By MATT MAURY

"The washer doesn't drain." "The oven doesn't heat past 250." "The disposal is broken." "The trash compactor is sick."

Every day the appliance repair firms get these calls from frantic homeowners. The technological advances of our society have brought both more types and more complex appliances into our homes. At the same time, the ever-changing technology increases the cost of repair in relation to the price of an appliance.

As models change more frequently, as computers, electronic display panels, and high-tech plastics become more prevalent in our home appliances, the "shelf-life" of parts becomes shorter, making their availability more expensive.

Some folks in the appliance repair industry foresee the day when it will be cheaper to buy new than to repair most old ones. While it will remain practical to do minor repairs for quite some time in the future, it is now at the point where the cost of rebuilding a broken motor is near the price of a new appliance. The reason for this is that labor and parts costs have continued to shoot up while the prices of most appliances have remained constant.

Through the years, as new appliances such as dryers, dishwashers, microwaves, etc., have come to market, it has made sense to undertake major repairs because of the low costs for parts and labor. Both of these have changed in recent years! The older an appliance is, the harder it is to get parts, resulting in higher and higher prices. And, labor costs have escalated, too. Today, most repair firms have a standard fee from $50 to $70 for the first 15 minutes or so. Then, they charge by the minute at rates up to $100 per hour. If a repair takes more than a few hours and requires special or hard-to-get parts, the charges can easily add up to the cost of a new appliance.

That's because new appliance prices have remained steady through the years. A couple of factors have caused this. High demand and increased competition necessitated that manufacturers increase automation through robotic assembly, while cutting costs by using different materials. Also, changes in distribution, with the increase of discount houses, have helped to keep prices down.

The new devices, such as microwaves and garbage compactors, have sent service firms scrambling to keep up. Also, the increasing numbers of foreign-made appliances have required new education. Because of the breath of appliance types and models, many firms now specialize so they can stay up-to-date on training, while minimizing the parts inventory required on service trucks.

As service time becomes more costly, and parts costs continue to rise, manufacturers are beginning to recommend replacement rather than repair of appliances with major breakdowns. Homeowners should consider the alternatives to repairing any appliance more than 8-10 years old.