Last Friday I went down in the basement and found a wet floor around my water heater. Started looking it over and the tank was leaking from the bottom. Tank warranty was 6 years old and of course I purchased it 6 years 7 months ago so I guess I get to purchase a new water heater. Purchased one yesterday and had someone install it today while I was at work.

Come home tonight and turn the TV on. Well, guess what? Sound comes on and nothing but vertical lines cover the screen. Do a little research and find that the TV is pretty much screwed. Purchased the TV just a little over 5 years ago. I guess it's time to start looking for a new TV.

Does anything other than guns last longer than a few years now days? The water heater prior to the one I put in 6 years ago was almost 20 years old and the TV prior to the one I bought 5 years ago was older than 10 years old when I got rid of it and it was still working.

I certainly hope that everything that can go wrong has finally gone wrong and we are now good.

I'm hearing that all these new flat-screen TV's have a life expectancy of 4-5 years. Ours is about 4 years old and the picture isn't as good as it was when new, so I'm guessing we'll need a replacement within the next year or two. Or maybe we'll just stop watching TV, since between new TV's and the cost of satellite service, it just isn't worth it.

As to anything lasting longer, we're on our second computer in the 7 years. We only get about 5 years out of one on average, but the oldest computers we bought nearly 20 years ago still function, just are not compatible anymore.

I just got done heating up something to eat in my microwave that I won in a raffle.

That microwave was made in February 1986 and still works.

I've probably sterilized the entire neighborhood with the radiation leaking from it but it can still heat stuff up.

Where are most things made nowadays? Maybe they are just engineered to fail after so long.

Your car?

quote:

Originally posted by WildSig:
I just got done heating up something to eat in my microwave that I won in a raffle.

That microwave was made in February 1986 and still works.

I've probably sterilized the entire neighborhood with the radiation leaking from it but it can still heat stuff up.

OK, I have to tell A True Story here. A little thread drift ...

Some years ago, a friend of mine was wondering about radiation leaks from his microwave. He went to an electronic supply store, I think it was Radio Shack, and bought a meter.

He turned the microwave to the high setting and checked all around the door with the meter. Meter reading: zero. Zilch. Nada. Rien. Bupkis.

He was satisfied that the door seals were in good shape, but then a thought struck him. What if the meter was not working? What if there were many units (whatever units are used to measure microwave radiation) of leakage, and the meter was just not registering anything?

So he decided to test the meter. He put it inside the oven, turned it to the lowest setting, and hit the power for one second.

The meter indicated full scale for a very brief instant before it self-destructed. Like fried itself. 'Sploded all over the inside of the microwave oven.

That was funny enough, but then he had the chutzpah to take it back to Radio Shack for replacement, because it was "defective."

Planned obsolescence

One of my Dad's favorite words and that was back in the 1950s.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
Your car?

Now that provided a much needed chuckle.

As far as the car goes it better not be next. It is only 6 months old and only has 6800 miles on it.

I'm using a 2006 iMac.

quote:

Does anything other than guns last longer than a few years now days? The water heater prior to the one I put in 6 years ago was almost 20 years old and the TV prior to the one I bought 5 years ago was older than 10 years old when I got rid of it and it was still working.

I hear ya, man. My neighbors water heater was made in the 30s! Mine lasted 6 years if I recall correctly.

quote:

Originally posted by WildSig:
I just got done heating up something to eat in my microwave that I won in a raffle.

That microwave was made in February 1986 and still works.

I've probably sterilized the entire neighborhood with the radiation leaking from it but it can still heat stuff up.

We bought our GE microwave in '84' and our LG smart flat screen TV in 2011, but we are on our third hot water tank in 25 years. Go figure.

Jim