appliances are now not like they used to make them

[Red Squirrel]

It may have still worked, but it gets progressively less sensitive with time, meaning it may take a lot more smoke for a 30 year-old detector to go off vs. a 5 year-old one.

Yeah I think that's typically the failure mode they just start to get less sensitive. In theory, the photo ones should last forever though unless the LED/laser dies in which case it should detect that. But the radioactive ones will slowly die as the radiation gets weaker. Surprisingly theirs was a radioactive one. Either way, had my dad not heard a sound outside it probably would not have saved them as the fire originated outside and smoke never made it into the house. Scary to even think about how bad it could have been... The smoke alarm only actually went off once the firemen were in and fighting the fire, because the smoke only entered the house once they opened the attic hatch. Basically the fire started outside and worked it's way in the attic. It got me thinking, it should actually be standard to have smoke alarms in the attic and even outside under the soffits. They would link to an indoor one that goes off.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

It got me thinking, it should actually be standard to have smoke alarms in the attic ......

Make sure you use one that is rated for the temperature extremes frequently found in an attic. Interestingly I believe NFPA discourages residential attic install for this reason even thought the stats and common sense seem to argue otherwise.

https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/statistics/v11i6.pdf

I have a gas fired furnace installed in my attic. I went ahead and installed a smoke detector.

 

[Rumpltzer]

I think that part of the problem in America is the notion that things can't be fixed or serviced, and a lot of good stuff ends up getting thrown away. My younger sister does it all the time with vacuum cleaners because she's too dumb to change the belt (or in one case to hit the "reset" switch on the side). That KitchenAid example; doesn't that thing now come with a plastic gear that strips out? It's a common problem, I think, and do you think that most people would try to swap it out? And how much would it cost to get someone to do it for you in Murica? And how much would it cost to ship it somewhere to get it fixed?

I have lots of old stuff, and I'm willing to fix them to keep them going. My washing machine and dryer are both at least 16 years old (maybe 20, I bought them used 12 years ago). When the gas solenoids went bad, I replaced them ($6 shipped). When the lid switch went bad, I replaced it ($4 shipped). When the springs and bushings went bad (violent spin cycle), I replaced them ($12 shipped). When my sister's Maytag Bravos lid switch went bad, she called a repair man and he replaced it ($250).

A power surge (drunk driver, power pole) took out my $80 Hitachi toaster oven, I dug into the circuit board and replaced the components that got fried. I still use it today. When my LG TV went bad, I dug into the motherboard and found the main processor's solder balls had been poorly reflowed... so I reflowed them myself. Still works.

I'm not sure that there's an easy solution.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Make sure you use one that is rated for the temperature extremes frequently found in an attic. Interestingly I believe NFPA discourages residential attic install for this reason even thought the stats and common sense seem to argue otherwise.

https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/statistics/v11i6.pdf

I have a gas fired furnace installed in my attic. I went ahead and installed a smoke detector.

Yeah would need to get something that can survive in like -40 to +40. Idealy with proper ventilation it won't ever reach +40 in there... unless there's a fire, which is when you want the thing to actually work. Guessing a photo one would probably have a decent temp range though given they are rather simple devices. The power source would be external. Instead of using a battery it would just be wired to a central source with cat6. 2 wires for power, and then 2 for dry contact if it activates. It could power a small relay or a transistor or something to signal a central panel that it's gone off. Eventually I want to wire all my smoke detectors this way. I do have one that's part of my alarm system though.

 

[Eug]

I think that part of the problem in America is the notion that things can't be fixed or serviced, and a lot of good stuff ends up getting thrown away. My younger sister does it all the time with vacuum cleaners because she's too dumb to change the belt (or in one case to hit the "reset" switch on the side). That KitchenAid example; doesn't that thing now come with a plastic gear that strips out? It's a common problem, I think, and do you think that most people would try to swap it out? And how much would it cost to get someone to do it for you in Murica? And how much would it cost to ship it somewhere to get it fixed?

I have lots of old stuff, and I'm willing to fix them to keep them going. My washing machine and dryer are both at least 16 years old (maybe 20, I bought them used 12 years ago). When the gas solenoids went bad, I replaced them ($6 shipped). When the lid switch went bad, I replaced it ($4 shipped). When the springs and bushings went bad (violent spin cycle), I replaced them ($12 shipped). When my sister's Maytag Bravos lid switch went bad, she called a repair man and he replaced it ($250).

A power surge (drunk driver, power pole) took out my $80 Hitachi toaster oven, I dug into the circuit board and replaced the components that got fried. I still use it today. When my LG TV went bad, I dug into the motherboard and found the main processor's solder balls had been poorly reflowed... so I reflowed them myself. Still works.

I'm not sure that there's an easy solution.

A repair job is often like $100 for a mixer. Considering that the entry level mixers cost $200, it doesn't make much sense. Yeah, it would make sense for a $600 mixer, but then again those don't have plastic gears.

And probably less than 0.01% is going to be soldering their toaster ovens' circuit boards. Hell, even the service guys don't do that. They just replace them.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Part of the issue is getting the part too. Something like a gear probably in reality only costs a few bucks to make, but as a regular joe you won't be getting that gear at that price if you can even find it anywhere. At some point it might be possible to scan a broken item in a 3D scanner, fix it, then print it on a 3D printer, but until that is mainstream any service that would do that for you today would probably cost a lot too.

Have been watching a lot of electronics related videos, it's interesting how often a fix is something very simple like a capacitor, fuse, sensor, etc. But it does take some time to troubleshoot and find out exactly what is at fault so even a repair man that spends say, 2 hours on it at $30/hour... it becomes almost not worth it.

If we want to help save the environment, products need to be manufactured locally, be more expensive, and worth repairing. But nobody really wants that, they just want a $19.99 Walmart special. If it breaks they just buy another one.

 

[Eug]

Part of the issue is getting the part too. Something like a gear probably in reality only costs a few bucks to make, but as a regular joe you won't be getting that gear at that price if you can even find it anywhere. At some point it might be possible to scan a broken item in a 3D scanner, fix it, then print it on a 3D printer, but until that is mainstream any service that would do that for you today would probably cost a lot too.

Have been watching a lot of electronics related videos, it's interesting how often a fix is something very simple like a capacitor, fuse, sensor, etc. But it does take some time to troubleshoot and find out exactly what is at fault so even a repair man that spends say, 2 hours on it at $30/hour... it becomes almost not worth it.

If we want to help save the environment, products need to be manufactured locally, be more expensive, and worth repairing. But nobody really wants that, they just want a $19.99 Walmart special. If it breaks they just buy another one.

The touch display on my 2004 Prius died. Since it was out of warranty, Toyota wouldn't cover it. It was a custom part, and with install, my dealer wanted $3000 CAD for it. $3000!!! So I said no. So they offered me a refurb for $1200. I again said no. This is just a very basic and low rez touch screen.

Finally I found a wrecker in the US selling them for US$300 if you sent them your old one. It turns out it was a single loose capacitor from a broken solder joint or something like that and it was a known issue that happened like 5 years after purchase. The guy would repair the old ones and resell them to people like me.

US$300 seems very decent vs CAD$3000 right? Well, yes and no. I had to remove the thing myself, which took me over 2 hours, since I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing. He sent instructions, but it involved me disassembling the entire dash, and then removing the multimedia system, which wasn't as easy as it looked, as it was really cramped in some spots. Then I drove around with no display for about 2-3 weeks until I got the replacement one. Then I reversed the process and installed the new one... and it didn't work. I reseated everything and double checked the cable connections and finally the second time it worked. Whew! And then I reassembled the dash again. That only took about 1.5-2 hours this time IIRC (including installing it twice) but you get the picture.

For about 95% of the population, I don't see them doing this, even to save CAD$900.