My husband tries to repair everything, and is usually successful. Most companies include "proprietary parts" in their gadgets nowadays, to try to circumvent the clever fixers among us (Apple was doing this with their computers back in the 90's!), but my hubby can often figure out how to replace defective proprietary parts with off-the-shelf alternatives. He's repaired our freezer by drilling a hole in it and adding an extra fan inside (something unfixable was broken, so the cold air wasn't circulating) and our washer and dryer are over 20 years old and work great! Most of our computers are 10 to 20 years old - the software is outdated, but still does what we need it to do, so we're happy. We have a couple of modern computers for our business, but only because some of the programs we use force upgrades, and won't work on older operating systems (which often won't work on older computers). 😡 The air fryer is still disassembled amd stuffed into in a box in the attic (it was designed in such a way that oils from the cooking foods circulated throughout the guts of the machine - unfortunately, no way around the problem. It was a pretty cool gadget, but we haven't replaced it because we don't want to spend money on something that will eventually stop working.
Good column! I'll be very curious to see the "right to repair" issue - I was aware that hubby is voiding warranties every time he opens up a gadget, but I didn't realize he might be breaking the law! 👮♂️
My husband tries to repair everything, and is usually successful. Most companies include "proprietary parts" in their gadgets nowadays, to try to circumvent the clever fixers among us (Apple was doing this with their computers back in the 90's!), but my hubby can often figure out how to replace defective proprietary parts with off-the-shelf alternatives. He's repaired our freezer by drilling a hole in it and adding an extra fan inside (something unfixable was broken, so the cold air wasn't circulating) and our washer and dryer are over 20 years old and work great! Most of our computers are 10 to 20 years old - the software is outdated, but still does what we need it to do, so we're happy. We have a couple of modern computers for our business, but only because some of the programs we use force upgrades, and won't work on older operating systems (which often won't work on older computers). 😡 The air fryer is still disassembled amd stuffed into in a box in the attic (it was designed in such a way that oils from the cooking foods circulated throughout the guts of the machine - unfortunately, no way around the problem. It was a pretty cool gadget, but we haven't replaced it because we don't want to spend money on something that will eventually stop working.
Good column! I'll be very curious to see the "right to repair" issue - I was aware that hubby is voiding warranties every time he opens up a gadget, but I didn't realize he might be breaking the law! 👮♂️