Generally, the more efficient the system, the more fragile it is. I’m not a materials engineer, but metal isn’t always the best material for the job.
Plus, you can still get built to last appliances if you’re willing to shell out as much money as they did in the past. Large appliances used to be major purchases that you had to budget and save up for months to get, but these days you can hop down to the big box store and get a relatively cheap hunk of junk.
Plastic is never a great material for parts whose primary purpose is transmission of power, especially via friction (so gears and such). It’s great for parts that don’t have to withstand any force, but unfortunately it increasingly gets used for parts that do.
When you make the motor, including the shaft itself, out of metal, saving 2 grams by making a cog out of the cheapest chocolate plastic available isn’t saving much weight or money. It does however guarantee the device will fail earlier.
You can also have a more efficient system without sacrificing durability. Take a look at the Bosch CP3 high pressure fuel pump. Stout metal piston. Million kilometers is not unheard of. Meanwhile, Continental/Siemens made a hpfp that used super thin membranes to pump fuel. Those usually die in less than 100k km. Both available at the same time and both serve the goal of enabling using direct injection to improve fuel efficiency and emissions. But the joke here is that the Bosch one runs at much higher pressures (it’s for diesels) and is STILL cheaper to buy new. So people with engines that use the Siemens one would just scrap the car if it goes and they can’t get a specific used piston pump to replace it with (also a Bosch one, but I forgot the name). This is in the GM 2.2 Direct engine in Vauxhalls and Opels. Those cars have disposable fueling systems (and engines in fact since you can melt a piston once that membrane pump fails).
There is also a survivorship bias at play here. Old appliances that are still in use are exactly the appliances where all the constituent parts were top quality, that have had the right maintenance, that have, against all odds, survived. Plenty of those old appliances didn’t survive.
Yes capitalism has done what it does to increase profitability and desirability, but there are still got quality appliances that last. They just usually don’t have the most features, or a luxury look. When I got a new fridge-freezer last year, the guy who installed it told me that he rarely saw that model returned or repaired, and when it was repaired, it was pretty cheap. He also said he’d never buy a smart fridge, so I felt vindicated in buying the simplest device on the market.
It’s not because of efficiency that things last less time now.
well, yeah, a lot of over-engineering makes things fickle and it increases the number of potential failure points. simpler technology is simply more durable. My grandma has equipment they used for farming when she was a kid (that was 70 years ago). Stuff like buckets, pushcarts, manual hoes (those you use for farming, think minecraft hoes). They still work flawlessly.
Also there’s literally a proverb that says: “You don’t need an engineer to build a bridge that stands. You need an engineer to build a bridge that just barely stands.”
In other words, modern mathematics has taught people how to build houses that are just stable enough that they will last for a lifetime, then they collapse. Meanwhile the house that my uncle lives in was built around 500 years ago and still stands. It’s one of these old houses with extra thick walls (think 1m thick cutstone walls), it has a cellar and multiple stories. People back then did not cheap out on construction materials. Also the egyptian pyramids still stand because they are in no sense of the word “efficient”.
If you think the concept of saving money on shoddy parts was invented this decade you just never paid attention. “Metal” isn’t some kind of magic substance that just works forever, cheap cast bullshit iron can shatter quicker than you can say “structural integrity”.
The reason everyone is glazing up this old appliances is because of survivorship bias, everyone sees one on the million devices and doesn’t see millions of old bullshits that disintegrated into nothingness over years.
There literally are cases of switching from steel moving parts to plastic in appliances. Plus many manufacturers no longer sell spare parts past past maybe a year or two.
Appliances used to cost actual money so they had to be reliable and more importantly, repairable. Good luck finding spare parts for most washing machines or TVs nowadays. They’re designed to be thrown away because otherwise you no longer have any reason to upgrade. At least 50 years ago, technology changed fast enough that you’d have incentive to upgrade for efficiency, features, etc.
It’s not because of efficiency that things last less time now.
Crucial parts that used to be made of metal are now plastic to save money, etc.
Generally, the more efficient the system, the more fragile it is. I’m not a materials engineer, but metal isn’t always the best material for the job.
Plus, you can still get built to last appliances if you’re willing to shell out as much money as they did in the past. Large appliances used to be major purchases that you had to budget and save up for months to get, but these days you can hop down to the big box store and get a relatively cheap hunk of junk.
Plastic is never a great material for parts whose primary purpose is transmission of power, especially via friction (so gears and such). It’s great for parts that don’t have to withstand any force, but unfortunately it increasingly gets used for parts that do.
When you make the motor, including the shaft itself, out of metal, saving 2 grams by making a cog out of the cheapest
chocolateplastic available isn’t saving much weight or money. It does however guarantee the device will fail earlier.You can also have a more efficient system without sacrificing durability. Take a look at the Bosch CP3 high pressure fuel pump. Stout metal piston. Million kilometers is not unheard of. Meanwhile, Continental/Siemens made a hpfp that used super thin membranes to pump fuel. Those usually die in less than 100k km. Both available at the same time and both serve the goal of enabling using direct injection to improve fuel efficiency and emissions. But the joke here is that the Bosch one runs at much higher pressures (it’s for diesels) and is STILL cheaper to buy new. So people with engines that use the Siemens one would just scrap the car if it goes and they can’t get a specific used piston pump to replace it with (also a Bosch one, but I forgot the name). This is in the GM 2.2 Direct engine in Vauxhalls and Opels. Those cars have disposable fueling systems (and engines in fact since you can melt a piston once that membrane pump fails).
There is also a survivorship bias at play here. Old appliances that are still in use are exactly the appliances where all the constituent parts were top quality, that have had the right maintenance, that have, against all odds, survived. Plenty of those old appliances didn’t survive.
Yes capitalism has done what it does to increase profitability and desirability, but there are still got quality appliances that last. They just usually don’t have the most features, or a luxury look. When I got a new fridge-freezer last year, the guy who installed it told me that he rarely saw that model returned or repaired, and when it was repaired, it was pretty cheap. He also said he’d never buy a smart fridge, so I felt vindicated in buying the simplest device on the market.
well, yeah, a lot of over-engineering makes things fickle and it increases the number of potential failure points. simpler technology is simply more durable. My grandma has equipment they used for farming when she was a kid (that was 70 years ago). Stuff like buckets, pushcarts, manual hoes (those you use for farming, think minecraft hoes). They still work flawlessly.
Also there’s literally a proverb that says: “You don’t need an engineer to build a bridge that stands. You need an engineer to build a bridge that just barely stands.”
In other words, modern mathematics has taught people how to build houses that are just stable enough that they will last for a lifetime, then they collapse. Meanwhile the house that my uncle lives in was built around 500 years ago and still stands. It’s one of these old houses with extra thick walls (think 1m thick cutstone walls), it has a cellar and multiple stories. People back then did not cheap out on construction materials. Also the egyptian pyramids still stand because they are in no sense of the word “efficient”.
If you think the concept of saving money on shoddy parts was invented this decade you just never paid attention. “Metal” isn’t some kind of magic substance that just works forever, cheap cast bullshit iron can shatter quicker than you can say “structural integrity”.
The reason everyone is glazing up this old appliances is because of survivorship bias, everyone sees one on the million devices and doesn’t see millions of old bullshits that disintegrated into nothingness over years.
There literally are cases of switching from steel moving parts to plastic in appliances. Plus many manufacturers no longer sell spare parts past past maybe a year or two.
Appliances used to cost actual money so they had to be reliable and more importantly, repairable. Good luck finding spare parts for most washing machines or TVs nowadays. They’re designed to be thrown away because otherwise you no longer have any reason to upgrade. At least 50 years ago, technology changed fast enough that you’d have incentive to upgrade for efficiency, features, etc.