MOTHER FUCKING HOME OWNERSHIP! I want to fight my house!

[turboswimbz]

I wish it was done for free!  In the city I live in, the home owner is 100% responsible for the drain to the street.  No assistance from them at all.

Yeah, I suppose I should also mention that water and sewer vary greatly.  I wouldn't expect to find a town in the midwest, south or west where this would be the case.  in the northeast, it is a possibility based on the age of infrastructure.  In my town, they just installed a clean out for free and will scope for free through the clean out in the immediate vicinity.  however, any damage or replacement is %100 on the homeowner as well as maintaining the cleanout.  if it's not visible they won't find it. 

That suck though.  so much so fast.

On an unrelated note MEK for models? or as a solvent? 

[Flare65]

On an unrelated note MEK for models? or as a solvent?   

I'm a field technician who works in the coding and marking industry, which is a fancy way of saying I work on printers that put expiration dates on products.  If you pick up any can of soda and look at the bottom of it for the expiration date, that's the kind of printers I work on.  I'm in and out of production plants like Coca-Cola Milwaukee, Kraft Foods, etc....  Ketchup bottles, orange juice bottles, hair care products, anything that has a date code done with ink.  90% of the printers I work on have an ink type that uses MEK as a solvent.  We do have some acetone and alcohol based inks that our printers use, but MEK is by far the most popular. 

I usually keep a bottle of it to clean my tools.  Always wear latex gloves when handling MEK as there are a lot of health related issues the stuff can cause if you handle it with your bare hands.  It will even eat and melt certain plastics if it gets them wet.  It will absolutely destroy  the plastic of HuCard games.  Found this out the hard way when I tried cleaning up a copy of JJ & Jeff.

I also work on laser printers as well.  You usually see date codes with lasers on P.E.T. plastics like 16oz. coke and pepsi bottles or cardboard boxes like Cheezits.  Kraft foods uses them to put expiration dates on their salad dressing bottles.

[Flare65]

Wow that sounds Awful.  I'm glad to hear about the insurance footing the bill though.

It was, but we were very lucky.  None of the smoke or fire entered into the house.  It was all contained within the garage.  The fire dept. had the water, gas, and electric shut off to the house due to some electrical damage.  We were stuck living in a hotel for two weeks until the restoration company started work.
This happened in March of 2016 and we had a whole summer of contractors running in and out of our home during the whole rebuild process.  Drove my wife a bit crazy as she is a teacher and was off all summer dealing with them.  My biggest fear was a lingering smoke smell after everything was fixed, but the restoration company we chose for the rebuild did a terrific job.  You cant smell smoke anywhere and you'd never know we had fire damage.

I think a home owners two biggest enemies are fire and water.

Sorry to elaborate on my story a bit, I feel like I'm hijacking the thread and I apologize for that.

[ClodBusted]

Thanks for sharing your stories.

I had issues with water ingress in two apartments I used to live in. One when the roof got damaged slightly during a storm, the other one when a waste water pipe broke, luckily there was only the neighbor's washing machine from several levels upstairs attached to it.

[turboswimbz]

On an unrelated note MEK for models? or as a solvent?   

I'm a field technician who works in the coding and marking industry . . .. 

I usually keep a bottle of it to clean my tools.  Always wear latex gloves when handling MEK as there are a lot of health related issues the stuff can cause

Cool, I was just wondering as it's something we clean up as a remediation firm, it's quite a mess in water. Most people don't know what it is.  I bet that stuff works wonders on taking ink off tools though!.  And yeah it melts plastics, that's why it's sometimes used to "fuse" plastic models together. Man also Thank goodness It didn't have a violent reaction when it burned.

[ClodBusted]

Aaaaaand the washing machine is dead after six years of service in a two-person household. According to the service technician, repairing it would be expensive enough to make just buying a replacement more reasonable. The electronics are to blame, but he said the mechanical parts aren't that far from the end of their life, too.

He would have gladly get paid for a full repair, but was honest enough to reveal that it would be done at my own risk, so after talking to my better half we declined and just paid him for diagnostic inspection.

With wet eyes, I remember my first washing machine that I bought second hand in 2003 and gave me nine years of reliable service until the drum refused to spin. At that time, it must have been already around 15 to 20 years old, although the store I got it from might have serviced the machine before I bought it from them.


Let's see what a new machine can offer me. I'd rather pay extra for a long life thanks to robust parts, than for a plethora of unnecessary functions at the cost of reliability.

[esteban]

Aaaaaand the washing machine is dead after six years of service in a two-person household. According to the service technician, repairing it would be expensive enough to make just buying a replacement more reasonable. The electronics are to blame, but he said the mechanical parts aren't that far from the end of their life, too.

He would have gladly get paid for a full repair, but was honest enough to reveal that it would be done at my own risk, so after talking to my better half we declined and just paid him for diagnostic inspection.

With wet eyes, I remember my first washing machine that I bought second hand in 2003 and gave me nine years of reliable service until the drum refused to spin. At that time, it must have been already around 15 to 20 years old, although the store I got it from might have serviced the machine before I bought it from them.


Let's see what a new machine can offer me. I'd rather pay extra for a long life thanks to robust parts, than for a plethora of unnecessary functions at the cost of reliability.

Yeah, I don't know if dryers have a shorter lifecycle than washing machines....but the washing machine in my last home was 80's era... I used it for 5 years and sold the house with it. Same went for the dryer (early 90's) as well as the dishwasher (80's).

I sold in 2006... so all of the appliances were at least 20+ years at that point.

CURRENTLY: I had to replace a mid-90's era washing machine a few years ago...but my mid-90's dryer is going strong (it's gotta be at least 20 years old now)....

...my dryer was even featured in a LeDoodle episode (I use a pair of pliers to set the drying cycle, due to the cheap plastic dial cracking years ago).

[NecroPhile]

That sucks, clod, but at least you're not in the US and looking at paying extra for Trump's tariff.

I think the most reliable units are the ones with simple clockwork mechanisms and no fancy electronics bullshit.  Even if they don't last any longer, at least they're cheap.

[ClodBusted]

Indeed, the old one had a mechanical program select wheel, I don't know if there was a motor or clockwork involved for further automatically turning the wheel once the program got started. The new one's program selection wheel is a simple rotary selector, no motors involved, just to mimic the old wheels, with LEDs showing the current status. It could have used simple push buttons for every program instead, with next to none electronic difference.

[xcrement5x]

Indeed, the old one had a mechanical program select wheel, I don't know if there was a motor or clockwork involved for further automatically turning the wheel once the program got started. The new one's program selection wheel is a simple rotary selector, no motors involved, just to mimic the old wheels, with LEDs showing the current status. It could have used simple push buttons for every program instead, with next to none electronic difference.

I had a discussion like this on another forum recently, and came to the conclusion those older washing machines can pretty much last forever if they're taken care of.  Mine started going out several months ago (it was making a clicking during the spin cycle) and I was able to diagnose it as the motor coupling.  Took me a couple hours and like $8 in parts but it's working good as new now. 

Same thing with my dryer, I've fixed a couple different things on it (gas valve, heat element, thermal fuse) and have probably not put more than $40 in it over all.  Both of these were made in like 2002 according to the serial numbers as well. 

All the fancy electronics just add more to get screwed up and are expensive to replace.  Makes sense why companies put them in now though, instead of being able to repair something now you have to buy a BRAND NEW one from them to replace it. 

[jperryss]

We have an older washer and dryer (late 90s/early 00s, I think) that were here when we moved in. The solenoid failed on the washer. I was able to look up the part# and took a gamble on a used $15 one from eBay (vs $100 new) and it's worked fine since.
The dryer belt also snapped but I was able to replace that and it's worked perfectly otherwise. Hoping to get many more years out of them.

[turboswimbz]

Indeed, the old one had a mechanical program select wheel, I don't know if there was a motor or clockwork involved for further automatically turning the wheel once the program got started. The new one's program selection wheel is a simple rotary selector, no motors involved, just to mimic the old wheels, with LEDs showing the current status. It could have used simple push buttons for every program instead, with next to none electronic difference.

I had a discussion like this on another forum recently, and came to the conclusion those older washing machines can pretty much last forever if they're taken care of.  Mine started going out several months ago (it was making a clicking during the spin cycle) and I was able to diagnose it as the motor coupling.  Took me a couple hours and like $8 in parts but it's working good as new now. 

Same thing with my dryer, I've fixed a couple different things on it (gas valve, heat element, thermal fuse) and have probably not put more than $40 in it over all.  Both of these were made in like 2002 according to the serial numbers as well. 

All the fancy electronics just add more to get screwed up and are expensive to replace.  Makes sense why companies put them in now though, instead of being able to repair something now you have to buy a BRAND NEW one from them to replace it. 

we threw out the 1957 dryer in 2014.  only because we could no longer get the correct parts for it.  the parts guy said this: "We found these in a barn in Indiana, there are literally no more left in our systems, our competitor systems or any know parts yard"  next time it breaks you'll have to buy a new one. "

[esteban]

^ damn!

[xcrement5x]

Indeed, the old one had a mechanical program select wheel, I don't know if there was a motor or clockwork involved for further automatically turning the wheel once the program got started. The new one's program selection wheel is a simple rotary selector, no motors involved, just to mimic the old wheels, with LEDs showing the current status. It could have used simple push buttons for every program instead, with next to none electronic difference.

I had a discussion like this on another forum recently, and came to the conclusion those older washing machines can pretty much last forever if they're taken care of.  Mine started going out several months ago (it was making a clicking during the spin cycle) and I was able to diagnose it as the motor coupling.  Took me a couple hours and like $8 in parts but it's working good as new now. 

Same thing with my dryer, I've fixed a couple different things on it (gas valve, heat element, thermal fuse) and have probably not put more than $40 in it over all.  Both of these were made in like 2002 according to the serial numbers as well. 

All the fancy electronics just add more to get screwed up and are expensive to replace.  Makes sense why companies put them in now though, instead of being able to repair something now you have to buy a BRAND NEW one from them to replace it. 

we threw out the 1957 dryer in 2014.  only because we could no longer get the correct parts for it.  the parts guy said this: "We found these in a barn in Indiana, there are literally no more left in our systems, our competitor systems or any know parts yard"  next time it breaks you'll have to buy a new one. "

Oooor, machine the part yourself!  My father in law is a super smart dude and makes replacement parts for stuff all the time.  It's not OEM, but heck if it works who cares.

[wildfruit]

Oh I hear this. I've got a dryer my cousin gave me from the 90s. Still going strong. All I've done is put a new door catch and hinge on. As for the other appliances in 11 years been through
2 x dishwashers
2x refrigerators
3 x washing machines (4 if you count one that leaked on delivery)
3 x electric ovens.
I concede these all get high use in our bustling house hold but still takes the piss a bit. I find being extravagant or stingy with purchase makes no difference to longevity.

[turboswimbz]

Oooor, machine the part yourself!  My father in law is a super smart dude and makes replacement parts for stuff all the time.  It's not OEM, but heck if it works who cares.

Yeah, it turned out to be a good thing though, our Electric bill dropped almost 25% after the swap to a newer model.

[turboswimbz]

Oh I hear this. I've got a dryer my cousin gave me from the 90s. Still going strong. All I've done is put a new door catch and hinge on. As for the other appliances in 11 years been through
2 x dishwashers
2x refrigerators
3 x washing machines (4 if you count one that leaked on delivery)
3 x electric ovens.
I concede these all get high use in our bustling house hold but still takes the piss a bit. I find being extravagant or stingy with purchase makes no difference to longevity.

Damn even in the UK things aren't built to last anymore.

[wildfruit]

Oh I hear this. I've got a dryer my cousin gave me from the 90s. Still going strong. All I've done is put a new door catch and hinge on. As for the other appliances in 11 years been through
2 x dishwashers
2x refrigerators
3 x washing machines (4 if you count one that leaked on delivery)
3 x electric ovens.
I concede these all get high use in our bustling house hold but still takes the piss a bit. I find being extravagant or stingy with purchase makes no difference to longevity.

Damn even in the UK things aren't built to last anymore.

Most large appliances here are made in Italy or Poland. Strangely the tumble drier is made in uk.

[turboswimbz]

Oh I hear this. I've got a dryer my cousin gave me from the 90s. Still going strong. All I've done is put a new door catch and hinge on. As for the other appliances in 11 years been through
2 x dishwashers
2x refrigerators
3 x washing machines (4 if you count one that leaked on delivery)
3 x electric ovens.
I concede these all get high use in our bustling house hold but still takes the piss a bit. I find being extravagant or stingy with purchase makes no difference to longevity.

Damn even in the UK things aren't built to last anymore.

Most large appliances here are made in Italy or Poland. Strangely the tumble drier is made in uk.

That explains a little something. 

[NecroPhile]

Cue the "how many polacks does it take to build a dryer" jokes.

[xcrement5x]

Cue the "how many polacks does it take to build a dryer" jokes.

I never thought I'd be able to watch this twice in one week: