The self-flagellation of the frugal and mechanically minded(a rant)

cowman

cowman

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Cowman
So, I've got this dishwasher...

It's a samsung I bought when we first moved in... the dishwasher that came with the house was broke. This thing was on a clearance sale for a good price and(at the time) I thought Samsung was a good brand. Turns out that probably only applies to electronics not so much appliances....

So it's never been a very good dishwasher. I mean it basically does the job of washing the dishes.... but on any given wash maybe 5-10% of the stuff in it needs pulled out and re-washed. I've tracked this down to a design flaw that basically allows gunk to get past the screen and get pumped back up through the washer nozzles... thus plugging nozzles on occasion and allowing small flecks of stuff to get blasted back onto the dishes. The top rack seems most impacted probably due to the lower water pressure up there due to how the thing is designed. This design flaw also allows gunk to build up on the water level sensors requiring me to on occasion pull the thing out of the cabinets and pull it apart/clean it so it will work again. However, I've recently discovered hitting it in a few times in just the right spot keeps it going so... there's that.

I just spent way too much time this morning cleaning gunk out of the gasket along the bottom of the door.... another crap design. The gasket is torn making it worse. Searched for one online- I can find the gasket that goes inside the tub along the door but not the one that's UNDER the door. I can't even see it in the parts diagram.

Anyway after a few more runs empty with bleach and citric acid I'll probably declare it good 'enuf again and start using it.

I spent a good chunk of my morning on this. I've spent multiple afternoons over the years on this. I hate this thing, it's a POS. I can afford to spend $300 to go get a hamburger so I can surely afford a new dishwasher. But I can fix it and that's the problem. I can't get over the feeling of laziness and wastefulness that comes with just replacing a thing when I am fully capable of repairing it. I keep hoping the pump or circuit board or some other costly part will fail so I can justify buying a new one. Alas it just keeps gunking up requiring only elbow grease to bring it back into service.

I mean it's almost 10 years old now which I read someplace is the average lifespan of a dishwasher anyway.... I hate the thing. It's completely reasonable to get a new one then right? But I can fix it... I've even got a mod in mind that I think will eliminate or at least mitigate the gunking issue but I'll have to find materials and pull it out of the cabinets again to do it. It's not worth it right? I mean my time is worth something. But I can do it... what if I do this mod and suddenly for a couple $ I have a good dishwasher?

Anyone else do this to themselves? Or is everyone reading this screaming "just buy a new dishwasher you idiot" in their head?
 
As someone who kept fixing a Samsung washer and dryer for the latter half of their 12ish years of life, just give in. It's not worth the hassle unless it's your hobby or entertaining to you.

I say that after having done similar things, "Oh, I can replace these crappy tub springs with this other set that's better.." and "These sensors and elements aren't THAT hard to replace each time they go out." It's like being in an abusive relationship. :lol:
 
We all pick and choose our own battles. The older I get the less tolerance I have for things that aggravate me. If it annoys me, its gone. Even if it's a waste of money. And no, I'm not well off...

My mental health involves staying as positive as possible throughout every day. To me, it more important than money. Things that aggravate me or waste my precious time I simply avoid or get rid of.

However, as someone who likes fixing things I can understand your feeling the need to do so!
 
I have a similar affliction. If the tinkering gets filed under "fun" and the dishwasher downtime does not cause marital strife, go for it. If instead it reminds you how much you hate this GDMFPOS every time you fix it, replace it. There comes a point at which you're throwing good money (and time) after bad, and at 10 years, it doesn't owe you anything.
 
Having many rental homes, I get to do this kind of stuff often. Sadly, it's part Samsung(and other mfgs) fault, but it's also partly a govt fault. There are a lot of issues with the water volume use of both dishwashers and clothes washers. The feds are on the cusp of mandating max water usage to do these jobs in an appliance.

Therefore, I tend to keep old, mostly retired dishwashers and clothes washers in good fettle. Many of my rentals have the style of dishwasher with the little mech buttons on top and not the membrane panel. These older machines have small grinders in the base along with the discharge pump to handle food crud. And, they use gallons of water to clean the dishes. Recycling water in the tub is a water saving feature that no consumer ever wanted, or would want if it were publicized. Vertical tub mechanical washing machines are the gold standard in my rentals. I'll spend $400-500 to get it fixed before I give in and buy a new horz tub that weighs the clothes to wash with min water.

My trick exposed is to go to estate sales. If I see a washing machine or old style dishwasher for $100 I buy it and store at the tenants garage. It's a shame what the feds have done and will be doing to appliances.
 
Barrett50 said:
My trick exposed is to go to estate sales. If I see a washing machine or old style dishwasher for $100 I buy it and store at the tenants garage. It's a shame what the feds have done and will be doing to appliances.
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They're getting harder to find, but that was always the way to find functional gas cans that never leaked and had a vent cap you could open for easy pouring. They are so vastly superior to the newer government-mandated ones with a 12-piece nozzles that leaks in 8 places, and no vent cap. The old ones save the trouble of buying a third-party one-piece spout and a vent cap to install just to make the the new cans functional.
 
cowman said:
So, I've got this dishwasher...

Anyone else do this to themselves? Or is everyone reading this screaming "just buy a new dishwasher you idiot" in their head?
Click to expand...

Game changer question: Are you retired with buckets of extra low-cost time? If yes, keep cleaning the gunk.

Are you working full time? Simplify your life by using $$$ to eliminate the time-wasting gunk removal.

-Skip
 
My kid bought a new front load washing machine, and it was one of the high buck with the 3 year warranty including house visits. I would get a call that the washer wasn't working right every few months. I told her to call in a repair ticket every time. She had 17 service calls on that appliance in less than 3 years. The last time she called they told her no more service. So, she demanded they buy it back. The last service call the guy shows up, disconnects it, and hauls it out never to be seen again. She had to sue the repair co to get her money back. I put in a top load noisy Speed Queen that has to be 30 years old. It works perfectly, but it is noisy.
 
Well, when I was younger I had a long-running battle with a Sears garage opener for a decade or so. It had a pair of nylon gears that were designed to outlast the warranty by about 20 minutes and I replaced them every two or three years.

Now days I have less patience and I’m more inclined to replace crap that frustrates me rather than repairing and tolerating it.

OTOH, I’m now regularly repairing a 1969 airplane......
 
I prefer to repair rather than toss and replace... if only to reduce trash going in landfills.

The option to repair is getting harder and harder.
 
You started with too late/modern of a model. Now you’re sol either way. You’ve got to get OLD stuff that was made to be fixed with generic, commonly used across broad field parts. My stove.. a 1960’s electric with nothing more than a variostat for each burner, and commonly available elements, oven controlled by a coil spring and murcury switch, the dial just changes the tension on the spring, it will last for ever and I keep a couple spare elements for “just in case”. My washing machine is an early 1970’s Maytag. Two belts, one motor, and spare pump on the shelf and only a mechanical timer to switch contractors (generically replaceable) to run/reverse direction of the motor and trigger the selinoid valve (again generically replaceable). Appliances do not need internet access, blue tooth, or even a single circuit board to work, and the simple ones last forever.
 
Bob Noel said:
I prefer to repair rather than toss and replace... if only to reduce trash going in landfills.

The option to repair is getting harder and harder.
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You're kidding about getting repairs. Just get on FB market place and type in 'washing machine'. You'll be hip deep in repair offers. My wife is on FB, I'm not, but she showed me once. I bet you can get 20 guys within 50 miles, unless you live in bumfluck MT.
 
I hand wash my dishes…

Ok, to be fair I believe I have rebuilt a #2 lead pencil before. If I owned a dishwasher, I’d never be able to find time to work on planes…
 
Bob Noel said:
I prefer to repair rather than toss and replace... if only to reduce trash going in landfills.

The option to repair is getting harder and harder.
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I thought it was getting easier and easier.

Most modern appliance have error codes that can help you diagnose the problem, then a quick trip to youtube, and presto...
 
Ventucky Red said:
Most modern appliance have error codes that can help you diagnose the problem, then a quick trip to youtube, and presto...
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... you learn that the part you need costs almost as much as a new appliance.

I think the latest marketing scheme is to determine the highest failure rate component, ensure that there is no aftermarket equivalent, and then set its price to be 2/3 of the cost of the entire appliance. I went through this with an oven last year. No, it couldn't be the heating element that failed. Certainly not. It had to be the circuit card, which cost several hundred dollars. So now we have a new stove. Which I expect to do the same thing in a few years.
 
cowman said:
I've spent multiple afternoons over the years on this. I hate this thing, it's a POS. I can afford to spend $300 to go get a hamburger so I can surely afford a new dishwasher. But I can fix it and that's the problem. I can't get over the feeling of laziness and wastefulness that comes with just replacing a thing when I am fully capable of repairing it. I keep hoping the pump or circuit board or some other costly part will fail so I can justify buying a new one. Alas it just keeps gunking up requiring only elbow grease to bring it back into service.
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I have the same disease. Can't get rid of anything before it breaks beyond repair. Still using the same sketchy miter saw that I hate because it's doing the job. Kind of.

As I get older, I've gotten better about it, but I still do it. To wit...I've got an airplane engine torn down in my shop. I can't tell you how many broken things there are around here that we just put up with because "I can fix that when I have time". Stupid boat has been broken for 5 years now. Sigh.

BTW...I've seen the rust repairs you take on. You're just a glutton for punishment.
 
Thanks to the internet and YouTube I have made many repairs to our appliances over the years. When my daughter called me and told me her washer wasn’t working I was up for the challenge. While I was patting myself on the back for properly diagnosing the problem and replacing the relay, I suddenly became aware of why the relay failed. The tub was leaking right on it. No problem, I’ll just replace the gasket. Turns out on this particular washer, you can’t replace the gasket, you have to replace the hole tub which cost $400 which is 4 times as much as we paid for the used washer to begin with. So I decided to just buy her a new one. Did I mention that she goes to school a 5 hour drive away?

Overall, it was worth it all to spend a couple of days with her.
 
Jim K said:
BTW...I've seen the rust repairs you take on. You're just a glutton for punishment.
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You know, after the Scout I swore never again to take on something with that level of body rot.

Then one day my wife left me unsupervised and this LTD convertible... which is relatively rare... shows up on marketplace. It looks mostly clean just a few spots I can easily fix. Now the wire wheel of truth is revealing all sins and... here we go again...
 
cowman said:
You know, after the Scout I swore never again to take on something with that level of body rot.

Then one day my wife left me unsupervised and this LTD convertible... which is relatively rare... shows up on marketplace. It looks mostly clean just a few spots I can easily fix. Now the wire wheel of truth is revealing all sins and... here we go again...
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That F250 wasn't much better.
 
the ballast on the tub of our front loader started leaking metal filings all over the floor. My wife came home to a block and tackle above the washing machine so I could lift it our. :eek:

Ordered a new ballast from Sears Parts Direct…it was cracked, and would’ve started doing the same thing shortly. They got two more in, also cracked, but said their techs would install them like that. :mad:

I filled the void with epoxy and reinstalled the original, and it’s been fine since…at least the ballast has.

Wouldn’t turn on one day…a little electrical contact cleaner fixed it, but I’m sure a tech would’ve replaced the control board.
 
Barrett50 said:
Vertical tub mechanical washing machines are the gold standard in my rentals.
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I hate those. They wear clothes quickly and rip them apart. A modern front loader will make things last a lot longer.
 
cowman said:
You know, after the Scout I swore never again to take on something with that level of body rot.

Then one day my wife left me unsupervised and this LTD convertible... which is relatively rare... shows up on marketplace. It looks mostly clean just a few spots I can easily fix. Now the wire wheel of truth is revealing all sins and... here we go again...
Click to expand...
By the way, my Dad bought a 1970-something Ford LTD. First new car he bought, using the money from selling his beloved 1966 Pontiac Catalina 421HO. He said it rusted out so badly that one day he opened the door and it literally fell off the car. He hated that car, and never bought or even looked at another Ford. In fact the next Ford in our family is my 2011 Grand Marquis lol. He replaced it with a 1978 Bonneville, and yes, he got the 400.
 
Jim K said:
By the way, my Dad bought a 1970-something Ford LTD. First new car he bought, using the money from selling his beloved 1966 Pontiac Catalina 421HO. He said it rusted out so badly that one day he opened the door and it literally fell off the car. He hated that car, and never bought or even looked at another Ford. In fact the next Ford in our family is my 2011 Grand Marquis lol. He replaced it with a 1978 Bonneville, and yes, he got the 400.
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Since I haven’t posted it here… this is the car and the state of the repair process.


IMG_0332.jpegIMG_0517.jpegIMG_0516.jpeg
 
You gotta prewash a lot of the big stuff off. My wife uses a LOT of herb/spices and for the longest time the filters would get clogged (Bosch has 3 filters). Yes they protect the pump, but you have to remember to to clean them.

My front loading washer also has a pump filter that has to be cleaned, and guess what, the manual tells you all this stuff.
 
Jim K said:
the next Ford in our family is my 2011 Grand Marquis
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My FIL worked for Ford for 38 years, so we’ve got a Ford stable. A 2009 Grand Marquis is my youngest daughter’s first car.

She mentioned the price of gas one day, and I told her you can put a lot of gas in a free car.:biggrin:
 
Samsung and water should not be mixed. Bought a Samsung washer and dryer that I vehemently hate. The drum broke after about 3 years. Like a chunk of the drum broke and I had a hole in the drum. Was part of a class action suit. Garbage. The washing machine sounds like a damn jet engine. Turns out the counterweight they used breaks.

At this point my time is worth more than the money to get new ones. Fed up. Next time I need to fix em I'm taking a 12 ga slug and relieving some rage.
 
Racerx said:
Samsung and water should not be mixed. Bought a Samsung washer and dryer that I vehemently hate. The drum broke after about 3 years. Like a chunk of the drum broke and I had a hole in the drum. Was part of a class action suit. Garbage. The washing machine sounds like a damn jet engine. Turns out the counterweight they used breaks.

At this point my time is worth more than the money to get new ones. Fed up. Next time I need to fix em I'm taking a 12 ga slug and relieving some rage.
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How do you not have Speed Queens? I'm starting to doubt everything I believe about you. :biggrin:
 
AV8R_87 said:
I hate those. They wear clothes quickly and rip them apart. A modern front loader will make things last a lot longer.
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To each his own. I don't give a wet, dribbly shilt if the tenants clothes wear out. As long as I don't have to go out on a repair.
 
My rules have (largely) become:

- I'll work tirelessly on hobby items. I almost never pay to have work done on my toys.
- For everyday stuff - our cars, appliances, plumbing in the house, etc. I'll evaluate the job and take on jobs that appear easy to me. Sometimes I'm fooled, but rarely. And I usually complete the fix in short order and don't need to bring in a technician.
- For bigger repairs on everyday necessities I call the pro's. Ain't worth me disassembling the <whatever> and realizing halfway trough that I don't have the time, skill, parts (pick anywhere from 1 to 3 of those resources) to complete the job in a reasonable amount of time. And I don't like SWMBO asking "When is the washer gonna be back in service?".
 
MauleSkinner said:
Don’t buy your clothes at The Stripper Store.
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Every pilot should know that dancer outfits should only be line dried.

I've done the repair old appliance thing a bit, and sometimes get a little more mileage out of them if they're old appliances. But I think most of the new stuff is so poorly made it's not worth the effort. Now I just try to buy something that doesn't have a computer and has as few features as possible.

There is a simple fix, but everyone would have to agree. Make all manufacturers have a 10 year full warranty on any appliance, unless it has bluetooth or a computer in it, then it's 25 years. Everyone worries about the energy rating, while the real cost is manufacturing and disposal, both in terms of dollars wasted and ecological damage. That used to not be a big deal, but so many people are so short sighted the entire industry has gone to disposable, so depending on the product it's impossible to find a device that doesn't just completely suck.

Ok, ranting again, time for a nap...
 
pfarber said:
You gotta prewash a lot of the big stuff off. My wife uses a LOT of herb/spices and for the longest time the filters would get clogged (Bosch has 3 filters). Yes they protect the pump, but you have to remember to to clean them.
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This thing only has a screen which is only removable by taking out about a dozen screws. There's also a vent on the side for a small plastic container/trap which houses the water level switch... this vent has no screen and I believe must be how pieces of stuff too big to get past the screen must be getting in. For reference I'm always removing what look like seeds from peppers from the washer nozzles.

I do rinse off the more gunky dishes before loading although I don't think everyone in the household is doing that. However, I feel like if you do much more than that then what's the point of the dishwasher. If I'm washing the dishes before putting them in why not just finish the job by hand at that point?
 
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