A tale of planned obsolescence, and how the corporations deliberately screw us. I have a gas water heater. It ceased operating a couple of days ago (those of you who wonder what is up with my beard growing out, thats the deal, I dont like shaving in cold water.) Turns out that the water heater failed because they include in gas water heaters nowadays a part that is DESIGNED to fail, in fact, that is its only purpose, to fail and render your water heater inoperable. The core of it is a fluid filled glass vial that shatters if the temperature at the bottom of your water heater gets above a certain point. The alleged purpose is that if you are dumb enough to store flammable solvents next to your gas water heater, the vapors being drawn into the combustion chamber will get hotter than normal and cause the vial to break. Of course, I have direct experience showing that these vials also break after a time for no goddamned reason whatsoever. Common sense, any part will eventually fail. They are not mentioned in the owners manual. So I called the manufacturer, we did the diagnostic (which consists of pulling the guts of the heater out and looking in the bottom for the remains of the busted glass vial) and sure enough, its busted. So I say can you send me another? I know that at this point the heater is out of warranty, and I expect to pay for the part. No biggie. The Customer service rep says No, our records show that you got one two years ago, and theyre one per customer. You need to buy a new water heater. I am not kidding you. Of course, thats pure bullshit. They sent me a replacement part free last time around because the heater was under warranty, and theyd rather have me replace the part myself than buy me a new water heater. But now its out of warranty, and theyd rather sell me a $300 water heater than sell me a $30 part. So I googled the part number and in less than five minutes had the needed part ordered on Ebay. Truth is, I am not stupid enough to store flammable solvents next to an ignition source, and so I really dont need the device that fails. But whatever. The heater is now repaired, and mañana I will once again savor the bliss of a warm soak on a cold day.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 02:12:39 +0000
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