[delichon]

I run sous vide cookers 24*7, and they uniformly break within 90 days or less. But they don't like to admit their smaller duty cycle, so they don't, and keep sending me warranty replacements instead. I keep buying different brands looking for one with a longer life. I'll bet most people do that when their gadgets die, and purposely making products that die as soon as sold isn't often a successful business model.

[rlander]

That’s not a small cycle count for a normal household. 90 × 24 = 2,160 total hours.

I sous vide now and then, about twice a week for 6 hours each, so around 12 hours a week. That works out to roughly 15 years of usable machine time for the average person.

Not bad at all.

[josephg]

Photography is the same way. Most SLR / DSLR / mirrorless cameras have a mechanical shutter which is expected to last around 200k-1m activations. I've had a camera for a bit over a year. I've used it quite heavily, and my shutter count is at about 13k photos. At this rate, the shutter will probably last for 20+ years - which seems fine. If I'm still using the camera by then, spending a few hundred dollars to replace the shutter mechanism sounds totally reasonable.

[plywoodShadow]

2160/12 is 180 weeks, or roughly 3.5 years, not 15 years

[47282847]

Assuming linearity, which I doubt is the case.

[account42]

You think a measly 360 uses at your 6 hours typical operation is even remotely acceptable for a glorified heating element?

And yes, 15 years is bad. I don't want to replace my entire household every 15 years FFS.

[cestith]

A friend of mine gets new headphones/headsets every six to eighteen months, and hasn’t bought a pair entirely out of pocket in years. For him it’s all down to buying the Microcenter protection plan every time they’re replaced. They fail, he takes them back, he gets store credit for the purchase price, and he buys a new set and a new plan. He doesn’t even care about the manufacturer’s warranty anymore.

Personally, most of my headphones I look for metal mechanical connections instead of plastic and I buy refurbished when I can. I think I pay about as much as he does or less, but we haven’t really hashed out the numbers together. I’m typing this while wearing a HyperX gaming headset I bought refurbished that’s old enough that I’ve replaced the earpads while everything else continues to work.

Computers and computer parts often have, in my experience, a better reliability record competently refurbished than when they first leave the factory too. I wonder if sous vide cookers would.

[hnuser123456]

Are there not industrial ones meant to last longer? Maybe you can buy a used but good condition one of those.

[WJW]

There are, and if you really have the workload that you need to cook stuff 24/7 (what in gods name is OP cooking btw?) then you should definitely get one of those. Maybe not even secondhand but just a new one. The cheap consumer grade ones are meant for people who use them once or twice a year.

This is a fine example of what I meant about people complaining when they use products beyond their design parameters.

[tracker1]

I got one that seems to be kind of in the middle, it's better built than most of the consumer models but not quite as "industrial" feeling as some of the commercial models. I use it a few times a week for a few hours each.

I'm on a mostly carnivore, mostly ruminant meat diet and for costs tend to do a lot of ground beef... I sous vide a bunch of burgers in 1/2lb ring molds, refrigerate and sear off when hungry. This lets me have safer burgers that aren't overcooked. I do 133F for 2.5+ hours.

I also do steaks about once or twice a week. I have to say it's probably the best kitchen investment I could have made in terms of impact on the output quality.

[elzbardico]

It is easy to have to run a bunch of sous vide cooker 24/7 if you have a small restaurant or food delivery business.

[compiler-guy]

In which case one shouldn't be using consumer-grade kitchen equipment.

[elzbardico]

Call it vibe cooking.

[lawlessone]

If the manufacturers keep replacing the machines because they're within warranty isn't this cheaper for OP?

[mattkrause]

Definitely -- get something meant for a lab. I worked in one that had a 150F water bath running day and night.

[account42]

Well from an evil business perspective their options are either

- the product doesn't break and you don't buy a replacement from them because you still have a working product

- the product breaks and there is a greater than 0% chance that you will buy a replacement product from them

Of course in practice it's more complicated but I wouldn't be so quick to declare that the math doesn't work out.

[FuriouslyAdrift]

Try a Breville PolyScience... https://www.breville.com/en-us/product/csv750

Or if you want something even beefier: https://sammic.com/en/smartvide-xl

[delichon]

It looks like the Breville is the most affordable at $600. Currently I'm paying optimistically $45/90 days or $0.50/day. For the Breville to match that it would need to survive for 3.29 years. Will it?

[FuriouslyAdrift]

Maybe... the Sammic is made for a high volume commercial kitchen

[muzani]

What do you sous vide 24*7? It sounds like it would be party grounds for bacteria. Also curious if the bags and other components break as well.

[delichon]

Beef, lamb, sometimes pork. I have a daily meal of a cheap, tough cut of meat cooked for 48 hours at 150F.

Sous vide is generally not a bacterial growth risk above 140F. At 150F throughout, you get decent pasteurization in under two minutes. Two days of that is such extreme overkill that I'm concerned about the nutritional effect of over cooking.

The Food Saver style vacuum sealers fail fast for me, so I bought a $400 chamber sealer, and I'm on year 5 with it.

[Nathanael_M]

I think I love you? This is great. Do you have them running in arrays of 3? What’s your favourite cut? What’s the best cost:deliciousness cut? What bags do you use to minimize plastic leeching?

[delichon]

It's just me, so I only need one running at a time. Every day I take one serving out and put another one in. I clean the tank about once per week, or if something breaks. My favorite is short ribs, my daily drivers are chuck roast or shank. The prices have skyrocketed in the last few years. I buy in bulk on sale and portion it into bags with a chamber style vacuum sealer. It goes straight from the freezer into the tank.

[Nathanael_M]

Do you take pride in knowing that you eat cooler than anyone else, because you should.

Short rib is shocking where I am. Even chuck is pushing past $15 a pound.

What are you doing for sides/sauce? Generally when I think braise/sous-vide I think some rich, flavourful sauce, but that seems unpractical for daily consumption.

[delichon]

Chuck on sale is now $8 a pound, more than double since Covid started. I am eating less of it and more ground beef, pork and eggs.

I crisp it up in an air fryer before serving. Here's the full ingredient list: meat, butter, salt. After five years I still look forward to every repeat.

I just replaced an air fryer that lasted two years of daily use, a personal record. I was ready to replace it anyway, because they accumulate grease where you can't clean, and the smell gets interesting.