I just threw away a working washer and dryer ...

[donheff]

This is what Best Buy says they do with old appliances:

• Your old appliance is removed from your home when your new one is delivered.
• The units are collected from Best Buy by our licensed, third-party recycling partners.
• The recyclers examine and evaluate the used appliances for repair and/or reuse.
• The recyclers recover ozone-depleting chemicals and other waste streams from discarded refrigerators and freezers. PCBs, mercury, used oil, refrigerants and insulating foam are properly dealt with through the best environmental practices available.
• Using various technologies, our recyclers dismantle the appliance, separating out the commodities (metals, plastics, glass, etc.).
• The recyclers ensure the reclaimed commodities are sent to end markets to be recycled and repurposed into new products.

It looks like working appliances might get reused by someone (bullet 3).

If bullet three didn't apply the appliances may have been ready for trash. If so, would it be better to let Best Buy hand it over to a re-cycler who would properly dispose of everything or give it to someone who might get a few months use out of it and then dump it in a field. I can see advantages to both.

 

[Culture]

And if a very angry buyer came back to your house a week later because the washer or dryer broke down? The possibility of the buyer demanding a refund and/or return? I'm pretty cheap/frugal, but we are talking a 22 year old applicance...frankly I've never had a washer or dryer last that long. As always, YMMV.

I am not sure why people worry about this, but it is a very common concern when I tell people I sell used "stuff." I always sell from my house, give full disclosure, and have never had a problem. I think anyone buying a used washer and dryer for $50 know what they are getting into.

 

[Culture]

I would have done the same as your wife, Culture.

I understand where you are coming from, my father has everything that has ever entered onto his property. However, I have a great track record of "non-hording" if that is a word. I love to get rid of stuff, I just life to do it efficiently (sell or give to a good home). There are no piles of junk at my house other than those that last for 2-4 weeks during a project execution.

 

[Culture]

That's probably true, but I don't have any problem with it. Like you I'd rather sell it (if nothing else that helps establish that the person has a need for the appliance), but if I'm going to give it away it doesn't matter much to me whether the recipient uses it himself or earns a few dollars by making it available to someone else who can't afford a new appliance and doesn't have a truck/trailer, etc. That benefits two parties-- someone who is showing some entrepreneurship and someone else who may be too down-on-their-luck to own a vehicle.

I am with you 100%. I would prefer someone get it who needs it. However, giving it to a reseller avoids the dump, and someone is making money on it, and it still ends up with someone who needs it.

OTOH you have people like my mom, who calls the police on people digging recyclables out of her garbage because she does not want someone making money off her garbage. She would rather it go to the dump. I think she is crazy.

 

[Culture]

I'm pretty cheap/frugal, but we are talking a 22 year old applicance...frankly I've never had a washer or dryer last that long. As always, YMMV.

Appliance (older ones anyway) are very easy and inexpensive to repair. YOu can order parts inexpensively off the internet. They were still running because I fixed them when they broke, and my wife finally realized they were never going to experience perma-death as long as I was alive .

 

[samclem]

Appliance (older ones anyway) are very easy and inexpensive to repair. YOu can order parts inexpensively off the internet.

+1. The older appliances use mechanical timers and simple switches that are fairly easy to troubleshoot and replace. The parts are often standard between brands so they can be bought at a lot of places for a reasonable price. Newer machines have lots of proprietary circuit boards that can cost over $200 and sometimes membrane switch panels that change from model to model and are also expensive. Building machines this way is cheaper for the manufacturer and makes for a very "high-tech" looking appliance, but they are expensive to fix.

When we think about the actual work that a washer and dryer do, the high-tech approach seems counterproductive. Even reducing water and energy use doesn't require high-tech, just good design.

 

[ERD50]

+1. The older appliances use mechanical timers and simple switches that are fairly easy to troubleshoot and replace. The parts are often standard between brands so they can be bought at a lot of places for a reasonable price. Newer machines have lots of proprietary circuit boards that can cost over $200 and sometimes membrane switch panels that change from model to model and are also expensive. Building machines this way is cheaper for the manufacturer and makes for a very "high-tech" looking appliance, but they are expensive to fix.

When we think about the actual work that a washer and dryer do, the high-tech approach seems counterproductive. Even reducing water and energy use doesn't require high-tech, just good design.

I can't believe you posted that without using the word "Staber".

-ERD50