Once upon a time, you didn’t really have any options with appliances. You bought a new one, or you inherited an old one. And it would be kept, and kept, and kept. People knew all the right places to find appliance parts, because replacing an appliance was simply too expensive. Today, however, everything has changed. When something breaks, we put it on a landfill site (some of us recycle, which is marginally better) and we get a new one.
However, it seems that the times are changing once again. Firstly, people are becoming more environmentally conscious, and therefore don’t want to simply get rid of things anymore. Secondly, since the financial crash of 2007, people have become a little bit more money savvy as well. Hence, today, people are once again looking at fixing their appliances when they can.
Finding Replacement Appliance Parts
There are different options available to you if you want to find appliance parts. Those include:
- Looking for refurbished appliances. This means that an appliance broke, and the manufacturer or store repaired it. It is not quite a secondhand appliance, as it has been restored to full working order. As a result, they are a lot more affordable. Sometimes, parts in these appliances have been replaced in full, and it costs a lot less to purchase a refurbished item than what it does to purchase the part itself. A refurbished item is always under full warranty.
- You can find websites where you can purchase appliance parts, new or used, and try to fix your appliance yourself. One of the key benefits of this is that it is a very affordable way of replacing your appliance with good quality parts, as they are all under warranty. However, it does mean that you will have to perform the repairs yourself, which can be quite difficult or even dangerous if your appliance uses electricity or gas. However, thanks to websites such as WikiHow and YouTube, you should be able to find really clear and concise instructions.
- You can phone an appliance repair professional, who will come out and replace the parts for you. This is where you will need to calculate whether it is more affordable to replace your old appliance, preferably a refurbished model while selling your old one for parts, or whether a repair is more affordable.
As you can see, there is no need for you to get rid of your old appliance and have it replaced with a brand new one straight away. There are more affordable, more convenient, and, most importantly, more environmentally friendly options out there. And if you do get to the point that your old appliance really won’t work anymore, and you have sold all the workable parts, you don’t even have to get rid of it. Why not turn it into a planter, a bird bath, or a unique form of storage in your attic? There are lots of options out there!