The Joys of Plastic Parts.

One of the things about plastic parts in some areas is the way they hold up over time. On the 2016 Jenn Air dishwasher here one of said parts recently broke. It is about 8 years old now, so MAYBE not the worst, but I feel it could have lasted longer. You can see more details about it in the video.

[@PrimateMiners]

Maybe a random video to say this on- so apologies if I’m off-topic a bit. But I think it would be a great idea for you to do a deep dive on some topic you haven’t explored a lot before. Would love your commentary alongside doing something like that. Great video as always!

[@Sharkie626]

Hmm, not really sure what the topic should be. Heh

[@saturnevan]

Had the exact same thing happen to our Kitchen Aid a few months back. Used the zip-tie to keep the top shelf in tact. I’m sure we can find the replacement part for it just as easily.

[@Sharkie626]

If it's the same part, should be able to find it easily! I did for this one at least.

[@jaykay18]

That zip tie can probably be a permanent fix. But since you got the replacement parts, might as well change them. And you know that if it breaks again, a zip tie will come to the rescue. Now, if this happened in Octember, the entire rack would have fallen out and broken the glasses as well...

[@Sharkie626]

It could be a fix, but eh, even for a modern appliance, I wanted to get it right. Glasses would fall and it all would just stop working completely!

[@jaykay18]

@@Sharkie626 They could have just made the part out of metal to begin with, but the machine would cost 50 cents more. That's 50 BUCKS more they could charge and make another $49.50 in profit on each machine. Poor business decision, the way I see it.

[@TemporalEngineering]

I'm not too surprised, plastic doesn't bode well with heavy loads unless it's heavily reinforced... Which, that part looks pretty cheap [as in not designed to hold so much weight]. I wouldn't really blame Jenn Air for this, plastic parts break, could just be the environment doesn't bode well with that type of plastic. yeah it's a 5$ part, but it still sucks. If it was a metal part, I could see it lasting for a while longer, but then you would have to worry about metal-metal contact/rust.vGood thing your dishwasher is lasting a while. We have a 2014(I think?) Samsung fridge still going strong to this day. I know this is kind of unrelated, but relating to new appliance build quality, here is how I view the whole "mechanical vs electronic controls" debate. Electronic controls aren't really the problem themselves, it's when they are designed cheaply and not well thought out/consumer friendly is when it becomes a problem. I remember your videos with the Speed Queens' at this place about the dryer error codes [which ended up being a design flaw with the burner assembly] and the power loss test with the washer [which proved that not all electronic controls are 'dumb'] Mechanical will always be ideal for direct interfacing, and frankly someone may only need simple mechanical functions, but as a visually impaired person if the electronics make it easier to operate then that's awesome, it's just a matter of ensuring fail-safes and ease of repair/use. Another thing about electronics I think are beneficial is all the new "bells/whistles these machines have". They are "nice to haves" that in my opinion are better to have than not in case of a once or twice niche use case, but even then it could just be an option on the retailer's website. Just my 2c. I'll have to go looking at those 2 speedqueen videos again, haha.

[@Sharkie626]

I don't totally blame them, I just wish overall the part could have been made with a different material. Some electronics can be good, it just depends on how they were made, and where they were used (I forget if I ever mentioned that in previous videos). Maybe the only appliance I prefer such controls is the microwave. Since many times those rely on good precision, having a time display is better than a dial, and to this day I have experienced zero electronic failures with the ones I have used. The Speed Queens do provide amazing versatility for electronic controls that I have ever seen. Back in 2017, I actually made a video about unbiased comparisons between the Speed Queen and the direct drive. You should check that out if you haven't already. I was also very impressed about its ability to retain memory of where it was after a power loss, and they let you know how far along they are. That was one of the problems with our GE Triton XL dishwasher. There was no indicator at all for how far along it was, and that always bothered me. I will give it reliability credit though. From 2002 to 2018 it gave almost no problems. Only one being a sump leak in 2016, but that wasn't too hard of a fix and cost less than $20, but the electronics never failed once. Mechanical will always be my preference though.