General Discussion

for the manufacturer. Older electric and electronic switches lasted longer, were less prone to breaking with power surges (which we are all going to suffer more of because of you know - data centers) - but they would cost much more to build if you were to include them today, because the supply chain moved toward miniaturization and integration of function in the smallest package possible. Regarding clothes dryers (a little off topic - but the general idea holds) newer circuit boards allow them to put more consumer control "options" - but I've found they're more trouble than they're worth. For example, we have a stacked Speed queen washer and dryer from 2022. The dryer worked great until a month ago, when the control board went bad. I got a replacement board and it lasted for two days. I've checked for power surges and nothing out of the ordinary. Might be a bad relay as it's not sending current to the heating element (which checks out as do all the thermal sensors), and the drum turns fine. We always dry on the same regular setting. I'm going to get another replacement board as the last one is under warranty and if that craps out I swear to god, I'm going to re-wire the dryer so that it's more like its analog predecessors. I will literally drill a hole in the soft touch control panel and wire an analog timer with on-switch to this thing. A clothes dryer is basically a glorified toaster with an air blower, and a drum rotation means. Advanced circuitry on a dryer is flat out stupid for the consumer - although it makes plenty for the repair folks. I just want things to work for a reasonable lifespan (you should get 12 years from a heavy appliance without one issue). I have no desire to waste my dwindling years constantly fucking with them. More and more "things" are turning out to be lemons. And should anyone suggest I'm a Luddite, why yes, having done 15 years as a software engineer and on and off again circuit board prototyper, I know enough to be skeptical of this bullshit we're being pushed. If I were 25, maybe I'd be excited about rolling my own generic control board with off the shelf components bought at Microcenter - but I'm 63.