Dishwasher Parts- A RANT! Updated w/ pic.

[Cassandra]

Wow. Shocking it lasted for 17 years. Wait, did they make plastic 17 years ago? LOL kidding.

No way does it look forty bucks worth. But they prolly have this huge million dollar machine that only makes that one part. And they are the only ones making it, so I guess they can charge what they please.

Teeny word of advice. Don't ask what's next! That gives me chills!

Cassandra

 

[roosmom]

I ALMOST DID SAY THAT TO HER IN MY FIRST POST, but I thought no, I better not jinx her
I would like to see a comparison picture of the broke one next to the good one LOL. Then I can tell you how you could have saved $40 by fixing it.

 

[poppycat]

I almost took a pic of the old one, but the plastic was so brittle that little pieces kept breaking off every time I moved it. All of those sticky outy things in front were broken off and they were only held on by the smallest little connection.

And please ladies don't worry about jinxing me, I think I've already crossed that bridge.

 

[k0xxx]

Appliances are being made so cheaply these days. Until Katrina sunk her house in 2003, my mother still used the same major appliances that she had when I was growing up in the sixties.

When we moved up to Arkansas in 2000, I decided that I would surprise my wife and buy her a new dishwasher, washer and dryer, microwave, refrigerator, and a new upright freezer. It would be her first time having all new appliances, and I was hope that buying the more efficient Energy Star appliances would help with our energy consumption. I bought name brands and high end appliances, hoping that we would see more service out of them and fewer problems.

So far, in the last year and a half, we have had to replace the washer (Maytag), the dishwasher (KitchenAid), and the microwave (Kenmore). The freezer (Kenmore) is unreliable and needs to be replaced.

I didn't replace our stove, since it was only two years old when we moved. A couple of months ago, we were sitting in the living room after supper, and heard a crash. The front glass decided to shatter and fall out of the stove. We will continue to use it though this winter and then replace it in the spring.

Mark

(Edited for spelling)

 

[roosmom]

I was lucky enough to inherit my GRANDMOTHERS FRIDGE. We had it for 15yrs. It was ancient. Two drawers in bottom and all the shelves were on a pole and went around in a circle, like a lazy susan corner cupboard. That was fantastic for getting stuff out of the back of the fridge. It was all nice copper colored shelves.
We gave it to the neighbor, and he is still USING IT.

 

[Cassandra]

My boss's son has all high end appliances. One thing is a pretty, brushed stainless wall oven. It was about 6 years old last year when it went crazy. His wife was cooking a pork loin and the oven locked itself (a self-cleaning feature) and started cranking up the heat like it was posessed. It just kept getting hotter and hotter until the inside glass broke and she could not open it or turn it off. The temperature continued to climb.

She called her husband freaking out and he told her over the phone how to turn the breaker off so the stupid thing didn't set the house of fire.

The never used it again. The manufacturers comment was "It's out of warranty. Sorry." So he had to buy a new one (not as expensive) for around $900.

Her pork loin got turned to charcoal, btw.

The appliances in my house are about 15-16 years old now. They came with the house I bought 2 years ago. They are starting to go out, one by one. The dishwasher was first. The oven was next (the stovetop still works, though.) I'm going to do like my uncle Kenny and use it till it falls apart. "Get my nickle out of it," as he would say.

Cassandra

 

[1acrefarm]

Well here it is. Tell me if you think it's worth 40 bucks.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o154/ORpoppycat/IMG_0106.jpg


(Of course my friend says I have the Wal-Mart roll back price going on in my mind for everything)

I don't think it is worth that much but I understand it costing that much. They may not have used that part many years so the demand for that part is probably low. Not alot of dishwashers last 17 years. Say the parts warehouse orders 200 of those pieces. The injection mold operator has to change molds on the press after purging it and change all the settings to suit the particular mold and plastic used. By the time you get the machine changed over you have a half shift of downtime and man hours used. You can make that run in a few hours or less then it is time to change the machine over to a different product. A product that is mass produced to the point of running it for days is less of a profit killer so they can sell those parts cheaper.