Repair, reuse, regurgitate

[Drago]

The oven in the Drago household recently packed up. That had Mrs D reaching for the oven catalogue.

A new Miele fitted oven of similar spec was nearly £500. While I'm not a pauper, my savings and gold plated public sector fat cat pension (tm, The Daily Express) is a finite resource and I wasn't going to spend good cycling money on a new oven.

So, in the best tradition of Mr Money Mustache, I decided to be a true mustachian and repair it.

Everything else worked, so I made a guess that the element had failed. A browse of the web showed me how to remove the old one and fit a new one, and a replacement was £12 for a genuine part.

All fixed, and it works! £488 saved, and the warm, smug feeling is priceless.

 

[biggs682]

Well done

 

[ColinJ]

You've inspired me to see if I can find an element for my 3-element halogen heater! It turned itself into a 2-element heater just before Christmas. I only paid £10 for it at Tod market, but it would be worth spending a few quid to fix it if a cheap element is available.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Repairing things gives meaning to life and a feeling that we deserve that beer. Often, deep in the guts of a broken item, you discover some marvelous feat of engineering or experience an aha moment of just forget how crap television entertainment really is.

Besides, you can always put those extra screws left over to good use in other projects.

 

[Tim Hall]

Repairing things gives meaning to life and a feeling that we deserve that beer. Often, deep in the guts of a broken item, you discover some marvelous feat of engineering or experience an aha moment of just forget how crap television entertainment really is.

Besides, you can always put those extra screws left over to good use in other projects.

Or in the case of a Neff fan oven, you discover, after a moderate amount of coarse language, a nut that is left hand threaded where a right hand would have done.

 

[classic33]

You've inspired me to see if I can find an element for my 3-element halogen heater! It turned itself into a 2-element heater just before Christmas. I only paid £10 for it at Tod market, but it would be worth spending a few quid to fix it if a cheap element is available.

Make and model?

 

[ColinJ]

Make and model?

Er, all it says on it is 'SupaWarm'!

It has 3 x 400W elements. 1,200 W was enough to keep me comfortable on the coldest day we had in the winter, whereas 800 W struggled a couple of times.

It isn't worth spending much on, but waste not, want not!

 

[ColinJ]

Blimey - just found 3 for £6.30 HERE on Amazon. That'll do, unless you spot them cheaper elsewhere!

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Or in the case of a Neff fan oven, you discover, after a moderate amount of coarse language, a nut that is left hand threaded where a right hand would have done.

Yeah, but I bet that nut is on the fan that spins clockwise.

Am I wrong. There's usually a very, very good reason why nuts are left hand threaded. Either that or it is a poor engineering as in pedal threads.

 

[Tim Hall]

Yeah, but I bet that nut is on the fan that spins clockwise.

Am I wrong. There's usually a very, very good reason why nuts are left hand threaded. Either that or it is a poor engineering as in pedal threads.

It was indeed on the fan. Why couldn't they make it spin the other way, so the poor unfortunate mug (me) had to resort to coarse language and blood sacrifice before I worked it out? Perhaps UK electricity is dextro-rotatory.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

It was indeed on the fan. Why couldn't they make it spin the other way, so the poor unfortunate mug (me) had to resort to coarse language and blood sacrifice before I worked it out? Perhaps UK electricity is dextro-rotatory.

I don't know and the thought did occur to me, but I'm stumped. But it has taught me to be suspicious of any nut that axially retains a spinning device.

 

[I like Skol]

The oven in the Drago household recently packed up. That had Mrs D reaching for the oven catalogue........ All fixed, and it works! £488 saved, and the warm, smug feeling is priceless.

So much good, repairable stuff gets skipped due to wanton wastefulness and consumerism in this shallow world where the latest shiny object is often seen as an achievement and sign of success. It is nice to beat the system and revel in the warm glow that follows sticking two fingers up to the capitalist corporations and marketeers. Hats of to you Drago

 

[Hill Wimp]

So much good, repairable stuff gets skipped due to wanton wastefulness and consumerism in this shallow world where the latest shiny object is often seen as an achievement and sign of success. It is nice to beat the system and revel in the warm glow that follows sticking two fingers up to the capitalist corporations and marketeers. Hats of to you Drago

Totally agree.

I am currently repairing and upcycling a broken 54yr old. So far its working but if he gives up the ghost again I'm going for young and shiny.

 

[Drago]

Blimey, I didn't realise Hill Wimp was a chick! The very foundations of my World have been rocked!

 

[Hill Wimp]

Blimey, I didn't realise Hill Wimp was a chick! The very foundations of my World have been rocked!

Some of us chicks are quite talented you know.