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Comment by cameldrv | Hacker News Reader

Thinking back to growing up, we had an electric stove, washer, dryer, dishwasher, and refrigerator. All were purchased from '79-82 or so.

1. Stove died in about 2007 2. Washer/dryer were replaced with something "better", although they were still running in 2009 3. Dishwasher died in 2011 4. Refrigerator was replaced but still running in 2013

This was not just survivorship bias. Basically all of these appliances lasted at least 30 years. They were from good brands (Washer/dryer and dishwasher were Maytag), but I don't think you can buy an appliance today that you can truly expect to last 30 years. At the least, there will be some sort of control board that will give out after 10-15 years and won't be available anymore.

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This. I don't really care about cars but for household appliances there is a clear tendency towards obsolescence.

Another data point: Just replaced a washer from the early 90s (German low-price brand, "Privileg") with one from the 2010s by a higher-priced brand (Bosch). Both were used. Reason for replacement: small top-loader for larger standard washer.

Both were obviously bought used.

The newer one broke within six months. The old, 30-year old one still works. The defect was a mechanical one, not the PCB. But notably, the still-functioning washer has no digital controls.

I know, anecdata is no data. But for this kind of appliance, I'd bet my arm that their lifetime has decreased substantially.

Bought a house in 1990 that had all of the original appliances in it from 1974. The stove died around 2000 (26 years). The Fridge died around 2010 (36 years). The dishwasher died in 2012 (38 years).

We started renting that house out in 2010 and bought a different house that had appliances that were about 7 years old (based on what the previous owner had told us). We had to replace the dishwasher in 2012 (so it was 9 years old then) and since then we had to replace it again in 2022 (at 10 years). Had to replace the fridge in 2014 (11 years).

You can, it's SpeedQueen

> We test our commercial quality machines to 10,400 cycles or roughly 25 years of life in an average household.

> You probably want to hear that we test our electronic controls to one million depressions…yes, we actually do.

https://speedqueen.com/speed-queen-difference/

You're right, that's a good option for the washer. For the rest I have no idea...

If you find other American manufacturers of quality appliances please share! I'm always on the lookout

I bought a new Maytag washer/dryer when I moved. We were so frustrated by it that we decided we would replace them and then give them away. Had friends who were interested but, they couldn't get them to work at all either. They were literally junk straight from the factory. We had them serviced under warranty as well, just a huge waste of time and money.

This has to be a race to the bottom and yeah, technically somehow it did sort of wash our clothes, but it was a huge hassle.

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