November 10, 2010 | Uncategorized | 1 comment
One of the most common appliances mishaps we hear about is the leaky dishwasher. If you’ve experienced it, you’ll know what a pain a waterlogged kitchen and a big stack of washing up can be. Fear not though, because there is a silver lining – it’s not necessarily a job for the plumber. One of the most common causes of a leaking dishwasher is a damaged lower door seal. Watch Helen show you how easy it is to repair in this video…
October 22, 2010 | Uncategorized | 2 comments
We recently passed a milestone that has left us all here at eSpares Towers pretty pleased with ourselves. The milestone? We surpassed 1,000,000 views of our How To videos across the websites that we share them on.
Allow me to get slightly misty eyed for a moment. We created our YouTube channel back in December 2008 and uploaded a handful of videos that we recorded in eSpares staffers’ houses. Since then, we’ve seen the video operation grow so that we now have a permanent set, seasoned presenters who really know their stuff, a full time, dedicated video production staffer and 160 (and counting) How To videos.
Here’s to many more videos, and I hope that we can continue to help you all fix your appliances yourselves.
October 12, 2010 | Laundry Appliance Repair, Help & Advice | No comments
There are a lot of different laundry detergents out there – but which is the right one for your clothes? You walk down the aisle in the supermarket and you’ve got Ariel here, Persil there, non-biological coming at you, tabs, powder, you name it. While many might use a ‘spray and pray’ technique when choosing detergent, it is possible to make a more informed choice. And that’s where I come in.
Biological detergents, the more ‘heavy duty’ of the two, contain enzymes which break down dirt and stains in a manner similar to the enzymes in our own bodies that digest food. It means clothes will get clean even at low temperatures – which is environmentally friendly. The flipside to this though is that the enzymes take a long time to degrade. Additionally, it’s also possible to suffer allergic reactions to these enzymes.
The gentler option is a non-biological detergent. These don’t use enzymes – they are more akin to soap. As such, they are kinder on the skin, and you are very unlikely to suffer reactions. They’re also kinder to fabrics, as the enzymes in biological detergents can cause damage over a prolonged period of time. The downside is that because the detergent has to work harder to remove stains, you’ll need to use a higher temperature to make sure your clothes are cleaned properly – this has an environmental impact.
All three forms of detergent have their pros and cons. Powder was the only detergent form for many years, and historically has proved itself. There’re bleaching agents in powder which makes it suited to whites, but should be used with more caution with coloured laundry. Another potential pitfall of powder is that over time it can clog the washing machine dispenser drawer and pipes.
Liquid and tabs can be put straight in to the drum, so you’re not running the risk of a clogged dispenser, and it’s an added convenience too. These forms of detergents don’t contain bleaching agents, so are opposite to powder – a lot better suited to coloured laundry, and potentially not strong enough for whites, which may leave stains even after the wash has finished.
As for which brand you use, that’s more a matter of personal preference – which you think has the most pleasant smell, which is suited best to hard or soft water, which is the best value and so on.
Remember, no matter what detergent you use, we’ve got thousands of washing machine spares for over a hundred different brands.
October 6, 2010 | Gardening Tips | 2 comments
When I say to people ‘we sell spare parts for home and garden appliances’, I usually get replies enquiring about fridges, lawn mowers and washing machines. What doesn’t spring to mind immediately is chainsaws. Now I know it’s not like there’s one in every household in the land, but certainly a fair amount of people do own them; particularly people living in rural areas with bigger gardens.
A chainsaw can make light work of heavy duty gardening, but it can also make light work of arms and legs as well. With that being said, here are a few safety tips…
Wear The Proper Gear
It’s essential that you protect your body as best you can whilst operating a chainsaw. This means wearing steel toe-capped boots and thick protective work gloves. It also means goggles or a visor to protect your eyes from stray chippings, and hearing protectors to insulate your ears from the noise of the chainsaw. Protective jackets and trousers should be worn too. If you lack any of these items, check out our range of protective gear.
Look After Your Chainsaw
Having a fully working chainsaw is a must. To ensure a cleaner and smoother action when sawing, sharpen the blades regularly and keep the chain well oiled. You must also make sure the chain stays at the correct slackness. Keep an eye on the bottom of the bar too; it’s susceptible to wear as it is the part where the most pressure is applied. When it starts to wear down, replace it. We sell loads of chainsaw spares, so you can always keep your saw in full working order.
Use The Chainsaw Responsibly
Follow these tips, and you are a safe and responsible chainsaw user. Congratulations!
October 4, 2010 | Laundry Appliance Repair, Help & Advice | 1 comment
As we edge closer to winter, the tumble dryer becomes an invaluable tool. But what happens if, after lying dormant for months, you discover it’s not heating up? The most common cause is a damaged element or thermostat. If you find yourself in this position, you may think it’s going to be a mammoth task to get your dryer drying again.
But guess what… it isn’t. Like many fix-it tasks, replacing an element and/or a thermostat in a tumble dryer is a lot easier than you might think. Check out this video, where I replace both.
If you need to get your dryer ready for winter, fear not; we sell thousands of tumble dryer spares for over a hundred different brands.
September 30, 2010 | Foodie Tips | 3 comments
We recently came across a video which shows what a cup of tea looks like when made from water of varying states of filtration. My personal view is that this may need investigating by an independent source, snopes.com springs to mind.
However it did get me wondering what a cup of tea would look like when brewed with bottled water. I did think of conducting the experiment myself, a pound on a bottle of water is alright, but buying a brand new kettle just to make two cups of tea is a bit excessive, so I shall have to stick to guesswork.
So here is my guess: there would be so little difference you wouldn’t be able to notice.
What I can ascertain for sure though, is that if you want drinking water that is purer than the stuff coming out of your taps, Brita filters are your best bet – at about 20 quid for a jug, and then maybe a fiver every few months or so for a new filter. Compared to even 40p per bottle of water, there’s no argument.
What do you think? Do you think using bottled water will yield a better cup of tea? Have you got a Brita filter, a bottle of water, some tea bags and a couple of spare kettles? If you’ve got answers, get in touch.
Dubious?
September 29, 2010 | DIY & Home Improvement | General Appliance Care & Advice | No comments
The digital switchover is well under way. Have you switched over yet? If you’re not sure, Digital UK have a location checker on their website, which tell you if you’ve switched over, or if you haven’t, the year in which it’s scheduled. The switchover has been rolling out to various parts of the country since 2007; we’re currently about 60% through the process – it finishes in 2012.
This means that by the time the London Olympics roll round, wherever you live in the country, there’ll only be a digital TV signal. Make sure you’re all set for the digital switchover…
We also stock thousands of remote controls for hundreds of brands of TV.
September 14, 2010 | eSpares Updates | No comments
Today I realised that ever since we started the blog, we’ve never formally introduced ourselves. That’s more than six months and almost 80 blog posts, and you could say that’s just bad manners. So let me put things right for you, reader. I know you can see who contributed what with those natty little photos at the bottom of the post, and there’s an About Us page too, but let me do this properly.
Since we started this blog, we’ve had several contributors. Samara used to post, but she has since decided, probably quite sensibly, to live in California. I’ll certainly be quite envious as the days shorten as we get closer to Christmas.
But let me give you a quick rundown on the current contributors. There are six of us – all five members of the Marketing team, and an IT brain as well…
Matt is our Marketing Director, you may remember him from such films as How a tumble dryer works. He’s the boss of the Marketing team, and also stars in loads of How To videos. He tends to blog about technical spare part stuff as well as sharing great money saving tips.
Next there’s our Web Analytics Manager Mike. He’s the guy who goes over our site’s visitor stats with a fine tooth comb – which is why you’ll see him blogging about stuff like eSpares supplying spare parts to 122 different countries.
We’ve got over 140 videos, and Gabe is the guy responsible for shooting and editing them, deciding which videos people want to see and all the logistics that go along with it. He also manages all our video channels – so with Gabe, posts are gonna be pretty video-centric.
Esmé is our Designer – every page on the whole of our website has been designed by her with a whole lot of talent and a good amount of patience too. We constantly try to improve the look and feel of the website, and you’ll see her periodically blog about site updates and improvements. It’s our IT department who make these improvements come to life, with their endless coding, testing and all the technical stuff (a complete mystery to me). David is our IT Director and although he’s not posted yet, we’ll let him off – they’re pretty darned busy in the IT department.
Last of all there’s me, Rory. I’ll be the most regular poster and will post about anything at all, from our new office stereo system to cool videos of mini water cannons.
You’ll be hearing from us soon…
(Left to right) Matt, Esmé, David, Mike and I – the eSpares bloggers. Gabe’s not in it because he’s off today!
September 10, 2010 | General Appliance Care & Advice | 3 comments
User submitted reviews are such a vital part of the online buying process that we no longer simply hope we’ll find them; we expect them to be there. Reviews add objective opinion and harness the most powerful marketing tool in the world: word of mouth. And it’s not just about finding products that only have great reviews.
On that note, we love this new website www.appliance-reviews.co.uk. The site is for reviews of appliances themselves, rather than their spare parts, but there’s tonnes and tonnes of useful content. There are thousands of comprehensive reviews on all manner of kitchen appliances, and you can even see what appliances people who are similar to you are buying and reviewing. There are also video reviews, as well as a price comparison tool for each model. We reckon it’s a great tool, and recommend it when the time comes that one of your appliances is no longer fixable.
August 27, 2010 | eSpares Updates | No comments
Our Call Centre is closing at 6pm today, Friday 27th August, and will remain closed for the duration of the Bank Holiday weekend. It will reopen on Tuesday 31st August at 8am. In the meantime, enjoy your long weekend, and let’s hope the weather holds out.
