Ask HN: Any resources for finding non-smart appliances?

I’ve got an Electrolux (AEG) since 2015 and it recently needed its heating element replaced because I never bothered to use any water softeners. It took the serviceman 10 minutes and cost less than 100 euros.

I also have friends with Samsung washing machines. Let’s just say get an AEG.

My Samsung dryer needed a heating element replaced. It cost €450 (~80% of the original purchase price) and involved replacing basically half the machine. I’ll be actively avoiding Samsung in the future.

That's an insane amount - how old is the dryer?

I've replaced two heating elements in my ~9 year old Samsung dryer, I think the heating elements were less than 50 USD. I did the labor myself so I don't know how much that would have been - you do have to take the dryer apart, but it doesn't take very long if you have experience, 15-20 minutes or less.

I would not recommend Samsung - I've had to take that dryer apart more than 10 times to replace/fix things, I can't imagine how much it would have cost me if I couldn't do it myself. The only plus there is now I can literally break it down and put it back together very quickly when I need to fix it.

Luckily the Samsung washer has been fine.

The heating elements were buried deep in the machine and would have involved many hours of labour to take it apart; it took long enough to strip it down to the point where I realised how complex it was going to be to get any further. Machine was bought in late 2021, but was unfortunately out of guarantee by a couple of months when it broke. I’m happy to tear stuff down (spent yesterday unsticking the fan on a vacuum cleaner) but that was too much for me.

So what did you end up doing to fix it? My old whirlpool dryer is bulletproof and easy to repair.