Is Everything Junk Now?

[Texasota]

My wife wanted a new dishwasher even though the Whirlpool that was installed in 1992 was still working okay. The new one is also a Whirlpool (like all other appliances in our house) but I don't expect it to last 32 years like the old one. Installer said it might last 6-7 years. Overall, we have had very good service from our Whirlpool appliances.

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[AzScorpion]

THANKS! This is the same fridge I have now.......

I bought a 3 pack of the GE RPWF filters on eBay similar to the ones below which will work, see comments where others are using these for the same hack. These have the square in them but no chip so you can either place the chip in the square and remove it each time or just tape it to the inside filter box.

Edit: This hack does turn off the reminder light so your "replace filter" light will remain on. I just set a reminder on my phone to change it every 6-12 months depending on how much water you use.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234259746346?_skw=ge+rpwf+filter&itmmeta=01JJACQMBPWF80XG8C4WNP92DF&hash=item368af80e2a:gAkAAOSwECxkQJsV&itmprp=enc:AQAJAAAA0HoV3kP08IDx+KZ9MfhVJKnum7fXrUbfUoI0CNM7SFZMWYToxuBPMxFI9+Ki+jb4AIW/wLzIcp5QCHVYpYm6qUj0kAMd0Z16Dq4J++4iV0u0dlzwixe3HqFPGPcYyzL775sXJshLhqlJjttlGWQmej8+iSOMdpyKtqL/w5cXzy5XiTBqf/7fIRyUOGnZcmYGZeVQ2j6fkHhwCUwifcQWawzZvxIYUvTOr7n1bsAfgxTd8wS12TzIbYF0Uu3+tClCoWNx+XQGd2bT3fxwMeOOlD0=|tkp:BlBMUIDG3sySZQ

 

[AzScorpion]

My wife wanted a new dishwasher even though the Whirlpool that was installed in 1992 was still working okay. The new one is also a Whirlpool (like all other appliances in our house) but I don't expect it to last 32 years like the old one. Installer said it might last 6-7 years. Overall, we have had very good service from our Whirlpool appliances.

It's pretty sad most things are disposable now. I mean for the price you'd "think" they'd last a good 10-15+ years but that's just not the case. Even the higher end Bosch and Miele have mixed reviews so for the money we went with the GE. I do like Whirlpool and now can't remember why we chose the GE over it but IIRC they were the top two choices. Costco gives you an extra years warranty over the manufacturers so that helps and even then they'll try and work with you if it's not to far out of it.

 

[brroberts]

Yep it’s all junk now, and parts typically become unavailable pretty fast. When I find something that lasts, or has good parts availability, I keep it going as long as I can.

 

[TJC]

We purchased a Berkey Water filter years ago. It is gravity fed so no moving parts. All cooking and drinking water flows though that filter. The filter cartridges are expensive, but they last for years.

Recently the EPA has ruled that silver is a pesticide, and since silver is used in the Berkey filters they have been banned until Berkey meets federal standards. Berkey has been manufacturing these filters for decades. They have been ordered to stop manufacturing them. They have since filed suit in Federal court to seek relief.

I tend to be an "over the horizon" thinker, and always purchase enough stock to last me through temporary bumps and shortages, so this does not affect me, but I still find Gov intrusion to be loathsome.

As a reminder on the importance of silver purification of water, People heading west in wagon trains in the frontier days placed a silver dollar in their water barrels to keep the water from going "bad". Silver is a great antibacterial and antiviral agent.

I have the water dispenser in my GE refrigerator, but do not use it and plugged the filter port. I'm on well water.

 

[WhyNot21]

The house I bought a year back has GE Profile appliances in the kitchen, wouldn't be my choice. The refrigerator has a water filter with a microchip that GE sells for $55 - used to be $50 and they had the audacity to recently raise the price. A filter without the microchip won't work as it's GE proprietary, but I found a hack on the internet where you take a filter with the microchip, steam and peel off the label and paste it over the sensor. Screw GE .

We have a ~5 year old GE Profile fridge. It came with a bypass filter if you didn't want to use a filter. Weird that they got rid of that option.

 

[Colo_Ranger]

I'm dealing with this right now. The ice tray in my fridge/freezer cracks and leaks, causing the whole ice bucket to become an ice block. Replaced it in January of 24, broken again. The fridge was new in 2020 when we bought our house. Google shows that it's an issue for most owners.

 

[AzScorpion]

We have a ~5 year old GE Profile fridge. It came with a bypass filter if you didn't want to use a filter. Weird that they got rid of that option.

Probably the bean counters figuring a way to save a couple dollars per fridge and still charge you more. The new GE fridge I bought in early 2020 didn't come with the bypass filter either. When I was reading about the filter hack above one of the videos said to use the chip off the bypass filter. I called GE and they sent me one for free but I ended up getting the chip off my old filter without damaging it.

 

[dtech]

We have a ~5 year old GE Profile fridge. It came with a bypass filter if you didn't want to use a filter. Weird that they got rid of that option.

The other option that I've done before is buy an in-line filter cartridge from Home Depot and install it on the water feed line , they last way longer than those in the fridge filters.

 

[Fordup]

Our 3 1/2 year old Samsung Q80 series 75 inch TV has been awesome without problems. Samsung like every other TV producer sells different quality levels. Just don't buy the apartment owner series that is the lowest price point. I keep hoping it dies so I can get a Samsung 95 inch 8k tv for my old eyes. Don't need an Amazon stick because all the apps are available on the TV and work flawlessly.

We bought a LG washer and dryer. Worked for 11 months and then they had a recall because of fires so they sent a tech out to reprogram the washer. After that it was garbage and they didn't care they screwed it up reprogramming. Replaced them with a Maytag agitator machine set and they have been awesome for 5 years now. Those machines without a working agitator are all crap anyway and my wife will never own another.

On the other hand my Ranger tranny is crap so Ford is on my no buy list at this point.

 

[dtech]

Our 3 1/2 year old Samsung Q80 series 75 inch TV has been awesome without problems. Samsung like every other TV producer sells different quality levels. Just don't buy the apartment owner series that is the lowest price point. I keep hoping it dies so I can get a Samsung 95 inch 8k tv for my old eyes. Don't need an Amazon stick because all the apps are available on the TV and work flawlessly.

We bought a LG washer and dryer. Worked for 11 months and then they had a recall because of fires so they sent a tech out to reprogram the washer. After that it was garbage and they didn't care they screwed it up reprogramming. Replaced them with a Maytag agitator machine set and they have been awesome for 5 years now. Those machines without a working agitator are all crap anyway and my wife will never own another.

On the other hand my Ranger tranny is crap so Ford is on my no buy list at this point.

Yeah when my LG dryer quit a week after it was installed - their phone support had me send the problem code and support said it meant the venting was either plugged or too long - it was neither, the dryer has a program you can run to verify the venting is adequate, it of course relies on a temp sensor that responds to airflow. So it turns out it was the temp sensor itself, a tech comes put to replace it and says because of the EPA and energy efficiency running the dryer on high heat setting will burn the sensor out, a month later another sensor gave it up and out comes a different tech with another illogical explanation, but this time the sensor that failed was deep in the machine and he had to unstack it and remove the whole front to replace it - it was the humidity sensor. The washer - which is direct drive - is overly sensitive to any inbalance so if you wash something heavy like a quilt it shuts the machine down.
poorly designed junk.

 

[FM AZ]

Yup, I agree, these modern products are junk. So is a lot of modern labor. No more craftsman. But the most dangerous thing is that big pharma stopped looking for cures to disease, and now they will only develop treatments. I’m so glad I’m old.

 

[Metal Geezer]

I’m the CEO of a major widget manufacturer. My sales team has determined that we can make mad bank by selling 10 widgets as opposed to 1 like back in the day.
“How?” I asked.
“By making them cheap as f*kk!” They chorused.
“Won’t customers be pissed and want to exact revenge?”
“Not to worry! We install a firewall between us and them, and call it Customer Support.”
“Outstanding” I said, and gave myself a massive bonus for thinking of it.

 

[got3fords]

We have a ~5 year old GE Profile fridge. It came with a bypass filter if you didn't want to use a filter. Weird that they got rid of that option.

I think there is a way to get the chip off of the bypass filter and hack new filters into proper use.

 

[got3fords]

I gotta say, I have a slew of battery powered Milwaukee tools and they seem to be well designed and built. They don't get the heavy use of other stuff, but damn are they tough. My Milwaukee push mower probably gets the most abuse, and after a couple of seasons it seems to be taking punishment very well.

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