The appliance that elicits anger and frustrated at it’s mere sight. The treacherous device that never worked right.
Printers
Dishwashers.
Do printers count? I fucking HATE printers.
After some half a century of existing they are somehow still annoying to use.
Try industrial label printers. They are like printers on hard mode.
Printers are a given, I figure.
I have a black and white samsung printer that is like a decade old with the only maintenance being adding the powdered ink and replacing the roller thingy a couple of times. Always works, never had an issue, printed thousands of pages over time in spurts of hundreds at a time and even not printing for like two years.
On the opposite end inkjet printers are the fucking worst computer accessory I’ve ever dealt with. They have always been a shitshow even before they started the ink pricing shenanigans because they are finicky and unreliable to start with.
Nearly same here, but mine is from 2010 and all I’ve ever done is replace the original starter cartridge of toner with a generic one once, and that was 12ish years ago and 2 cross-country moves. I’ve maybe printed a thousand pages ever.
mine has said that all the ink is critically low and I’ve just ignored it for the past few months and it just keeps going.
Stop buying shitty ink jet printers and get a laser printer. Pretty sure the Brother MFC my dad purchased a decade ago will outlive him.
I do think that most people would be happier with lasers, especially on the “clogged nozzle and requires regular use” front (though now there are also lasers that also do the “razor and blades” sales model, with a cheap printer and more-expensive toner).
However, there are legitimately some people who do need inkjets for one reason or another.
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Lasers, and especially inexpensive lasers where the manufacturer wants to shave down power supply costs, have a brief period of very high electrical draw when they are powered on. This is why you’ll typically see UPSes with warnings saying “don’t plug laser printers into this device”. This probably isn’t more than a minor irritation for most people, but I bet that it can overwhelm small inverters; there are probably people living full-time in RVs or something for whom this a problem.
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Even relatively-inexpensive inkjet printers today can produce what I’d call pretty impressive photograph prints if paired with fancy photo paper. Color lasers — and I’ve never bothered to even get a color laser — do not print photos that look remotely as nice as inkjets do. I don’t print photos — I have screens that can display photos perfectly well — and if I really wanted to do so, I’d go to one of the many stores around that do have the ability to do really fancy photo prints. But if someone were into that, they can’t really substitute a laser printer or most other types of printers for that. Maybe dye-sublimation printers, if those are still a thing. kagis Appears so.
Yeah some laser printers can for sure pop a circuit breaker in older houses
hPLJ4 gobbled 600w when firing up. You better believe it popped some breakers.
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Inkjet printers clogging and requiring ink refills aside, I don’t think I’ve ever been unhappy with (2D) printers. I’ve used…continuous-feed dot-matrix printers, a thermal wax printer, laser printers, a text-only line printer, and a continuous-feed plotter. They all worked pretty well.
And honestly, I’m still kind of impressed at what inkjet printers can turn out on photo paper, even if I wouldn’t buy one for my own uses.
I had one very elderly Apple laser printer that I picked up once that someone was throwing out. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, laser printers were wonder printers that business users might have, but few home users mostly didn’t have in their price range — fast output, sharp text, but expensive; always wanted one, but I wasn’t going to buy one. It didn’t have much memory, so there were some limitations on the complexity of what it could print. I rigged up the
lpdon my computer to do all the rendering of vector Postscript images and convert it into a fax-compressed raster image and hand it off to the printer, so aside from taking a while to transfer the resulting image to the printer, it could pretty much handle anything. It served for something like ten years, with the remainder of the original toner cartridge lasting something like five of that, and I only tossed it because I wanted a higher-resolution printer, not because it had any problems functioning. I could probably still be using that thing. Kinda have some warm fuzzies remembering that ancient thing still soldiering on.I got a Brother printer. I hate it less than my HP and Cannon ones I used to use but it’s still a printer. A sin which cannot be redeemed
I’d enjoy my Epson Eco tank printer more if it wasn’t trying to constantly update firmware, apps, drivers, etc.
I’m not setting up faxing. Stop asking.
Came here to say this. F all printers ever made.
Dishwashers
Modern ones have too many features that can break and brick the whole thing and the cheap ones never get good powerful pumps so they spray like shit. Just make a basic mechanical timed dishwasher with a super powerful pump and I will be all in.
This is what I want for the vast majority of appliances. It just needs to do the basic functions reliably and have a few adjustments that I can fiddle with.
That’s the thing–the actual purpose of the appliances hasn’t changed at all. Every “advancement” is typically proprietary tech made to help comply with energy and water/gas usage standards–or to add perceived value through some half-baked gimmicks. For instance, dishwashers use smaller pumps run for longer periods of time to perform the same amount of work a larger more powerful pump could handle (in many cases a single pump sufficed for a dishwasher–one rotational direction for wash, opposite direction for drain)… I’m totally on board with energy efficiency but the laughably cheap/shitty tech they use to those ends kinda blunt the effectiveness of the energy saving measures (since replacing parts–or more likely entire dishwashers when those pumps fail–is a less energy-saving process than having a stronger, more durable pump that draws an extra amp or 2)
Yeah, saving $40 a year but spending $500 every three years instead of ten isn’t saving money.
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I’ve seen products like appliances go to hell in my lifetime. There are several issues besides planned obsolescence.
Used to be, you only had 3 or 4 refrigerators to choose from. They had to be close in quality and everyone knew what order they fell in for quality vs. price. People talked about their experiences and with a limited range of choices, it was easy to know what was best and what sucked. Hell, Lowe’s sells so many different fridges that finding the “best” is too hard to figure. Now I see people talking about manufacturers I’ve never even heard of. Does that make sense?
Another problem is low prices and will to repair. Stuff is so cheap now, relative to decades ago, that people simply throw stuff out and buy new rather than attempt any sort of repair. Our TV tubes would occasionally burn out. Dad and I would go to the store and consult the kiosk or, at worst, call a repairman. TVs were too damned expensive to not fix. Now people throw out TVs that only need a $60 board off eBay. I find and fix tons of stuff off the side of the road.
It could be profitable, but it isn’t as profitable as making an unreliable and overly complex piece of crap that increases sales totals which jack up stocks.
Hell, being profitable isn’t even important for lot of businesses anymore, they just want growth.
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Think it was something about being bought out by private equity, and being run into the ground. I’ve loved all of the instant pots I’ve owned, only have had more than one because I needed a bigger one.
Being bought out by private equity is a massive red flag for quality, they always go cheap and ride the brand recognition as long as possible.
Anything made by Samsung.
Appliance-wise at least.
A refurbished 2019 tablet I got from them that is supported by LineageOS has been giving me trouble on the flashing side of things, so I’ll second this.
Samsung SSDs are great and industry-leading in terms of reliability
Gas stove. Literally playing with fire every time I need to light the front left burner. Usually I have to let enough gas come out to have the neighboring burner’s igniter light it up. I keep my distance just in case.
For me, the “power burner” is so weak it can’t bring a pot of water to boil or properly saute anything. Everything online says that it must be because the gas outlets are dirty, but they are spotless.
…and once it’s ‘fixed’, it starts doing it again within weeks. Always the same one…
I have a camp stove that I got for really cheap because someone returned it because the igniter didn’t work. The spark gap was too high, so all I had to do was poke the wire over a little, and it works perfectly now.
And it slowly poisons you!
I have to “prime” one of my burners. I’ll turn it on the power boil setting for a second or two to let gas out and then back to the ignite setting to spark it
Just get a long refillable butane lighter? Or one of those electric arc lighters? (Some of those have a long extension)
My front loading clothes washer. It frequently doesn’t drain right. If you create a fault tree on what causes that, you can have:
- Faulty water level sensor
- Clogged water level sensor hose
- Clogged filter
- Clog around the heating element
- Broken check valve
- Faulty pump
- Clog between drum and liner
- Faulty control board
The pump can clearly be heard running when the water levels are too high, so I know the sensor, sensor hose, controls, check valve, and pump are all functioning. Sometimes, the pump runs for way longer than you’d think necessary, with only a small trickle of water coming out little bit by bit. This indicates to me that there is a clog upstream from the pump. Multiple times, I have squeezed myself back behind the washer to take the back off and access the filter (which should be accessible from the front). I’ve found no clog there. Ive taken out the heating element to check for clogs around it, and found nothing there. Ive shown a bright light from inside the drum to highlight any potential clogs between it and the drum, and seen nothing there. Despite all of that, the problem remains, and when I manually spin the drum with nothing inside, I can hear what sounds like stuff moving around inside.
I assume it must be ghosts or something at this point.
The hvac control panel.
The furnace and ac units are both great, but the control panel will sometimes just, idk, dissociate. I can change settings and it displays them, but they don’t “take”. It won’t relay those changes to its bigger brethren. In order to snap it back to reality, I have to go out to the garage and flip the breaker because there’s no other way to power cycle it.
There are spiders in the garage. And they are prolific with their webs, especially where I need to walk to get to the breaker panel.
So when the hvac panel glitches, it’s a whole ordeal to fix it.
There are spiders in the garage. And they are prolific with their webs, especially where I need to walk to get to the breaker panel.
https://old.reddit.com/r/homeowners/comments/tqpqjh/how_to_keep_spiders_out_of_garage/
bugs such as flies , gnats, mosquitos, beatles, etc. are attracted to the light and just fly in when the garage door is open. Spiders are just a natural consequence of having bugs there.
I don’t know to what degree that light attraction is the cause, but if they’re eating light-attracted bugs (which I think would really be moths), one solution might be leaving a bug zapper in the garage. If they’re getting fried by the bug zapper, they can’t be food for spiders.
I’ve had issues with moths getting into the house. I had a tiny zapper that ran off UV LEDs; those faded and became less effective in a few years; the device was clearly overdriving them. But I’ve been pretty happy with a larger one that has UV fluorescent tubes that just keeps trucking. I set that up on a (battery-backed, so doesn’t reset on wall power loss) timer to only run at night. Seems to work well enough for me.
I live next to protected wetlands and in a generally swampy area. Yes, there are clouds of insects.
I’m not a fan of spiders and dealing with cobwebs, but since moving here, I have declared a truce with them. We try not to keep any lights on near doors to minimize bugs getting into the house when we come and go. And UV sticky traps are very effective and always shock me with how many they can accrue overnight. We have a regular bug service coming too. Creepy crawlies are just part of life here.
Alexa.
If it needs an app or internet connectivity - it can go fuck itself.
We’ve gone nearly a century of appliances that didn’t need this shit. Apps or the Internet itself will not and never will, make things easier to do tasks than they already were easier to do before.
Aside from security and privacy issues, and the issue of dependence on cloud services, a lot of those go obsolete. Like, a fridge from 1950 is still gonna work pretty well today. Networking has changed a lot more quickly, and I suspect will continue to change quickly.
I’d be okay if they want to have some kind of simple, industry-standard interface that lets me expose it to a computer’s control. Like, furnaces have that standard four-wire interface, and then you can just replace an (inexpensive) thermostat with a newer one as technology marches on, leave the furnace in place. But I don’t want a lot of short-lived technology being baked into longer-lived appliances.
Most modern refrigerators. They have tons of features (ice makers, water dispensers, screens) that are unnecessary.
But what gets me really going is the shelving, specifically door shelving. Most manufacturers have moved to clear polycarbonate for the “wall” around the shelf which is specifically not recommended for shock loading. For example, the load that is applied when the door closes and the condiments slide into the retaining piece. To get a fridge with metal means upgrading to a luxury model.
And don’t get me started on the fact that door shelving overlaps with interior shelving. Go look at a 1940s Shelvador and learn how to build a proper appliance.
Frankly, most appliances bother me:
- microwaves have UI issues, but I do like Panasonic’s genius inverter line.
- stoves have too many features and electronics. A true commercial style stoves without gadgets and gewgaws to break is hard to find for home use.
- so many dishwashers simply don’t clean dishes. Modern ones (imho) get too hot
- Most washing machines are way too rough on clothes.
- what the fuck is even with dryers? If people in the UK hang their clothes to dry, you can too (tropical climates may be an exception). Thankfully heat pump dryers are becoming a thing.
Do most fridges not have shelves that can be put practically anywhere?
The key with the shelvador is that there’s no overlap between door shelves and interior shelves. You can stuff the fridge right to the brim and close the door. Too many refrigerators now have an overlap, so you need to reserve space from the fridge to allow the door shelves space. It’s not a matter of placement, just the door shelves are too deep (or interior, depending how you look at it).
If people in the UK hang their clothes to dry, you can too
This is something of a thing in places in Europe, though not much in the US today.
I don’t really like line-dried clothes. I’m sure that it’s gentler on the clothes, but in addition to the convenience, machine-dried clothes are considerably softer; line-dried stuff is stiff by comparison.
I prefer line dried as they are way less creased than when they come out of the dryer.
I’m not up for hanging wet sheets and towels throughout my condo, much less clothes. And my HOA would fine me exorbitantly if I hung laundry on my balcony. I’m seriously glad ther are washers and dryers in the basement and that, after constant issues with frontloading washers, we went back to toploaders.
Yeah one can’t hang clothes outside to dry here, since it’s not dry outside, and line dried laundry is stiff and wrinkled, dryer laundry is soft and smooth. But I still pull half my clothes out and hang them inside to dry because oof dryers sure do wear them out faster.
I discovered that a dehumidifier is really good at drying clothes cheaply. The one I bought has a specific button for laundry.
I mean I like microwaves but it pisses me off it wants to know the date and this goes for any item that wants internet access. Time I get. Its sorta convenient to have it show it when its not doing anything else but why the F do you think you need to know the date. Im not setting you to go cook something later. Really it comes down to it refusing to work after power loss until you put in time and date. My microwave always thinks the days start on november eleventh two thousand eleven.
11/11/11 is the Skyrim epoch
I encountered a gas stove that wouldn’t work during a power outage. It had a valve that shut off the gas if electricity wasn’t present. Way to intentionally sabotage one of your biggest advantages.
haha… yeah. We have a tankless gas water heater that requires an electrical connection. We live in hurricane country so going without power for days/weeks at a time is something we’ve lived through on several occasions. Having a hot shower during those times is the one thing my wife really appreciates. Fortunately, it’s just a 110 connection and we can plug it into a generator or battery back up…
I’m guessing a tankless water heater involves some electronic controls. It probably could be designed to use low-voltage DC with a battery backup, but that would be fancy.
A gas stove should never need electricity for a burner to work if the user supplies another source of ignition like a match. This is surely a “safety feature” to prevent people from leaving the gas on when the electronic ignition is unavailable, but nobody with half a brain and a sense of smell would do that.
I’m guessing a tankless water heater involves some electronic controls. It probably could be designed to use low-voltage DC with a battery backup, but that would be fancy.
It definitely has to if it doesn’t have a pilot light, else its electrical ignition won’t work, but if it has that, there are various ways you could make it work, including just using the heat from the pilot light to drive a thermoelectric generator to get a small amount of juice.
“Smart” TVs.
I just want my TV to show pretty pictures with sound thrown at it by the digital receiver. If I want, I can attach a computer for streaming. How is that such a big ask?!
sceptre makes a dumb tv thats pretty ok
I think some commercial TVs might do what you want.
The cost of a TV is subsidized by advertisements and deals with different apps for prominent placement.
I mean, yeah. Somehow I’m aware of that. But also, we haven’t bought a TV for almost a decade now, and my biggest mistake is letting it update to the latest version. If there’s something these adverts have done is drive me into consuming even less than ever before. I actively don’t buy stuff now.
Disconnect it from the network and factory reset it.
That stopped mine showing me adverts. Won’t stand adverts from a device I’ve paid to bring into my home.
Only had to do that because I checked to see if the “download subtitles” feature would actually work.
Spoiler
It didn’t.
I’m so happy my old 1080p dumb TV is still chugging along. Acts as a third screen to my computer, has a minor spot with pressure damage making the colors darker there. Ultimately still far superior to all the smart junk and cost me only 270€ when it was new in 2014
TV’s are actually cheaper not because the tech necessarily being more available (even though it should) but instead it’s because companies are harvesting your data on smart tv’s and selling it making more profit than they would make with just selling you a TV. On a separate but somewhat related note, has anyone else noticed smart phones becoming more expensive as they become more protective of the users privacy?
as they become more protective of the users privacy?
that was a good joke
as they become more protective of the users privacy?
that was a good joke
Oh I know they are still harvesting our data, but that data is not openly shared so in that sense it’s more secure (Basically I misspoke). It used to be sold like tables of information, now they only sell access to advertise to those groups (more money)… You know what, fuck that logic. I’m talking out of my ass. Phones are more expensive because greed, pure and simple.
I couldn’t find a dumb TV, so I got a smart one didn’t give it wifi access. Every time I turn it on, it shows me a clock that’s wrong and I think “Not so smart now, are you?”. It’s a perfectly functional dumb TV.
Yep. Best way to get a TV that will never sell your data or show ads is to literally blacklist its MAC address at the router level, and then assign the “smart” functionality to a device environment you control, like a Shield Pro with a custom launcher or an Intel NUC media PC or NAS or something similar.
The Samsung man will still sneak in your house at night and check your watch history. There is no escape.
The dumb ones are typically “display” monitors, like what fast-food restaurants use for their menus. Likely more expensive, but built better too
Not built better, just under-driven on brightness so they can run 16-24 hours a day. Contrast suffers, frame rates are limited, you’re paying for support you will never use, and enterprise software features you will also never use.
My oven is a piece of shit that has unreliable temperature control and manages to have hot spots even with the fan on. I bought it new and I don’t think it will die any time soon. Joke is I paid a lot more than for my previous oven and it’s the worst piece of shit I’ve ever had, a miniature countertop oven I had way back that was old as balls gave more consistent results.
