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A customer in Phoenix handed me a broken part and said 'I guess you can't fix everything'.
It was a cracked plastic gear from a 15 year old dishwasher, and that moment made me think about the line between repair and replacement. How do you decide when something is truly beyond saving?
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tyler6141mo ago
Check if the part is even made anymore. A cracked gear on old plastic means the whole assembly is probably brittle. Sometimes you can glue it or find a 3D printed copy, but that's a temporary fix at best. If the repair costs half of a new machine, it's time to let it go. You end up chasing one broken piece after another.
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skyler_kim151mo ago
What's the actual cost of a new part versus your labor time?
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camerona791mo ago
Yeah I saw a video about this exact thing. The guy said if the part is over 50 bucks and takes you more than two hours to put in, you're basically working for less than minimum wage. That's before you even count the risk of breaking something else.
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