On 27 Jul 2003 18:35:15 GMT, (Bob Eager) wrote:

On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 18:10:03 UTC, Andy Hall wrote:

I have a washer, a tumble dryer and a dishwasher made by Miele.

Together they have been in service for approaching 30 years - the
washer at about 12 (no faults at all), the tumble dryer at about 10
(one faulty push switch when nearly new, replaced FOC), the dishwasher
at about 7 years and has recently had a replacement filter strainer.

We have a 9 year old Hotpoint washing machine, and matching dryer.

Over that time, we've replaced a cable tie (loose hose), bearings, and
motor brushes (all in the washer, one instance each). Nothing in the
dryer (to be expected).

Given the very heavy use they get, I think that's not unreasonable.
Total cost of parts (if I'd gone to the right place, anyway) about 20
quid total. Spares are cheap and easy to obtain.

That, to me, is a pretty good TCO and would outperfornm a Miele by far.
OK, it doesn't include labour...but this is uk.d-i-y!

I don't follow the logic of that. The cost of having to replace a
set of bearings is not so much the cost of the materials - as you
point out they are cheap - but in the cost of doing the work.

I have no idea how long changing bearings takes on a Hotpoint or how
it is done, but I am sure that the labour cost for having the work
done professionally is going to be several times the parts cost.

Having looked at Miele spares pricing, some while ago, it didn't
strike me as expensive, and I do know that servicing on their washers
can be done entirely from the front - very useful considering the
weight of the very solid engineering.

Anyway, my philosophy in this is that I view my DIY time as expensive.
I would rather spend it creating something rather than fixing
something that is broken, so if spending a little more on a quality
product that over its life saves me 2-3 days of time then that makes
good economic sense to me.

Even if you don't mind spending the time, not having to fix something
that breaks seems worthwhile.



..andy

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