I have an old electric space heater I got at True Value hardware in Aspen Colorado around 1983. I has kept me and several cats warm for almost 30 years. There are no circuit boards in it, no computer chips, no remote controls to adjust all the settings from my recliner but it works. Mj makes fun of it and every now and then we decide it is time to retire it. In the past few years I have bought several new computerized heaters to replace it. The last one was nice. It had a remote control. I could set the temp I wanted it to maintain but it didn’t last. When I got the last one, a Lasko made in Japan, I put the old one under the house just in case. Just in case came a few weeks ago and out came old true and tried. This morning the heater decided not to work. I took it apart as all the switches and controls are mechanical and if one quits I can take it apart and clean the mechanical contacts and it works again. One of the wires on the cord at the plug for the wall had come loose. Tighten a screw and we are back in business. I guess I am still an analog guy in a digital world at times.
I find the same thing to be true. People take broken items to my shop to be fixed and the older equipment I can have back in service with no problems. All the new items as you say have all this junk inside that is now broken down and you cannot find parts for it. If you find word China on an item I do not waste my time to open it up. Go out and look at a new washer or dryer. You will see all the new lights and so on. One lighting storm will take everything out of service in a sec. Prices on some of the cards are in the $150 to 200 range to replace ones damaged and I buy parts at wholesale prices. Older machine will run 20 plus years and never stop working. We are moving the wrong way.
QUOTE(John Blue @ May 20 2011, 11:02 AM) [snapback]26150[/snapback] I find the same thing to be true. People take broken items to my shop to be fixed and the older equipment I can have back in service with no problems. All the new items as you say have all this junk inside that is now broken down and you cannot find parts for it. If you find word China on an item I do not waste my time to open it up. Go out and look at a new washer or dryer. You will see all the new lights and so on. One lighting storm will take everything out of service in a sec. Prices on some of the cards are in the $150 to 200 range to replace ones damaged and I buy parts at wholesale prices. Older machine will run 20 plus years and never stop working. We are moving the wrong way. We buy junk from China for pennies on the dollar that we can buy something made in the USA. I get very irritated trying to find anything made in the USA. Everything you pick up in the store is made somewhere else. I will willingly pay more for a quality product made here than an inferior product made somewhere else. And it is not just about the quality. It is about the hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work while the manufactrers send their stuff to other countries and pay practically nothing to the employees and give no benefits. I can really get on my soap box on this one!!!!!
I love to buy American, but the stores stock what the customer wants to buy. If they didn't they would go bankrupt. It is the consumer that buys the cheap junk and that is like placing an order for another one.
I look at everything we buy and if it is made in the USA I will pay more to get it. I also like to see US workers on the job not in the soup lines. Sad part is you cannot find a lot made in USA. Go to Wal-Mart or Home Depot and look for products of the USA. Hard to find anything. We need to turn this problem around and get the US back to work again.
QUOTE(John Blue @ May 21 2011, 09:35 AM) [snapback]26161[/snapback] I look at everything we buy and if it is made in the USA I will pay more to get it. I also like to see US workers on the job not in the soup lines. Sad part is you cannot find a lot made in USA. Go to Wal-Mart or Home Depot and look for products of the USA. Hard to find anything. We need to turn this problem around and get the US back to work again. Thing is what made this country great was we built quality stuff. It was our manufacturing that provided good incomes for people and gave us our quality of life. Made in the USA meant something and we looked for that label. If it was made anywhere else we didn't buy it because we knew it was junk. Now everything is made somewhere else and we complain it doesn't last.
I know what you mean about heaters. Mine is from 97. Works great and heats the trailer. Tried a couple of the new oil heaters and they don't keep the trailer as warm as the old small one. It's just a small one with a fan about 12x12 and it works great, maybe it's the fan. I buy American as well. Something as simple as a light bulb, GE, made in China. I found an off the wall brand, same specs as the GE, it was cheaper and made in America.
If you don't like the curly light bulbs like me, you can do what I did and buy Decade light bulbs. They are the conventional light bulbs like Thomas Edison made and last a decade. I started using them at the Inn for places that required a ladder to change and soon used them for everywhere. They cost about twice a much, but basically never burn out. I have been using them for 10 or 12 years and never had one burn out. They have to be bought by the case of 12. I bought 4 cases (some for my daughter) and will never have to fool with the curly ones ever. They are also American made. The incandescent bulb is going to be banned soon. Google Decade light bulb.
For the space heaters, old or new, be sure to open them up on occasion and clean out any dust that is inside. The same goes for any fan you use. The dust can build up and catch fire. We have a friend that lost his bus conversion because of that and another that happened to see the dust in the heater catch fire. A few blasts with an air compressor or even canned air can save your life. As for old things.... I think all us old things are pretty cool!!!
My first reply to this forum. I used to be on the rvtravel forum all the time. In regards to the discussion about Made in America, there is a store in Elma, New York (suburb of Buffalo, 20 miles east) which is called the Made in America Store. They stock NOTHING but American made products. I believe they just had their one year anniversary and they are up to over 3,000 products. This story has had news interviews from around the world. Bus tours heading to Niagara Falls, which is only about forty miles away, side track to Elma to visit the store. All items they carry they have certified as Made in America. This is because salesmen lie! Sorry to any reading this. M.I.A . Store uses only American made products like computers, paperwork and supplies. The hardest item to source out for their store was American made telephones, as reported in local papers. They had to settle for one that is around 95% American made and parts. I have nothing to do with this store, nor have I ever been in it. However, they will have a large booth at our county fair (largest in the country) and at various trade shows that I have attended. They have had franchise offers from around the country and have enticed new small businesses to pop up with products to fit into their model. Everything I have written about Made in America store is from local newspaper and media reports on them. One reason why so many companies are producing their products outside of our country is the manufacturing tax of 35% tacked on to the cost of doing business to our manufacturing industry. I don't know about most of you out there, but aren't businesses in business to make money? It isn't a dirty word. I'm like everyone else who is sick of the crap that is imported from China (no less the worldwide clout it gives them) and elsewhere, but think of that 35% tax the next time you hear a political debate about jobs and manufacturing in this great country.
