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Re: Argos are now selling appliance spares online
They are distorting the competition. Homebase are on the same bandwagon and so do many major retailers. As long we provide a decent service with a smile, we should be ok!
Re: refrigeration & air con
hilly wrote:ive never been involved with refrigeration & air con but im toying with the idea now, what courses do i need to do to get fully trained & qualified?
ive been looking on some sites theres btec, nvq level 2, brazing, handling etc, also can anyone recomend a company to do the training? im located in east yorkshirethanks paul
Well I am in the same boat but I am based in West Midlands. The local college here offer courses but was told that it was not worth the effort due to changes from City & Guilds regarding qualifications (they scrapped the qualification from July 2011). The way things are now are focusing on NVQ (handy if you work for someone else but not self employed as one man job) and you need to build a portfolio on what you done. The tricky part is that I can’t buy an old fridge and play on it to learn without having the issues of safe handling of refrigrant gas, and the disposal of the fridge legally.
In reality the majority of courses are focused on air con in a commerical setting rather than in a domestic setting clearing out cobwebs at the rear of the fridge. And the colleges are keen to provide services to large firms (they get the money from them rather than individual) so the large firms get all the cream. Unless you know of a particular course that may be the answer to my distress?
I feel that I had to say that I was hugely disappointed on what’s available for small guys like me.
Re: Has anyone actually bought T111 exemption for refurbishi
I meant T11 not T111, sticky keyboard! Sorry
Re: Hotpoint Condensing T/D TCM570
I must add that I did take your advice to use the hairdryer, it worked a treat!
Simple pleasures! Took me back to my teenage years of spending time with the hairdryer in front a mirror. Now I get to use it for different purposes. 😉
Re: Hotpoint Condensing T/D TCM570
iadom wrote:A very common fault, after you have cleaned out all of the drain channels and made sure the condensor is clear you need to blast the heating element and stats with a hairdryer until the reading comes down.
Then tell them to clean the condensor every week or so, not every 12 months. :rolls:
Now I have to add an hairdryer to my ever growing toolbox. People will start asking question why on earth a bald man need a hairdryer! 😆
Re: Indesit Washer dryer WIDL146
Officially I can’t look at it, obviously I did have a look, the dryer bracket sheered off due to vibrations by the look of it. It was very well secured. It looks as if there is metal fatigue and the drum may have flexed a bit as the outer case of the drum is metal. The client says that this was the second time it happened.
The client says the machine is under extended warranty and wanted my opinion. The machine is 3 years old. Hope this make it clearer?
Re: Indesit Washer dryer WIDL146
I agree, I would have said it was badly designed machine. Still the family is left with the machine that is worthless. I am advising them the best course of action is that push it to get it repaired then sell it and buy better machine. The repair does not cost them any money, just time.
Re: Trade waste – field service engineer
I’ve signed up to trade waste, it turned out to be about £91 for 50 clear trade waste sacks. Theft from waste bins are very common round here, so I am mindful of what I put in it.
As for paper waste, if I produce large amount of paper waste then I am required to use paper waste wheelie bin and be charged about £3 for every fortnight. At the moment I am not producing large amount of paper waste.
Thank you guys for the advice, really do appreciate it. Next step is trade waste licence for carrying waste in the van. All those scrap elements to turn into cash…
Re: bearing replacement charge
clockworkone wrote:i know this topic has been talked about before but can anyone give me an approx labour charge for bearing replacements.for your normal h/pt i would charge e145(always sounds dearer in euro)plus spider if required.the reason i dont quote spider straight off is it puts machine in ber category straight away to most people.paul
I found that honesty is the best policy, it is best to warn them about Spiders and if it turns out that it requires new spider then a new one is not that hugely expensive I think around £30 so you will find that the client would take it quite well. The only thing that you would lose out is extra time and in order to keep the business and get referrals, it worth carrying on. One job I had a right hard time removing the spider as the screws were rusted through, had to drill it out and angle grind the spider out. Brutal but very satisfying!
More to the point I would have included the spider cost and point out that if it turns out that a spider is not needed then reduce the price, you will find that the client will be happy to take the risk.
Re: Hoover Vision HD – VDH8162-80 – Noisy spin
I recently bumped into an old client of mine when I was working on the same street as hers. That was 11 months later…after I gave her the advice on how to get her machine repaired. This is the same machine and same client.
She said that Hoover came out and found that it was a loose screw on the concrete block. Well I’ll be damned!
I seem to recall putting my hand on the concrete block and that didn’t make much of a difference. The moral of the story when you get a call out for noisy spin is get a socket wrench and ensure that all the screws are tight before saying it’s the drum bearings. Lesson learnt if I may say so! 😕
Re: Domestic appliances – reliability and design
gandh1 wrote:” i have managed to fix zanussi and hp sealed tub designs, 🙂
What did you do to fix it? One presume that you went out bought a new tub and exchanged it. I agree that that’s there is not alot of profit to be made on replacing tubs but in order to keep the business reputation going, it’s a small price to pay.
Like you said nothing is irreparable just awkward to repair taking up time and money and most importantly the viability of doing the work to make a living.
I would have quite cheerfully repair a hoover hd by replacing the drum but the price of a new drum was £400 the last time I checked against buying a new same machine for £250. The client saw sense and bought a new machine instead!
Re: Creda – D120 double oven
The fault turned out to be the element was rather weak. The resistance was quite high thus lowers the wattage to the element a difference of 400 watts between the old and new. The power output was 2.5kw for the oven element so it should give out good heat. (I worked on a Bosch previously with half moon element 1.8kw – this warmed up the oven in 10 mins at 200deg) The new element seems to have improved the warming up time by few minutes. I remained unconvinced but the client seems happy.
The lights was on for quite some time on the old element but with the new one, it seems to operate well. The reason I was called to the job was the grill element was bent and the client could not make cheese on toast then later on she commented on the oven taking a long time to warm up.
However I considered the case closed with compromise. If she calls me out again, then I will have to try the door seal.
