APOPKA, Fla. – Appliances can cost big bucks, and with so many in each home, the spending doesn't necessarily end once the purchase is complete.
Enter Mike Mannino, from The Appliance Doctor, an appliance repair company that serves Orange and Seminole counties. He said each time he gets a call, the big question is, should the customer repair or replace?
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"I tell people to roll the dice, and they laugh at me," said Mannino.
But he's not kidding.
"Twenty years I had my last refrigerator, and now, they're going bad in 20 months," said Mannino. "Not to the point that they can't be repaired, but nevertheless, you have another repair bill in a very short amount of time."
He said it's a big problem, one that could really cost you. It's happening largely because everything is so high-tech now.
"You have water, you have ice through here on the fridge dispenser. The kids have their glasses and they can splash through here," said Mannino. "It's like having a laptop. You have a laptop all day long shaking, getting hit with water, a lot of vibration, a lot of moisture, how long is that laptop gonna last for?"
But he said there is a general rule for repairs.
"Half the cost of the new appliance-- you really don't wanna go over that amount of money," said Mannino. "For another few dollars, you can just go out and buy a new product."
Consumer Reports said with washing machines and dryers, you've got about four years; you may want to consider replacing them, depending on the cost of the repair. The report says the average new electric dryer costs about $700, with a $144 median repair, while a gas dryer is going to run an average of $800 with a $148 median repair. Front-loading washers will cost an average of $200 more than a top-loader, and will cost more to repair, too.
Dishwashers only get about three years until it's a toss-up. A new one averages about $550, while the median price for a repair runs about $150.
For refrigerators, it depends on the type, but four to eight years is the norm before you really have to do the math to see if it's cost-effective to repair. Median prices range anywhere from $700 to $7,000, and repairs cost anywhere from $150 to $289, if they can be done. Consumer Reports says a side-by-side model has a 31 percent repair rate, compared to a top-freezer style, which can only be repaired 11 percent of the time.
Microwaves are only going to be cost-effective to repair for about two years, and with wall ovens or ranges, it's two to three years. For ranges, the report says you're more likely to get a longer life out of a gas range.
When it comes to your water heater, Consumer Reports says not to spend more than $50 per year of what's left in the warranty time. If the warranty is expired, trash it and get a new one.
Mannino says the other thing to consider is that manufacturers are discontinuing parts for newer units much faster than ever before, even for units just four or five years old.
"Imagine going to a customer's house that has a built-in fridge, that are anywhere from $8,000 to $12,000 and telling them a $150 board is no longer available," said Mannino.
He said even if you can get the parts, they're seeing more and more defective parts being shipped out to customers.
"We used to get maybe one, two, defective parts a month, and we run a ton of calls each month, so you gotta take that in stride," said Mannino. "But now, we have some weeks where we have five, six, seven jobs in one week that the parts are broken right in the box, or we don't know that they're bad until we put them in. Those electronic boards are bad and we get no response out of them."
That's why he said he recommends holding on to older, trusty appliances that just need quick and easy repairs, rather than trashing them.
"You have a 10-year-old washer, you have a 10- or 15-year-old fridge, hang on to them for life," said Mannino. "People are thinking, 'Well, we will buy a new one and it'll last 10 to 12 years'-- but we don't see that."
If you do have to replace a product, he said you may want to consider skipping the bells and whistles next time around.
"Because whether you spend $400 or $1,000 on a dishwasher, you're really not going to get that much more life out of a $1,000 dishwasher," said Mannino.