Caitríona Redmond: Beat the manufacturer — buy smart, mend when needed and save money

Artificially capping the life of a product is known as planned obsolescence... a very real issue in modern life

"In the past week I’ve tackled two household appliances that would have clapped out if I hadn’t repaired them myself. Both jobs entailed getting a little dirty and are fairly simple to attempt, but if not done regularly the appliances would have been on the replacement list very quickly."

Did you ever feel that old lightbulbs didn’t last very long? There’s a reason for that and it’s all tied up in the Phoebus Cartel (seriously) which started to control the way that incandescent lightbulbs were made and sold between 1925 and 1939.

Originally, lightbulbs were made to last 2,500 hours but this wasn’t generating enough profit for the manufacturers. 

At the time, many of the largest lightbulb companies in Europe and the US worked to standardise the life expectancy of a lightbulb to 1,000 hours.

This meant consumers had to buy and replace their lightbulbs more frequently; in other words, pay more for their lightbulbs.

The Phoebus Cartel was disbanded prior to the Second World War, but the average life of a regular lightbulb continued to be capped at approximately 1,000 hours.

This method of artificially capping the life of a product is known as planned obsolescence. It sounds like jargon but it’s a very real issue in modern life.

Using the older bulb, a household would have to buy 25 incandescent bulbs to get 25,000 hours of brightness from one light fitting.

Nowadays, long-life bulbs should last up to 25,000 hours which is a whopping increase in lifespan. While a more modern light bulb may initially cost more, the longer it is used, the more money the householder saves.

In my experience, I filled the house with smart bulbs pre-covid and I haven’t had to replace a lightbulb since. That means my lights have been bright for over five years at this point and that’s remarkable considering I was replacing lightbulbs every nine months or so prior to refitting.

In the past week I’ve tackled two household appliances that would have clapped out if I hadn’t repaired them myself. Both jobs entailed getting a little dirty and are fairly simple to attempt, but if not done regularly the appliances would have been on the replacement list very quickly.

The washing machine was making a whining noise when pumping water and it’s built into a kitchen press. Repairing built-in appliances can be tricky, I know, but it was easy enough to remove the kicker board.

Once the machine was empty and turned off, I opened the external drain and filter with the help of a pliers because it was locked pretty tightly. 

Even though I’m methodical about checking pockets etc before loading up the washing machine, it was fairly apparent that some items had escaped inspection. 

Caught in the filter was a cocktail stick, a hair bobbin, and some larger pieces of tissue. 

It all smelled fairly rank but once the offending items were removed and put into the bin, I gave the filter a scrub until it was clean and returned it to the external drain. Once the kitchen presses were reinstated, I put the machine back on and it was purring like a satisfied kitten.

Those filters aren’t easy to find, especially if they’re located behind a built-in kitchen press. Manufacturers are well aware of this, and if you don’t check the filter regularly, you could be doing irreparable damage to your washing machine.

My next big job was the tumble dryer. We all know that the lint filter should be cleaned after every dry at this point. Lint is the detritus of fibres collected while drying clothes. A buildup of dry lint, plus heat, has the potential to spark a fire.

I’ve a condensing dryer, which heats the clothes in the drum, then chills the steam emitted from the hot clothes and funnels the water into a tank. The removeable tank must be emptied roughly every third wash. So far, so easy. I have a lint filter to clean and a tank to empty.

Over time though, the condensing unit will get clogged with wet lint. A clogged condensing unit won’t work as effectively, and the tumble dryer may need to be run for four hours to dry a load which should take 90 minutes. This is an overheating hazard and again, could spark a fire.

Once a fortnight the condensing unit has to be thoroughly cleaned using a high-powered jet of water – a decent showerhead or hose will do. The offending wet lint must be carefully collected and binned; not washed into the drain. 

When the condensing unit is squeaky clean it can be returned to the tumble dryer, and normal service can resume.

Those two maintenance jobs took me about an hour in total to complete. Replacing the washing machine and tumble dryer would have cost me several weeks’ work to pay for them. Never mind if my dryer went up in flames, that could have cost me an awful lot more!

Manufacturers are banking on us not being familiar with how to repair and maintain their products. 

If they break down prematurely, they are only too delighted when we return to buy a replacement, adding to their profit margins. 

Beat the manufacturers and potential planned obsolescence; be smart and learn to do some simple maintenance work at home. It’ll save you a fortune in the long run.