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Re: Engineer being alone in a house with a minor?
I often work in peoples houses on my own. There are still quite a few people up here who never lock their doors so they just ask me to let myself in. Quite often customers leave the house to collect children, fetch money to pay me etc. Would some of you refuse to carry on working if the customer left the premises? Similarly, I have often started a job alone in a house and then the children have arrived home from school. If builders, joiners, plumbers and other tradesmen imposed such restrictions on where they were willing to work, most working households would never be able to get jobs done. :rolls:
Re: Engineers who want no work
I went to an LG machine today, door wouldn’t open. Customer had already tried LG themselves but they would not tell her how much they would charge for call-out etc so she got me instead.
Re: Guaranteed Repairs
I’ve never been too sure if the suppliers give a 12 month guarantee on parts. I fitted a second replacement fan oven element to a Hoover built in oven this week. The previous element I had supplied but not fitted and had lasted about 11 months. There are a few Neff ovens which also seem to eat elements but I normally only give a 3 month guarantee on my work. At the end of the day the customer pays for everything we do, including guarantee jobs so I can keep my prices lower by giving a shorter guarantee.
Re: Dom/Appliance Poverty Trap
I usually recommend Zanussi / Tricity Bendix / Electrolux. If you shop around you can find one of these brands similarly priced to the Merloni but a better machine IMHO.
Re: Engineers who want no work
I sometimes get customers who grumble when I tell them I can’t get to them until the following day. Sometimes they ring back later to cancel the appointment, telling me they have found someone who will come the same day. On the other hand, with the house wiring work I sometimes have to work in conjunction with builders or joiners and these nearly always drag jobs out over several weeks and need constant nagging. I myself have been trying for over a year to get a builder to agree to build me a new garage. I’ve not even got one quote so far 🙁
Re: Engineer – What’s An Engineer
My brother is a chartered electrical engineer, having jumped through the appropriate hoops for the IEE. He was moaning the other day that he is no longer allowed to do wiring work in his own home.
When I worked in aerospace R&D, my job title was Senior Engineer. I worked in a team of Senior Engineers and Project Engineers. Several of us had degrees but I don’t think any of us had an engineering degree so were we all frauds?Re: Engineer – What’s An Engineer
Trolls aside, I think we should call ourselves engineers. I have qualifications in mechanical and production engineering but am self taught in appliance repairs. I don’t consider that I was conning people into thinking I was a qualified appliance engineer when I first started my business. I get paid on results, if I can’t do a job, I don’t charge the customer. I would soon go out of business like that if there were lots of faults I failed to diagnose or repair. Calling yourself an engineer implies that you have specialised knowledge and understand how machinery works. This may not be needed for removing faulty components and fitting new ones but is required in our diagnostic role. I suppose in a big team you could have engineers and technicians. The engineers could do all the first visits but if a second visit is required due to the need to procure spares, a technician could be sent to complete the repair.
Re: Hotpoint WMA drum pulley cut into drum?
I went to a WMA machine this week, complaint was the drum banging as it turns. Sure enough, it was banging as I turned it by hand but more of a twang than a bang. I took the belt off and spun the drum again, silence this time. I looked at the belt, perfect; I turned the motor shaft, also fine. I checked the motor bolts for tightness, both slightly loose; I checked the bolt on the plastic drum pulley, also slightly loose. Tightened the 3 bolts, refitted belt, no more banging/twanging 😀
Re: Beko WMA1512W sticking mid cycle
Are you sure the replacement module was the same as the original? Beko seem to do identical looking modules with subtle differences….
Re: Smeg Oven SE375MFX
Thanks Dave, the fan in the normal fan oven position can be seen rotating without any dismantling but I didn’t strip the appliance to see the other fan. I thought it would be the cylindrical type you often get in the top of integrated ovens.
Re: Grease for bearing seal Hotpoint WMA series
iadom wrote:I don’t see a problem with peg removal, I grip the end tight with mole grips, depress the lug with a terminal screwdriver and they pull out very easily, a tap with a small hammer is all that is needed to replace, always fit new ones though, don’t be tempted to reuse the old ones or they will come adrift.
I can think of much better uses for Vaseline 😉
On the Zanussis and Hotpoints I use a 13mm ring spanner over the pointy end of the peg, that pushes in the lug enough to pull the peg out without bending it in enough to damage the lug. I’ve never fitted new ones and never had one come loose.
Re: Grease for bearing seal Hotpoint WMA series
I just use normal high melting point grease as used on car wheel bearings but IKBA.
Re: Hotpoint WF100P Mini Load & On/Off flashes
Have you seen the info. on error codes?
http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.p … c&start=45Re: Zanussi FLE1015W
Thanks for the diagnostic info. Alan, went back to the machine this afternoon. The initial display test went through all the LEDs in order so I tried the next stage, functional tests. These worked OK up to Phase 7, drain and spin. On this it empties but then an alarm starts and E35 (water level too high) is displayed in binary code. I tried resetting and repeating this with the hose removed from the electronic pressure switch but it still came up with the alarm and E35. At one stage I did get it to start a normal wash and it was working OK until I tried to pause and skip to spin, when it started the usual flashing light business. I suspect the electronic pressure switch might be faulty but I suppose it could still be a problem on the main module 😕
Re: LG pump not always starting
Yes, I did exactly the same, buzzing so you think the pump has stalled but if you disconnect the pump you still hear the buzzing. I think it’s a dodgy relay on the main module but I’m not 100{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} certain. In my case I priced up a new module which was £130 IIRC. I told the customer I could not do the repair as I would not have been able to return the new module if it didn’t cure the fault. 🙁
