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They just don't make stuff to last anymore!
We bought our house about 12 years ago. I had to replace the garbage disposal last year. Replaced the Dishwasher this year. I had installed a ceiling fan/light combo in the bedroom when we moved in, and it crapped out just this week and had to replace it!
The cheap air conditioner started acting up this week. We just had it checked a month ago, but during a recent cold spell, we noticed that the FURNACE/Emergency heat kicked on, and it wasn't anywhere near or colder than 40 degrees, the point where the heatpump isn't efficient, and the gas assisted furnace is supposed to kick in! Being cool...I won't say cold out of respect for our northern brethren
, I didn't go outside to check on the compressor or really even think about it. Then a couple of days ago, we had a warm spell, set the thermostat for cooling that morning, but came home to a warm 78 degrees house!
Internal fans were running, but the compressor/fan outside was totally quiet! Checked the breaker switch, wasn't thrown off! 
During our yearly check, had the guy give us quote on replacing it. However, since it's so old it's probably SEER 10 or even 08, and now systems are SEER 13 up to 16, and so we can't just replace the outside components! $4500.00 for a complete system!
Thankfully, had it checked again, and they found a Defroster Controller board to be faulty, will be a few hundred bucks, but we'll be able to possibly milk another year out of it before having to plunk the big bucks for a new system! 
But then, yesterday evening, SWMBO hollers up to me in my computer room...."there's something wrong with the TV"! Came down, the screen was totally black, and there was this repeating electronic spark/pop sound every second eminating from the back of the case!!! This is/was no ordinary TV, it's an RCA 52" rear projection machine. We got it the Fall of 1992, so it's ONLY 16 years old! I did a net search, found that it could be either a HighVolt transformer shorting to the board some how, or a possible leak from one of the three guns, etc.. Would be fairly expensive to repair.....IF it could be repaired...kinda hard to take it to the shop, and housecalls also prohibitive!
SO....."we" finally had our Xcuse to jump into the Hi Def pool! With SWMBO's blessing to boot....she's got to see her SOAPS!
Went to the local wholesale shop(BJ's...like a SAM's), and found a nice 47" diag...but at 16:9 ratio was the same Horiz. width as our 52" at 4:3 ratio!!! Full 1080P, 4 HDMI inputs, 2 Composite, 1 AV, 1 VHS, DigFibOptOut, etc. Multi view modes:normal/ Zoom/ Pan/ Wide; 2,000:1 contrast etc.! VIZIO brand, got it for $1399, then a few hundred more for a nice cabinet to put the Cable/DVR, DVD, Surround Sound Amp, Xbox machines in!
OF course we'll have to NOW add the HD channels to our ever rising CABLE bill, and will have to invest in a BLU-Ray DVD player...at least I waited till the format war was over!
But NOW I can really appreciate what all the Hoopla about HD is for, it's quite stunning to watch!
T.C.
We bought our house about 12 years ago. I had to replace the garbage disposal last year. Replaced the Dishwasher this year. I had installed a ceiling fan/light combo in the bedroom when we moved in, and it crapped out just this week and had to replace it!
The cheap air conditioner started acting up this week. We just had it checked a month ago, but during a recent cold spell, we noticed that the FURNACE/Emergency heat kicked on, and it wasn't anywhere near or colder than 40 degrees, the point where the heatpump isn't efficient, and the gas assisted furnace is supposed to kick in! Being cool...I won't say cold out of respect for our northern brethren
, I didn't go outside to check on the compressor or really even think about it. Then a couple of days ago, we had a warm spell, set the thermostat for cooling that morning, but came home to a warm 78 degrees house! Internal fans were running, but the compressor/fan outside was totally quiet! Checked the breaker switch, wasn't thrown off! During our yearly check, had the guy give us quote on replacing it. However, since it's so old it's probably SEER 10 or even 08, and now systems are SEER 13 up to 16, and so we can't just replace the outside components! $4500.00 for a complete system!
Thankfully, had it checked again, and they found a Defroster Controller board to be faulty, will be a few hundred bucks, but we'll be able to possibly milk another year out of it before having to plunk the big bucks for a new system! But then, yesterday evening, SWMBO hollers up to me in my computer room...."there's something wrong with the TV"! Came down, the screen was totally black, and there was this repeating electronic spark/pop sound every second eminating from the back of the case!!!
This is/was no ordinary TV, it's an RCA 52" rear projection machine. We got it the Fall of 1992, so it's ONLY 16 years old! I did a net search, found that it could be either a HighVolt transformer shorting to the board some how, or a possible leak from one of the three guns, etc.. Would be fairly expensive to repair.....IF it could be repaired...kinda hard to take it to the shop, and housecalls also prohibitive! SO....."we" finally had our Xcuse to jump into the Hi Def pool!
With SWMBO's blessing to boot....she's got to see her SOAPS!Went to the local wholesale shop(BJ's...like a SAM's), and found a nice 47" diag...but at 16:9 ratio was the same Horiz. width as our 52" at 4:3 ratio!!! Full 1080P, 4 HDMI inputs, 2 Composite, 1 AV, 1 VHS, DigFibOptOut, etc. Multi view modes:normal/ Zoom/ Pan/ Wide; 2,000:1 contrast etc.! VIZIO brand, got it for $1399, then a few hundred more for a nice cabinet to put the Cable/DVR, DVD, Surround Sound Amp, Xbox machines in!
OF course we'll have to NOW add the HD channels to our ever rising CABLE bill, and will have to invest in a BLU-Ray DVD player...at least I waited till the format war was over!
But NOW I can really appreciate what all the Hoopla about HD is for, it's quite stunning to watch!
T.C.
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