What to do with a broken household appliance

The reliability of modern household electrical appliances is clearly poor. The older generation recalls with a sigh the iron that ironed for 10 years, the TV that worked for 15, and the refrigerator that served as a grandmother.

Examining objects of past years in the museum, their massiveness and strength are striking in comparison with the current flimsy and elegant.

It is difficult to say why the reliability of household appliances is decreasing every year. Probably because manufacturers choose cheapness between low-cost production and quality, even the most famous and trusted companies sin by using components from other manufacturers or even transferring production to Asian countries.

Thus, the purchase of a household appliance has long turned into a lottery. If you are lucky, it will serve for a long time, but if not?

In the event of a breakdown of a household appliance, the first thing they remember about the warranty. If the warranty has not yet expired and the coupon has not been lost, then of course, you should contact the representative of the manufacturer. It’s good if you live in a big city. If not, then you will travel in an embrace with a broken device.

At the company you will be asked to leave the broken appliance for examination for 5-6 weeks, after which it turns out that it was something that it broke through your fault. All manufacturers are very fond of the phrase “improper operation” in the warranty card, which can include anything.

To prove that the breakdown was not your fault and to get a free repair or replacement can cost you a lot of money, time and nerve cells. So many that it’s easier to buy a new appliance. Here you have a guarantee.

So what if something breaks? If the item is expensive, then you should contact a professional repairman, but in this case, be prepared for the fact that a failed device is either not repairable at all, or the cost of repair is comparable to buying a new device.

The fact is that those days when the electronic device consisted of many elements have long receded into the past. Today everything is going on one or two microcircuits, and if they burn out, then there is simply nothing to repair.

In addition, today there are so many different manufacturers that it is very difficult to find parts. Not only that, if these spare parts are produced, they are delivered only to the branded service. It is clear that manufacturers are not interested in repairs at all (who will then buy new?) And especially in repairs outside the company especially.

But what if the appliance is inexpensive? For example, an electric kettle, a hairdryer, a radio, a table lamp? Throw or repair yourself?

On the one hand it’s better to throw it away. For the reasons stated above, the likelihood of a successful repair is small, and it may very well be that you simply waste time and effort. In addition, repairs require certain tools and skills, and can be generally unsafe. An unskilled intervention can end up very unpleasant.

On the other hand, it is never too late to throw out the broken and it would be foolish to do it without first making sure that it broke completely and irrevocably. From a financial point of view, repair is profitable, since one repaired hair dryer easily compensates for the purchase price of a set of screwdrivers, tester and soldering iron.

At the expense of knowledge and skills, it is not the gods who mold pots, and the minimum knowledge of physics obtained at school is enough. Moreover, there is nothing to lose, since the appliance is already broken.

And, in the end, fiddling with a soldering iron is interesting and good self-esteem. Read how to learn how to repair household appliances yourself in the next article.

Continuation of the article: How to repair electrical appliances