Buy New or Repair - obtaining Appliance Parts.
Introduction.
Have you ever tried to get any replacement Appliance Parts for a kitchen or domestic item? Recently we had a series of household appliances that needed relatively cheap and simple parts replacing, but the difficulty of locating them turned into a veritable nightmare. There’s six of us sharing a house off campus at the Purdue University, and like many houses and apartments up and down the country, to ‘get us started’, we’ve borrowed or been given items for the kitchen and other household appliances. All these items were given by our families or friends.
The Economy of using Replacement Parts.
Needless to say, most of those household appliances we were given weren’t brand new. But we were pretty confident that if the need arose we could manage figuring out how to fix some Kitchen Aid Parts . After all, whilst only a couple of us are majoring in engineering subjects, we’re all quite ‘hands-on’ sort of guys that enjoy fixing things. More to the point being students we couldn’t afford to just go out to the local appliance store and buy new. So, to us it makes eminent economic sense to just buy a replacement part and fit it ourselves. After all why go out and buy say a new Whirlpool dishwasher, just because you need a couple of Whirlpool Parts like a filter or switch cover?
Be ‘Eco-Friendly’ and use Replacement Parts.
Now we’re no throw-back ‘Hippy’ types, but we do have a good understanding of the finite nature of the earths natural resources and the need conserve energy and curb pollution. Indeed, as far as we’re all concerned there’s nothing worse than seeing say a freezer at the dump just because someone can’t be bothered to get say a few Frigidaire Parts . It’s not even the ‘Ozone layer’ gas thing either. Sure if someone throws out a perfectly serviceable fridge or freezer there are disposal issues, but there are other ecological impacts beyond that. Just think of the resources needed to manufacture any new household appliance; their will be metals and plastics needed at least. Now of course we do know the flip side of this argument too. An old appliance might have a poorer energy rating etc. But, in most cases it’d take a long time before that would offset the energy needed, or pollution caused, to manufacture a replacement new appliance.
Finding Replacement Parts for a domestic appliance.
The first replacement parts we needed were some Maytag Parts for a washing machine, just the brushes for the electric motor. You know how it goes, one day you load everything into the washing machine, you hear the familiar noises of the machine filling with water but then rather than hearing or seeing the drum rotate - all that you hear is a sluggish whirring sound and then begin to smell a slight burning or smoldering from inside it. Fortunately for us one of our crowd, Jez, is already an old hand with electrical things; taking the top off the Maytag the problem was quickly diagnosed and pronounced easily rectifiable as soon as the parts were located. Now I don’t know if you’ve ever gone down to an electrical appliance store and asked for any replacement parts but ….. well don’t bother. You get this withering look from the assistant, often accompanied with a sucking of the teeth, as if you’ve just asked something like “Is the American flag known as Old or New Glory”?
Online Replacement Parts.
The simple fact of the matter is, of course, that you can these days get all the replacement parts you’re likely to need online, via the internet. You can also find online plenty of helpful information about appliance replacement parts. You don’t need to spend hours driving around down-town trying to find a store with the part you need, repeating yourself over and over in the process. Most of the parts you order over the internet can be with you the next day. Which is often quicker than a store you walk in to and order from can get them by? There are some great websites to order replacement parts from, easy to navigate your way around and offering great deals and tips on fitting appliance parts. Speaking of which, always think safety first and be aware of appliance recall information in the press and on the internet. Finally, despite being all for saving money one thing we’d never do is meddle with a gas appliance fitting.