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What was your best purchase?
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this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2023
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Just about everything I've saved up to buy, that had a reputation for longevity or built for commercial use:
Appliances: Speed Queen washer/dryer: Washer is 10 years old this year and is working just like the day I bought it. Unlike the GE frontloader it replaced, which died at 6 year of age. Speed Queen actually rates their equipment's duty cycles. I'm about halfway through the washer's rated life. The dryer is about 4 years younger.
Wolf DF304 range: Cooking is a hobby for me, so it gets used... A LOT. Far more than the average range gets used. Otherwise, this is an extravagant purchase for most households. I clapped out a Dacor range in 6 years, but suffered with it for an additional 2 to save up for the Wolf. Have had the Wolf for 8 and it still works like new with no issues, unlike its antecedent.
Electronics: McIntosh: MC7100 it's 30 years old and I've owned it for 20 of those. I also have an MC7108 that had issues that I corrected. My grand kids will be fighting over those two pieces. Before, I had to dig into box store branded stuff at about 8 to 10 years to replace capacitors, or other things that happened to them or they were just junk. The MC7108 had a bad capacitor in the on/off circuit. It still worked, with that bypassed. It's fixed now as it was worth fixing.
Cars: Toyota: 85 Corolla GT-S (raced it in Autocross for many years and it never had a problem). I currently own a 14 Camry LE that has been reasonable over its 147,000 miles, but not as good as I was hoping. I detest fancy cars and anything that guzzles gas. Simplicity is where it is at, if you want a car to last a long time and not be a garage queen. People that buy the fancy German cars are just bewildering to me. Sure, they are nice, drive great, and might even get you laid... But that's a LOT of money to put into something that will uneconomical to fix by 150,000miles (241401km for my more civilized friends).
On my list of things I want to buy that I'm fiarly certain will be worth it:
Dash Cam
How do you clap out a range? The valves get loose??
The first thing you need to know is Dacor only makes parts for its products for 2 years. If you need something replaced after that period, you are pretty much out of luck.
As to what broke, here goes:
Oven door handle (broke just after two years and the part was unavailable.)
Every igniter had to be replaced in the first two years.
The coil that powers the igniters. This died after the two year period, so I spent nearly 5 years lighting the burners using a lighter.
As an aside, there was only one coil powering all four igniters. If you didn't clean the range top properly and dry off the igniters, then only one would work. The Wolf has coils for each burner, so you don't have to worry about one igniter having less impedance than another.
The controller for the oven died twice. This, fortunately, was ONE part that was available past the two year period. I think they used the same board in the next model range. However, the nail in the coffin was at 6 years of age, it died again and the part was no longer available, permanently disabling the oven.
Various bits and bobs were either worn, or broken by the end.
Funny enough, the gas valves were the one thing that lasted the entire time it was in the house.
Jeez, that sounds like a nightmare. My oven is separate from my range so no controller, therefore much simpler. B ut it has been rock solid- something like this
https://www.geappliances.com/appliance/GE-30-Built-In-Gas-on-Glass-Cooktop-with-Dishwasher-Safe-Grates-JGP5530SLSS
Honestly, my first washer/dryer, dishwasher, microwave, and refrigerator were all GE. We bought the house new and were 500 miles away. The house came with the dishwasher, and microwave. The builder put me in contact with his appliance supplier and I got to use their discount, which was only offered on GE products. I paid for the Dacor separately, as that is the range my wife wanted. At the time, she was the cook and my entry into the hobby of cooking was about 3 years away.
Here is how long each one of those GE appliances lasted: Washer: 6 Dryer: 10 Microwave (over the range type which I hate): 8 Dishwasher: 12
On top of the lack of longevity, the performance of each appliance was terrible compared to their contemporaries.
Each was replaced with: Washer: Speed Queen current age 10 and works like new. Dryer: Speed Queen: currently 6 years old. Microwave (ditched the over the range and bought a range hood and a counter top microwave) Panasonic current age 8 years. Dishwasher: Bosch 800 series. With that said, the old GE was still working, however the dish racks were all rusting.
A dash cam was definitely one of the best purchases I've made. I was able to submit video to the insurance company to show a collision wasn't my fault. It has also captured some other random interesting events like an electrical transformer explosion during a storm.
I've got an old Maytag dryer that seems to be made by speed queen. They share the same parts, and it looks identical to my dad's newer speed queen dryer.
Mines giving me a lot of crap lately though, but it's easy to fix. I'm waiting on parts for it right now.
Damned interesting! For example, I didn't know Speed Queen still made washers.
Thoughts on a 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse? (It's a Spyder convertible, same thing.) Needs a head gasket again, but it's a reliable car and fuel efficient. I loathe new cars. My gf's Subaru makes me want to punch it.
Had to look up the McIntosh. :) Not an audiophile, but I just got a 1986 Sony EQ that's dope. And for y'all youngins, that's genuine Japanese 80's manufacture!) Also running a Pioneer DT-500 for kicks. $120 for both on eBay. I'll never in life buy modern audio stuff.
Let me know how the cam thing works out. I'd buy some crappy Chinesium unit and regret.
Energy regulations killed the original model SQs. They're back with the TC5000. I scored a 2016 set for $800 locally- the front panel of each comes off with 2 screws and everything is right there. Stupid easy to service. I was checking belts and brakes after I bought them but it looked brand new inside.