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How often you try to repair things vs. buying new?

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
Got thinking about it lately due to three things:

1. Toilet light (the thing you put on the toilet bowl if you need to go during the night and don't want to turn on the main light) went out - wife told me to buy a new one, but I emailed the manufacturer (I bought the thing 4 months ago) and within 6 hours they shipped me a replacement unit, works great.
2. My top-end electric razor is more than 10 years old, I was thinking about buying a new one (these go for 150€+ top end model, 250€+ with a cleaning station), but the main problem is the battery - I checked YouTube and you can change the battery yourself in 10 minutes. Original manufacturer battery costs....15€. This also makes me appreciate the razor more since I threw away the charging station, but I can buy it separately. Foil and blades - I can buy them separately. Battery (already mentioned) - separately. Charger, brush if I need to - separately.
3. My Bose QC15 headphones are almost 10 years old, the only use was seen on ear pads - I bought a new ones and replaced them myself in 10 minutes, the headphones look like new.
 

nightmare-slain

Gold Member
I always try repair. If it's not possible or worth the time/money then I'll sell/donate/recycle it and buy new. I love taking things apart but a lot of electronics are too small and awkard to work on. My old PS4 the wifi/bluetooth antenna was faulty so i bought a new antenna and replaced it myself but doing the same thing for my Switch seemed a lot more troublesome so I put it on eBay and put the money towards a new one. I'm sure someone out there with more patience than me could easily fix it.

I try limit how much stuff I buy/waste so yeah I do my best to fix it but if I can't I'll pass it on to someone else to fix or recycle it.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
These days stuff can be hard, if not impossible, to fix. Everything is glued together and you can't get a parts list to save your life.

I do find that the higher quality the item, the more likely it is to have a repair culture around it.
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
These days stuff can be hard, if not impossible, to fix. Everything is glued together and you can't get a parts list to save your life.
Yes, this is what annoys me incredibly. I cannot find another explanation than companies making it hard on purpose to repair since then you need to buy a new product, which then adds to new revenue, etc. Good for capitalism, wasteful for the planet and expensive for you.
 

AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
I try to repair what makes sense. And I buy new what doesn’t.

Had to repair my ckn run from a storm this week.

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diffusionx

Gold Member
100% of the time, but most stuff is not made to repair, which is a shame. This is one of those laws I am fully on board with, especially regarding removable batteries.
 
I always try to repair or get it repaired if possible as it's often less costly that way. The last major repair was a new heating element for the dryer but it was installed by a repairman which cost $200 after a tip. I've done enough work on dryers and they are a PITA to repair when it's something major so I didn't mind paying more so someone else could do it. The amount of times I had to hear "Did YoU cHEcK the DRYER hOSe??????" from well meaning relatives/friends drove me crazy though. Sometimes the fixes aren't simple!
 

Mohonky

Member
Depends on what it is. Can I get it open with a set of drivers / sockets / spanners?

Then I'm at least taking a look at it for the obvious.

I'm perpetually amazed at the amount of work bike stores get for repairs and maintenance; it boggles my mind that people don't do their own servicing. The only servicing I wouldn't do on my own bike is the suspension which needs some specialist tools and components are hard to get / costly if broken, so that I would send to professionals, but everything else I am doing myself.
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
I always try to repair or get it repaired if possible as it's often less costly that way. The last major repair was a new heating element for the dryer but it was installed by a repairman which cost $200 after a tip. I've done enough work on dryers and they are a PITA to repair when it's something major so I didn't mind paying more so someone else could do it. The amount of times I had to hear "Did YoU cHEcK the DRYER hOSe??????" from well meaning relatives/friends drove me crazy though. Sometimes the fixes aren't simple!
Had a dryer problem, was still on warranty but guy came and it turns out a plastic piece at the back was broken. Bro told me: “it’s plastic, it always breaks. When out of warranty just buy the piece yourself and install it, costs 10€ and takes 10 minutes.”.
 
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