It's Not Just a Widespread Theory, It's Apparently a Verified Fact: Home Appliances Not Made to Last Long
Washing machine repair man asserts that the machines sold a decade ago could maybe last a decade; now they last barely 5 years. It's not you, it's the manufacturers.
There's concrete in washing/laundry machines, even if you don't toss one or four bricks in for a laugh.
Almost exactly one week ago, on a Tuesday, I wrote about our washing machine failing after 6+ years of use (by only 2 persons; I installed it myself during the COVID-19 lockdowns). Some small parts of it just decided to 'snap' one day. Nothing invoked or triggered or caused this; suspension was OK, the motor was OK, but internal parts 'snapped' without warning, without manual provocation/intervention of any kind. It would take a week to repair (i.e. laundry backlog). Tuesday to Tuesday. Not too pleasant a response time, albeit fastest feasible in this case.
So some parts decided to 'snap'. The solution was not going to be trivial.
To me this particular cause was not obvious, but it was immediately apparent to the repair man, who said he would come back almost a week later with the necessary parts, as they needed ordering for this one particular model (we decided to replace almost all the 'guts' of this machine to reduce waste and retain the machine itself). This morning I wrote some more about it and hours later I worked with (helped) the engineer on this machine. I attempted to study all the inner components when he explained the functionalities to me. He does this kind of thing all day long, everyday (except weekends).
One thing he was very clear about was the age of machines that he repairs; they're getting younger and younger (machines that break down). Decades ago (1980s and 90s) they would last decades. Now, however, they're made to fail after about 5 years. There are not many good tips for extending their life (no magic solutions). "You get what you pay for," he said. "They make them so that they can make more money off you," he added. The machines aren't meant to last long, with the exception of some very expensive brands (those that cost like 3 times more). The rest are junk and are made of similar components, typically sourced from China. They are going to break down after a roughly same/fixed number of cycles, and unless the repairs involve almost all "moving parts" (which is what I specifically asked him to do) these ambitious repairs won't extend the total life by very much at all. One tip he gave mostly dealt with chemistry; see, there's a lot of plastic inside these machines that isn't visible when one inserts clothes/linen/whatever (it is 'outside' the metal parts, accessible only to the disassembled body) and it can just break easily, more so when exposed to chemicals like soaps, bleaches, or even just water... over time. There are agents that can help clean off such chemicals periodically, hence or thereby reducing the risk of chemical erosion. Some of these chemicals would take up a lot of water and power to "do their thing" (they are not placebos, though no magic/wonder either), but they can help prevent breakdowns; even if used with internals of 2 months (level/program 2, 60+°C degrees for water), they can help remove buildup of chemicals, albeit those involve running "on empty" for about 60 minutes. That's rather wasteful. Just to wear down or wash away soap remnants and reduce chance of emergent issues (because the underlying materials are thin and flaky). WPro or Dr. Beckmann are among the more famous or established brands for this sort of thing, but their products are anything but cheap. Water, power, chemicals... just to wash cheaply-made components.
Society would be better off if the components were manufactured to be robust, but the "industry" would not be better off (fewer sales, all in all).
TIL that many components inside the machine can be repaired and/or sealed on one's own, provided some tools and spare parts, but such efforts would never be doable for some of the larger/largest components. Also, it's a high-voltage appliance, so there's danger for not only the machine but anything else plugged in at the same time. Some people told me that these repair works can (and sometimes do) cost more than a new machine, but what about environmental factors? Why is there no governance/regulation demanding better endurance/durability?
It ought to be noted that while studying all the internal parts (and how to decouple them) I saw how they position very large concrete blocks to make the machine heavy and avoid excessive rocking, shaking, unwanted movements that slow down rotation (inertia). Many people know nothing about the concrete (it sounds like an urban myth); attempts were made in the past to replace them with something else, but concrete is cheap and considered relatively inexpensive - which is perhaps what matters to greedier manufacturers (good placement inside a slot in some cupboard would obviate the need for concrete). The thing to remember about almost every washing machine is, it's not heavy because of metal components, it just has giant blocks of concrete inside it, a lot of the machine is hollow but made to standard size to fit spaces/slots (even if the tumble is of irregularly small size). Regardless of the brand the machine says it is, e.g. Indesit, it contains parts made by Becko in places like Turkey or even Romania. Sometimes the motor/s come from Becko. It's like the car industry; many of the components inside a car aren't made by the company the car is advertised as; they're sourced from elsewhere, e.g. VW. But more importantly, those parts are not made to last long, they're aiming for low price, mass production, and high turnover. And not that they've intentionally made them self-destruct after a number of years, it's not a conspiracy per se; they just lack the incentive (it is a business decision) to improve longevity.
As a friend put it regarding such machines; "Engineered to fall apart with non-servicable parts after about 4.5 to 5 years" (extended warranty is sometimes considered fully expired after 5 or 10 years).
"The companies spend a lot of money on that. The moving parts are engineered to break while not being reparable, such as bearings in plastic casings etc."
I did see a great deal of plastic. The machines are vastly simpler than folks are made to believe and aside from the outer casing (metal) there's plenty of plastic, which is positioned not far from water, rust, and an odd mixture of soaps. If we wanted machines to last decades, metallic parts would be more prevalent. They would also be more rust-proof, but that takes more processing and more precious metals.
So here ends another part of "TIL" regarding the more "modern" appliances in the age of "disposables" as a "business model". Learning how to assemble and disassemble these machines can help, but repairing broken parts is incredibly hard; some part are proprietary and model-specific. What a mess. █