OT - Electrical appliance blues

[Feltwell]

First the kettle packed up, about a month ago, which was major disaster for me - Feltwell's are powered primarily by tea. New kettle required.

Then the washing machine packed up, which with 3 kids is a major problem requiring urgent resolution. Luckily £30 of parts, a bit of internet research, a few hours of my time and some cursing later and it was fixed.

Then the kid's Wii console packed up. Not a major problem unless you're a 7 year old boy, in which case it is a disaster of catastrophic proportions. Luckily £3.60 (!) of parts, a bit of internet research, a few hours of my time and some cursing later and it was fixed.

Now it's the vacuum cleaner's turn. Vacuuming the kitchen today and it suddenly lets out a very odd sound and a massive puff of foul-smelling smoke, electrical burning type smell, clearly something major has gone wrong with the motor. Not convinced it's worth fixing this time, it's getting a bit tired anyway. Dyson's really don't seem to be very reliable, ours only seem to last about 3-5 years before dying, and they don't get that much exercise!

What's next?

 

[LadyArowana]

Oven? Christmas Eve? :lol: ( Sorry should not provoke electrical gods ) We lost a cable box on Christmas Eve afternoon one year, also not fun.

 

[Alex]

Sorry Feltwell but I know how you feel. I was only moaning yesterday on here, about our 11 month old boiler which packed up on Thursday morning. We have been here for just over 6 years and its our second boiler, they always go in late November or early December, thats how we know its almost Christmas.

 

[Flyfisher]

No excuse not to buy a Henry now.

Glad to hear that you also get your money's worth from the internet when stuff goes wrong and needs fixing. How on earth did we manage in those dark days before the early 1990s?

 

[chuckey]

"electrical burning type smell, clearly something major has gone wrong with the motor". Wifey had an Upright Elecrolux which did this. When I took it apart, it seems that any dust missing the bag, goes through the motor and tries to exit via the ultra fine particle filter (Why after the motor??? :evil: ). Cleaning it all up and a reminder for W to fit the bag properly, it is all working now. Oh yes, I threw away the ultra fine filter
Frank

 

[Zebra]

Oh dear Feltwell, clearly you have displeased the electrical gods, and the only solution is a sacrifice. It could be something small, a table lamp or a torch, but harmony will not be restored until you have deliberately destroyed something, then your run of bad appliance luck will cease. You could try prayers and incantations - recite Ohm's law ten times every day, but I think the sacrifice is more effective.


Yes I am a qualifed electrician!

 

[Feltwell]

Oven? Christmas Eve? :lol: ( Sorry should not provoke electrical gods ) We lost a cable box on Christmas Eve afternoon one year, also not fun.

:evil:

That has happened to us, the oven is gas but the flame failure device went. Luckily it's one of those "range style" modern cookers with 2 ovens so we just switched ovens.

No excuse not to buy a Henry now.

Glad to hear that you also get your money's worth from the internet when stuff goes wrong and needs fixing. How on earth did we manage in those dark days before the early 1990s?

I have an ancient Henry and he's marvellous, does all the horrible jobs that would break the modern poncy Dyson. Alas I have to say he's not the most powerful vacuum in the world, and round the house an upright is much easier in Mrs F's "not to be argued with" opinion. Despite the fact that I seem to do most of the vacuuming.....

Before the internet, what did we do? I know, it's marvellous, no matter what breaks there is usually someone who has fixed it before and posted up a guide or even a Youtube video of how to fix it. With wireless and an Ipad I can even take the Youtube video out to the garage, the signal is just about strong enough unless it's raining!

Alex, boilers, what a pain they are. We bought the house knowing the boiler was old but we expected to last longer than 6 days before terminally breaking. The new one has had 3 new flame failure devices and 2 very expensive new circuit boards in the 7 years since :roll: They don't make them like they used to.

Frank, I will have it apart to see what's wrong, but I would very surprised if it's not the motor. If I'm lucky maybe it's just one of the carbon brushes that has broken up, I've had that happen before. I know I'll end up fixing it - I hate seeing things that could be repaired thrown away. I might just need to remind Mrs F though......

 

[Feltwell]

Oh dear Feltwell, clearly you have displeased the electrical gods, and the only solution is a sacrifice. It could be something small, a table lamp or a torch, but harmony will not be restored until you have deliberately destroyed something, then your run of bad appliance luck will cease. You could try prayers and incantations - recite Ohm's law ten times every day, but I think the sacrifice is more effective.


Yes I am a qualifed electrician!

I'll have to sacrifice one of those "used it once then consigned to the cupboard forever" type of kitchen gadgets, I'm sure we've got an electric carving knife and a vegetable steamer hiding in the back of one of the cupboards somewhere..........

 

[Feltwell]

Ohhh Great God of Electrics, what have I done to upset you so????

Just gone out to the car, the battery has died. It is of course parked in front of Mrs F's so the jump leads won't reach........ :roll:

 

[atticman]

If its a Dyson and less than 5 years old, it should still be under the Dyson Guarantee
(or so the nice young man in John Lewis told me yesterday)
Call the Dyson Helpline on 08002980298 and see what they say.

 

[Feltwell]

No proof of age I'm afraid, this one came from a relative originally who was finding it too heavy to carry upstairs.

 

[Flyfisher]

Does it have a serial number? That should tell Dyson how old it is.

 

[88v8]

A chap who made a good deal of money repairing delinquent Dysons once told me they fail because owners don't clean the filters. Perhaps your relative ditto?

Ivor

 

[tobydog]

Alas the righthand tall oven in our electric range has just called it a day. The thermostat has packed up and it overheats. Really annoying because this section only gets used at Christmas and the oven is not yet four years old. Mrs. T put two Christmas cakes in there and they were black in 15 minutes :shock: . She was not happy and neither was I because there was some seriously good brandy in them. We were lucky because if we'd gone out we wouldn't have seen them burst into flames. I need to get a man round but one local company said they don't do ranges because it takes two men to get them out to work on. It's only 90cm wide. I don't know why the electrical gods are angry either Feltwell because we recently passed on our tumbledryer to a new caring and loving family. It also got hardly any use but spent it's childhood in a cold lonely outhouse. The gods move in mysterous ways :roll: .

 

[garnett]

Hi

You are absolutely right about Dysons and the Filters. People throw them away because they don't realise that they need regular washing.

The reson why I ill always go for a Dyson is the Youtube repair guides. There are step by step videos show how to change every major component. It cost me £20 to change a motor this year. eBay has loads of parts.

Good luck.

Garnett

 

[LadyArowana]

Alas the righthand tall oven in our electric range has just called it a day. The thermostat has packed up and it overheats. Really annoying because this section only gets used at Christmas and the oven is not yet four years old. Mrs. T put two Christmas cakes in there and they were black in 15 minutes :shock: . She was not happy and neither was I because there was some seriously good brandy in them. We were lucky because if we'd gone out we wouldn't have seen them burst into flames. I need to get a man round but one local company said they don't do ranges because it takes two men to get them out to work on. It's only 90cm wide. I don't know why the electrical gods are angry either Feltwell because we recently passed on our tumbledryer to a new caring and loving family. It also got hardly any use but spent it's childhood in a cold lonely outhouse. The gods move in mysterous ways :roll: .

Oh dear this is all very very troubling. I am not sure that my eastern Gods have any influence over such areas, but I shall beseech the Quan Yin and Ganesha to intercede, unfortunately I am all out of joss sticks and coconuts, so they may turn a deaf ear.

 

[Juju]

Our washing machine has packed up this week. It needs a new motor - we were warned after we bought it 4 years ago by the lady doing the hard sell on the extended warranty that Smeg parts are expensive. I dread to think how much it will be! Needless to say we didn't take out an extended warranty cos we never do. Oh well at least the repair guy isn't too expensive on his labour costs...

Juju

 

[skier-hughes]

We wash or dyson filters regularly under running water as per their instructions. When we had the last repair man come, he looked at the filter and said this is dirty, I said it had just been cleaned. He said use some fairy liquid on it.
I did. Much better. I asked why it didn't say in the instructions, he said that they couldn't guarantee people would rinse it enough :roll:

 

[Flyfisher]

Juju, you may wish to pursue the shop that sold you that washing machine, regardless of the warranty. Such items are sold as 'durable goods' and it is not reasonable for them to fail after such a short working life.

John Lewis arranged to repair a microwave oven for us that failed well outside the warranty period and I've also had a Saab gearbox replaced 6 months outside of warranty on the basis of 'not fit for purpose'.

There is lots of advice on the web - CAB, Trading Standards, etc.

Don't feel guilty about pursuing such a claim - there will always be early-life failures in all manner of consumer goods and the manufacturers price-in such repairs in their retail prices!

Some interesting links (pros and cons):

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2006/mar/25/consumernews.howtocomplain

http://www.whitegoodstradeassociation.org/index.php/for-public-mainmenu-43/how-long-should-it-last-

 

[Juju]

Thanks for links. I know we bought our washer dryer from Boots online but I can't find a receipt and I can't even remember when (3-4 years ago I think) so I'm not sure how far I'd get. I'm going to complain to the manufacturer though but the washing machine repair man said in the past there was an element of goodwill that companies would sell you a part heavily discounted if it went earlier than it should have but he said there's not much goodwill around now!

Most companies are selling the replacement motor at £400!!! But the repair guy now thinks he's found a wholesaler selling it at £200 which then makes it worth doing. Mr Juju has offered to go to the launderette - he seems quite nostalgic about the days spent in launderettes as a student 30+ years ago... Or it might be the most fun he'll have this weekend - We'll both be stuck at home cos junior step-Juju is in very big trouble and grounded so that means we have to stay in too in case he makes a bid for freedom when we're not looking...

Juju