During this time of uncertainty many of us are stocking up with extra fresh vegetables and meat as we look like having to stay in for long periods of time, entertaining ourselves with games from bygone eras and streaming lots of Netflix. It will be tempting to go to the fridge for snacks and cold beverages, particularly as there is not alot else to do. Even if working from home, the extra temptation will be there.
But for the sake of your fridge, plan when you open the doors. Children in particular will be looking for snacks, standing and staring and hoping, while warm moist air enters the fridge. This causes the thermostat to register a rise in temperature and the compressor (motor) will immediately kick in to get those gases creating cold air again to wash over your meats and cheeses and butters and veggies to keep them fresh and edible. But the more the compressor has to kick in, the more it wears. Alot of fridges will already be a reasonable age, so putting extra stress on the compressor may tip it over to fusing altogether.
So plan visits to the fridge, and monitor to makes sure the door is shutting properly, especially before bed; a night where the door has not been closed properly can be enough to cause failure of the motor.
There is already extra demand for new fridges and as time goes on we can’t predict how steady the supply chain will be. You need your fridge to stay strong in this time, so as well as being kind to everyone else, be kind to your fridge.
Give us a call on 36301611 if you need to ask us some questions or if you have any problems with your fridge or any other of your whitegoods.

Oh I could go on about this one a while but the photo says it all. One of our technicians went to inspect a dishwasher last week, reported to be not draining. At least fifty percent of the dishwasher call outs we go to are for drainage issues, but when he got there the sink was overflowing. So he delved into the cause and pulled this DrainBurg out of the plumbing!

Dishwashers drain into the same plumbing as the sink through a small drain spigot on the side of the main pipe, so this was completely blocked. It is easy for the spigot to become blocked as it is very slim, but not so usual to find a living, breathing DrainBurg.

Below you will see a prehistoric artifact from the sixties which came out of a working stove one of our techs attended recently. For more than 50 years it has regulated the temperature of the stove top element with no issues at all. It is manufactured from a material we never see these days, BAKELITE… (look it up kids) It was the go to product for light switches, radios, telephones, even toilet seats, to name a few, in the days before plastic became the easy and much cheaper alternative. And it looks like it was lovingly crafted to last…

Below you can see damage done to wiring as a result of the wire not being securely connected to a terminal. Appliances which use heat carry a lot of current and if the wire hasn’t been correctly connected the electric current arcs across to the terminal, causing a spark. This was bad news for the insulation on the wiring which caught fire momentarily and melted. Sometimes it doesn’t stop at the melting and ignites nearby insulation or other flammable material, causing a fire. Its the reason your mum or dad always said ‘don’t go out and leave the dryer/dishwasher on’.

The failure of this terminal and the resultant wiring burn meant the appliance had to be written off.

Never do electrical work yourself. Get a qualified technician and ensure you and your family are the safest they can be. Call us on 36301611 to make an appointment to have a technician visit or enquire about our workshop rates.

The picture below is not of a digital marine star fish eating a small jelly fish……

Wine glasses are designed to Break; they are not designed to be washed. Sometimes, and its just no-ones fault, no really!… sometimes, a glass just gets broken in the dishwasher, or maybe the dog was running through the kitchen with a smile on its face and its tongue hanging out and a little child was chasing it and … the dishwasher just got knocked, and there was a bad domino effect and masses of wine glasses, and tumblers did a slo mo cartwheel into each other and smashed.

But what to do?

Do not assume that the dishwasher will magically take care of the broken glass pieces. Scoop out Every tiny Piece. Because otherwise they make their way down to the pump. And stop the pump. And the pump will try to work and try and try, but it can’t and then it burns out. The small piece of glass in the picture below fitted perfectly under the pump arms to stop the pump from turning. If it happens (and remember its no ones fault) find every piece and if you think any have gone down the drain, give us a call on 36301611 to inspect. Because a service call out to retrieve the glass is better than a service call out plus a new pump.

This was a noisy dryer when it came in to our workshop and Nicholas recognised the sound it was making as being a problem with the idler pulley. The idler pulley keeps the belt taut so it can turn the drum. But if the pulley is not turning properly the belt will eventually wear a deep groove in the pulley and eventually break the pulley if not attended to.

Below, you can see the collapsed pulley compared to the new one we fitted. Its usually a job worth doing if you can bring the dryer to our workshop, and the dryer will continue to provide good service; good for the pocket and good for the environment if you don’t need to replace.

Remember, don’t overload your dryer. Not only will it not dry the clothes quickly, and you will be paying extra on your electricity account, but it puts extra stress on all the components.

Call our office on 36301611. We won’t keep you waiting ages for a real person to speak to , and we know our whitegoods.

There is a recommended detergent dosage for front load washers and its best to stick carefully to the dosage the manufacturer of your machine recommends. Adding extra soap to your wash will not improve the quality of your wash but it could easily burn out your pump.

We recently repaired a front load washer for a customer in our workshop, which required clearing out all the soap build up which was interfering with the pump. As you can see in the picture below, it was producing suds all the way up the front face of the washer, just from the residue left in the machine when we were asked by our customer to repair.

When there is too much soap powder or detergent, it doesn’t act like water and just pump out, because the bubbles are too light; they continue to be present in the machine and it senses it must pump them out. So it just keeps trying, and eventually burns out…

Too much soap powder is bad on your skin anyway, so just stick with the recommended dosage, and you’ll save money as well.

The good news for this washer was that we were eventually able to clear all the soap residue and the machine is now washing multiple family loads again, but it is always best to limit the soap powder or detergent whether its a top loader or front loader but more importantly with a front loader.

If you have any issues with your washer you may be able to bring it to our workshop, or we can make a house call. Call us on 36301611 or drop in and see us at 108 Nudgee Rd Hamilton

We have recently had a customer who didn’t want to spend on a service call out, so asked us to order some rail stoppers for a dishwasher…you know, those little end pieces on the ends of the rails stopping the trays from coming out and sailing momentarily in space before crashing their payload of glasses to the floor? It does seem like a job which could be easily done by a competent adult

However the tenants were having problems doing fitting the parts and after phone calls and some emails we finally went out to inspect, to find the rails were too worn to support the tray properly. On enquiry to the manufacturer we found the rails were no longer available, leaving the customer with a set of rail stoppers they didn’t need any longer as the dishwasher had to be scrapped. It would have been cheaper to have us come out in the first place, which would have avoided problems with the tenants.

If you have any doubts, give us a call to discuss. We will give you our honest advice about whether your machine is worth inspecting based on decades of experience.

Lights
Camera
aaaand …..

ACTION!

In July 2018 we were pleased to provide the technical and acting skills of Andy our refrigeration technician for a segment filmed for ‘SCOPE’ entitled ‘Trade Science’ on Channel 11.

SCOPE is a children’s science show, aimed at explaining in straightforward language various extraordinary processes.

In the segment, Andy explains the science behind refrigeration. We understand the segment will be only part of one program, possibly 10-15 minutes, but to do the filming took four hours. Luckily it was July as he was required to wear his antarctic gear.

Check it out, on Sunday 10th February 2019, 10:00am on Eleven. If you can’t catch it Sunday, go to http://tenplay.com.au/channel-eleven/scope