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Re: Should of got a deposit.
iadom wrote:No, you misunderstood my post, I was commenting on the fact that twicknik thought that Samsung meant high class area/ household . 😉
These damn fridges cost in excess of £800 and no one in their right mind would spend that kind of money on these dreadful glossy box that are unsuitable for British house let alone Council houses and middle class 1930’s semi with tiny kitchen and what on earth those ice boxes for (?). What’s wrong with ice cube tray?
Anyway that’s why I call them high ends as my high end fridge freezer is a typical 60cm by 1.7m Leibherr (brand new with 2 years guarantee) a bargain at £400 by pulling few strings in the trade. However these Samsung should remain firmly in US hence the name “American Fridge Freezers”.
Re: Should of got a deposit.
I would have done that but there was more to meet to the eye. It was not a simple case of draining the machine and open the door for her.
The plugs for both washer and tumble dryer were dangerous and loose. The lady offered her dirty old plugs from her kitchen drawer for me to rewire it onto. I feel that I have to draw a line, I insisted that a brand new plug is safer and I will not continue unless the plugs are replaced. This was when they started to quibble over the costs.
I admit it was a bit of a relief when I walked out. This household is not of a limited means, in fact it was in a the wealthiest part of the area. Marble floor, state of the art Samsung fridge/freezer and 90cm induction hob, etc.
Re: Should of got a deposit.
I had a request to look at a lady’s washing machine. Bosch washer with blocked drain pump. Basically I was working at a property dealing with AEG double oven, their next door neighbour saw my van and left a note asking I pop by to fix her machine. She phoned my wife who then told me that her machine is not draining and would need help to drain the water and release her washing,
Luckily I finished the AEG job early and had a spare 2 hours before lunch. Thinking I could make a killing there as I do not need to travel and tackle two properties in one morning. Upon arrival to next door, found her machine stopped with water half way up the drum. Told her that my fees applies, she asked “why?” After all I am in the area and not as if I went out of my way to visit her. I explained that I don’t do things for nothing and therefore draining your machine and release the washing is chargeable as I have overheads to pay. She says but I was paid by next door so why am I asking for payment as I’m in the area. I explained that next door has nothing to do with her. If you don’t want to pay then I will leave and let you find someone else to do drain the water out.
She says fine and was left with a washing machine full of washing drowned in half a tub of water. All the best to her to find someone who will do it for free but not me!
Re: 2 Pole Voltage / Continuity testers.
I did dabble with Electronics but I do not have steady hands therefore can make a right mess with soldering iron. With bit of practice I might do it well. I did some software engineering so I had some basic knowledge on computers/flow charts, etc but then technology moved so fast that I can barely keep up. I was at the university when they were talking about “Super information Highway” and ideas of making computers to be a central hub of every household where people can watch videos, send emails, and to be able to connect everyday objects to communicate to the computer, etc but this was 25 years ago, I remember thinking what was on earth is “super information highway”, ironically it is now known as the Internet.
My older brother is a Sparky been doing it for the last 30 years and he never strayed from it. He worked for various firms until recently he started out his own business. He was quite pissed off with me that I can do PAT testing and got the certificate for it as far as he is concerned that qualified sparky should be doing it not me as I am not “qualified” after all he spent 6 years at college doing electrics while I can do just two days and passed! He threatened to hit the roof if I ever took those two weeks of Part P training course, I toyed with the idea but decided I prefer appliances. So he can relax for now.
My younger brother is a MOT tester/mechanic, started off as an apprentice and never worked for anyone else just to the garage where he is currently at for the last 20 years. He used to MOT my car at a mate’s rate until I moved away.
So my brothers likes fixing things so it’s natural that I like fixing things. When I was little, my older brother used to get really pissed off that I played with his toolbox and often complained when he came home from work saying he can’t find his wire cutter or screwdriver only to learn that I was playing with it and “forgot” to return it to his toolbox.
Re: 2 Pole Voltage / Continuity testers.
Predominantly appliances but not fridge/freezers. Can do the odd vac repair usually Dysons (don’t mind them but a right bugger taking it apart). Once repaired cooker hood.
I was a chef/supervisor of 12 years experience before I started out on appliance repairs. Oddly enough what inspired me to do appliance repair was that I was responsible for the upkeep of 14 vending machines. Every now and then one of the machines breaks down and I call out Options who send out the same guy every time for the last 12 years. I had a snapshot of his work and was inspired to do similar.
Re: 2 Pole Voltage / Continuity testers.
Specialist01269 wrote:. Did you try your clamp meter out yet ?
Not yet, I need to buy a trailing socket but b&q is about 5 miles out of my way and it’s a real trek to get there. I’m still on the hunt for the socket.
FYI I stopped using the energy monitor few years ago as I said it didn’t last long in the toolbox and I wasn’t using it as much then as work was quiet until recently.
Re: 2 Pole Voltage / Continuity testers.
I used energy monitors in the past. It can be bought for £5. The downside is that it was not designed to be carried about in your toolbox and are prone to breakage. The battery in it doesn’t last long and it need to be recharged regularly.
I found it useful to be honest.
Re: 2 Pole Voltage / Continuity testers.
Martin114 wrote:I know its a lot more money but I use a Megger MMC850 Multi Core – Single Core Clamp meter. It is so convenient being able to clamp around the whole flex especially where sockets are either not accessible or may be hard wired in. Great for indicating when the heater powers up on machines.
I agree with you there and it what I was looking for but like you said a lot more money. I will have to do plenty of repairs to do justify high costs of equipment. I admit that it is a bit of a luxury. As for working out dishwasher heater, I use the infra red temperature (£5 from Maplins) because you can open the door to interrupt the cycle. The washing machine is a different matter as it’s hard to tell due to low water consumption and the time it takes to heat it up so that’s where the clamp meter comes into it. I will try out the cheaper version and see how I got on.
Re: 2 Pole Voltage / Continuity testers.
Specialist01269 wrote:Hi mate: You have’nt wasted £10.00, all you need to do is make up a short extension lead. Cut a slit in the outer sheath of the flex about 50-75mm long & pull just the live core through the slit, put a cable tie either end of the slit to stop it opening up any more & job done. When you want to check current draw on an appliance just plug it into the lead & put your clamp around the exposed Live conductor.
Think that’s what most of us do & you don’t need an expensive clamp, I’ve been doing it this way for years and never had a problem. Why do you need to know wattage rather than current draw ?Cheers, will give it a go. Looks a bit of a faff but if that’s the only way to do it on the cheap then I will give it a go. I think we are talking the same thing as wattage and current draw – a case of watching the numbers going up when the current draws, wash motor low current then heater comes on high currents meaning higher numbers.
I think I have a spare lead somewhere, oh yeah that old mains lead from a Bosch washer in the van, will cut it off and put a socket on the end of it.
As for pulling the live wire out, I presume you mean the brown one? The slit – near the plug or socket or in the middle? Do you strengthen it by insulating tape to make it hard wearing? How long the flex from the plug to the socket?
Re: 2 Pole Voltage / Continuity testers.
I ordered the Clamp meter as you recommended. It’s not what I had in mind as it appears to only work for one conductive lead, which means it is no good to clamp it around the mains lead of a washing machine or dishwasher because there are two conductive leads excluding earth. The manual says it is impossible to make measurements when two or three conductors are clamped at the same time.
The one I saw at the trade show in Coventry, the guy demonstrated the clamp meter over a extension lead which the computers were plugged in and powered up. The clamp meter showed the flow of current in terms of wattage and voltage. That’s the one I wanted as it will help me to determine that the washing machine/dishwasher heater is working by monitoring the flow of the current in terms of wattage.
The one I had does not do that, bit disappointed to be honest as I have wasted £10. 🙁 Are you able to recommend another type of clamp meter?
Re: Hotpoint dishwasher – FDW85 blown pcb board
Turned out that the microswitch plug for the door interlock was burnt out, traced it to the mains filter that was also burnt out too.
Had trouble getting to the PCB on the bottom, odd place to put it. It was agreed that the dishwasher is BER due to age and condition. The owner had enough of it. Not an happy ending but at least it wasn’t my repair that caused it.
Re: 2 Pole Voltage / Continuity testers.
Had a look at the two pole tester, I do not think it would add anything to my life as I would not know how to use it correctly which could be very dangerous. As you are already a qualified sparky, you are well placed to use this equipment.
I rarely do “live” testing but having said that, you need to be conscious of what you are doing especially with live wire. I think there may have been one or two occasions that I could use this equipment but like you said you found it quicker, I did it the slow way with different equipments and still fix the appliance. So this was why I doubt it would improve my life.
There’s one thing I know that will improve my life, clamp meter which I have not got yet. It is on my list of things to buy.
Re: hotpoint recall 70,000 dishwasher
drinkywinky wrote:
A1engineer wrote:
why just those models?, the 100bit cards where in loads of different models with same setup and wiring?ARISTON
LD87UK, LI680DUO:
HOTPOINT
BFI680, DWF50N, DWF50P, DWF50PT, DWF50S, DWM55A, DWT10P, DWT10P.2, FDW60G, FDW60P, FDW60T, FDW65A:
INDESIT
IDL500UK, IDL500UK.2, IDL500UK.2T, IDL505SUK, IDL505SUK.2I have tried to repair many hotpoint dishwashers with this faulty pcb fitted and for safety just scrap the machine as soon as I see the model numbers 🙂
I don’t work in peoples homes but work for a appliance refurbishment company and our machines are repaired refurbed and soldDoes this affects Hotpoint FDW 85? The age of the machine seems to fit in that time frame and it had just had it’s pcb board blown up. I recently replaced the detergent dispenser on this unit and it was working perfectly well until of late. I am not sure if I am looking at faulty board caused by the detergent dispenser or just it was waiting for it to happen. I am going to have a look tomorrow to find out more.
Re: 2 Pole Voltage / Continuity testers.
Pictures would be nice so I can identify it. I have different names for all the testing equipments.
I have the “Yellow” box which is an insulation tester, the “black” pouch is the multimeter and “net” pouch which is the analogue multimeter. Then there’s the red stick is voltage pen and black cylinder with yellow band is the torch.
