I do have a modern fridge that keeps going and going. Old fridges do have an issue, too: they are much less energy efficient and have a massive impact on your electricity bill.
the new ones are buggy and defective.
Enshittification is a turd that touches everything on the way down to the shareholder value lands.
Buuuut this is the kind of thing that survivorship bias was made for. Were things made to last 60 years ago? Not so sure about that, material quality and engineering have come a long way, though so has systematic greed.
For all the stories there are of old appliances weathering the storm of age, you don’t hear about the ones that don’t. Likewise, we now have more styles, makes, and manufacturers, which makes more room for cheap flashy stuff to hear about when it breaks unexpectedly after a couple years.
I’ve had both fridges that lasted 20 years, and ones that lasted 2, sometimes its probably just the luck of who they had running the assembly line that day
- don’t get fridges with in-door ice cube makers or in-door water dispensers or other complex features
- if you have in-door water or ice, clean those systems every few weeks. they get disgusting and unsanitary very quickly
- don’t get samsung appliances, especially not with complex features
- chinese appliances can be very hit and miss
- (america) don’t get kenmore appliances
- sometimes a higher price / better brand really is better overall
- top mount or bottom mount freezer are most reliable
- check local consumer reports ratings (not always compatible with technician’s uncerstanding of fridges but usually a great starting point - if you have the means then ask a local independent technician for their appliances of choice)
- keep a bit of space inside the fridge near the walls
- keep space behind and next to the fridge for the compressor to function properly (see manual)
- proper compressor/condenser maintenance like cleaning of the coils can add more years to the life of a fridge and make them perform better
- if you don’t have it, get a surge protector
- if you need an independent freezer, get a chest style freezer
video from an american technician comparing fridges and giving tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n76TXuDcok his channel is great in general for americans who want to buy appliances
Parents had a fridge from the 70s that lived until 2006. Gone through 6 fridges since
What the fuck is going on
Buy the right machines. Buy for repairability.
It’s a sad fact of society that there are no great rock ballads about refrigerators.
Less energy efficient
Worse airflow, Uneven cooling -> food spoils quicker
May contain CFC’s
Fuck old fridges
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I know someone with a 50s fridge, the inside is a giant lazy susan, very cool and unique. But yeah we did some back-of-envelope math, and it uses about 20x as much energy as my modern fridge.
The worse energy efficiency is annoying, but the added cost of electricity is absolutely nothing compared to the cost of buying a new fridge every 5 years.
The uneven airflow/cooling is manageable, since it’s usually fairly minor.
As for the CFCs, that only matters if it leaks, and the fridge wouldn’t have lasted 50 years if it leaked.
unzips
what?
Wrong room, Mr Vance
Survivorship bias
Tell your friends to stop buying from Samsung
Jokes on you, I bought my fridge from LG.
Unrelated, but does anyone know how to stop my A/C from beeping out morse code adverts for McAfee?
My girlfriend has a Samsung fridge, going strong for around 12 years now. It’s absolutely fine.
All brands are going to have duds and winners, that’s just the way it is.
I know a few people with Samsungs that have had the fridge replaced twice under warranty due to several issues. I don’t think Samsung is a good fridge company.
You’re being overly charitable. I think Samsung knows exactly what they’re doing and has deliberate planned obsolescence down to a science. If anything, your anecdotes are the outliers because for most people, they fail just barely outside warranty, by design.
Source: I owned a Samsung washer where the main bracket supporting the drum was very clearly also the sacrificial anode.
Samsung appliances are fucking trash. When we bought our house it came with a Samsung washer and dryer. I was constantly repairing the stupid dryer, and the washer coin trap would drain directly into the pedestal anytime I tried to clean it. we sold them a month ago and bought a new set from a different manufacturer.
Why would a washer in a house have a coin trap?
It isn’t for coin operation, it is for catching small stuff that falls out during the wash like coins from pockets.
My gran had a pantry instead of a fridge. Checkmate technocrats.
Mmmm, day-old liquid ice cream… 🤤
Tell your friends to actually do a bit of research on expensive purchases. I’ve helped three relatives replace their fridges with relatively cheap models and five years in they’re still running
Well don’t tell us which brands or anything.
I mean it changes. Right now I’d look at GE still but I haven’t had to look in a few years. No fridges with ice makers because those are just added complexity that is more likely to fail. Definitely not Samsung.
I bought a Hisense fridge and Hisense washer dryer a little under 5 years ago and they’ve been working flawlessly ever since.
No laundry appliances for the US :(
Maytag Commercial or SpeedQueen for washers. I’ve had zero issues with my Maytag in the 5ish years I’ve had it.
Dryers have way fewer failure points, so anything simple should be fine. You want knobs and physical buttons, for both washers and dryers the electronic components are the first thing to go and they’re expensive to replace.
I have a decades old fridge that literally freezes my veggie drawer every two weeks. I‘m so close to throwing it out.
AI memes?
