When your dryer isn’t drying your clothing completely or your refrigerator is no longer keeping your beverages and foods cold, you may be faced with a crucial decision. Is it worth repairing or should you just go out and purchase a new appliance? You might be surprised but calling a technician for appliance repair in Thornhill might be the best option in these situations. Depending on the age of the appliance and the severity of the problem, a simple repair could save you a considerable amount of money.
When you have an repair service technician come out to your home to inspect a malfunctioning appliance, they can diagnose the problem and recommend the right solution. We won’t recommend replacement unless repairing the appliance is no longer financially feasible. In most cases, the average repair cost for an appliance is roughly 25% to 30% of the average replacement cost.
Once the cost to repair exceeds that amount, replacement becomes the best option.
Appliance Life Expectancies
Before you decide to call for appliance repair in Thornhill or go out and replace the old appliance, the general rule of thumb is to purchase a new appliance if your current one is 7 or 8 years old and will cost more than 50% of the price of a new one to repair it. According to CAMA, the Canadian Appliance Manufacturers Association, the estimated “useful life” of the 5 most common household appliances is as follows:
- Clothes dryers – 13 years
- Dishwashers – 9 years
- Oven / range combos – electric 13 years, natural gas 15 years
- Refrigerators – 13 years
- Washing machines – 10 years
In this sense, the terminology “useful life” is defined as the typical lifespan beyond which the appliance operates on borrowed time. So the closer that appliance gets to its “past due” date, the more it makes sense to replace it rather than attempt another repair.?
Is the Appliance really broken?
As human beings, we tend to imagine the worst case scenario whenever one of our appliances malfunctions or stops working. Unfortunately, we may be overlooking the obvious. So before you call an repair service technician or just decide to break out your checkbook or credit card and purchase a new one, you want to find out if the appliance is really broken before pursuing one of those options.
The obvious first step is to check and see whether or not the appliance is plugged into a power socket. If it is, go to your circuit breaker box and see if a switch needs to be reset. Next, check the flooring the appliance is sitting on to see if it is uneven. Believe it or not, this has been known to prevent some appliances from turning on. Finally, make sure that any filters or vents have not gotten clogged with dust and lint.
Additional Considerations
Once you have done the recommended checking discussed above, there are several more questions to answer before calling a technician for appliance repair in Thornhill:
- Can you afford to purchase a new appliance ? We realize that people’s budgets are tight in the current economy. Repair service technicians will never recommend replacement unless another repair just isn’t feasible.
- Has the appliance given you any problems in the past ? If it hasn’t, then don’t waste your on a new appliance and just have it inspected and repaired. Conversely, if there have been ongoing issues, purchasing a new one may be the wiser option.
- Is the appliance still covered by the manufacturer’s warranty ? If it is, you may be able to get the appliance repaired or replaced at NO CHARGE to you.
- What is the purchase price of a new appliance ? Check with some of your local appliance retailers to see what a similar appliance costs when it’s brand new. Be sure you take disposal, removal, installation, and taxes into consideration.
If you do decide that the time has come to purchase a new appliance, repair service also offers professional appliance installation and can develop a preventative appliance maintenance plan to keep it operating at peak performance.