Some appliances are more or less necessary to survival these days, like a refrigerator. Others, like dishwashers or laundry machines, save us a lot of time and personal labor. These appliances can be a significant investment in terms of money, but the time and effort they save is kind of priceless.

If there was just one initial cost to an appliance and you were set for life, that would be great. Unfortunately, like everything else in this world, appliances have a useful life span and eventually break down. And then you go through the rite of passage known as Finding Out How Much Appliance Repairs Cost, which is a number economists have defined as a lot. If your hair turns white when you get a repair quote on an appliance, don’t despair: There’s a much cheaper option for many appliance repairs.

Why repairs can be so expensive

What’s frustrating about repairing an appliance is that it’s essentially paying money to get back to zero, the situation you were in yesterday when your dishwasher wasn’t blinking an inscrutable error code and making a weird grinding noise. And the money you’re paying can be significant: The average cost to repair a major appliance like a dishwasher or a clothes dryer is about $175, and some appliances like an oven can cost as much as $500—which means the repair can cost as much as a new unit.

There are many reasons for these costs. Companies have to manufacture and warehouse replacement parts for a long, long time after introducing an appliance to the market, and that costs money. And the older an appliance gets, the harder it can be to find those parts, making them even more expensive. And then there’s labor, which averages between $50 and $150 an hour. That means that with some repairs, you’re already going to be $300 in the hole without even paying for a replacement part.

With some appliance parts, like small motors or mechanical items, your only option will be a repair professional or a replacement model. But many modern appliances malfunction because of failed control boards—essentially a circuit board that runs the mechanical bits of the appliance. The control board is kind of your appliance’s brain, and it can be one of the most expensive parts to replace. If you’re getting an error code on a display, it’s often a control board problem. And you can get control boards repaired through the mail—often for less than $100.

How to mail in the control board

Step one will be to identify the specific control board you need repaired, so you’ll need to know the model number of your appliance. If you kept the manual, you’re golden. If you didn’t, or inherited the appliance, there are some typical locations where model numbers are located. Home Depot’s appliance repair center can help you locate the model number if you’re not sure.

Once you have the model number, you can use Home Depot’s site or a site like PartSelect to look up the precise part number of your control board, then go to a mail-in repair site like Electronic Restore, Circuit Board Medics, or FixYourBoard.com to check on availability and price. Typically, repairs cost a flat fee between $70 and $100, plus shipping, so this can turn out to be a lot cheaper than hiring a professional.

Of course, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• Handiness. These sorts of repairs require you to be handy enough to identify the part you’re looking for, remove it from your appliance, and then put it back. Home Depot’s Repair Clinic can be a great resource for this, but if you’re not comfortable doing this kind of stuff you’re better off hiring a pro despite the extra cost. There are also plenty of videos out there that will show you how to remove a control board from various appliances.

• Certainty. Be sure to diagnose the problem correctly. Control board problems tend to show up with error codes on display panels or blinking lights on the appliance. If there appears to be a physical problem with the appliance—no gas to the burners in a stove, for example, or a dishwasher that runs but doesn’t drain properly—it’s probably not the control board that needs fixing.

• No guarantees. The repair sites don’t make any wild promises of success; you might spend $100 on shipping them a control board only to be informed it can’t be repaired.

Keep in mind that if you’re handy enough to pull a control board from your appliance, you’re probably handy enough to replace other parts on your own. You can order parts from PartSelect, for example, for a relatively low cost compared to a repair call.

Source: LifeHacker – There Might Be a Cheaper Fix to Your Expensive Appliance Repair

AirTags might seem a bit like magic. They’re tiny, fit nicely in backpacks and on keychains, and they can somehow identify where your most important stuff is at all times. Of course, that also might make them seem dangerous, as it appears all too easy for someone to slip an AirTag into your bag or car to track your whereabouts. AirTags are pretty safe to use these days, though: They’re simple trackers that rely on clever tech from Apple to work privately and securely. And if anyone decides to abuse AirTags for nefarious reasons, there are built-in tools to thwart their attempts.

What is an AirTag?

An AirTag is a simple tracker based on Bluetooth, UWB (ultra-wideband), and NFC. It looks like a thick coin, and can be used to track pretty much any object you can attach it to. You can keep it in your backpack, wallet, luggage, pet’s collar, on your Apple TV remote, or with any object you lose frequently. Some have effectively used AirTags to track checked-in luggage when flying. People also use AirTags to check in on their kids—however they’re not always effective for real-time tracking. 

How do AirTags actually work?

AirTags don’t have a GPS chip. Instead, they send out Bluetooth signals that can be received by nearby devices that are on Apple’s Find My network. This includes any device signed in to iCloud, such as an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. They can be any device on the Find My network, not just yours, which is why AirTags can be so useful: Anyone’s connected Apple device becomes a beacon for your AirTag. Once those devices connect to the internet, they send an update about your AirTag’s location, which allows you to locate your tagged item. AirTags are useless if they’re in a zone with no network or with no connected device nearby. 

You don’t just have to rely on this Bluetooth tracking technology to find your AirTag, either. If you’re in the vicinity of your device, you can go to the Find My app on your Apple device, tap your AirTag, and use Precision Finding to locate it. This works by using ultra-wideband technology to point you in the direction of the tag. Literally: Find My will direct you exactly where to go to find your AirTag, complete with haptic vibrations to note when you’re getting close.

How much are AirTags?

Apple’s AirTags are $29.99 a pop, but you can get a 4-pack for $99.99 if you want to save a bit of money. You can also wait for sales, such as the one on Black Friday, to get even better deals on AirTags.

Products to consider:

• AirTag: $29.99 (currently on sale for $23.99)

• AirTag (4-pack): $99.99 (currently $78.20 used on Amazon)

• AirTag accessories (various prices)

How long do AirTags last?

An AirTag’s battery lasts up to a year; when the battery is close to running out, you’ll get a notification from the Find My app on your iPhone. You can easily replace the battery, too, as Apple uses the affordable standard 3V CR2032 lithium coin battery.

AirTags and privacy

Apple says the entire process of finding an AirTag is anonymous and encrypted to preserve your privacy. Apple doesn’t know which devices relay your location, or where your AirTag is. The AirTag doesn’t store location data or a list of places you’ve been to, either, and the company claims that it doesn’t impact your battery life or data usage. 

You can share the location of your AirTag with other people, even if they’re not a part of your iCloud family. This could help with situations where multiple people need to keep an eye on a particular AirTag, such as two owners of a tagged pet.

But let’s discuss the dangers of AirTags: If someone decides to use an AirTag to track your movements, there’s a built-in safety feature to help: When an AirTag is separated from its owner, and finds itself within range of your iPhone or Android phone, your device will warn you an unknown AirTag is near you. You’ll be able to ping the tracker if you don’t recognize it, and deal with it accordingly.

AirTags accessories and engraving

Although AirTags are pretty easy to place anywhere, there are a few use cases where accessories can make things better. For example, you could use an AirTag keychain or holder to make it easier to track keys or other objects. You can also buy AirTags accessories directly from Apple. If you buy your AirTags through Apple, you can also engrave them with up to four characters. 

Source: LifeHacker – Here’s How Apple AirTags Actually Work