[Kirby64]

Mechanical timers are fine, but digital circuitry is by far going to be more reliable if designed properly. There isn't anything physically moving, so the failure modes are much more restrictive. Also, digital provides advantages with offering variable timing on a dryer, for instance, based on the input of a moisture sensor. Mechanical methods for that are more complicated.

Additionally, I would be very surprised if the digital solution is not cheaper to make. Maybe not when first originally introduced, but nowadays it very likely is.

You're right that repair-ability is hurt in some ways... but the industry has moved to compensate. You can buy boards and replace them. They aren't inherently hard to service, because the form factor doesn't really have limitations.

[joelfried]

There is something physically moving: the machine itself. You can't wash or dry clothing without moving it around. Given that the entire machine moves (and on spin cycles, reasonably quickly), you need to make sure your circuitry is capable of handling the strain.

As a homeowner, I wish someone (anyone!) still sold reliable analog appliances that just did their job simply and made repair parts and schematics reasonably available.

[Kirby64]

Nobody would attach the timer to the actual moving drum, so the worst it has to deal with is physical vibrations from use (which, admittedly, can be quite violent if you have an unbalanced load). There are very few digital circuits that are actually meaningfully sensitive to vibrations. At worst, it's a manufacturing problem to make sure the PCB/solder joints don't crack from vibration.

In comparison, the mechanical timer is physically moving. A clockspring, or some sort of mechanism that physically sets the time remaining. Depending on how it's built, vibrations are a harder problem to solve. Not impossible, obviously, but it certainly adds cost.

Also, for most appliances we deal with today... they usually ARE simple to work on. Simple switches and mechanical contrivances. Parts are typically readily available... even PCBs, although possibly not at great pricing. There's certain appliances where you are basically screwed (fridges come to mind...), but that is mainly in my view because the typical failing part is the compressor. Nobody is rebuilding a compressor themselves.

[willyt]

In a fridge the typical failing part is the plastic shelves in the door. The compressor almost never fails and discarded fridges are a great source of cheap pumps if you need to scavenge them.

Source: The episode of 'The Secret Life of Machines' on fridges. Search it on YouTube.

[Kirby64]

Maybe for certain models. Personally I've never had a shelf break on any fridge I've used, which makes it sound like that's a user error to me.

On the compressors, there was a vast swath of Samsung and LG fridges that had known defects on compressors causing them to fail. Right now, the ice machines are probably most problematic. If you own a Samsung fridge with an ice maker you know what I mean.

[EdwardDiego]

On the Samsung fridge aspect...

A few years ago I was renting a house that came with a Samsung fridge that provided chilled water / ice. My kids loved the chilled water.

However, our usage of it caused the paint to start bubbling below the dispenser, and the owners of the rental wanted me to replace the door at a cost of ~$800 USD(!).

I argued that we were using the fridge as designed, so we weren't liable, instead they should discuss what looked to me like an obvious design flaw with Samsung.

They disagreed, so we ended up in court. My defence was about 12 pages printed from an appliance review site of people specifically complaining about this paint bubbling.

Easiest win ever, but seriously, how do you put a device that works with water into a fridge and fail to ensure it can't leak under the paintwork?

[adolph]

I do minor appliance repairs on occasion and the current time of manuals, videos and parts availablity feels like a golden age.

Granted, none of my large appliances are younger than 10 years, but I think I could build new ones (expensively) for the all the parts and schematics available, even wiring diagrams.

[fennecfoxy]

Yup exactly. And the electronics in a clothes washer allow for a lot more functionality than mech. When they say the "timer" was replaced with electronics, what they really mean to say is "the timer was replaced by electronics, which also allow you to select different temperatures/runtimes and whatnot based on the type of fabric you're washing or how fast you want it to be done, if you want stain removal or extra rinse then you can enable that, amongst other new options".

"Repairability" is becoming slightly nonsense because even as someone who is a programmer, who has done electronics at a hobbyist level myself, I'm not going to be able to fix a lot of stuff purely because you have to become an expert on it, the time investment is too high. As systems get more complex (to the overall benefit of all of us) the value of repairing something yourself vs getting an expert to do it, changes.

I think right to repair is good though, but purely meaning that companies to not intentionally attempt to thwart the repair of their devices and that parts/manuals are available where needed. Even so, this doesn't mean that every phone repair place is going to debug some sub-circuit inside some small part of the newest iPhone - they'll just identify the overall broken module and replace the entire board/module.

[gonehome]

Yeah, I’m always skeptical of “it was better in the old days” type arguments (even though I recognize the aesthetic appeal of analog).

People make similar claims about cars, but old cars broke down all the time and new ones are basically appliances that “just work” without the driver needing to know anything. Similar for computers to smart phones (though obviously both digital in that transition)

[tzs]

It wasn’t the old days. At the time the book was written and at the time I took the class mechanical timers in dryers were ubiquitous. Digital was new, expensive, and didn’t offer any advantages for that application.

Eventually digital became cheap, and enabled new features like dryers that had various sensors that could be used to optimize drying, but that was several years down the road.

[midoridensha]

Back in the "good old days", a car was ready for the junk heap after 50k miles. These days, that's barely broken-in. "But you could fix it yourself!" Who cares when the thing has such a short lifespan? It's really strange hearing people pining for the days of shitty old cars that you needed to constantly adjust the carb, set the points, etc. Insane.

[aSockPuppeteer]

That’s the point of designing it improperly so it fails early and only keeping spare parts available for a year or consistently out of stock.

The supply chain issues are hurting the servicing part, repair feasibility, and manufacturing part.