Generally when it comes to broken appliance my normal process is to:

- determine the average lifespan of an appliance

-If appliance is close or 3/4 toward end of average lifespan I replace the item ...this has been the case 90% of the time.

Last time I hired an appliance repair person it was for a relatively new.not high quality refrigerator. Repairperson said it was cheaply made and not repairable. I paid $200+ to repair person, then purchased a new refrigerator.

Now I have a 4 year old whirlpool dishwasher not draining. I have cleared filter, etc. as suggested in google searched. The filter /screen is broken. I found the broken pieced at the bottom of the yucky water still in the dishwasher.

Average lifespan of a dishwasher is 7 to 10 years. Thoughts..replace or repair?

-

Each type of appliance has it's own unique repair issues. Some of the refrigerators that kept of failing were of the cheaper quality. The fan that circulates air from the freezer to the refrigerator section would burn out of the bearing failed. The maker, Heir had no replacement parts and warranty work would take over month. How is a tenant going to survive without a working refrigerator? So I had to find a fan from another manufacturer that I could swap the mounting bracket and wiring harness. Not such a simple fix.

We had a whisper quiet whirlpool dishwasher in our old house that I bought brand new and it only lasted about 3 years. I did the same as you: disassembled everything and cleaned out the filter, unclogged the water sprayer head, etc. It drained better, but the dishes didn't get clean and there was occasionally standing water in the bottom. No option but to replace.

Ironically, the new house we bought in June 2021 has the exact same dishwasher. So far it's been fine, but it's only about 3 years old. Crossing fingers.

Repairs on appliances are expensive compared to replacement cost. I've actually considered doing something I never do: taking the extended warranty on them. If you can get 5 years out of an appliance, that's about all I expect any more. All the energy and water saving features cause them to be underpowered and break much sooner than the older models that would easily last 15-20 years.

My general rule of thought:

Fridges last 8 years. If older than 6, replace.

Stoves last 10 years. If older than 8, replace.

Water heaters last 10 years. If older than 8, replace.

Heat and air systems last 12 years. If older than 10, replace.

Interesting questions. Recently, a dryer of mine was not heating, and I spent some time on youtube understanding how a gas dryer heats and how to trouble shoot it. I spent $20 on parts from amazon and now it’s up and running, and I feel good having fixed it.

If you feel like getting more into repairs, I’d suggest that route, as I think skilled people (repairman, for example) are in short supply and there’s lots of resources online, on how to make repairs yourself. If you don’t want to learn repairs yourself, then I think your rule makes sense, especially as the repair person in your area charges a lot, and didn’t do much, at least in the case you described.

Another question is, if you replace the dishwasher, do you do the installation yourself, or pay someone to do it? I looked it up, and see home depot will do it for free, if you buy it in-store (not on-line) and the unit costs more than $396. However, in my experience with free installation, the person(s) doing the install, are not well trained and just want to get out of your house asap. A dishwasher requires electric, water drain, and hot water supply connections, along with leveling the unit (they never do that) and fastening the DW to either the counter, or the sides of cabinets. So, there’s lots of areas to screw up, and in their rushing, installers will screw up plenty.

Well, just my thoughts :-)

Trouble with extended warranty is you are now locked in to whomever provides it. Around here that takes weeks and weeks to get a call back, then a diagnosis then a repair.

And NO ONE repairs LG or Samsung here, which is all Home Depot and Lowes sell anymore (on the floor, you can order GE and Whirlpool and such.)

Be careful of extended warranties. A lot of appliance warranties exclude commercial uses. And rentals are considered commercial.

I tend to not only consider age but cost of replacement and the function not working.

Dishwashers are cheap, once you have done basic screen cleaning I don't do much else but replace

Stove's tend to get a little more effort. Parts tend to be more available and not as expensive to repair as other appliances. On gas its usually the igniter or gas valve which is usually replaceable. On electric, usually one of the burner plugs burned up which is easy to replace.

One factor for me is difficulty of removal. Hauling stuff up and down staircases into SOuth Philly basements is no fun, on top of having to sometimes remove doors and railings to get them to fit.

Second consideration is to always buy appliances with mechanical controls. When the circuit boards go, they cost more to fix than the whole appliance costs.

Laura,

Appliance repairs have skyrocketed. Parts and shipping are crazy!

In regards to a dishwasher because they are more difficult to swap out I would call a repair tech and try to repair. This is also a good handyman type repair.

If the repair or the attempt does not solve the problem I would replace the dishwasher. It is a case of not knowing how bad the problem is until you open up the parts. Sometimes a drain pump is easy to swap out. Just gotta bite the bullet and go through the process even though the process may cost a few bucks more.

We only purchase new dishwashers.

Brad, we only do new dishwashers and over-oven microwaves. We do buy the cheapest dishwashers we can find - don't care about noise, just care about having one.

Some people are proactive and others excel at being reactive.

So it really depends who you are.

Me, my Toyota is five years old and I noticed some gook building up on a battery terminal. Although I didn't rush out and get a new battery, this next car inspection cycle, I'll get it replaced before I find myself outside in the winter cold.

I am in the process of replacing a dishwasher and a microwave. Both out at the same time. The dishwasher would be an easy repair but the appliances are original to the house and the house is now 20 years old. I can't see much point in repairing a 20 year old dishwasher.

Microwaves are not quite so easy to repair, and again, it is 20 years old, so it is getting replaced.