Refigeration problems increasing

If any of you remember the old fridges with compressors, very popular in the fifties, they were essentially repairable and hardly ever broke down. Now as everything has gone electronic the supermarket is the go-to for refrigerated food. What happens when a small electrical component breaks down, and the parts are as rare as hen's teeth? Here we have a problem which seems to be building as reports come in of long lines of coolers breaking down in supermarkets and the waiting time for parts is getting longer. Steve Poplar runs a current information channel and collates what people are reporting, some strange things seem to be occurring like the waiting times for parts. Foreign men are being put up in hotels and using MasterCard.Storm warning sirens are being upgraded for air attack warnings. Reading some of the reports from people around the country one could ask what's going on? and have the Western country's lack of manufacturing capability, finally come back to bite as the cheap foreign-made stuff heads to the landfill without any backups. Here is the addy as the reports make good reading as well. www.youtube.com...

a reply to: annonentity

Freezers and refridgeration are a convenience in our ways of life at this point. Look down the road of what is being done with our appliances and household equipment. Stand-alone freezers will become a luxury. But given that you will hardly be eating meat in the near-future, no big deal, right? Your jars of dried insects will still be safe on the shelf,

a reply to: CosmicFocus


Eating bugs - check
Unexplained hostility - check
Self mutilation - check
Radical changes in appearance - check

If regular people start speaking Latin and Aramaic,
I might consider going back to church (sarcasm).

But on a serious note, I sure hope Nixon's frozen head doesn't thaw!

a reply to: annonentity


At work last week alone…

Commercial toaster 10 weeks.

Control board for rooftop packaged HVAC unit 6 weeks.

Sealed double pane high rise window 27 weeks.

Boiler control board 17 weeks.

Swimming pool chlorine pump 8 weeks.

Wall vinyl 12 weeks

DHW booster for dishwasher 12 weeks.

This is not normal. Most of these times are at least double what they were 2019.

And you’re correct, the new stuff is garbage. Parts to repair them are virtually nonexistent.

Yet my 1950’s Westinghouse beer fridge in the garage works just fine. I’ve been offered 2k for it, no deal!

a reply to: annonentity
A refrigerator for a house is considered a consumer item. They are designed to be as cheap as possible and are considered a consumable or expendable item. That means that they don't have many--if any at all--replaceable or repairable parts.

A commercial refrigeration unit is considered capital equipment.

Definition of capital equipment: "equipment used to manufacture a product, provide a service or use to sell, store and deliver merchandise. This equipment has an extended life so that it is properly regarded as a fixed asset."

Because capital equipment is usually built in to a commercial establishment and has to last a long time, it is usually built with replaceable and repairable components--just like in the old days.

Nevertheless, whether it's a consumer product or capital equipment, they both depend on an international supply chain. The parts might be made in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Germany, Poland, Mexico, Canada, or the USA, etc. and might have to be passed back and forth several times. Currently, both the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal are operating at about 50% capacity or less, for different reasons. The net effect, however, is that cargo ships that move all the parts from point A to point B now have to travel all the way around Africa or South America. That adds anywhere from 10 to 20 days to the trip. That's why there's a waiting line in the supply chain right now.

Just part of how society is solely based around the insatiable greed of parasitic shareholders.

Person buys fridge that is easy to fix = they fix it if it breaks. Bad for shareholders

Person buys fridge designed to not be easy to fix = they are more likely to buy a new fridge if it breaks. Very good for shareholders.

So much is designed to break and be as difficult as possible to repair almost solely thanks to this. Some stuff of course is just more complicated.

BS plenty of medication needs refrigeration.

a reply to: CosmicFocus

It's called the thin end of the wedge. Thank you Mr President and pals cutting back on this cutting back on that, sending essential manufactured components abroad to be made (therefore you're at the mercy or control of another country) and more importantly think of the environment, your helping to save the planet. Who for is anybody's guess. All those ships, planes and trucks burning that evil fuel just to deliver your little part.

a reply to: annonentity

The quality is no longer there. I have fridge I bought 14 years ago, still running in great condition.

It’s Australian made, a friend in this time has replaced 3 cheap fridges made overseas.

These days, it’s planned obsolescence just to Muskegon more money.

We are in a trap where there’s a developing shortage of refrigeration mechanics, and they are charging more as they can.

So the cheap fridge now costs the same as a new one.
There’s no point repairing things even t.v’s or anything.

Even cars are becoming throwaway items, look at haval, cherry, Great Wall. Very popular though only good for 5 to 10 years.

Washing machines have inbuilt obsolescence these days. Two years and the fault lights start flashing.

I stick to makes like Bosch.

Buy cheap, buy twice.

a reply to: annonentity

because a while back there was a "RIGHT TO REPAIR" war
started by john deere?

making stuff liike patented bolts and special tools
and forcing farmers to get repairs only at john deere dealers
and tried to ban aftermarket parts and joe mechanic down the street
car manufacturers started too, and every other consumer product
like APPLE
making everything electronic helps promote this

and preventing anyone from fixing their own stuff.

and now with electric cars with miles of wires and sensors
on everything, and odd shaped led lights and reflectors
the parts cost 5 cents for plastic 10 cents for wires
built with 3-d printers sold by honda for $600.00
for a headlight assembly one side only plus labor
which is $250.00 because they gotta remove the front bumper

$200.00+ to replace the headlight LIGHTBULB

you used to be able to buy a NEVER FADE-ING
GLASS round or rectangle bright white headlight
for $8-$25 that fit /interchangeable with many cars

leds above 4000k cannot see wet black roads at night
especially without lines on the road.
and cannot penetrate fog
but those older glass yellowish light halogens see great

a reply to: Oldcarpy2

Agreed, I had a Maytag, it was good for about ten years, the suspension on the front loader failed.

Replaced with a speed queen, it was not cheap though has an on-site 5 year warranty, the great thing is the same model base has been around a long time. And shown reliability.

Thought wouldn’t touch a lg front loader. They have spider arm hubs made of alloy, attached on a stainless drum, galvanic corrosion.

a reply to: Cavemannick

Monkey metal!

So my professional specialty is electronics. I started out working as an electronics technician in an industrial plant while I got my degree in electrical automation. While I was going through school for that, I found that I had a real passion and aptitude for circuit electronics. Circuit boards. So when I started my company, I learned how to design and fabricate circuit boards and spent several years making all of my prototypes in my house from scratch. Doing this lead to a skillset in diagnostics for circuit boards, which I used constantly while I was doing side jobs for people to pick up some extra cash. The issue that we see with the excessive lead times on parts for repairs is because they're replacing entire circuit boards. Getting a complete circuit board to replace another one will often come with long lead times because the boards are usually fabricated and populated overseas even if the manufacturer of the equipment is in the USA. However, the issue with the circuit board that needs replaced is very very often caused by a single blown component. Blown diode, blown capacitor, burnt resistor, etc etc etc. These components cost less than a dollar a piece, many less than a penny a piece, and don't take any fancy equipment to replace. If we taught people how to actually repair these things instead of teaching people how to replace parts, we would be in a much better position overall and these long wait times wouldn't be necessary.
TL;DR - Wait times are caused by repair people not having skillsets related to making the repairs faster, and cheaper, and more efficient.

a reply to: MrGashler

Yes one little component in a circuit board which costs 5 cents. The real shortage is in intelligent people who can fix them. I see the same with cars, this lack of skills seems to be escalating.

a reply to: annonentity

100%. I recently repaired the circuitry for the light under an above-stove microwave for my landlord. They were prepared to buy a new microwave because they couldn't get the thing to work. They got ahold of me, I said it's probably the triac, and I'd take a look at it. It was the triac, and I had a bunch on hand because I'm somewhat of a hoarder when it comes to electronic components. Cost for parts? about 60 cents. Cost for my labor? $20 bucks. Cost for a new microwave? They were looking at about $800.

I pick up little jobs like that all the time. I do my best to help people not have to throw perfectly good stuff away, but I also have people offload tons of 'bad' tech to me because they don't want to deal with it. We've gotta do something as a society to curb the "if it's broke just throw it away" mentality we have.

A lot of appliances, geysers, electronics failing here in South Africa. The main reason is our daily load shedding to protect the power grid from total collapse - sometimes up to 10 hours a day. This is divided into 3 blocks - so the power is turned off and on 3 times a day.
As soon as the power is turned back on, the resultant power surge damages anything plugged in. I was chatting to an electrician, and he was telling me that when the power is turned on, there are some crazy high voltages he personally measured.

For my fridge, I bought a plug that protects against power surges. It actually waits 10 minutes after detecting power before it allows the power to go to the fridge.

So, if you live in an area with frequent outages, I suggest you look for the same type of plug, or at the very least get surge protection plugs.

ETA power surges can also be caused by lightning - so in this electronic world, get surge protection.

a reply to: Springbok

Great couple of posts, my two cents worth is with solar panels if they pack up its usually a burnt out diode, as the panels last pretty well indefiniatly , soldering a new diode in saves heaps.

originally posted by: Ohanka
Just part of how society is solely based around the insatiable greed of parasitic shareholders.

Person buys fridge that is easy to fix = they fix it if it breaks. Bad for shareholders

Person buys fridge designed to not be easy to fix = they are more likely to buy a new fridge if it breaks. Very good for shareholders.

So much is designed to break and be as difficult as possible to repair almost solely thanks to this. Some stuff of course is just more complicated.

I think the term used to describe this is planned obsolescence.

a reply to: SchrodingersRat

Plus if you haven't got to worry about brick #housing something you have more freedom with creative design.