My Bad Appliance Attitude

Seems I’ve become a grumpy old lady and my onset of geriatric bad attitude was ignited and continues to be fueled by our carousel of appliance heartache. It would be farcical if it didn’t affect my housewife happiness so hard.

The last tragedy was the washer lost in October. The drum just broke off the arm it was attached to for 7 years. And the Youtube video guy who had taken this same washer apart with the same affliction had this tone in his voice that seemed to suggest that Sears knows exactly how long that pot metal “spider arm” will hold.

Around the same time, our March 2014 “new” 80 gallon water heater, had one of its two coils die. It broke after only 8 months of use. Really? They replaced the part for free but we had to do the physical replacing ourselves. Well Mark did but because of carpal tunnel surgery, he had a friend assist.

Don’t even get me started talking about the Dual Fuel Sears Stove! Read about that here and here.

And this week, it was the dishwasher. We hadn’t had it but maybe four years. Sadly, I think it may have been Fiona sitting on the door that killed it. It was a Maytag and Mark has now officially sworn this brand off now. He’s in the kitchen now hot wiring the new dishwasher into the quad box behind it. Thank goodness the plumbing is hoses. The DIY thing can be great unless you’re way out of your league.

I was glad I bought that nice smelling green apple dish soap because I’ve done dishes by hand for a week at least. Mark’s hand operation put him out of service for a few days of dish washing. It’s my job you know. And these appliances are all tools to make my job easier. But if they fail, I’m going to still do them. Remember my trip to the laundromat? The refrigerator has leprosy. Our Hari Kari microwave? I don’t mind doing these housework chores but I’ll not say I enjoy them.

Within a year, we’re now a couple hundred more dollars in the hole for the water heater, washer, and the dishwasher. And that is just how it is. These appliances are just made to be disposable. This isn’t the same country that used to take pride in American Made to Last. And that is really what irks me. The concept of “Buy it cheap and save money” is turning consumers into chumps. And if there is no longer integrity in product production, we’re throwing away our money and filling up our landfills.