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Our old fridge got stuck in the defrost cycle (I think something fried the control circuit) and ruined most of the food. We did not have a real budget for a new fridge, but we had to get one anyways.
The old fridge was old, manufactured in 2002. My dad and I are going to take it to Lowe's (where we got the new fridge) so it can be safely disposed of/recycled.
We put the food that wasn't ruined in the Garage (it is below zero here currently) so it would stay cold. It is now in the new fridge, which works.
I looked up the fridge model, and people who bought it had it for about six years before it got stuck in the defrost cycle, so it is obviously planned obsolescence (which, AFAIK, is illegal in the United States).
Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.
- Mitchell Kapor
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That's a PITA - especially since the only fridges you see on US TV are about four times the size of ours! 
Mind you, my chest freezer is about as old, and still going strong, except for the handle s=which surcomed to plastic fatigue a couple of weeks back. Nothing a bit a wood, paint and a new kitchen cupboard handle couldn't fix though. But if that failed...Ouch! I'd have to eat a serious amount of food very quickly indeed... 
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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It was mostly empty at the time, so not a lot of food went bad. Most of it had been in there for a loooooooong time as well, so it was likely bad before the failure.
I think the Mayonnaise had expired two months ago, if I remember correctly.
Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.
- Mitchell Kapor
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Quote: That's a PITA - especially since the only fridges you see on US TV are about four times the size of ours!
Yes but the American's you see on TV are quite often also four time's the size of the people around here 
With friendly greetings,
Eric Goedhart
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I remember thinking it was odd the first time I went there: they seem to come in two sizes, slim and attractive, and *HUGE* - with nothing in between. I eventually decided there must be a federal law restricting you to stay indoors while dieting or putting on weight...
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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Name & Shame!
And send the bloodhounds of the Consumers Union after them.
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I looked it up (can't remember the brand, too lazy to go to the garage and check), but I saw the manufacturer was fined over two million dollars for this issue and ordered to stop. I am not sure if they have, though.
We now have a Samsung 'smart' fridge (no internet connection, though) with a ton of features and the highest rating of all smart fridges (in this area at least). And there have been no reports of planned obsolescence in this line of fridges (some have failed, and Samsung always looked into it, even if the unit was out of warranty. They even fired a parts supplier after a series of failures, as that supplier was knowingly providing faulty parts. AFAIK Samsung replaced the fridges as well, even if they were out of warranty.)
Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.
- Mitchell Kapor
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Or maybe just some crappy design...
The first washing machine we bought after tying the knot karked it after 8 months - PSU popped. Replaced under warranty and we only finally replaced it when it was just over 20 years old and sounding like a 747 taking off. The PSU problem was a known fault (poorly spec'd component, a capacitor I think from memory) which ended up costing the manufacturer quite a bit in warranty claims until they sorted it.
I've been lucky with fridges to. First one we had for 23 years and was still working fine when we replaced it for a larger one. On the other hand my mother goes through fridges about every ten years. Dunno what she does to them... 
If your neighbours don't listen to The Ramones, turn it up real loud so they can.
“We didn't have a positive song until we wrote 'Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue!'” ― Dee Dee Ramone
"The Democrats want my guns and the Republicans want my porno mags and I ain't giving up either" - Joey Ramone
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I have an old childhood friend that sells household appliancies. He seriously claims that you need to make sure you have the money for a new appliance whenever they pass ten years of age if used normally.
A fridge works harder (or rather more often) when empty, so if it's usually not very full, put a couple of gallons of water in it as a thermal energy store.
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An uncle of mine always padded out the empty space in his freezer with screwed up newspaper...the principle being that as soon as you opened the door/lid all that nice cool air was replaced by room temp air which then had to be cooled. So therefore minimize the air in there..
If your neighbours don't listen to The Ramones, turn it up real loud so they can.
“We didn't have a positive song until we wrote 'Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue!'” ― Dee Dee Ramone
"The Democrats want my guns and the Republicans want my porno mags and I ain't giving up either" - Joey Ramone
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It's not stupid. It makes sense. We desperately need it. We have a politician manufactured in 1994...
Veni, vidi, vici.
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Planned obsolescence would take far more clever engineering that most manufacturers would pay for. We could restate this as: Never attribute to planned obsolescence that which is adequately explained by bad engineering.
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Same thing happened to me. Mine is from 2001.
But I found a new defrost cycle timer online for about $10. It's been working fine ever since (2011 I think).
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Our fridge was made in 1972. It has rust, but ... it works. Plus it has the added benefit on not being hackable or networked.
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Brisingr Aerowing wrote: I think something fried the control circuit
That so sounds like a line from a 1950's sci-fi movie!
MVVM # - I did it My Way
___________________________________________
Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011
.\\axxx
(That's an 'M')
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"Aaahhhh - it's alive."
Peter Wasser
Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.
Frank Zappa
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I wouldn't read more into it than it deserves. Unless it's a top of the line modern electronic gee whiz fridge, it hasn't got much of a control circuit. All of them I've seen consist of a slow-turning motor that closes a contact for about ten minutes once per cycle, usually about 8 - 12 hours. It's mounted on the back panel, so it never gets the dust bunnies vacuumed off since nobody wants to drag the fridge out from the wall. that either clogs up the bearings, or causes the motor windings to overheat over time. the cheaper the motor, the shorter the time to failure. Simple economics, not planned obsolescence... 
Will Rogers never met me.
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Be gone with your common sense appraisal of the OP's conspiracy theory!! 
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Failure after 10 years seems a good run to me. Just replace the clock and get another 10. Can't see the conspiracy here.
Peter Wasser
Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.
Frank Zappa
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Brisingr Aerowing wrote: ...so it is obviously planned obsolescence (which, AFAIK, is illegal in the United States).
Sadly, it seems to be a rampant problem worldwide. In almost all products.
... and certainly not illegal in the Untied Snakes.
Never moon a werewolf.
- Harvey
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...but shorter, and more catchy.
I've just completed about 8hrs of solid coding that involved tearing into the guts of my code, touching about 20 modules, ripping out a component and replacing it with a different (3rd party) component whose documentation is of the "documentation is Evil" variety, plus a bunch of refactoring and configuration changes and the first time I ran the code it...just...worked.
Isn't that the best feeling in the world. It's like everything stops, and everything is perfect just in that moment.
We need a word for it.
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Karma ?
I'd rather be phishing!
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Heh, I was going to suggest Nerdvana.
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