holidays
• smileysteve 4y ago
  Dryers; a new heating element or new bearing kit are about an hour of a job and $30 of parts.
  • dn3500 4y ago
    My parents had a dryer they bought in 1947 and my dad kept it running until the mid 1990s, so about 50 years. My dad replaced the bearings about every ten years and I think had to replace a switch once. I believe it was from Sears.
    • maxerickson 4y ago
      My dryer from sometime in the 90s has parts commonality with dryers built in the 1960s. I didn't try to figure out if it's also the case with any presently available models.
• wilgertvelinga 4y ago
  If you are on the verge of throwing something away, better to visit a repair café! https://www.repaircafe.org/en/ https://www.repaircafe.org/en/
• smileysteve 4y ago
  Water heaters; supposedly, if you replace the anode rods every 5 years, most water heaters would last the lifetime of the house, versus many replace the whole unit in 10 years.
  • voisin 4y ago
    Is that a relatively easy project for an average homeowner?
    • DaveJorg 4y ago
      Yes, fairly straight forward with normal tools: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pxODVsgHRfc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pxODVsgHRfc
    • NotYourLawyer 4y ago
      I’ve done it. It’s not a big job, but the issues I ran into were: 1. You need a specific and large socket wrench. (A big adjustable wrench wouldn’t work because the head was recessed.) 2. Mine was really stuck in there, so it took a lot of torque to get it loose. Had to get someone else to hold the water heater in place while I pulled on the wrench. 3. My water heater was up in the attic underneath the angled roof, and there wasn’t enough clearance to get the new one in. Got kind of sketchy tilting the water heater over so I could get it inserted.
      • matwood 4y ago
        > 3. My water heater was up in the attic underneath the angled roof, and there wasn’t enough clearance to get the new one in. Got kind of sketchy tilting the water heater over so I could get it inserted. I'm starting to think this is the real reason I pay people to fix things for me (if I don't do it myself). YouTube makes most fixable things pretty easy. It's the climbing over/under the house, getting in hard to reach places, etc... that makes a repair a pain.
      • briHass 4y ago
        All that, plus you have to have a water heater that has replaceable rods (some today are not replaceable.) Some other brands also combine the rod with the water inlet, which means you need to do basic plumbing to disconnect the water supply piping before removing it. The claims of extending the life of the heater indefinitely are dubious. There are also 2 heating elements that can burn out and 2 mechanical thermostats that can fail. Cheap parts, but the heating elements can become fused into the body of the heater from rust/corrosion. In my opinion, tank water heaters are one of those things where tank failure can lead to catastrophic damage: you have 40+ gallons of water that can dump out, and then full water pressure behind it. You have no way of identifying the condition of the tank from the outside; it could fail suddenly. Basic electric models aren't particularly expensive, either (~$600.) It's generally accepted that 15 years of life is a good run. It's not worth the risk/expense of a leaking tank to squeeze another few years out, especially if it's in an area where even a small leak could cost thousands in damage.
• elygre 4y ago
  Slightly unrelated, but I recently had to use an unexpected sentence: “my microwave is not booting”. More related: the service person who looked at it charged about half of what a new one would have cost, so I understand how the economics often lean towards just replacing stuff.
• jvanderbot 4y ago
  I've dabbled in this a lot, and I don't consider myself a very handy person. Cell phones are much more repairable than they seem. You can replace screens, batteries, USB ports, antennas, etc. A new battery and factory reset makes it seem completely new. Laptops can often be repaired or upgraded, especially earlier MacBooks or current Dells. I've upgraded my old (2014?) MacBook pro and used it for daily use for years. You can even get NMVe converters and I've thought about making a usbC charge plug for them. I've heard that swapping out the capacitors in TVs can bring them back to life. Haven't tried it. I've brought baby equipment back to life, fixed janky strollers with 3d printed parts. Try just repainting furniture. It'll feel new and costs maybe 10 bucks. Get some plastic wood to fill in cracks or holes, and you won't believe how much better things look. I once got a baby high chair for free because they sent two left legs instead of right and left. I drilled out the appropriate screw holes to convert one to the right side and filled in the existing holes. That saved enough money to pay for the drill press I used. Ifixit.com has become one of my favorite sites.
  • voisin 4y ago
    > That saved enough money to pay for the drill press I used. Tangential, but I’ve found this type of thing occurs pretty regularly. Where the economics of the industry have pushed the maintenance cost down to only a bit over the labour, and the actual equipment cost is somewhat negligible, so for an enterprising homeowner you get do the work yourself and end up with some equipment that you can use in the future for effectively nothing. Most recently, I bought a house with an irrigation system. Learned that in our cold climate they need to be blown out before winter to avoid freezing. Called around and was quoted $250. Went on YouTube and learned the general concept, went to Home Depot and bought an air compressor and an irrigation system adapter for $275, and did it myself in an afternoon.
  • sgerenser 4y ago
    I recently came across a free 2012 quad core Mac mini that ran, but kept failing to update to the latest OS it should support. Turned out to be a bad stick of RAM, pulled that out, popped in a cheap SATA 1TB ssd and used open core legacy patcher to bring it up to MacOS Monterey. Now it’s my home server/docker/VM runner. Hope I can get a few more years out of it although Ventura support through open core seems unlikely. Admittedly, it took quite a while to diagnose the problems and get everything updated, but I consider that stuff a hobby.
• nibbleshifter 4y ago
  Refrigerators can usually be repaired for much less than the cost of replacing it. Same goes for washing machines/drying machines, or pretty much any other large appliance. I've seen people throw out perfectly good soft furnishings simply because they didn't know how to clean them, and let outdoor furniture go to rot because they didn't bother treating the wood every year or so by oiling it. Cookware also often goes to waste due to neglect or lack of maintenance - I know a few people who buy pretty expensive kitchen knives and never sharpen them, instead replacing them.
  • eternityforest 4y ago
    Sharpening is one of the few things on all those life skills lists that's actually worth it. Stones aren't expensive, it's reasonably doable although way harder than people say.
    • dsr_ 4y ago
      Sandpaper and a flat surface is even cheaper than stones, and easier to boot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scary_sharp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scary_sharp
      • nibbleshifter 4y ago
        TIL! I'll have to give that a try sometime, I've an abundant amount of sandpaper in various grits.
  • matwood 4y ago
    It depends on the item and the risk. Google/internet has helped here immensely. My refrigerator 'failed', and it just needed a new logic board. Way easier than building a computer. Risk was medium because it's hard to go too long without a refrigerator. I had a tankless hot-water heater fail, so replaced most of the parts inside. Eventually, figured out the exchanger had cracked which was about 1/2 the cost of a new heater. Lots of time wasted, though not much money. Bought a new one b/c the one was 10 years old. Risk was low because we could survive without hot water for a bit. I installed the new one with the help of a friend - saved about $3k. This cold caused an outside pipe to fail. I did PVC joins for the first time yesterday and they seem to be good. Cost was very little in both money and time. Risk is also low since it's outside. If what I did fails, I can always call a plumber. Furniture items I reuse all the time. It's amazing what a quick repaint and/or buying new upholstery can do. When I buy new furniture now, I try to only buy things with slip covers/easy to replace parts.
• djbusby 4y ago
  Our 65" Samsung faded out (blue/purple). Just needed to replace the white back-light LEDs. $60 in parts. About 1h labour (mine).
  • zo1 4y ago
    How much time spent diagnosing the problem, researching the fix, and finding the right part? Also, what about the time spent learning all the info and knowledge necessary to be able to do the above? There is always more to the cost equation than immediately obvious.
    • djbusby 4y ago
      One search on internet and a YouTube. 10 min. The video was published by a parts supplier, their site had a model search. 5min. Knowing how to fix things, handy with tools and stuff...been working on that a little over 40 years.
    • naasking 4y ago
      The skills you learn doing it once make every subsequent repair quick and fairly easy. I've repaired multiple TVs at this point.
    • onewheeltom 4y ago
      In my experience, similar devices fail in similar ways, so simple Internet searches turn up lots of information. That knowledge is something that you keep forever and can assist others in fixing their devices. Otherwise, its just more repairable devices in the landfill.
    • smileysteve 4y ago
      But if you account for those costs (which some might put in the entertainment column) then you also need to account for the 1. Time to call the repair service 2. Being home to greet, escort, and explain the problem 3. The additional cost if sunk cost leads to replace instead of repair. 4. Effort to pay the bill
• candiddevmike 4y ago
  I had an appliance repair person come out to fix our dishwasher ($$$), he told me this would happen again if I repaired it, and I should just buy a new one. Instead, I bought the component online and DIY'd the fix instead of paying him another $200. The component failed a month later, just like he predicted. I bought a new dishwasher, after spending hundreds to repair my existing one. Moral of the story: hubris is expensive.
  • thinkmcfly 4y ago
    Alternate moral of the story: design flaws do not often correct themselves
  • MontyCarloHall 4y ago
    That means there was a higher level problem in the dishwasher that caused that part to repeatedly break. Why couldn’t the higher level problem be solved?
    • xnx 4y ago
      likely inherent to the design
      • MontyCarloHall 4y ago
        That makes no sense. If that were true, the dishwasher would have broken a month after it was brand new.
• tomalaci 4y ago
  As others have said, a lot of things are just thrown out even though material cost-wise they can be cheaply repaired. The issue usually comes down to effort and time to do it versus just getting a new one, if you have no skills doing the necessary repairs then having a skilled professional do it for you is often not worth it. However, if you do have skills and tools to do it, you may be surprised how much crazy money you can save by just maintaining the same product way past its expected lifetime. Especially true for various electronic appliances that often break down because some wire has gone bad somewhere.
• deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
• fodmap 4y ago
  Almost everything can be repair, or makes economic sense to repair. I think the key point in your question is 'easy to repair' and that depends on your skills, knowledge, and whether you feel comfy around electrical stuff if that's the case.
• gottebp 4y ago
  Breville coffee grinders. The company does not sell parts, and so 3D printing was necessary to bridge the gap when mine broke a few years back. It ended up being one of the small victories over entropy for me, and I wrote it all up on iFixit here[0] [0] https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/BCG800XL+Grinder+Jamming+due+to+Worn+Impeller/62905 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/BCG800XL+Grinder+Jamming+due+to...
  • lopis 4y ago
    Then why would you recommend a device that breaks and the company offers no support for repairs?
    • gottebp 4y ago
      Well, I do not. It is one of the most popular grinders on Amazon though. Many of us are already stuck with it!
  • jacknews 4y ago
    Yes, small kitchen appliances are a curse of disposability. Eg Blenders all seem to have proprietary connections between the motor base and the jar, often in plastic. When a small connection tab breaks, the whole thing is junk even though it still 'works' as 3d printing, glue, etc is usually not strong enough.
• explorigin 4y ago
  I feel like most things that have a small plastic clip that gets broken...like a vacuum cleaner. Look up "plastic welding" and save lots of money on simple things like that.
• keiferski 4y ago
  Instead of disposable plastic razors (Schick, Gilette, etc.) I recommend getting a safety razor and a big pack of blades (I use Merkur). You will save yourself thousands of dollars over the course of a lifetime - and avoid generating a ton of waste. Maintenance is pretty much just cleaning the razor with vinegar every few weeks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_razor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_razor If you have the time/desire for it, a straight razor is also an option. It takes much more expertise and time, though, so I would start with the safety razor first.
  • kahnclusions 4y ago
    This is a big one. Disposable razors are an epic waste of money. I spent £30 on a good quality safety razor which will last forever, and spend another £4/year on blades.
  • BostonEnginerd 4y ago
    I find that you generally get a better shave with a safety razor as well. The multi-blade razors which are commonly sold today get clogged up with beard hair and scratch my face. I purchased my razor about 15yr ago now, and am still working through the first $25 worth of razor blades.
  • jackvalentine 4y ago
    My Merkur safety razor broke after 10 solid years of use - I guess I over-torqued the handle/head screw and pulled the screw out of the head. I have been meaning to drill out the head and use a bolt in the spirit of this thread, but will probably just buy a new one.
  • saila 4y ago
    I've been using the same rechargeable Wahl clippers for about a decade and only shave with a razor on rare occasions because the clippers get close enough for most situations. It's also possible to repair them to some extent. I've taken the body apart to clean it out, and it seems like it'd be easy enough to replace the battery.
    • 4y ago
• BostonEnginerd 4y ago
  I've repaired multiple gas stoves for people. The SiC element which heats up to ignite the gas fails over time. My neighbors were just replacing their stove every time this happened until I showed them how to do it.
  • sokoloff 4y ago
    I do about an appliance repair per year for me, one of our parents, or a close friend. It’s shocking to me how ready someone is to buy a $900 washer instead of replacing < $50 of wear parts. (Many times it seems they never even ask themselves “could this be fixed?” In the most recent case, the lint trap and duct needed a good cleaning, no parts.)
  • ChoGGi 4y ago
    Could I ask for some more info, I think I might be having the same issue?
    • sokoloff 4y ago
      Google your oven model and “hot surface igniter”. (I haven’t seen any on stove/cooktops, but usually on ovens. Stovetops seem to mostly use spark ignition.)
      • ChoGGi 4y ago
        Thank you
    • BostonEnginerd 4y ago
      In my case, it manifested as an over which would take forever to come to temperature. The gas valve won’t turn on until the hot surface igniter allows a certain amount of current through. It’s about a one hour repair on most ovens if you haven’t done it before. A ten minute job if you have.
      • deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
• reaperducer 4y ago
  Certain vacuum cleaners. There are still vacuum cleaner repair shops in many cities. But they're often hard to find because they don't have the money to advertise or a web site. If you're a DIY person, look at Dyson. People on HN like to complain about Dyson vaca because they're expensive. But they're also a good example of right-to-repair. Mine recently had a problem and I found out that almost every part of it can be ordered online, even though it's older. And when my part arrived, disassembly was simple, and the instructions clear. It even came with new screws.
  • cafard 4y ago
    HNers in the Washington, DC, area should be aware that there is a repair place at Connecticut Avenue and Macomb St. NW.
• voisin 4y ago
  Kitchenaid Stand Mixers. The parts can be bought from Kitchenaid directly for reasonable costs and from my experience no special tools are needed. Lots of videos online too.
• CoastalCoder 4y ago
  Marriages.
• failrate 4y ago
  I frequently repair tools. If a handle breaks, I have a bamboo plant that I periodically harvest from that makes surprisingly good handles for e.g. garden shovels. My wife had a pair of small scissors with a broken handle that I repaired with lashings saturated with CA glue. Stuff like shower mats can be sunned out to kill mold, but they will eventually just need to be thrown out.
• xyzelement 4y ago
  I watched my dad do handy things when growing up so I have a default mindset that anything can be fixed or at least jury rigged. Today even though most such repair is not worth my time per se, I want my son to grow up seeing dad figure out how to do stuff so he also expects himself to be able to figure out whatever comes up.
• sva_ 4y ago
  Lots of the more analogue electronic stuff that stopped working "for no reason" can often be repaired very easily (might require some basic soldering skills.) Just opening up the device and following the wire will often reveal that it is something banal, like the wire not being tightly secured somewhere.
• Apreche 4y ago
  If it's not a consumable item, and it's not completely worn out beyond the point of no return, it can almost definitely be repaired. Exceptions are rare.
• lettergram 4y ago
  Components for larger devices such as washer, dryers, etc. the machines often provide error code. Take the error code to the manual and see if you can identify the component. I tend to try and fix everything myself OR if I hire someone I make them teach me how to do it (and pay them a bit more cash). I’ve rebuilt faucets (usually a gasket fails, that’s like $5 to replace). Biggest repair was a dryer where the toroidal transformer failed on a 40-50 year old washer (it’s a component used in motors). I found the manual on eBay for a few bucks, got the specs of the transformer, bought a new on and rigged it up. Worked, still works.
• bsmth 4y ago
  PSA if you're thinking of repairing appliances that run on mains power supply: A lot of you might be comfortable tinkering with breadboards or Arduinos and hobbyist electronics, but mains electricity can be lethal. Please consider hiring a professional electrician before you start replacing failing components or power cables if you're unsure about what you're doing. Stay safe :)
  • digitalsushi 4y ago
    This person is smart. Please listen to them. I did not listen to them, with the caveat that this anecdote is from 8 years ago, but it would have helped me if I had the capacity to accept their insights at the time. In the United States (and other countries, but is it every country?) we can freely go into a supply store and purchase electrical components with no licensing or any other approvals. Simply go in, get what you think you need, and leave. So when we were wrapping up the installation of our new kitchen some decade ago, I had recently completed a college Physics course, which I believe I had about a C- average in, and was very confident that I knew enough to wire the electrical connection on our steel range vent, with steel fume collection hood. A year in, the little light bulbs that illuminate the range beneath had burned out from extreme heat. The metal base was still in the socket, but the glass was gone. "No problem, I'll turn the power off at the circuit and use a potato cut in half as a handle to force the base out". Of course, a combination of shared neutral wiring, and my own errors, including that ground and neutral were 'the same' and I had tied the neutral into the hood, left me blown across the kitchen when I finally used the oven door handle with my other hand for leverage. The headache lasted about a week. My chest felt like a couch full of old pennies. The first thing I remember was my wife sobbing, and the second thing I remember was that I am dumb and lucky. The third thing I remember was guilt for making my wife cry, and that's the one that finally registered within me that I should not be touching wires. 10 years later, I touch wires. I'm still not certified to do it, but there haven't been any more accidents. I will do only what I can convince myself I fully understand. Operations performed here are either very simple, or outsourced to professionals. Hire an electrician.
• vgel 4y ago
  Some relatively simple things I've repaired around our apartment. Not all of these people would replace, but they might call a professional when it's quicker and cheaper to DIY: * Top-loading washing machine. If it spins really loudly, or stops spinning, pop off the front panel and check the belt. Ours had just slipped off. Just make sure you get it really tight when reattaching--I had to redo it a couple times until it stayed on. As a bonus, I found a bunch of clothes that had fallen inside, including my wife's favorite skirt :-) * iPhone battery replacement. Just bought the iFixit toolkit and followed their guide, it was pretty simple. Extended the life of my 6s+ another year (so far). * Clothes repairs are pretty simple. I've patched some pretty big holes in jeans with new fabric which is a bit more involved, but things like sewing buttons back on or patching small holes is really simple, just look up mending stitches online. If you don't have the right color of thread, you can use hidden stitches, or go for a kintsugi approach and make the mending visible which can be pretty stylish. * Stove burner covers -- these literally pop out and are (usually) dishwasher safe. * Dishwasher cleaning -- this isn't hard, but can be pretty gross if it hasn't been done in awhile. Look up a youtube video, take all the parts out and thoroughly scrub everywhere you can, then run a cycle with a couple dishwasher cleaning tabs. Night and day cleaning difference for old dishwashers.
  • maxerickson 4y ago
    If the material is compatible, a bath in ammonia gas will degrade the burnt on grease so that it just wipes off. For when the dishwasher doesn't cut it. (so like put the item in a bag or container with a small amount of ammonia and let it sit overnight)
• onewheeltom 4y ago
  Sometimes the item is thrown away before it breaks. I was handed a 24 inch smart tv and told “nothing wrong with it, still works”. I dont think it is worth fixing everything that breaks, but maybe 30% of broken items by my estimate are easily repaired.
• culopatin 4y ago
  My proud repairs include: A Samsung washer that would not detect that the door was closed. Bypassed it with a paper clip. You can open the door while the clothes are tumbling but I just don’t do that and all is good. Many washers actually, bearings, belts, shocks. A Hamilton beach electric kettle. To turn on you push down on a little lever that stays engaged until a bimetal gets hot and clicks off. It wouldn’t stay engaged. Disassembled and bent a contact a bit to give the lever a bit more range. Been working great for almost a year. Apple Watch. Replaced battery. Sealing the screen again was a mess and didn’t last long, but it was good for a while. A series of laptops
• sys_64738 4y ago
  It's an opportunity cost question here. Is your time worth more than the money to replace it? As you get older your time is much more valuable IMO.
• jaclaz 4y ago
  Personally I tend to (try and) repair anything, but lately (a few years) finding suitable spare parts has become much more difficult, simply the "manufacturers" do not provide them (or stops providing them after a short time since the new model is put in commerce) and - unless it is for some reasons a very popular model/device/appliance - third parties do not manufacture them (too low volume to be profitable). Or the few people that have these spares available try to sell them as if they were gold. Right now I have a washer that needs its shock absorbing supports replaced, two supports are needed, I found them at 45 Euro each (other more common models are sold for anything between 5 and 15 Euro) + shipping. Now on a simple washer that I can buy new for 400 Euro, and that is a few years old, spending 20-40 Euro for spares (not considering my time) makes sense, spending some 100 Euro makes very little. Something else that few people consider is that the appliance you replace in the best case is (partially) recycled, in the worse ends up in a dumpster somehwere, while if you manage to repair it only the small parts that you replace are waste.
• pragmatic 4y ago
  Appliances. With an abundance of YouTube videos and multiple parts suppliers many appliances can be repaired with a few hours work and $100 in parts (depending on what's wrong of course) I've repaired a freezer (thermostat/temp control) and a clothes dryer. Have also fixed my furnace.
• kthejoker2 4y ago
  I'm a big believer in "own your stuff" - follow your maintenance and storage guides, save digital copies of your manuals, call the 1800 hotline (they are super helpful!), get handy with basic (handheld!) elecrical and mechanical repairs, and share what you've learned. That being said, the main reasons I replace what could be repaired are: * a chance to upgrade something I bought 15 years ago * cost of replacement parts is too high = most appliances fall in this category, very frustrating * anything involving woodworking, it has never interested me but in hindsight I could've fixed quite a few things that just needed a new foot or bracket or even a whole drawer Things I've replaced that were repairable: Umbrellas, clocks, electric can opener, game consoles, IKEA bookshelfs and other furniture, carpets, hoses, electric tiller (part prices grrr), handheld vacs (part availability grrrr), a ton of kid toys that just needed a breadboard or piezo or light Tldr Not as much as you'd think after 20 years of marriage, kids, and upward mobility, take care of your things!
• farski 4y ago
  As others have said, doing maintenance before things get to the point of needing repair is also worthwhile. When I buy something that I want to last a while, I make sure to read the manual and also do some additional research to identify any scheduled maintenance that should be done, and I create a reminder in my Todo app to stay on top of it. That includes big things like car maintenance, and small things, like laundering a shower curtain before it get so stained and gross it can't be cleaned.
• jemmyw 4y ago
  Washing machine and dryer. Our last pair had troubles. I did open both up and attempt to diagnose and repair. I got them going but both needed a part replaced, dryer it was the belt and washer was having issues with the pump. The problem is that it is hard to get the parts and it takes time, it's not guaranteed to be a fix, and the local repair people have a 2+ week wait to come and look. It's much more convenient to just buy replacement appliances. I'm comfortable fixing things but I don't always have time and that time would be further stretched having to go to the laundry place in town. We bought replacements, got the repair company to fix up the old machines and sold them on. Parts is the biggest issue. Our coffee machine needed repair. I would have loved to fix it myself but the parts are really expensive so I couldn't experiment... I tried replacing the tubes and a valve. In the end it needed a pump. The repair place that sees loads of them can just stock some spare pumps but I'd end up paying more than a new machine to do that... and the shipping on parts, it was stupidly expensive.
• Turing_Machine 4y ago
  > I appreciate I could clean it instead, which would be less wasteful. Taking it to a commercial laundromat with one of those big front-loaders would probably work. Put in plenty of bleach.