Physical part stores

[kalanikaau1]

With the advent of "disposable" washing machines (Speed Queen excepted), how many appliance parts stores are located in your locale?

Talking about a physical location in which you can go to for parts, not online ordering.

Here in Honolulu, we've just one outfit, years ago they had several locations on Oahu, now there's just one.

There were other agencies, but they've gone the way of the unicorn.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

There's only one that I know of within 30 miles of here, and it's a clip joint.

 

[DADoES]

 
Zero within an hour distance.  Hour+, maybe a couple.

 

[kalanikaau1]

Reply# 2

The sole parts dealer is about 1/2 hour away from where I live, if they don't stock the part, it'll usually take about 4-5 days for it to arrive here, with a very reasonable freight charge of $10.95 per order to have it sent to your home, free if it's sent to the store.

Trouble is that you'll just have to wait, a slight disadvantage for living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

 

[goatfarmer]

Reliable Parts is the local dealer.

 

 

[combo52]

Local appliance parts stores

There are about eight in the Baltimore, Washington area that would be within an hour drive. We are lucky to have one only three minutes from our shop. It’s in the same industrial park. They carry nearly every major brand Appliance part, they’re even Carrying LG, Samsung and Bosch now. As well as all the American brands.

It is part of the Tribles network of parts stores. It goes up and down the east coast of the United States.

 

[estesguy]

Washer Specialties is the go to in Wichita. They've always had anything I've needed from AC motors, capacitors to washer parts. Excellent service and always busy

Washer Specialties Wichita, Kansas

High-quality HVAC and appliance parts for every make and model. Thousands of stocked items and knowledgeable staff will help you find the right part.

www.wsconet.com

 

[swestoyz]

Where I live in Iowa, we are pretty lucky to have a local Dey's. A large Midwest chain, based out of the Twin Cities.

https://www.deyparts.com/

20 years ago you could still go to the local Maytag dealer (Smitty's Tire and Appliance, a large volume dealer in the Waterloo/CF area for Maytag) and grab fast moving items from them - glide kits, hinge balls, pumps, belts, etc. Sadly, those days are long gone.

Ben

 

[kalanikaau1]

Reply# 4

Same parts warehouse here in Honolulu, I asked the store manager what washing machine brand do they stock the most parts for, without hesitation he said Whirlpool, with GE coming in second.

He went on to say that they stock splutch kits and suspension rods by the hundreds for Whirlpools.

That's gotta say something...

 

[kalanikaau1]

Reply# 6

There are several wise entrepreneurs here in Honolulu who regularly scout neighborhoods for discarded old school Maytag and Whirlpool DD washing machines and quicky snatch them up for parts or repair, then resell them for a nifty profit.

You know for a fact that most, if not all the Whirlpools have a failed drive coupling or agitator dogs, perhaps both.

I suspect they keep several new drive couplings and dogs on hand...

 

[americana4]

Twin city supply here in Providence RI has had the few parts I've needed- whirlpool & GE. Prices seem reasonable.

There's also a guy at Barrington Radio (GE dealer) who apparently has a warehouse full of vintage stuff. had the chrome control panel for my KDS18. nice guy.

 

[cycla-fabric]

We use to have a few appliance part stores in northern NJ where I live, but they soon folded up and closed. Now if you need an appliance part you have to look towards the internet to find the part. I guess the people today would rather call a appliance repair man then fix it themselves. But then again who has the skill to repair todays appliance.

Doug

 

[thatwasherguy]

Just one here in central KY...

But it seems to have a good selection of most commonly used parts. It is a Tribles. I’ve also used Cashwell appliance parts in Wilmington, NC for repairing my great aunt’s stuff while on vacation, and they too seem to have a good selection.
Thatwasherguy.

 

[launderess]

Physical appliance part stores were or are not immune to same forces affecting all retail: rise of internet.

Sears put their once great appliance parts department online. Others soon followed including behemoths such as Appliance Parts Direct.

Many appliance parts stores survived because places did far more than just that business. They sold appliances, hardware, had repair services, and so on.

Will give you that over past few decades trend is often to junk a broken appliance and buy new, but there is a method to that madness.

Back in day when things were largely mechanical timers and what not, repairs were rather simple; just swap out a part or whatever. Now in days of motherboards and other electronics often cost of new part alone exceeds value of machine. That's before labor and other costs. If machine isn't covered under warranty most won't bother.

Things now often come as entire assemblies. Great for simplifying manufacturing, bringing down costs and other benefits I suppose, but also means it isn't always a simple matter of just replacing one part that's gone bad.

 

[kalanikaau1]

Reply# 10

Interesting observation, however I think most consumers will trash the appliance, much like current televisions and the like.

However this does beg the question of where appliance repair companies are sourcing their parts in the event of extended warranty repairs, I suspect that they will deem the unit irreparable and let the insurance company deal with it.

Several years ago I was in the market for a french-door fridge, the sales associate at a well known home improvement center was hell-bent on selling me a Samsung, extolling it's virtues like a car salesperson.

I silenced the gentleman by asking who provided service support for Samsung in my locale, turns out that nobody did, absolutely no one at that time.

I remarked that his true calling was in the lighting section, selling left hand threaded A19 light bulbs...

 

[launderess]

Back when televisions, monitors and what not were all tubes, switches and other parts that could be replaced, repair was possible and often made sense.

Fast forward to modern age of digital, LED and so on modern televisions often it is some electronic component that goes. Once that happens cost of repair (if it is even possible) simply is more than thing is worth, so it's rubbished.

Same with dishwashers, washing machines, refrigerators.... In old days when things were run by mechanical timers and such they could be easily repaired. Now even fridges have motherboards.

 

[ragnboneman]

Launderess:

A TV set was something back in my youth that you needed a service man to come and tune about once a year depending on how much use if got.
All of these parts would drift and age.
But parts were easily found both from the OEM and other manufactures ( speaking of tubes ).
Competition made the cost of parts reasonable.
The second part of the equation was the service man.
back in the Tube TV days lot of people did this work and there was competition to keep costs low.
You could avoid the service man and do some tuning yourself but it took a guy with tools and test equipment to make that picture pop.
I remember when you had a guy come to your house from the store on day one to set up and tune the TV for initial use ( this was part of the after sale service ).
Lots of parts lots of people this equates to low cost of ownership and ease of repair.

Modern electronics are impossible to set up and tune.
They auto tune the signals are digital and there is nothing you really can do to fix them in the field.
So they get scrapped.
The trade off is the manufacturing process is such they are dirt cheap to make and throw away.
I agree this should not be the case.

Parts stores
There are two places not far from here about 1/2 drive one exclusively sells parts he he can get them.
The other is an old fashion independent appliance sales and service dealer.
You walk in you see the new, you look in the back and see the old ( including speed queen I might add)

Recently I had to repair my aunts electric stove.
A GE unit about 10 years old and I got the board I needed from the second source.
The part was 299 Canadian, and that is still cheaper and less trouble than replacement because I did the fix for her.

That board was a piece of crap.
The guy that sod it to me told me they had to replace a lot of them all the time....
The price for the part was outrageous.
But its an OEM part from a factory in China with no second source.

But I suspect things will change.
There are companies in China that make universal and aftermarket boards for many appliances.
Its just a question of finding the right guys.

This guy does not make all of these boards.

https://unitedrvparts.com/products/...generator-board-300-3056-300-3687-300-3687-01

Some come from a company in China.
I found the Chinese guy who does...
And the fellow in China sells them for 59 USD...

So its possible to get a lot the parts we want or need.
Right now its hard to find the right guy and by the time you go through enough middle men it costs more than what your trying to fix.
I have faith one day that will not be the case and it should be a lot easier.

A lot of this is out there.
Here's some parts for A Whirlpool splutch

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/100...1Kkv9w7T&utparam-url=scene:search|query_from:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004346955868.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.43.7fb0208fziJMbo&algo_pvid=eff9bf89-de62-4784-afdc-6bfc434a3bc4&algo_exp_id=eff9bf89-de62-4784-afdc-6bfc434a3bc4-21&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21CAD%2125.96%2118.18%21%21%2118.48%2112.94%21%402101fb1417232933891625200e15c1%2112000028846940636%21sea%21CA%210%21ABX&curPageLogUid=0bE3hgG96TEu&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch%7Cquery_from%3A

 

[rp2813]

I remember when there were tube tester consoles in grocery stores, likely placed there by independent vendors and stocked with the most commonly used tubes in case you had one that sent the pointer into the "Replace" zone on the meter.  They were interesting contraptions with all sorts of knobs and settings depending on the type of tube being tested, and a durable flip-through index to look up a given tube for the proper receptacle and settings to use.  United Radio and TV Supply had banks of testers and pretty much any part necessary to make repairs, including CRTs which usually had to be ordered.  They were located about a three minute walk from where I currently live until about 20 or so years ago.

 

The Appliance Parts store is still going strong about the same distance from me in the opposite direction.  They have always come through for me with replacement parts, including replacement bake elements for my mom's 1949 Westinghouse range, as late as 2007.  The only thing they didn't have was a replacement PC board for my 2009 KitchenAid Architect side-by-side refrigerator.  The board is NLA, and started having problems about a year and a half ago.  But -- John, the owner, gave me the name of a repair service and I sent them the board, which they restored to proper operation within days.  I love my fridge and it was worth the $250 to fix it rather than replace it. 

 

There are a few other parts retailers in the area, including a Marcone outlet also a short walk from me, but I've only used them a time or two.  I see no reason to go anywhere other than the independent retailer who has been so helpful over the decades.

 

 

 

[eronie]

In the Flint area most of the drug stores had tube testers. I used them a lot......