Dacor Stove
In 2006 my wife and I moved into a new house and bought a Dacor RSD30S stove.
Dacor made parts for the thing for TWO YEARS and that’s it. I owned it for 12 years and it went through three igniters and the door handle broke. The first igniter broke within 18 months and I was able to replace it with a new one. The second one went out at around 5 years and the part was already discontinued. Fortunately, the parts guy I was ordering from was very familiar with Dacor and said that the igniter from the new model would work, the bracket would just need to be drilled to mount it. It took me all of 5 minutes. The third one went out and I was screwed. So I spent about 2 years manually igniting my “modern” duel fuel range. Even when it did work, Dacor used one igniter coil for all four igniters. If they were not all perfectly clean the current would only go to one with the least impedance and the rest wouldn’t work.
I was never able to fix the broken handle.
Dacor… Never again.
Contrast that with the stove I replaced the Dacor with, a Wolf DF304. Granted, we’re talking about a very high end range vs a middle of the road POS. However, Wolf has not changed the design of the DF304 in 25 years. I actually bought my Wolf 2nd hand, hence why I could afford it. It was 8 years old when I bought it. Wolf not only still has all the parts for it in stock, the stove is still in production. It currently is 14 years old and works like new, compared to the Dacor being 12 years old and completely clapped out. Also Wolf uses independent coils for each igniter, so the current doesn’t flow to the igniter with the least impedance like the Dacor.
I know this sounds like a case of “you get what you paid for”, but that Dacor new was $2500, so not exactly cheap.
And don’t even get me started on General Electric appliances…
My body. Shits getting worse by the day.
My Chevy Volt 2013, which still runs great, no longer has OnStar because they never planned for a way to upgrade the connectivity when 3G networks were retired. So I am concretely less safe when driving and lose other useful features like remote start, milage tracking, etc.
To add insult to injury, they are fully capable of adding the 4g module because Canadian Volts were able to be upgraded. GM decided to not let US owners pay for the upgrade, because fuck us that’s why.
I would say you’re better off just because they can’t auto-brick your car remotely because your account isn’t up to date.
you are better off without remote control systems like that
Phones. Windows.
Windows and ios
School just got 30 new laptops because of the tpm requirement on windows 11 just like Microsoft planned.
I would not mind helping them with Linux of any distro even after Im done learning there because it’s so much better
Viagra
Microsoft Windows10
Windows 11 refusing to install on hardware it can absolutely run on.
IP rating on smartphones so there’s seals and glue everywhere and opening them up is a fucking nightmare.
Dumbest thing about those IP ratings is that they don‘t even provide any warranty rights for water damage.
“IP rating only describes the sealing properties at the time of assembly and may deteriorate with time.” my ass!
My desktop won’t run Windows 11 according to Windows 11. But if I make a VM with fake TPM on it, it will run perfectly well inside a VM on a machine that won’t run it lol
It wouldn’t install on an all-in-one PC I was selling, until I clicked the bypass options (RAM, TPM, etc) in Rufus
the worst part is that there are plenty of examples of older phones that achieved high IP ratings while also being more repairable. they just gaslight us into accepting it.
(also obligatory 🐧)
Windows 11 refusing to install on hardware it can absolutely run on.
RUFUS is not only a great tool with which to build your USB installer (it has an option to download the correct and latest ISO directly from Microsoft), but in the subsequent steps it also asks if you want to modify the installer in some pretty useful ways. Such as bypassing a Microsoft account in favour of a local account, and neutering some of the more recent requirements. IIRC the TPM 2.0 requirement can still be nerfed.
U can still force an install on older hardware, I did it on my old Lenovo laptop and have t had an issue! Just takes a command to make it install despite “not officially being supported”
I know, but many people barely know what “supported hardware even mean”, they will see the message " this computer won’t receive any more updates" and simply buy a new one.
An unfortunate product of our consumer society :/ nobody knows shit about the crap they use every day any more! I remember when owning a car meant learning to do spark plugs and oil changes, now most people couldn’t hang their spare on the side of the road if their life depended on it nevermind be bothered to figure out what hardware is in their porn browsing device.
@innermachine @bobo1900 As of recently, you can officially install Win11 on unsupported hardware, you just have to click a prompt acknowledging that you’re on your own when you do it.
However, there’s nothing saying MS won’t rugpull that and start blocking Win11 on unsupported hardware again.
Dishwashers, the 3 most recent dishwashers that I have had experience using across 3 very different households and use levels, from 3 different manufacturers, have all had minor to major faults in the 4-5 years since installation, just after the warranty period ended.
Mostly drawer and roller related, but also a pump failure.
Samsung washing machine. I watched a YouTube video about how they deliberately chose a material that wears out after like 4 or 5 years for a critical component. Real cool, thanks Samsung.
Drum spider and drum with two dissimilar metals that react and eats the drum spider away with use?
They’ve been doing it for decades at this point. No idea why people buy Samsung appliances.
Then again even Bosch and Miele have started using plastic welded drums which prevent repair of simple parts like bearings and motors so… Fuck us all I guess.
That’s the one. It was my mom’s. I told her to get a speed queen if she wanted to spend money like that, but she didn’t listen, and the POS broke like 5 minutes after the warranty was up.
Is it easy to repair, or also deliberately made difficult?
They are hoping for people to get a new one. One of the drain pipe is made of plastic that is brittle after 4 years! There are Tupperwares that last 5 times than that without breaking. I refuse to believe its not a conscious decision for it to break. And no aftermarket alternative. You need $110 parts from Samsung supplier!
Ah yes, proprietary parts also get you.
And they make them so tricky to repair that appliance repair people will either have to charge too much or outright refuse to work on them.
Not just Samsung, all manufacturers.
Not sure if this qualifies as planned obsolescence but Acer stopped supporting a tablet I bought in less than two years. I have been avoiding Acer products ever since.
Washing machines. In the stores, you see a shiny stainless steel drum, but holding up the drum is a raw aluminum spindle. Those spindles corrode with typically caustic laundry detergents to last about 6 years. Replacement was possible, with a day of work. Now, manufacturers seal the drum unit with welded plastic so replacement is impossible.
I work in an operating room, and have been around long enough to see multiple pieces of perfectly good equipment get replaced just because it hit the manufacturer’s end-of-life date.
I’m talking things like a several-hundred-thousand dollar microscope for microsurgery.
Basically that date means if the microscope fucks up somehow, the vendor takes zero liability, and any legal expenses fall onto the hospital… so we trash it and buy another one. Rinse and repeat after another few years.
That end-of-life date is always crazy early, and is like that 100% because the manufacturer knows hospitals would rather just treat a quarter million dollar microscope as disposable than accept liability for an equipment fault.
The waste is unreal.
Zeiss famously ended support of a popular microscope, then destroyed all parts stored worldwide.
Does this make hospitals good for dumpster diving? I’m only half kidding, but really, how would you dispose of this stuff? Would you just donate something like that to something less immediately critical to life like a research or education facility?
One of my old jobs had a pallet full of perfectly good PSUs, o-scopes, H bridges, and a bunch of miscellaneous data cables. They were all gonna be trashed either because their projects were cancelled or had a minor flaw they didn’t want to fix. My buddies and I rescued a bunch of equipment before the company padlocked it. My advice is be discreet. Companies hate it when people recover shit they throw out whether it be perfectly good equipment or food.
That makes me really sad. Our town dump has a pay-to-dispose system for electronics like that. It’s $15 to dump anything from laptops and monitors, to ancient hulking mainframes, industrial equipment, stage lighting, and all manner of other unwanted electronic things which doubtless spent time rotting in someone’s attic or basement before finally being considered as trash and hauled off for disposal. The disposal container has always had a “no scavenging” sign that I would ignore, and I’ve found some pretty sweet loot in there. Stuff like whole gaming PCs whose only problem is a single bad component, vintage analog turntables I’ve cleaned up and repaired, etc.
Recently, the shipping container in which these items are placed by their former owners was moved to a new spot under an existing security camera, and a sticker system was implemented. I’m starting to think they might be profiting on both ends from it (the disposal fee from residents and money from a recycler/salvage?) but I’m not quite sure. More likely they’re just overly worried about liability from someone doing something dumb or unexpected, and someone getting hurt, and/or simply maintaining the appearance of accountability. The camera only sees who and what is going in and out of the container though, not what happens inside there.
My latest strategy to defeat these measures has been to buy a sticker to gain access but bring two pieces of unwanted junk: one is the paid item - my “ticket”, so to speak - giving me the legitimacy of access to the shipping container, and another secret “replacement” item. I usually find some way to make these look like a single unit, which is easy, as what constitutes a single item is defined very loosely. As long as everything seems ok with that transaction, I drive over to the spot, back up to the shipping container entrance and open up the lift gate of my little hatchback, which partially blocks the camera’s view. Then I drop my legitimate “decoy” item, quickly try to find something good in there (I make sure it’s busy when I go, so there usually is) and then do a cheeky, sneaky sticker swap onto my secret item and whisk my quarry into the back of the car. If I don’t find something worth taking I just leave the whole bundle of both items as-is.
I assume they check and count stickers sold from the front office vs. actual items stickered at the end of each day or week, but they can’t feasibly keep track of what things are or who brought what. Any items you’ve brought can remain in your vehicle while you’re paying your dues at the fee station near the main entrance, and they don’t ever ask to check it if you seem halfway competent with their system and setup. I’m a known quantity (as far as they’re aware) so the most they ever do is glance at my vehicle and make sure it still has an unexpired sticker (these are issued by the town annually) which allows me to enter the facility in the first place. Then, after payment, you have to drive all the way across the facility to an area in the back, where the disposal container is. While you may encounter another worker there, it’s unlikely for them to connect the dots or even see the actual items at all until after you’ve left. Plus they’re perennially understaffed – usually just 2 or 3 overworked guys are handling everything that happens at a dump for a town of over 40,000. They’re usually doing something far more important than trying to bust petty rule breakers, like handling the mountain of human trash generated daily by all the wonderful consumer denizens of our middle-class suburb.
If there was an incident detected - signs of malfeasance or any other cause for concern - I assume it would be a reactive choice that cameras would be more closely scrutinized, your identifying details would be collected, and an investigation would ensue if deemed necessary. Otherwise, they simply don’t have the resources to track what’s what, and just kinda wing it with a process that seems tight at first glance, but is really still partially on an honor system. I also get the vibe they’re happy to be bringing any revenue at all for the town, and don’t necessarily care much unless flagrant violations occur or someone gets hurt or a suspicious pattern is noticed. Unless you’re really unlucky, simply the appearance of innocently following the established systems of dump bureaucracy and not being a jerk is enough to avoid arousing any suspicion at all.
It’s slightly unethical, objectively, according to some, sure, and I might get caught doing this eventually – but it’s hard to emphasize just how little I care about that. I’m willing to play dumb, act sorry, promise to behave in the future, take whatever minor slap on the wrist that follows, then eventually move onto whatever other weird game I end up playing with society next which tickles me in this specific way. It’s not like I’m selling any of this stuff; I fix it up and keep it for myself unless and until I find someone else who needs it more. You could call it a rationalization for petty theft concocted by an autistic mind, maybe that’s right, but in my estimation I’m not really doing any harm, since they end up with the same net number of items in the end, plus I bought a sticker with actual money, I’m disposing of items which are actually dead and useless, and I’m rescuing something else by extending its useful life. If the new thing I’ve acquired can’t be used or repurposed, and is indeed trash, that’s my new “ticket” for next time! Everything described above fits into quite nicely into my personal framework of morality, so fuck it. Plus it’s fun!
I feel like you have the ethical upper hand, keep doing what you’re doing.
No idea how they dispose of it. I’ve asked my immediate management chain if I can take damaged/pitted instruments that need to be replaced to donate to the local colleges - Anatomy & Physiology classes all have a lab component to dissect something, and the school I went to had instruments that were absolute garbage.
The answer was no… We just put instruments that need to be replaced in a red bin with other sharps like needles, and the bins are shipped off somewhere, probably to be incinerated.
Bigger stuff like equipment, we send to the biomedical engineering department for outprocessing. From there, no idea. Probably land fill.
I wouldn’t dumpster dive at a hospital though. It’ll be a sea of ruptured catheter bags, linens saturated with poop, and just all manner of pathogens. And probably sharps - that stuff is supposed to go in sealed red bins, but all it takes is one lazy employee and you’ve got yourself an HIV+ needle stick.
Not sure where you’re at, but the hospitals around here are pretty meticulous with sorting waste, especially segregating biowaste. I am near to Boston though, so they’re admittedly some of the best.
US deep south. The only sorting of trash I see in the hospital is sharps vs non-sharps. Outside the hospital, sorting is vitually nonexistent… there’s no recycling here, everything just goes in a landfill. It’s fucking stupid, but this is what we get for putting Nazis in charge of everything.
The
wasteprofit is unreal.
Win11… The amount of perfectly good hardware that became ewaste in October is insane to me
Got to be Apple slowing down older iPhones to mask battery degradation, and hoping no one would notice.
Not only that, but also silently removing contacts when you didn’t update and connected it up to iTunes. That same day I bought my first android.
Not come across that one, maybe it didn’t affect iOS 16, so us iPhone X users are safe?
It is funny that all the responses so far have been about phones.
This was around ios 6 or 7. The Iphone 4 was my last iPhone.
Android does this by just bloating the software out and reinstalling games I uninstalled. It’s gotten to the point that I’m not sure if its actually dialing out or not when I make a call.
I love to shit on companies for doing evil shit (like Apple removing Targeted Display Mode from their iMacs), but Apple did the right thing here, but communicated it in the worst way possible.
I had an old iPhone that would randomly shut down when it drew too much power for the old battery to provide. If they hadn’t done the fix, I would have had to get a new phone; it just wasn’t reliable anymore. With the fix, things were slow, but they worked. Honestly, this is the opposite of planned obsolescence.
I’m going to respectfully disagree; had the phone kept shutting down you would have gone to Apple or a 3rd party repairer and got a new battery for 30-80£€$.
By masking the real issue and just giving you a poor experience, you wonder if it was always like that, or if there is something wrong at all, maybe you compare it with a snappy new phone and decide to upgrade for 1000£€$
$30 to $80 is half the price of a new (used) phone.
Half the price isn’t bad to get more longevity out of a phone. And a different used phone will probably have to have its battery replaced fairly soon enough, too
At that point my phone is usually cracked and worth upgrading, but with each phone I go through I try to take better care of it. But so far I’ve never liked a phone so much that it was worth replacing the battery. But I have bought the exact same model of phone 2-3 times as replacements (esp when I broke one by dropping it)
This may be the difference here, I have never broken a phone, my iPhone 6 became my dads and is still going, and my current phone is the iPX I bought over 8 years ago.
You probably need to take better care of your stuff. 😀
Story of my life lol. I have butterfingers, and am distractable in ways that end up with not taking good care of things :(
Where are you getting an iPhone for less than $160 that still gets security updates??
I can replace my iPX for about $200 for a refurbished one, but not get an 11 which will only have 9 more months of updates. I can probably get a used 11 with an already trashed (<70%) battery for $160.
I don’t know. I usually buy used pixel devices, but that’s a good point. If you are trying to plan the replacement costs for an iPhone and you can repair the battery for $30-80, that’s a steal.
This is one of the worst companies. They are about saving the planet with recycling their products. They don’t. Its all ends in landfills. Its all a grift.
Apple pisses me off. I have a 2012 MacBook Pro that could have continued to be supported, Apple just decided it wasn’t in their best interest to continue supporting it and if I want to continue I’ll just have to buy a new one!
My MacBook is on MacOS 13 thanks to open core legacy.
Mine is on Debian 13; I love my little 13" 2012 MBP!
My 15” 2012 is on Debian 13 also.
Linux learning experience of a lifetime trying to fully get the graphics working properly, but got there in the end!
I’ve refused to buy another Apple product after the slow down basically disabled my iPhone 4. I was even looking at a new iPhone, but it left such a bad taste in my mouth I’ve been android ever since.
It’s funny, because if they just made this a “battery preserve” option, it would probably be hailed as genius and put in every single phone on the planet by now.
It is an option though.
Sealed in batteries on smartphones and Surface tablets.
The device will eventually reach a point where it won’t even boot (or shuts down randomly) when plugged in because the charger connection isn’t actually wired to power the main board without going through the battery first (most smartphones) or the device consumes more power than the port is designed to deliver (Surface).
Dealing with this right now. Battery is 4 years old and going weak, decided to no longer recognize any charger below a certain battery percentage (like 72%) unless it’s wireless. Thought it bricked itself when it first happened until seeing it’s an issue with the batteries used for this model just straight up rejecting to charge for many heavy users. Getting a new phone soon since its so inconvenient while working outside.
I’ve been successful in replacing built-in batteries in 2 different phones. Granted my families phones are all > 4 years old so maybe it’s gotten much harder lately.
I had an LG phone for a few years until one night it literally just died on me. I was messing around on it one night, just scrolling randomly, then I set it down for a few minutes to play a game. When I went to check my phone again, it wouldn’t turn on or anything.
