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I have the original refrigerator the previous owners installed when we purchased the house. It's from the 1990s. It is sometimes loud, but I am afraid to replace it. I am sometimes awed by the new, sleek fridges in the home improvement store but then Admiral Ackbar's voice rings in my head and gives me a +8 to my Will save. So far so good.

Every 2-4 years I replace the dishwasher, dryer, and washing machine. The first replacement dishwasher caught on fire; we are on dishwasher #4. The current washing machine has a leak, the water sensor* which somehow functions after being there for over four years (four!) notifies me reliably.

* Samsung has discontinued the water sensor

Ah yeah I paid for Consumer reports and instead of buying an expensive dishwasher got the $500 Bosch that they claimed washed as well as the $2000 Thermador dishwasher. It has been going strong for a few years, no complaints here.

I know Consumer Reports can’t really account for durability although I think they survey their members to see what’s still working, so it’s better than most places.

CR and Reddit seem to agree that Bosch is a solid choice, which is why I went with Bosch.

Every 2-4 years?! That's wild. I live in a rental house that still has all of its appliances from the 90s. They definitely look dated - all white, lots of plastic, no stainless steel or water dispenser or anything - but they all still work perfectly. I haven't had a single problem with any of them since I moved in several years ago, with the exception of the dishwasher coming unplugged and having to be removed so it could be plugged back in. This post is making me grateful for my shabby appliances (and the fact that I'm not on the hook for fixing them if they do break)!

My washing machine is over thirty years old, a no-name Italian one. Electromechanical controller, so no electronics. The only fault is that the program knob fell off, I tied it back on with a piece of string ten years ago. It looks like it should keep going for another decade or two.

I think there's a real opportunity for a company to release a (affordable) fridge that has zero gadgets, and markets the quality of the cooling system. How can a 40 year old fridge that lives in the garage be more reliable than a new Samsung (or GE in this case)? Obviously, it's cheap components. But, considering how much of a pain in the ass moving a refrigerator is, "won't break" is highly marketable here. I'd certainly buy one.

I have a 2nd fridge in my garage, an old philco one - still running perfectly, 365 days a year for almost 70 years. Never needed a repair in the 25 years I have owned it.

Throw it away! It is costing more in annual electricity than a new one. Never mind it's old; it's insulation is worthless and its compressor is very inefficient.

Is this a joke?!

Are you a fridge salesman or something?

You do understand that many of us would pay more for that fridge and gladly pay way more in electricity to have it perform its job reliably, right?

Replaced my 30yo appliances. My electric bill dropped in half.

Sure you have the resources to burn all the electricity you want for convenience, you do you.

But how much did that cost, and how long ago was it? Have you recouped the cost yet? I ask because if it’s a 5 year payback, that’s ignoring the cost of food spoilage from your new fridge that quits after 6 years.

The idea is to have inexpensive refrigerators that use less energy and last many decades. (And when they are superseded by even more efficient models there should be a clear recycle/reuse "exit" for the old appliances. I hear they have laws to that effect over in Germany, something like that. Keeps the old obsolete appliances out of the landfill.)

We have laws like it in Norway too. Old appliances can be taken to the local recycling centre or to any shop that sells appliances of the same general type. All shops that sell electrical goods have to be willing to take back discarded appliances even if they did not sell that specific article or even brand.

taking them back is good, I guess, but if they take them back and then throw them into a landfill, what has been accomplished?

No, that's the whole point (as far as I understand it): the manufacturers can't just throw it in a landfill, the law says they have to e.g. disassemble it and reuse or recycle the parts.

baloney - what is the cost to the environment of producing, transporting and then throwing away a refrigerator every 7-10 years? How about the gas used for the service calls?

My old fridge is running perfectly, and costs me less than $10-$15/month.

A typical modestly price refrigerator these days cost $1000 at home depot (and easily more) - even if I could cut electricity by 50%, saving 7.50 a month in electric, a typical new fridge won't even last long enough to justify the savings..

70 years old? Really?

yes, amazingly it really is - built in the early 1950's and still works perfectly. Not pretty enough to keep in the house anymore, but still hums away day after day. They truly don't make them like they used to.

Compressor efficiency hasn't changed much actually. Insulation, probably, is where most of the energy savings come from.

Two reasons:

1. Newer fridges have much more complicated air flow patterns requiring more fans and elaborate designs (my fridge runs all its fans for 2 seconds to homogenize air every time I close its door, for example).

2. That fan is a standard fan in GE line-up which happens to fit that bill. It's not a fan made extra robust and reliable because it's going to end in a $4000 fridge.

We got a compressor fridge from the now non-existent GDR 50-ish years ago, and it finally broke this year. Still cools, just non-stop (the temperature sensing switch gave up the ghost). I occasionally think about cybernetically enhancing it with an ESP8266, a relay and a sensor.

Just grab a Johnson Controls temperature controller. Set and forget.

In contrast the $120 freezers in my garage have given improbably years of service without a single issue. New from big box store; reviews warned of possible failure and loss of content. But mine must be the good ones. Somebody has to get the good one I guess.

Chest freezers cannot be compared to household kitchen refrigerator-freezer combinations. There's way, way, way less complexity.

* No need to split & balance the refrigeration between fridge & freezer

* No expectation of a defrost cycle on the freezer

* Generally less stuff: no water or ice dispenser, less lights, less fancy bins & trays & veg drawers etc.

* Chest freezers get opened less, and the top-opening lid lets less cold out when they are opened, and without the defrost cycle the compressor just doesn't have to work as hard.

* Usually greater consumer tolerance for these items being large/heavy machinery so the designers don't even have to worry too hard about keeping things compact.

My refrigerator works fine as long as the fan holds up. I’m not sure why they used such a terrible fan though.

If years of service is the expectation for a refrigerator, then something is wrong.

Refrigerator life should be measured in decades.