planned obsolesance

[L Smith]

Our refrigerator is not cooling any more. Cleaned the coil and exercised (cleaning the contacts) the temp knob. Going to go buy another one today. Dang thing only lasted 19 years.  My large forge, PW anvil, post vices assorted tongs are ageless. They will still be going strong generations from now!

[ianinsa]

Jup, that's the new junk for you :)

[Bob S]

Our refrigerator is not cooling any more. Cleaned the coil and exercised (cleaning the contacts) the temp knob. Going to go buy another one today. Dang thing only lasted 19 years.  My large forge, PW anvil, post vices assorted tongs are ageless. They will still be going strong generations from now!

but they won't keep your beer cold...

[Charles R. Stevens]

Often old refrigeraters (clamping door) can be had for little or nothing. Rewiring and retrofiting with spray in fome makes a buletproff (tho manualy defrosted) unit. There are a couple of companyes that acualy do so for folks that want the caracture of old fridges and ranges

 

 

 

 

 

Often old refrigerates (clamping door) can be had for little or nothing. Rewiring and retrofitting with spray in foam makes a bulletproof (though manually defrosted) unit. There are a couple of company’s that actually do so for folks that want the character of old fridges and ranges  [translation by bing]

[SpankySmith]

I had to replace my HVAC last year, it only made it 35 years. The guys putting in the new unit said I'd be lucky to get 15 out of one of the new ones, that at one point Trane realized they were making things TOO well and started planning obsolescence better. You'd think it'd be the opposite, that over time we'd get better at making things to last. But I guess there's no profit in that. Sigh...and when did I start sounding like a curmudgeon? Or maybe just like my father. Yikes!

[DSW]

So much of this comes from todays disposable mentality. I've redone 3 kitchens and 4 baths this year and all the appliances and fixtures were removed and disposed of in working condition. Customers simply wanted a "new" look. I have only one customer who wants that "retro" look of older appliances. Sadly all hers were water soaked in Super Storm Sandy and probably aren't salvageable.

 

 

Charles if you have a link to anyone redoing old ranges and fridges or selling updated versions, I'd appreciate a link. She's got an old 24" range from the 50's she loves that matches the ambiance of the old shore style bungalow, but I think the oven is trash after being submerged in the flood, though the burners probably still are fine. She'd also love to replace the old latch style fridge that died two years before the storm with a similar unit to go with the rest of the house.

[Charles R. Stevens]

DSW, I'll hunt it down for you.
As the rock wool in the old range is probbably done for, that would need replaced. Not sure about the thermistate, but i know retrofit valvels are avalabe for safty pilots (oven)

[L Smith]

Well the new one is $100 cheaper than the 1995 refrigerator. Not sure if we won or lost on inflation!  Delivery date Wednesday. was  going in my new shop when we move -- no cold ones till then??

[Frosty]

but they won't keep your beer cold...

 

You let beer get warm Bob?

 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Frost, keeping beer liquid would seem to be the problem in your neck of the woods!

[Jacob Nothstine]

In Michigan DTE Energy will pay you $50.00 for old refrigerators. I think that's 1 bag of coal or 2 LP refills for me. 

 

https://www2.dteenergy.com/wps/portal/dte/residential/saveEnergy/details/Rebates%20and%20Offers/Appliance%20Recycling/!ut/p/b1/jdHJcoJAEAbgZ8kD6AwzLMMRhICIbMOiXCggikgAoyLK0wdT5SGpbH3rqu8__N0gBisQN-mlLNJz2Tbp632P-QQT0wq5wHZNViBw7rG27voiAyk7gvUd2JJH2RH4EKojCBVHXxCsLYX_5eEPI8G_8gaIy6ye9nk9hVMMRcJCKDAIYUhEngOhkldX5bQsFFXx3sSZfPKfhzN3K4IySwdP8ivpunbVUJgMhsivUE_mh_1NXWbZJs0jbHBkCI-EMHm3zyh_rOyO8p5Wojajs8t21zemWPQvuDD3zc4xQtrLQ5UzchQFA6O0ViYL5SI_6TsqJ_WWY9yO1bokcVULRRMGRCD-3I_D87GfL2E5wAhBiX-Ax305jY5ADh3s-CqCmvAVfPOAD_DLhS29rTfgUAerYVN5ei89vQOPX3K_/dl4/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/

[SJS]

I have always said that the guy who came up with planned obsolesance should have been taken out behind the building and horse whipped, not given a raise and a corner office.  Although lack of that kind of thing is part of what put Hay Budden out of business, they made a great anvil, they continued to expand their production capacity, they saturated their market, and then the market dropped off as people opened welding shops, and mechanics garages instead of blacksmith's shops. 

[ianinsa]

I once (during a social) complained to a director of a company whose products used to last 'forever' that their new ones lasted a few months longer than warrantee and he said they realized that they were now selling a product and not a lifestyle! 'go figure'

[John McPherson]

Hay and Budden parted ways when one wanted to retire and the other one tried to buy him out, and went broke doing it.

[rockstar.esq]

Lots of focus on the manufacturer for making something obselete, but there's often a regulatory initiative behind replacing "old stuff" with the new.

 

New code requirements, higher efficiency standards, and even zoning can drive what's allowed versus what's not. 

 

Back in college I observed a lecture from a Construction Management Gradutate Student who was discussing his "research" into "ground breaking" home building technology.

 

Turns out their amazing ideas revolved around residential room layouts that capitalized on standard material sizes.  Drywall comes in 8',10' and 12' lengths so there's less  waste if your walls finish out at those dimensions.

 

Another one was using 24" O.C. studs aligned with roof trusses to alleviate two wastes of lumber, the extra studs and the extra top plate required when the truss is misaligned with the studs.

 

They thought that trenching but not forming for footers was a revolutionary idea.  They also presented the notion of stacked restrooms as an impressive feat of engineering insight.

 

My house is 109 years old and features all of his "new" ideas with the qualification that they standardized to the materials of their day.  Drywall hadn't taken off yet for example.

 

I recall thinking that the "reasearch" presented was little more than CAD drawings of Victorian era efficient building practices.  The "Masters program" should have been embarrassed for spending that money.

[DSW]

A bit off topic, but I've thought the same thing about all the "new" "green" energy programs for the most part. Solar and wind power have been around for ages. It wasn't until the advent of the electric light bulb and AC  that things like windows to allow in light and allow in cool breezes out let out hot air were "forgotten". A great deal of what today is "new" was well known by people in the Victorian area.

[rockstar.esq]

DSW, you reminded me of something.  CSU's first buildings went up in the Victorian era.  Two of them are in current use for the Construction Management program.  As part of the "green initiative" the CM department decided to "improve" the buildings.

 

The did the following:

 

Stripped off original slate roofing (that wasn't leaking) to replace it with a white membrane product that can not, and will not last 100 years like the original roof.  There was absolutely no structural, or water intrusion problem with the roof, it just wasn't "modern".

 

Sealed all the hallway transoms, and skylights for "less solar heating"  The University won't pay to add air conditioning, so without the built-in natural ventillation, the buildings are sweltering in the summer and any time there's a warm day after they've turned on the steam heat for the year.

 

The flush urinals were replaced with waterless units which they're too cheap to maintain so the first floor smells like a neglected porta-potty.  Saving water is noble but water is much cheaper than paying a janitor to wash the fixtures three times a day.

 

Anyone who's paid a water bill in Colorado should understand that watering the lawn on the high desert plains is costing FAR more money than flushing sewage.  The grounds have lush green grass.  In fact, it's often much more comfortable outside the "green built" buildings which is why several professors literally take their classes out on the lawn!

[LawnJockey]

I hate the garbage being produced today.  A few years ago the wife purchased a new washer and dryer.  The stuff feels like it is ready to fall apart already and this was high end stuff.  At my little off the grid place I go to great lengths to avoid buying that garbage.  My kitchen cabinets are old high school science lab cabinets.  For plumbing fixtures I had a plumbing contractor friend save fixtures he was tearing out for me.  All cast iron, ceramic and brass.  The only new item is the on demand hot water heater and that is the only item that gives me trouble.  I would post photos but I can't get photos to upload.

[John McPherson]

Of course, I am getting to the stage where the planned obsolescence of the human body is getting to be a problem.....

 

But not too bad for a geezer born under a flag with 48 stars. 

[ThomasPowers]

What I've noticed is that a lot of younger people have never built anything---I ask about hammering experience when I teach a smithing class. If you teach Architecture isolated from construction then you get people who don't tend to think in terms of what sizes things come in naturally. BTW you can get longer sheetrock; when I put a ceiling back on my 100 year old kitchen I got the longer version and a sheet rock jack and so had *no* butt joints to mud and sand up there! When I was younger I was told that houses were being made with a 40 year "use life" and then more recently a 30 year uselife---so by the time the mortgage is paid off it will need a thorough re-build...When I lived in OH there was a rash of burglaries of new houses where the miscreants were not even trying to force the doors. They were taking box cutters and cutting through the vinyl siding and the walls as there was no plywood or even osb sheathing on them. My OH home was structural brick and a slate roof and was over 100 years old when we left it.

[njanvilman]

About 25 years ago, my wife and I went to a local house auction.  In the basement was an old refrigerator. No one was bidding, so I threw out a $5 bid and won it.  It is a Frigidaire, made by General Motors around 1955.  We brought it home and use it in the basement as a second unit during the holidays or whenever needed.  It still looks great with the enamel finish.  It will sit for many months, but as soon as I switch it on, it run great.  During this time, our 'upstairs' refrigerators have been replaced three times.  At least NJ gives you $50 for the old ones.   

 

I also use a Hobart meat grinder occasionally.  Came from a large hotel in Spring Lake, NJ, long since gone.  This model was last made in 1939.  Works like a champ.  It has never failed me.  Only thing I ever did to it was open the gear box, scoop out the old sluggy oil, and put in new gear oil.  That was 35 years ago.

 

Some of the old appliances have a very long life.

[L Smith]

Well the new one won't be here until the 17th. Salesperson at HD lied about last Wednesday.  However I do remember seeing many old ones with the coil on top sitting in garages and workshops in the eighties still keeping beer cold. My take on machine longevity is it only works for Wall street!

[notownkid]

Use to work in a machine shop for a short while, one job was installing bearings into the Alum.
rollers that roll the doors open when you walk up to them. These were for a very well known American manufacturer. We used Japanese Bearings for a long time. one day during a conversation with another guy I was rolling a bearing on my finger and I notice it kept hanging up in one spot, looked and they were Chinese Bearing not Japanese. I asked my brother in law and he called the purchasing Dept. for the manufacturer and was told they knew this was an inferior bearing but their tests showed they would last for the warranty period and they would then be able to increase their sales of replacement rollers and increase profits.

Every time I walk up to one of these doors and it makes noise when opening I check the manufacturer and most often it's this brand. We were told they saved 25 cents per bearing.

[DSW]

The flush urinals were replaced with waterless units which they're too cheap to maintain so the first floor smells like a neglected porta-potty.  Saving water is noble but water is much cheaper than paying a janitor to wash the fixtures three times a day.

 

Anyone who's paid a water bill in Colorado should understand that watering the lawn on the high desert plains is costing FAR more money than flushing sewage.  The grounds have lush green grass.  In fact, it's often much more comfortable outside the "green built" buildings which is why several professors literally take their classes out on the lawn!

 

 

So true. If they had left the toilets alone, and added instead a gray water system or even one of the newer sewage treatment systems, they could have saved way more water by simply using the waste to water the lawns.

[ThomasPowers]

We get a lot of people wanting to go offgrid out here and one of the first things I suggest for them is a multiple water system---don't waste expensive processing for water that's just going to flush toilets and use the water from sinks and showers to water stuff. Save the *good* water for drinking and cooking!