In attempting to achieve the government regulated efficiency, reliability has been sacrificed.
My guess here is that it’s comparable to HE heat pumps and AC units. They use these expensive alloys, that are also very thin in the heat exchangers. Unfortunately, those alloys, while excellent conductors, are more subject to metal fatigue from thermal contraction/expansion and fail much more quickly.
So you pay more for something that doesn’t last that long.
And planned obsolescence. Corporations prefer to sell products that fall apart in less than 5 years. So you have to buy new products to replace them. If they last for over 10 years, you won't be buying a new product so they won't make money off you.
If you have old appliances, you might as well as hold on to them as long as you can. If it's in good working order.
I had a house with a 58 year old Lennox furnace.
It worked flawlessly.
I’ll never buy anything else.
+1 insightful
This is exactly it. All that EcoStar crap the government forced on us. Smaller motors made of lighter components to "save the earth" are filling up landfills and draining our bank accounts.
A fridge like my parents had that lasted for 30 years? Nope can't have those! Not energy-efficient.
And not just fridges either but everything with a motor. Dishwashers, washers, dryers, you name it.
And they're coming for our rangetops and ovens next. The government is going to hobble our ability to cook our own food. But, don't worry. We'll be told that the new stovetops that can barely boil a pot of water will save the planet.