February 18, 2011 | Laundry Appliance Repair, Help & Advice | No comments
Today is a big day. And that’s not just because it’s a Friday. It’s not even just because it’s John Travolta’s birthday. Nope. Today is a big day because it’s the first time that our video team (Gabe and Matt to be precise) are tackling what is probably your most requested How To video.
January 19, 2011 | Laundry Appliance Repair, Help & Advice | No comments
A lot of planning goes in to every How-To video we shoot. A general rule is for every day’s worth of filming we do, a day’s worth of planning goes in to it too. Usually, Gabe, the director/editor/cameraman/Mr. Fix It, heads down to the set a couple of days in advance.
Once a hearty sausage roll from Kucci Cafe just round the corner, he sets about literally deconstructing the whole appliance we’re due to work on down to the sum of its parts.
January 19, 2011 | Laundry Appliance Repair, Help & Advice | No comments
A lot of planning goes into every How-To video we shoot. A general rule is for every day’s worth of filming we do, a day’s worth of planning goes in to it too. Usually, Gabe, the director/editor/cameraman/Mr. Fix It, heads down to the set a couple of days in advance.
Once he’s had a hearty sausage roll from Kucci Cafe just around the corner, he sets about literally deconstructing the whole appliance we’re due to work on down to the sum of its parts.
January 17, 2011 | Laundry Appliance Repair, Help & Advice | 1 comment
You may or may not remember a post I made a few months ago introducing our new video series. ‘How Appliances Work’ I called it. A pretty succinct title if you ask me. In the second in the series, Matt explains how deceptively simple washing machines really are.
November 29, 2010 | Laundry Appliance Repair, Help & Advice | No comments
File this one under ‘sounds way harder than it actually is’. Thought you’d need to get a repair man in to replace the pump in your washing machine? Think again; it’s not actually that difficult – just check out this video:
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 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.
June 11, 2010 | Laundry Appliance Repair, Help & Advice | 4 comments
So, the washing machine finishes its cycle and you’re just waiting for that satisfying ‘click’ which means you can open the door…only the click seems to be taking that bit longer to happen. A while longer and you realise it’s not going to. A few futile tugs on the door handle, then despair. Your lovely clean clothes you’ve been planning to wear at the weekend are stuck inside the washing machine. It’s now a race against time to get them out, somehow, before they start to get smelly.
April 29, 2010 | Laundry Appliance Repair, Help & Advice | No comments
As this was the most requested video topic from our customers, we’re quite pleased to have finished production of our video ‘How To Replace a Washing Machine Door Handle‘. The door handle on a washing machine is susceptible to wear and it’s not uncommon for it to break; particularly if you’ve got a heavy-handed member of your household. The good news is that a washing machine door handle is inexpensive to replace and easy to fit, in this video Mike demonstrates how it’s done.
April 8, 2010 | Laundry Appliance Repair, Help & Advice | No comments
The lifter in your washing machine drum is responsible for agitating your clothes so that the dirt disperses and your laundry becomes clean. If the drum lifter is broken not only will your clothes not get as clean as they should, but you could also risk creating tears in the items that you’re trying to clean. In a similar vein you could lose socks and small articles of clothing through the gap a missing lifter creates.
