Whitegoods help in here....

[Santaria]

Hey San, come home tonight to find the freezer in our frost free fridge, not so frost free, I'm guessing the defrost element is gone, and possibly the fan as well since I'm yet to hear it fire up either, it's a Westinghouse Freestyle model no. RJ452T-R, possibly around 10 years old, do you reckon it's worth fixing or should we just start looking a for a new one?

Worth fixing. The fan only blows cold air from the freezer to the fridge, doesn't do anything else. The fridge will eventually get hot. It'll either be: a) Defrost element or b) Defrost timer. Replace both, each will only be around $45 plus 1 hour to get a guy to come out. If you do get a guy to come out, leave the fridge plugged in etc. as trying to fault find with a defrosted freezer without pulling it to pieces is a pain. If it's in good condition and it's lasted you 10 years without hassle, then it's worth fixing

Hope that helps mate!

*edit* Actually, just had a though. I'm 99% confident it'll be the defrost element/timer, so probably won't hurt to have it defrosted the day before, if you can. Ring up your repair guy, give him the model, say you need timer/element replaced. It'll be quicker that way.

[Shonky]

Cheers for the info San, currently keeping a close eye on it, I'm starting to wonder if someone left the door ajar for a while, I've put a temp gauge in the freezer and it was about -5 when it went in, and now it's down to -14, the fan is working fine as well so I'll wait and see what happens.

[dvestate]

Just after an opinion of Omega kitchen appliances please

[Santaria]

They're OK. Parts come from overseas and are subject to delays when needed. Personally, I think they're overpriced for their quality, however, most of it looks awesome. That's the trade off I guess :-)

Sent from my HTC HD2 - Hyperdroid.

[dvestate]

Cool, thanks mate. Looking at a few different builders for my new place, one does Westinghouse kitchen gear and the other omega.... just working out if I tell them take their stuff out of the price and get my own

[matticooper]

Hey San,
You may or may not be able to help with this - but here goes.

Daikin 7.1hp did a main board (nearest I can work out - error u4 comes up in the fault finding with the remote). It's creeping up to 10 years old and I'm thinking if it's decent coin to replace the board - what's next?
So, missus jumped on the Internets to see what we can replace it with.

Do we go with Daikin again (seems ok), or missus has found a Kelvinator split system for around $1300 or a Panasonic for about $1700. Another brand was Fujitsu, but from what I can gather they seem to be fairly power hungry (compared to the others anyway).

Are there any others you can suggest???

[Santaria]

Kelvinator/Electrolux are good, Fujitsu are pretty damn good aircons and Daikin are up there with Fujitsu. If the Daikin has served you well, get another! Not sure on the price for the main board for a Daikin, but they can range from $100 to $1000. Get a price first is you don't want to shell out for an aircon, plus install cost.

Sent from my HTC HD2 - Typhoon CM7

[matticooper]

Thanks mate. Much appreciated

[ysu]

Gents, a question RE whirlpool wf665/1 front loader washing machine.
Anyone knows if you can access anything which may have gone behind the drum - with any ease?
We're talking about a baby socks, which my wifey put in "as is" and which have subsequently gone missing during the washing cycle...

[dvestate]

Is there an access panel in the back or the bottom?

On a side note we've had a baby sock turn up in the pocket of my cargo shorts after we thought the machine had eaten it

[Santaria]

Gents, a question RE whirlpool wf665/1 front loader washing machine.
Anyone knows if you can access anything which may have gone behind the drum - with any ease?
We're talking about a baby socks, which my wifey put in "as is" and which have subsequently gone missing during the washing cycle...

No, you can't. It's technically a sealed unit, meaning it has come apart. You can attempt to fish it out with a coat hanger through the drain pump hole, but it's not usually effective and has to come apart anyway. Just leave it there, the sick will destroy itself on the spin cycles more than likely. Either way you won't be covered by any warranties.

The sock will more than likely get stuck in the drain pump which is easy to fix.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

[ysu]

Thanks!
The way in is actually by the sealant around the drum near the door - there's a tiny gap there (Edit: actually, double-checked; there's no gap there by default, but you can make one with a finger - just by pushing the sealant in a bit.), and if something small gets pushed in there by chance, I guess it may go through and circulate around the drum. Getting in there that way to retrieve it though might be extremely hard. It's not a straight opening. And i can't see the sock near the edge, so it can be anywhere - even in the drain pipe or through it for all I know, if there's no filter on it. (while I'd assume there is, there may not be, in fact)

But of course the tiny sock may be in the pocket of another item, sure

[Montey]

Guys, I need input on a faulty gas oven and what might be required to fix it.

Brand: Eurolec
Model: 35624506
Description: 80cm free-standing, upright range.

Fault: The oven will initially ignite and stay lit for a reasonable while, however after a period of time it will go out and will normally not re-ignite until the oven has had a chance to cool down significantly.

I currently believe that this is probably a dead thermocouple, but this is not based on any real knowledge/understanding of such things. Does anyone have any useful insights?

If it is the thermocouple, what am I likely up for to get it repaired?

[Santaria]

Can't help you out with this one Montey. Have very little experience with gas apart from the very few PCB and ignition elements I've replaced. You've contacted Europe regarding a parts/repairer?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

[Montey]

So this thing just attempted to burn my house down.

It's part of the dishwasher installation. Anyone know what it is?

[Santaria]

It's got/had power to it? Looks like a shut off valve or something.

[Montey]

It's got/had power to it? Looks like a shut off valve or something.

Possibly, except the configuration looks a little odd for that, to me.

Going in to the device that's obviously been burning is a small and a much larger pipe/conduit. The smaller pipe/conduit has a diameter of only about 4mm, the larger pip/conduit has a diameter of about 15mm. To me the smaller pipe/conduit looks like the right size for 1 or 2 wires to be inside, but the larger pipe/conduit, that could be for water, doesn't look like it has an in/out.

The thing in that photo is as it has always been, so nothing has been removed from it (other than smoke and flame) prior to this photo.

(Yes, it did actually catch fire and attempt to ignite things around it.)

[dvestate]

Junction Box??

Possibly the fat tube is suppling the power feed from your house and the smaller one back to the dishwasher so it is hard wired into the supply.

Does is smell bad like something crawled in and got fried

[Montey]

There was naked flame in the cupboard for a little while (based on reports from the wife), so it now just smells like burnt plastic/rubber.

The other suggestion I have received is a solenoid valve for regulating the cold water flow. The dishwasher has a standard Australian 3-pin power plug in the wall on a standard cord, so I don't think its part of the actual power supply to the dishwasher.

[Montey]

I thought it'd be worth closing the loop on this.

I have come to the conclusion that it was a solenoid valve for controlling the water supply. The dishwasher had two of these, one for hot water and one for cold water. The one that burned was for the cold water but was not attached to any water supply. My conclusion is that the solenoid jammed in some manner causing it to overheat. With no water supply moving through it there was no way for it to be cooled and hence it started to burn.

The end result is that I have just purchased a new dishwasher, and also a new washing machine and clothes dryer.

The best tip I have garnered from this whole process is actually one Mr Gerry Harvey (of Harvey Norman) should pay attention to. If you want to purchase appliances seriously consider Appliances Online (http://www.appliancesonline.com.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). I found them cheaper than any of the other, traditional, stores; they delivered and installed my purchases within 48 hours of my order (a traditional store can make you wait weeks for delivery); and they took away my old appliances and all packaging just leaving me with new, working whitegoods.

If I ever hear Gerry Harvey whining about why his business is dying, again, I will be seriously tempted to call in, to whatever show he's on, and tell him to go buy a washing machine from Appliances Online and to buy the same appliance from one of his own stores. He will then see for himself how much simpler and cheaper it was to buy from a local competitor than his own antiquated retail model.

[thornz]

Any washing machine help in here?

So wife has been away for a week, and needed to do some washing. Did one load alright. Then I saw that thing on youtube where you can make your Fisher and Paykel washing machine sing the national anthem, so decided to do that, was pretty lame TBH.

Now though the bloody thing wont start.
Can turn it on, select all the options, but when I press start, it just quicly beeps 4 times and does nothing.

Any suggestions?
Or should I empty it out, and then when the wife goes to use it, she will think she broke it

[TIMMY30]

Any washing machine help in here?

So wife has been away for a week, and needed to do some washing. Did one load alright. Then I saw that thing on youtube where you can make your Fisher and Paykel washing machine sing the national anthem, so decided to do that, was pretty lame TBH.

Now though the bloody thing wont start.
Can turn it on, select all the options, but when I press start, it just quicly beeps 4 times and does nothing.

Any suggestions?
Or should I empty it out, and then when the wife goes to use it, she will think she broke it

I can't help you. But

[NeilPearson]

lmao!

[Santaria]

Lol, you dumbarse. Unplug it, try to turn it on to get rid of residual power within the PCB, leave it for a few minutes, plug it in, turn it on. It may reset it, if not you may have blown the PCB if there's no power whatsoever, lol. Good luck!

[wobblysauce]

If that does not work.. does the washing machine still sing the national anthem?