Here's what I've learned about refrigerators recently.
My fridge is failing in a revealing way. It has an automatic defrost unit- this means that it heats the evaporator coils in the freezer every so often (I think it's once every 36 hours) to melt the frost off of them, producing the same condensation you normally get from an A/C. So where does this water go? Well there is a hose from the freezer to a pan underneath the fridge. There is a cooling fan for the condenser coils there which can dip into this pan. The idea is to use this water to help cool the condenser coils, making the fridge a little more efficient.
Anyway, so the failure has to do with the management of this condensation water. When it's not working, you get a puddle of water in the bottom of the fridge compartment which eventually leaks out to the floor. First thing to check- is the hose clogged? Yes it is, washed it out, but problem still happens. Next thing to check- behind the back wall of the freezer you find the evaporator coils. At the bottom is some cheap metal called the "drain trough". It is a funnel that leads the condensation into the hose. This is where the planned obsolescence comes into play. I'm convinced that the manufactures make this metal out of steal with just the tiniest amount of galvanization so that it will eventually rot out. I think even plastic would have been a better material.
It's theoretically possible to replace this metal, but consider the work involved: you need to empty the freezer, dry it out, remove the back of it, figure out how to move the evaporator coils out of the way without damaging them, unscrew the trough, and figure out how to wiggle it out. You need to do this at least twice (once to debug the issue in the first place, next to actually replace it). Finally good luck finding the replacement in stock (also add the time needed for this search). The fridge is maybe good for 12 years, but little chance of replacement parts stocked for that long. Certainly this is the case for my fridge, and I fabricated a temporary patch out of rubber.
Also, of course, there is absolutely no way for you to inspect this part before you buy a new fridge. Maybe it's even worse on new fridges, who knows?
> This is where the planned obsolescence comes into play. I'm convinced that the manufactures make this metal out of steal with just the tiniest amount of galvanization so that it will eventually rot out.
One thing I never got about "planned obsolescence" as some sort of way to get more recurring revenue is how it works with competitors. If you're the only game in town then it makes perfect sense, but if your appliance died an early death, are you really going to buy from the same manufacturer? What if another manufacturer doesn't do the same thing and their appliance lasts longer? Wouldn't you lose market share? For it to work you'd need some sort of conspiracy with all the other competitors so everyone cuts quality in unison, which we haven't seen a lot of evidence of. The only one that comes to mind is the lightbulb one.
They make their products fail in non obvious ways and the competitors do the same thing. You won't be able to see the flaws when you buy the product.
Recent example, my parents buy "stainless steel" because they think it is more durable but it's purely cosmetic because of the internal parts. They had a stainless steel microwave that stopped working because the door would not stay shut.
I was able to pry open the framing of the door and located the tension spring that was required to keep the door hooked shut, well it had been attached to the flimsiest plastic tab I could imagine.
Everything else about the microwave worked perfectly fine but because this flimsy 2mm thick plastic tab broke, it was now junk.
So i drilled a hole in the plastic frame and reattached the spring to that hole (which was drilled in a way that made it more stable) and fixed the microwave.
There was literally no increase in cost to anchor this critical tension spring in a less fragile way, in fact I would argue it cost them more to design this special failing piece.
The whole industry is just absurd, the whole way we run the economy is absurd. It only makes sense if you have infinite planets to exploit for resources with infinite room for waste.
I have a Samsung fridge and there is a problem that causes water to pool in the meat/vegetable trays. It's very simple - a tube in the back behind a panel takes run-off under the fridge. But this drain runs past the freezer, so it freezes solid eventually and overflows. It took quite a while to work out the first time but YouTube came to the rescue.
The fix is apparently replacing or extending the stupid little piece of metal they attached that is meant to transfer heat into the pipe. Instead we add a longer copper wire or something that goes deeper and conducts better. Doing this only costs only a few dollars more (currently, I've simply poured hot water down there to unclog it twice in ~6 years but next time it's getting the wire).
Interesting- on mine, this hose is external. There is a fitting that goes all the way through the wall insulation and hose runs along the back of the fridge.
My fridge is failing in a revealing way. It has an automatic defrost unit- this means that it heats the evaporator coils in the freezer every so often (I think it's once every 36 hours) to melt the frost off of them, producing the same condensation you normally get from an A/C. So where does this water go? Well there is a hose from the freezer to a pan underneath the fridge. There is a cooling fan for the condenser coils there which can dip into this pan. The idea is to use this water to help cool the condenser coils, making the fridge a little more efficient.
Anyway, so the failure has to do with the management of this condensation water. When it's not working, you get a puddle of water in the bottom of the fridge compartment which eventually leaks out to the floor. First thing to check- is the hose clogged? Yes it is, washed it out, but problem still happens. Next thing to check- behind the back wall of the freezer you find the evaporator coils. At the bottom is some cheap metal called the "drain trough". It is a funnel that leads the condensation into the hose. This is where the planned obsolescence comes into play. I'm convinced that the manufactures make this metal out of steal with just the tiniest amount of galvanization so that it will eventually rot out. I think even plastic would have been a better material.
It's theoretically possible to replace this metal, but consider the work involved: you need to empty the freezer, dry it out, remove the back of it, figure out how to move the evaporator coils out of the way without damaging them, unscrew the trough, and figure out how to wiggle it out. You need to do this at least twice (once to debug the issue in the first place, next to actually replace it). Finally good luck finding the replacement in stock (also add the time needed for this search). The fridge is maybe good for 12 years, but little chance of replacement parts stocked for that long. Certainly this is the case for my fridge, and I fabricated a temporary patch out of rubber.
Also, of course, there is absolutely no way for you to inspect this part before you buy a new fridge. Maybe it's even worse on new fridges, who knows?
Edit: check it out, someone else noticed this:
https://medium.com/@michael.grimshaw1/rusted-through-in-four...