Read the reviews. If you cannot get any joy from the brand, contact your retailer. If, for example, you have a 2-year warranty on a product, but cannot find anyone to service the warranty, the onus falls back on the retailer. Those reviews will tell you if the brand looks at warranty requests in an expedited manner, or whether you will wait weeks to have a technician visit.
Category Archives: Tips & Advice
COOKTOP GLASS?
Spilt milk and a cracked glass cooktop are the same
There’s no crying over them, sorry. You just have to replace the glass. And its expensive!!
They are in a stupid place – a kitchen, where people are everyday using pots, pans, ceramic cups, all things that will smash/crack/ break your cooktop glass if they land with force. And you have to use saucepans and frying pans on them (thats the idea of a cooktop). And…and kitchen cupboards have plates and cups and glasses above or near the cooktop in places where they will land on your cooktop glass with force too if you fumble them just slightly. Unbeleivable!
No, you would be much better off keeping your cooktop in a safe place, wrapped up under the bed or something, somewhere safe. Once, cooktops were sensibly made with enamel or stainless surrounds and solid or ring elements. They didn’t look as nice so manufacturers and consumers embraced the new glass ceramic technology. An element beneath the glass heats up and the heat transfers in a fairly even way, onto the cookware. If you have an induction cooktop it transfers immediately, which is fantastic for cooks who appreciate instant on/off heat. Induction cooktop glass also breaks, and it is also expensive.
We get quite a few enquiries about cooktop glass replacement. If you can give us the model details of the cooktop we may be able to assist or point the way forward for you. Sometimes it is not worth doing, and people just replace the cooktop. But if its an induction cooktop, the expense is high to replace and so you just have to wear the cost of glass replacement.
Are you a tenant? You will have to wear this cost. So when you realise you have a high end or marque brand cooktop, treat it with utmost care as there is a good chance it will cost upwards of $500 for a glass top, you don’t want to spend.
How to find out model details
Looking at the cooktop from the front, slide a strong knife under the cooktop glass, and lift about 8 cms. You should see a sticker straight ahead. Get a pic and let it down gently.
Sometimes someone has glued the cooktop to the bench top. I’ve got no help for that one. Don’t silicone cooktops in.
GAS?
Do we repair gas appliances? If you have a combined gas/electric stove, we can help you with the electric oven, but the stove will need to be attached to a flexible gas line, allowing it to be moved away from the wall.
If you have a dedicated gas appliance, such as a gas cooktop, we recommend All Gas Appliance Service on 0412400086.
Your electronic cook top
If you have an induction cook top , and suddenly one day one whole side stops working or the display starts to go haywire or doesn’t work at all, this is often caused by damage to the one or all of the boards.
On an induction cook top, this will often be more expensive to repair than to replace. But we think we may have identified a reason for this happening.
When a saucepan or frying pan is on the cook top it should stay exactly on top of the element. If it needs to be moved off the heat, ONLY move it onto another element spot or off the cook top completely. And don’t take a hot pot out of the oven and place it on the cook top for convenience. You may cook your control boards.
Give us a call on 36301611 if you need help with your coil, solid plate, ceramic or induction cook top.
SPARE PARTS OVER CHRISTMAS
Are you planning some repairs to your washer, oven or dishwasher over Christmas? Be it a belt for a dryer, a motor for your washer or a pump for your dishwasher, if you’ve been waiting for some time to get to the job done yourself, get the part early.
We don’t sell parts, but if you are thinking about doing a job yourself, make sure to plan ahead. Call the service agents for your brand and order now. Particularly if you have Fisher & Paykel or Haier, you won’t be able to pick up the part from an outlet, you must order to obtain the part. And for other brands, the part may have to come from elsewhere in Australia. So get planning now; Christmas slows down everything and you probably won’t find the part between Christmas and New Year.
Remember, if you do not have electrical qualifications you cannot do any electrical work on your appliance and this definitely includes your oven, cook top or stove. You may void your home insurance if you cause a fire , not to mention the danger to yourself and family.
Handy oven and cooktop hints from Chef
For easier cleaning, spill-overs should be removed as quickly as possible – this is especially the case with ceramic cooking surfaces.
Make sure the bottom of saucepans etc. is dry before leaving on ceramic surface.
Try to size-match the diameter of the cooking utensil with the cooking zone.
If you can’t see a bottom element in your oven, you must avoid using any covering on (or cooking on) the oven floor as the liner will be damaged.
When using “Fan Bake” in multifunction cookers, pre-heat the oven to 30°C higher than the recipe calls for, then turn down before loading. Remember, fan baking will cook at 20-30°C lower than conventional cooking temperatures.
Avoid spraying caustic oven cleaners on fan blades, racks and shelves.
If your cooker is fitted with a 24 hour digital clock, add 1200 to any setting after midday i.e. 3pm becomes 1500 hours.
what lies below in your dishwasher?
Hopefully not a rat nest. Here is a picture of a little family of babies who unfortunately became separated from Mama Rat when the owners brought their dishwasher down to investigate a leak. Rats had chewed through the inlet and outlet hoses. It was time to say good bye to the dishwasher.
its time to remember the hardest working member of our household. our fridge
Try to limit the number of times and the actual amount of time the fridge is open. Although fridges have advanced in some ways, when you open the fridge or freezer door, it feels …lovely and cool. So all that nice food cooling air inside is now in the kitchen, and a whole lot of warm air just filled up the fridge. That’s no good for the food inside which is supposed to be cold. And its no good for the fan which is conducting the cold air from the freezer, and its no good for the compressor which is the heart and soul of your fridge; it has to keep powering up and starting again. If these components have to keep powering up over and over, it shortens their lives. You’ll need a new fan if the fan goes… but you’ll need a new fridge if the compressor fails.
And by the way, if a fly flies OUT of your fridge .. its too warm in there
Could not find a banana for size comparison so here is a fly.
How much capacity do I need?
Have we told you your washing machine needs replacing? Yes, we are sad too; we like repairing but sometimes your loved machine has given its all and now its time to say goodbye. So which machine to choose?
An 14kg front load washer? A 5.5 kg top load washer? The weight the washer can handle is measured as the dry weight of the clothes. That’s according to the manufacturer, but do they care if your bearings fail a couple of years after warranty expires? Bear in mind that a dry towel is MUCH lighter than a soaking wet one, and the weight you exert on the bearings during spin will affect their longevity, so maybe go underweight a bit with the towels, blankets and doonas.
The 5.5kg top load washer will use more water (approx 68Litres) than the 5.5kg front load equivalent (approx 50Litres) , but this may only be a big factor if you are using it often. If you only use it once a week, that’s not going to be a massive concern.
Capacity means more than just the weight of laundry, it also refers to the volume of each washer’s drum. Smaller machines may struggle to fit larger items such as doonas and blankets, even if they are under the weight limit.
Your required capacity is also influenced by other factors, such as how many hours a day they can run, the required quality of cleanliness, and if they are personal garments or not. Our technicians recommend you don’t do all your washes in one go; give the bearings a chance to cool down between finishing one wash and starting another, to give those aforesaid bearings a chance to recover.
Bear in mind if you have too large a washer, for one or two people, you are wasting water and soap each time you don’t fill it up with washing, so that is a consideration as well.
We won’t recommend a particular washer on here. And for various reasons, mostly to do with not wanting to be taken to court, we won’t tell you which ones we definitely don’t recommend. But stay clear of very cheap and unheard of brands, they tend to have soft little tubing inside, and poor connections.
HOW DID THAT EVEN GET THERE?
A recent visitor to our workshop, this dryer was making a rattly sound. It turned out the peg had travelled all the way through the workings of the dryer ending up jammed up against the vent and making that fun chicka chicka sound you get when something is caught against a fan. Fortunately the technician was able to remove it with no harm done but that was luck; it may have caught in places where it might have caused a fire. So its worth checking to make sure only clothes are going for the merry-go-round in your dryer. This customer was also lucky, as there was a bamboo skewer caught in the filter as well
