This is a great subject line that’s always up for debate. Hints and Tips.
Every now and then someone comes up with a real gem of tip but what happens, you go and try impress your mates down the pub with your little bit of trivia.
Well, guess what, you don’t have to look very hard for your favorite tip as they have been compiled into one easy to search directory of Hints and Tips. There is even one category on appliance repair. So now you have to resources add to your arsenal.
Assuming of course you have already bookmarked your favourite appliance repair blog, I suggest you add the Hints and Tips directory to your favourites as well and who knows, if you already own your own web site with useful information then you might appear in the Hints and Tips own articles - Hint Hint.
Lets take a look at the front page of the Appliance repair section of the site. There is a little tip on making a test rig for testing fuses and switches and the like. Its called Make Yourself a Neat Continuity Tester. Great idea and simple to make if only from a fun point of view.
And while we are on the subject of fun, check out the jokes section. and I quote
” Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar.
One says, “I think I’ve lost an electron.”
The other says, “Are you sure?”
The first replies, “Yes, I’m positive…”
Loads more where they came from. Thanks as always for listening.
From time to time I like to give help and tips on the repair of domestic appliances and when time permits I’ll submit a post here when I have something I think will really benefit the community.
This time it is not a repair or servicing tip but just to let all my readers know we have extended our spare parts listing to include a new category for Stoves. As you well know the brand name Stoves is part of the Glen Dimplex group who also look after Belling. We have been supplying spare parts for Belling since time began but thought it was now time to dedicate some internet real estate to Stove Spares and Stove Parts.
As you can appreciate, the parts that are used on Belling Cookers may well be found on the Stoves Cookers and vice versa. So some of the parts we have may well be duplicated throughout the site and will appear under both the Belling sections and the Stoves sections. This is particularly true to cooker elements like fan circular elements.
On the Glen Dimplex web site they say “Glen Dimplex Home Appliances are now the largest manufacturer of cooking products in the UK.” Now if that is the case then it would make sense to use the same parts throughout all of their brand. So don’t be to surprised if you are to order a Stoves spare part it may come labeled as a Belling spare part.
If you care to look at our Stoves Spares section and don’t see what your looking for then do please drop me a line, I will answer most inquiries the same day.
As you well know, identifying Zanussi Washing Machine Motor Brushes is quite difficult because the manufacturer took it upon themselves to design a washing machine that was produced with different types of motor.
Electrolux, who are the people who own the brand for Zanussi amongst others used three different types of motor. These are SOLE, FHP and CESET for washing machines and washer dryers with spin speeds between 650 rpm and 1600 rpm.
Each type of motor may have been alternatively fitted to the same machines during production but are perfectly interchangeable with each other. The only thing we need to know is, we fit the correct carbon brush set to the appropriate motor. Hopefully the table below will help in identifying your correct brush set.
We have spoken before about dishwasher fault codes but I thought it best we explain in detail what the meanings are for with each error code.
In a previous article we used Hotpoint as an example but this could refer to most modern day dishwashers but her we only intend to refer to DWF50 FDW60 series dishwashers.
The combination of LED lights to be found on this example can be found here.
Led 1 Intensive, Led 2 Normal, Led 3 Eco, Led 4 Fast, Led 4 Prewash, Led 6 Delicate
Led lights 3 - Eco
Overflow or overfilling
Led lights 4 - Solenoid Valve.
This is the valve at the rear of the appliance that allows water into the dishwasher. Inline filter blocked or solenoid sticking.
Led lights 5 - Thermistor.
Heat protection circuit for upper and lower heat settings.
Led lights 6 - Heating timeout.
Element not heating or not getting to temperature.
Led lights 3 + 4 - Draining Timeout.
Drain pump taking to long to drain down.
Led lights 4 + 5 - Filling Timeout.
No water. Have you isolated the water or maybe the inline water filter is blocked. Take the hose connection off from the dishwasher end and look in the inlet to the solenoid valve.
Led lights 3 + 5 Recirculating pump not working.
Check the filters.
Led lights 4 + 6 Heating Circuit.
Program stops mid cycle and waits for the element to heat up
We await other code errors from readers.
If you have errors not reported here then add them to the comment section below. I will update as when.
A lot of unnecessary oven repairs can be avoided if you take care and condition of your appliance. Cleaning is a must with an oven as the build up of burnt on grease and fat can cause untold damage to part of the oven especially the air circulation.
From time to time you may find you need to clean the inside of the oven glass.
To do this you may need to remove the outer glass.
On Hotpoint and or Creda type built in Ovens it may only be necessary to remove the outer glass without having to remove the whole of the oven door.
After you have isolated the appliance from the electrical supply, open the oven door to about 45 deg and grip both the inner door panel and outer door glass with handle.
Remove the two screws and fibre washers at each end of the oven door.
Pull the outer door glass and handle assembly at the top outwards while still holding the inner door panel.
You may need to ask someone to give you a helping hand at this stage.
Now unhook the outer glass and handle assembly at the bottom by lifting the glass door upwards.
Do not let go of the inner door panel once the outer glass assembly has been removed.
The tension in the door hinge springs are such that allow for the weight of the outer door glass assembly. If you let go now it will spring shut at such a force it may shatter the inner door glass panel. The result being you have now lost all your browny points.
Just return the inner door panel to the closed position.
The inner and outer door glass can now be cleaned using only warm soapy water and cloth taking care not to damage the glass.
Refitting the outer glass assembly is the reversal of removing the glass ensuring the bottom of the outer door glass fits correctly into the bottom of the inner door assembly.
There are a wide range of manufacturers available today that can provide you with that ideal cooker hood. Things to consider when choosing a Cooker Hood are design and installation. These are paramount in choosing the correct operation of your kitchen appliance.
One company worthy of a mention are D R Cooker Hoods. On their website they are quoted to say ‘ Elica are the world’s No 1. They are the company that manufactures for most of the recognised brand names. Elica, the brand exclusive to D R Cooker Hoods, the Company that have pioneered the product for over 25 years.’
Pretty bold statement that but go check them out for yourself. Loads of information there and stuff you never really thought you needed to know.
The one thing to remember with a cooker hood is, you need maintain the efficiency of the hood so it can give you years of uninterrupted service. To do this you need to check the filters are free and clean of grease and debris.
Grease Filter
Your hood may be of the recirculating type or evacuation type so will be fitted with different types of grease filters but mainly they will absorb grease and dust particles and the most commonly used grease filters are those made from metal, disposable paper or active carbon.
Metal grease filters are typically long-life filters and consist of layers or lattice like. The deeper the layers can have an effect on the extraction process and so lessen the efficiency of the cooker hood. For this reason it is important that the correct type of grease filter be fitted.
Portable Appliance Testing ‘PAT’
Normally a feat left for the test engineer.
Robust, portable Appliance Tester for electrical safety tests. Use for domestic, commercial and industrial facilities and for power tools. Supplied with certificate of test. Designed, built and serviced in the UK.
* Easy-to-Use
* Lightweight
* Large LCD Display
* 3 Year Manufacturer’s Warranty
Full set of test leads, accessory pouch, calibration certificates, hard carry case and owners CD.
Portable Appliance Testing ‘PAT’
Normally a feat left for the test engineer.
Robust, portable Appliance Tester for electrical safety tests. Use for domestic, commercial and industrial facilities and for power tools. Supplied with certificate of test. Designed, built and serviced in the UK.
* Easy-to-Use
* Lightweight
* Large LCD Display
* 3 Year Manufacturer’s Warranty
Full set of test leads, accessory pouch, calibration certificates, hard carry case and owners CD.
Your dishwasher, when correctly installed, can give you years of uninterrupted hassle free washing and cleaning. Then one day you go to switch on your trusty dishwasher and nothing happens.
What’s the first thing you going to do to fix this annoyance. Well I guess you might find the answer right here on the appliance repair help site but don’t reach for the phone book just yet because this might be something you can fix your self.
I’ll explain. Modern day dishwashers like those manufactured by Bosch and you can include Siemens and Neff in that have a built in safety feature protecting the dishwasher against flooding. The technical term is ‘Anti Flood Device’. There are other manufacturers who provide the same features but for now I’m only going to talk about the Bosch type machines.
In the base of the dishwasher in the plinth there is a float switch. This is your ‘Anti Flood Device’. In the event of your dishwasher over filling, the plinth fills with water, the float rises and actuates the switch. On a Bosch dishwasher this switch will do two things.
Firstly, it will send a signal to the programmer device to notify there is a fault and output a message in the form of a code to some sort of display.
Secondly, the pressure switch acts as the water level indicator for the sump of the dishwasher so when the water level rises the pressure switch will activate the drain pump.
So before you consider throwing good money at new dishwasher, try doing a bit of fault finding your self and you might save yourself a ton of money.
Just a quick update to this ‘Dishwasher will not continue the cycle’ article. There appears to be a common thread in the comments below. Most faults can be referred to the fact that the Anti Flood Overflow device has activated. I have included an image here to show what the anti flood may look like in a Hotpoint DWF40.
You can see it here as items 17 18 and 19 collectively.
Let’s assume your dishwasher has over filled at some stage and with time the water in the drip tray has now evaporated, the float item 19 can have a tendency to stick and make the switch item 18 stay in an actuated state. This can give a false positive. Try to reset the float switch or check even that there is no water in this drip tray. When the float is activated it can cause the drain pump to be permanantly in a drain mode
OK We all have a washing machine in our homes. Well nearly all of us, but at some point in our lives and not the washing machines, we may have to attempt to replace the bearings in our washing machine.
As an engineer I often get asked ‘How do I fit a Bearing in a Washing Machine?‘ by friends and family. So I figured and should show all you guys how I do it by writing this small article right here.
First things first. You have got to pick a good day on which you are going to attempt this. If you are new to this, you will have to give your self approximately 8 hours. In real time this is 2 days of anyones time. Hotpoint engineers can do this job in about 2 hours or so but this is not a race as we only want to do this the once.
I’m assuming you already have a decent tool kit otherwise you wouldn’t be attempting this washing machine bearing change. A decent screwdriver set, a few open ended spanners - 10mm, 13mm, 17mm, 19mm - and a decent hammer, a big one, no lets make that a really big one. As an apprentice engineer, brute force and ignorance was my biggest asset and it still carries to this day so don’t be afraid to use a big hammer.
We mentioned time didn’t we. We need to pick a day of the week and since most peoples free time is a weekend, lets pick a Saturday. That’s best because I work a Saturday and if you get stuck you can always give me a ring. The next thing to do is research the type of bearings you will need, so establish what the model number of your washing machine is by identifying the rating plate. Its on the inside of the door.
Once we know this either send me an email and I will identify the bearings for you or look them up in our spare parts catalog. Either way we need to know we can get the bearings and the drum seal before we attempt the repair.
Below I have included a drawing of a typical washing machine drum. This will help you identify the parts and aid your attempt and dismantling the washing machine.
