Ask the internet whether to repair an appliance and you will get the fifty percent rule: if the repair costs more than half the price of a new one, replace it. You will also get the age rule: anything past eight years is finished.
Both are simple enough to be repeated endlessly and wrong often enough to cost people money.
Here is how the decision actually works from inside a service van.
The fault matters more than the age
A twelve-year-old Whirlpool dryer with a failed heating element is worth repairing. The element is inexpensive, the cabinet and motor will outlast it, and you will get years more service.
A four-year-old refrigerator with a sealed system leak is often not worth repairing, because the labour is significant, the success rate is imperfect, and the appliance may fail again in the same place.
Age tells you very little. What has failed tells you almost everything.
Faults that are almost always worth fixing
- Heating elements, igniters and thermostats in dryers, ovens and ranges
- Drain pumps, door locks and drive belts in washing machines
- Defrost heaters, thermostats, fans and dampers in refrigerators and freezers
- Door seals and hinges on anything
- Ice maker modules and water inlet valves
- Wash pumps and heating elements in dishwashers
These are inexpensive parts on appliances whose expensive components are still fine. Repairing them is straightforwardly the right call.
Faults that need a conversation
- Drum bearings on a front loader. Worth doing on a good machine under about seven years old. On a budget machine past that, the labour alone approaches the price of a replacement.
- Control boards. Boards are expensive, and a board that failed once on a well-used appliance can fail again. Worth it on a premium built-in, marginal on a mass-market unit.
- Compressors. Occasionally worth it under a manufacturer parts warranty, which several brands offer for five to ten years on the sealed system. Rarely worth it outside one.
Faults where we will tell you to stop
- A cracked cooktop glass panel on an inexpensive cooktop, where the panel costs more than the appliance
- A rusted or leaking refrigerator cabinet
- A washing machine with a corroded drum spider, which is what a badly neglected bearing eventually causes
- Any appliance where the manufacturer no longer supplies the part and no aftermarket equivalent exists
We would rather lose a job than take money for a repair that buys you three months.
The things the rules of thumb miss
Built-in appliances are worth more than their price tag. Replacing a built-in wall oven or an integrated dishwasher means matching a cabinet cut-out, and often means a carpenter as well as a delivery. A repair that looks marginal against the appliance price can be obviously right once you include the joinery.
Premium brands hold their repair value far longer. A fifteen-year-old Sub-Zero, Miele or Speed Queen is a different proposition from a fifteen-year-old budget machine. These were built to be rebuilt, parts are still made, and the remaining service life after a repair is measured in years.
Efficiency savings are usually overstated. A new refrigerator will use less electricity than a fifteen-year-old one, and that is a real saving. It is not usually enough to justify replacing a working appliance, and the numbers quoted in advertising assume a much older starting point than most people have.
Disposal has a cost. Not just money, though there is often a fee. A working appliance kept out of a landfill for another five years is a genuine environmental argument, and it is the reason we push repair harder than a replacement business would.
What we do on site
The technician diagnoses the fault, prices the whole repair, and tells you what we think. If the answer is that it is not worth doing, you pay the diagnostic fee and nothing else, and you get an honest reason rather than a shrug.
That conversation is part of the job. See what we repair and what a visit involves.
FAQ
What is the average lifespan of a major appliance?
Roughly: refrigerators 12 to 15 years, washing machines 10 to 12, dryers 12 to 14, dishwashers 10 to 12, ranges 15 to 20. Premium built-ins run considerably longer.
Does a repair reset the clock?
On the repaired component, yes. On the appliance, no. A new pump in a ten-year-old washer gives you a ten-year-old washer with a new pump.
Should I buy an extended warranty on a new appliance?
Read what it excludes before you decide. Many exclude exactly the failures that actually happen, and the premium often approaches the cost of one out-of-warranty repair.
Will you tell me honestly if it is not worth repairing?
Yes, and we do regularly. It is in our interest: the customers we send away are the ones who call us back for the next appliance.
Not sure which category you are in? Call and describe the symptom. We can usually tell you over the phone whether it is worth a visit.
