The "Knowledge Forum" can make a difference in the contemporary world by encouraging design of machinery for maintenance at a level of modest competence.
The example I offer today is a dishwasher, which I was able to keep running for nearly eleven years, five years more than the manufacturer's warranty.
Today I am having to throw in the towel, because the failing component appears to be a relay on the control board, and I do not want to deal with it. I have designed a small circuit board, had it fabricated by an online service, and populated the boards with components, so I understand the process.
The request I am posting here is for designers of equipment to think about the customer who needs to keep a piece of equipment running when the convenience of the complex civilization we enjoy today is not readily available, for whatever reason.
While "The Knowledge" forum is populated by only a few people at present, it is never-the-less in a position to generate a new meme based upon the concept of "Design for the Apocalypse".
In the case of the dishwasher, if the relay controlling the heater element is a more vulnerable to failure than the rest of the board, then that component could be designed to fit in a socket able to maintain sufficient current flow. In the "good olden days" we built equipment with vacuum tubes that sat in sockets able to handle significant voltages and current flows.
I understand that the convenience of mass produced circuit board manufacturing lines is attractive to keep costs of equipment low. The design changes that would permit a longer service life would require a greater cost, so a related but IMPORTANT component of the meme change is to persuade customers to BUY equipment designed for the apocalypse.
(th)