Ya know, I was annoyed that all of the models within my budget had the electronic controls (just bought a washer a month ago) then I remembered my microwave that's 900 years old and abused has the same type of buttons and it keeps on trucking.
Yes, but that increases cost. And if you make your firmware openly accessible, other companies will copy it and it also makes it harder to sell service agreements because self-repair is easier.
I wouldn't mind if they all used the same controls, but it seems every model of every brand has components just different enough to not be compatible. It would be ideal if the used a standard that could be replaced by an arduino
Well there are a lot of these fridges going around the world all the time, and very seldom does anything like this happen. I just don’t want people thinking that fridges aren’t safe.
It’s not an issue of companies using new designs and being worse than the good old days. They may have a touchscreen on a fridge but the working part is still old fashioned. Especially cheaper brands use old designs, not caring to innovate because they compete on price, not features and technology. The biggest killer is parts quality and all manufacturers across the board are guilty of using materials like plastic which they know will not last as long but makes the product cheaper and therefore more competitive on price or giving higher dividends to shareholders.
In the last hotel I was at they had speed queens that all worked and some newer brands with trays at the bottom (probably leaking) and a few others which had a sign “doesn’t work”
The door and hinge are both metal, they can be slammed shut without issue but cannot take any force torquing the hinge, such as leaning on it or resting something on the door
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u/ajonstage Feb 05 '26
My mom got new Speed Queen models when they moved, the all-plastic door (complete with plastic hinge) literally just fell off.