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Couple finally ditch their 1950s appliances


Black Monk

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An elderly couple are getting rid of household appliances they bought more than 50 years ago.

Sydney Saunders, 83, and wife Rachel, 81, from Exeter, have a tumble dryer, water boiler, cooker and washing machine, all in recent working order.

They bought some of the items when they got married in 1956 and have been using most of them since.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-42043754

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Ah, back in day when things were built to last and the average person could actually fix them themselves if they did break.

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5 minutes ago, Black Monk said:

An elderly couple are getting rid of household appliances they bought more than 50 years ago.

Sydney Saunders, 83, and wife Rachel, 81, from Exeter, have a tumble dryer, water boiler, cooker and washing machine, all in recent working order.

They bought some of the items when they got married in 1956 and have been using most of them since.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-42043754

Remember when stuff used to last?

I don't. 

I've heard it used to, though. 

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9 minutes ago, Likely Guy said:

Ah, back in day when things were built to last and the average person could actually fix them themselves if they did break.

You got sick of looking at them long before they quit working. It was customary for the parents to give them to their children when they moved away from home. Then mom got a new one.

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Yup.

The 'new improved' models will likely not last 1/4 of the time of the originals.

 

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My ex and I bought a 1920's house with one of these in it. I loved it and it worked perfectly.

http://www.antiqueappliances.com/stoves/

The 1950's Wedgewood with the griddle. I wish I'd taken it when I left him. I'm sure one of his next four wives dumped it for something new. I'd still have it and it would look perfect in our kitchen.

 

Edited by Michelle
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23 minutes ago, quiXilver said:

Yup.

The 'new improved' models will likely not last 1/4 of the time of the originals.

 

It really depends on what specific product you compare it to. Today there are still products that are over built such as durable exteriors or use more durable technologies such as solid capacitors. Today we have smaller electronics that run cooler and use DSM (discreet surface mounting)...all sorts of things to increase durability over the old as heat is a top killer of all electronics, todays stuff runs much cooler than before. Now that we have cheaper competition, it's easy to say that more durable products are too expensive but you can find many products that will outlast old technologies. The average lifespan always depends on specifications of the compared product. But efficiency is often key such as refrigerators that don't need to kick on quite as often as some of the really old ones used to.

However I still have an old Plasma TV from 2001 that works to this day, now being used to view my security camera's and it outlasted my old 1985 Hitatchi TV that I had for 15 years.

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:P A TV from 2001? Honey....please..... I had one that worked perfectly fine for 45 years. Of course it didn't have a remote and was heavy as hell. Oh, the horror! It was delegated to my husband's workshop, since he rarely watched TV out there until it choked on the dust.

My main problem with new appliances is that they start rusting after about five years. If you live in a humid area it's a real problem. They may work fine. but they start looking like crap. The little apartment sized, rounded top refrigerator from the 50's I inherited in 1980 looked and worked perfectly when I gave it away around 2000. It still works and looks fine in their garage. They still love it!

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My house was built in 1996 but my washer and dryer were from the home I grew up in. I reckon both were a good 30 years old before I decided to replace the washing machine with a "high efficiency". But hell, I save about thirteen and a half cents a month! Dryer is still going strong. 

My central heat and air unit was new when the house was built and lasted until a few summers ago. A new one would've cost about six grand and one of my cousins, who worked in HVAC for much of his life, said I'd be lucky to get 4-5 years out of a brand new one before it became a money pit. 

Planned obsolescence.

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Just now, NightScreams said:

It really depends on what specific product you compare it to. Today there are still products that are over built such as durable exteriors or use more durable technologies such as solid capacitors. Today we have smaller electronics that run cooler and use DSM (discreet surface mounting)...all sorts of things to increase durability over the old as heat is a top killer of all electronics, todays stuff runs much cooler than before. Now that we have cheaper competition, it's easy to say that more durable products are too expensive but you can find many products that will outlast old technologies. The average lifespan always depends on specifications of the compared product. But efficiency is often key such as refrigerators that don't need to kick on quite as often as some of the really old ones used to.

However I still have an old Plasma TV from 2001 that works to this day, now being used to view my security camera's and it outlasted my old 1985 Hitatchi TV that I had for 15 years.

well, the thing is back in the days everything was made to last, now only few things that you have to pay big money for, like subzero fridge for example,  

as for small electronic, lol, it fails at rates unimaginable in 1950s.  i deal with it on daliy basis, control boards in new ac, motor controls, lighting,.... burns quite often,  i'm in building maintenance  business. been doing it for over 15 years. amount of electronics, failed, is pretty large, yet i know of at least 1 building in nyc that still uses 100+ years old phone patch board, made of hard wood and brass bolts and nuts, modern punch boards are garbage next to that. there is one in that building from 80s, all broken and abandoned, 

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In 1956, Britain had a struggling Tory government, a dictatorship ended in Africa and English football's major trophies went to Manchester.

Some things never change...

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