Author: Sam

Reasons why a thermostat fails

The rate of flow of air through the tumble dryer can and will affect the operation of the dryer, and may well cause a failure of the thermostat itself.

In a normal drying cycle, the drum will rotate, and may even reverse the rotation.  They cycle will depend on the settings you choose, but a timer will be slowly counting down the drying time, either mechanically or electronically.

Cold air is drawn into the machine, this passes over or through a heater and into the drum.  The clothes will then be ‘tumbled’ through the heated air.  The resulting cooled air will then be either passed out through a ventilation hose, or through a condensing element.

If the air is blocked and not allowed to pass through the appliance, this will have an effect on the operation.  The tumble dryer can overheat and the safety mechanism will be tripped into operation, cutting off the power to the appliance. Read More Here…

Apart from the odd few, most people are not that interested in how refrigeration systems work, other than to try to understand what is causing a specific problem with their own appliance.

In very basic terms, your domestic refrigeration appliance is controlled by a simple heat exchanger along the lines of a heat pump.  However, with modern fridge freezers, technology is now much more advanced and, especially the double door American style fridge freezers, are far more complex.

cing up in fridges and freezers can be caused by many reasons, some of which can raise concerns and will probably need the expert advice of an engineer to resolve.  Others, of course, are more simple and can easily be rectified by yourself.

Before you start to read through this article, the first rule to follow is that if you are able and prepared to carry out any maintenance on your appliance, please remember to disconnect your fridge freezer from the power source.  This is a critical action as it may well save your life!  Sounds dramatic but it is true, trying to repair any electrical appliance without disconnecting from the main supply is stupid in itself, but when you add in the possibility of water that you encounter in your fridge freezer it can become positively dangerous.

The type of hinge used by manufacturers for integrated fridge and freezers generally fall into two types, option 1 that opens the fridge or freezer door when the outer cupboard door is opened, and option 2 that allows the outer cupboard door to slide over the fridge or freezer door when the door is opened.

Obviously the hinge set up is completely different for the stand alone appliances in your kitchen, such as fridges, freezers or dual appliances.

Thermistors are used to control the temperatures in both modern fridges and freezers These have replaced the old analogue thermostats that were previously used to control the temperature, but allow far greater control as they can read a range of temperatures rather than specific preset temperatures found on the old thermostats.On the more technical side, there are two types of thermistors. One that is called a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) and the other is a negative temperature coefficient (NTC). The most commonly used thermistor is the NTC, and is found in many appliances.
Reliability and Testing
Apart from a few exceptions, thermistors are very reliable. However, if you are experiencing problems with either your fridge or freezer, it is fairly simple to check if you are technically minded and familiar with using a multimeter.
If, however, this is not something that interests you, your local engineer can certainly help you to identify what the problem could be.
Either you, or your engineer, will connect the multimeter to show a resistance value. You can then change the temperature of the thermistor by cupping it in your hand, or placing it near a cool or hot source, and watch the multimeter for any change in resistance. Read more here

Cooker/Oven Hood not Extracting

You will not be surprised to learn that it is very common to find that cooker or oven hoods do not extract cooking smells as expected. Unfortunately, if you have a budget model this is really not unexpected, all looks and no substance!  They are not built to be strong enough to actually do what they’re supposed to.

If you have purchased one of these it would be worthwhile to go back to the retailer, as they should have a good explanation of why they even stock these shoddy items.  However, as the product sold is not fit for purpose, you should be entitled to a full refund, or an upgraded product.

Testing your cooker hood

As you can imagine as consumers are asking for more and more from their kitchen appliances, ovens and/or cookers are much more complex now and therefore more problems can arise.  At one time it was very rare for a problem with the older style equipment, let’s face it, there was far less that could go wrong!

Whatever the fault with the oven, it is paramount that before you do anything, make sure the power is turned off from the mains.  Whilst mentioning safety, it is a good time to bear in mind that young children and hot ovens don’t go well together.  You can’t blame anyone else if a child is unfortunately hurt by coming too close to an oven that is in use.  Please be careful.

If your oven or cooker has a problem it is usually either the fan element or the grill element has stopped working. The grill element is generally fairly simple to replace, particularly if you are good with mechanics and confident to do it yourself.  If not, however, you will need the services of a good local engineer.  This will obviously cost you more, but it is better than paying out for a new element and then breaking it because you weren’t sure exactly what you were doing.

If you need to replace a solenoid inlet valve on a washing machine then this guide should help you.  See here for the guide