Stuff you have fixed today

[Wedg1e]

Idiot boy I am, haven't tried citric acid and I've about 30kg here!

I didn't see caustic soda on your list.
Just don't mix it with aluminium...

 

[Red'n'Black]

Well citric acid didn't work either


Not sure of the best concentration. Caravan pipe degreaser coming tomorrow.

If it's fatty greasy stuff I would have thought caustic soda? Shouldn't do it any harm if it's all plastic.

 

[bricol]

That tale of the machine failing to work, people can't work it out, the retired guy is persuaded in, he looks at, puts a cross on it, say hit here, charges a millon and one quid . . . a quid to put the cross, a million to know where to put the cross?

I felt a little like that this week - dragged on-site to a machine that's not working. Watch it working, spot an issue - suggest a quick bodge to allow testing to continue . . . spot the next issue, persuade things to be changed a little bit.

And it works - quarter million quid machine now works as it should . . . and the orders for another several millions quids worth now seem achievable.

I'm certainly not any better than the very intelligent guys working on it, but they got fixated on one or two things, and weren't seeing what was right in front of them. Or maybe they had, but were fixated on "proper" new parts needing designing and making, rather than make do and mend to get things working enough to fix the real issues.

I still only get the same quid I would have got even it I hadn't done it though

 

[Dcal]

Today I fixed my compressor, again.
3 hp motor, not starting and tripping the overload on the motor. (fortunately)
It did it before, so I was pretty sure it was the centrifugal switch.
Checked it out and found a high resistance across the switch.
Capacitor measured fine.
I cleaned the points and all works as it should .

Anybody know why the switch is burning out?
Was thinking of putting a relay across it.
Motor isn't even working that hard measures 10A with a clamp meter when running and 40 when starting.
I'll try and get a switch in stock for the next time anyway.

 

[Onoff]

Got home after a 14 hour day Sunday to find Amazon had delivered the cleaner. Sat unopened, (the cleaner, not her), SWMBO had found some Mrs Mop on the net advocating using.....a dishwasher tablet! One tablet in a small amount of boiling water. It's certainly shifted a bit more.

Incidentally a dishwasher tablet held between the fingers makes a brilliant, gentle scrubbing block for grease on hobs or glass oven doors.

I've tipped her stuff out and trying to get the last few bits out with this.

Contains citric acid:

Some muck round the red valve still and where the internal matrix goes to a sharp point on the right. Can't help think that's a deliberate detail to make it clog.

The number of dishwashers scrapped because of this sort of clogging I imagine is huge.

 

[Onoff]

Dishwasher back together. Bubble matrix as good as it's going to get.

Took this lot apart too and cleaned, limescale, very hard water here:

Now back together I've a slight weep around an outwardly perfect O ring where I'm pointing.

Guessing it's been like this for a while as there's a few stains inside the case. Tried a smear of silicone grease, better but not fixed. Might try some Jet Blue Plus. O ring is a proper chunky beast.

Currently running through on INTENSIVE with a dishwasher tab and a soup bowl full of citric acid in the bottom.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Currently running through on INTENSIVE with a dishwasher tab and a soup bowl full of citric acid in the bottom.

Well done...half the problem is these appliances work day in day out and the only time we give them any attention is when they break I think.

 

[Onoff]

Well done...half the problem is these appliances work day in day out and the only time we give them any attention is when they break I think.

It's the waste mountain gets me. Often cheaper to bin than fix in terms of labour to strip etc. Very sad.

This has had two elements, one mains input "block" and the on off switch is held together with cable ties. Only where the front panel plastic clips are broken.

The element is a pig to change. Fits into the instantaneous water heater with 4 clips and you need 4 hands to remove.

The tablet draw is like Arkwright's till and if you don't get it right pings out the tablet prematurely.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

It's the waste mountain gets me. Often cheaper to bin than fix in terms of labour to strip etc. Very sad.

Couldn't agree more...we need to move to 10year warranty and guaranteed parts supplies for domestic appliances to stop the waste that we currently see.

10 year warranty would force manufacturers to build things that are easier to repair!

 

[Lewis_RX8]

Couldn't agree more...we need to move to 10year warranty and guaranteed parts supplies for domestic appliances to stop the waste that we currently see.

10 year warranty would force manufacturers to build things that are easier to repair!

Also interesting to see right-to-repair movements, standard chargers for phones, etc stop all this duplicate crap that sits around doing no one any good.

 

[julianthegypsy]

Also interesting to see right-to-repair movements, standard chargers for phones, etc stop all this duplicate crap that sits around doing no one any good.

Unfortunately our new business minister, formerly the minister for the 18th century, thinks that having twenty different chargers is our right now we've left the EU, even if it's the stupidest idea since viking battle helmets with the horns on the inside.
They'll probably be sold by the ounce, at three groats apiece.

 

[Onoff]

On the back of the dishwasher fix I could do with at least one new O ring. Nominally 20mm ID, 11mm ID, 5.5mm thick.

Struggling to find. Any ideas?

 

[bricol]

On the back of the dishwasher fix I could do with at least one new O ring. Nominally 20mm ID, 11mm ID, 5.5mm thick.

Struggling to find. Any ideas?

Very close to a BS1806-309. Where you get just one from though . . .

 

[m_c]

On the back of the dishwasher fix I could do with at least one new O ring. Nominally 20mm ID, 11mm ID, 5.5mm thick.

Struggling to find. Any ideas?

Simply Bearings do O-rings in twos.
A quick search would suggest 20x10x5 is pretty near, allowing for the original O-ring deforming.

 

[Onoff]

Very close to a BS1806-309. Where you get just one from though . . .

Simply Bearings do O-rings in twos.
A quick search would suggest 20x10x5 is pretty near, allowing for the original O-ring deforming.

Thanks both. I'll try Simply Bearings. More likely to be a DIN size perhaps than BS, this being a "proper" made in Germany Bosch.

Edit: Order 2 packs of 2. One Shore 70 and the other Shore 90. Cheers.

 

[bricol]

Couldn't agree more...we need to move to 10year warranty and guaranteed parts supplies for domestic appliances to stop the waste that we currently see.

10 year warranty would force manufacturers to build things that are easier to repair!

Hotpoint (Whirlpool) freezer delivered 7am this morning appears to have a sticker on the front declaring exactly that - a 10 yr parts supply

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Wow they were quick....I only suggested it yesterday .

Joking aside it's where the world needs to go....I can't believe some car manufacturers get away with 3 year warranties!

 

[julianthegypsy]

Wow they were quick....I only suggested it yesterday .

Joking aside it's where the world needs to go....I can't believe some car manufacturers get away with 3 year warranties!

Those aren't for your benefit, they're to keep you coming back and paying large amounts of money for a service at top dollar.

 

[Onoff]

Hotpoint (Whirlpool) freezer delivered 7am this morning appears to have a sticker on the front declaring exactly that - a 10 yr parts supply

I bet Hotpoint still have pcbs that only their engineers have the kit to program plus sealed in bearings meaning the whole drum needs replacing when the bearings die.

 

[arther dailey]

Today I fixed my compressor, again.
3 hp motor, not starting and tripping the overload on the motor. (fortunately)
It did it before, so I was pretty sure it was the centrifugal switch.
Checked it out and found a high resistance across the switch.
Capacitor measured fine.
I cleaned the points and all works as it should .

Anybody know why the switch is burning out?
Was thinking of putting a relay across it.
Motor isn't even working that hard measures 10A with a clamp meter when running and 40 when starting.
I'll try and get a switch in stock for the next time anyway.

used to be an armature winder ...I would put new capacitor on , normally the cause of excessive burn on o/c contacts .