New Grump of the Day

[Flyfisher]

It's not the float switch mechanism playing up, it really is leaking. I've been keeping it working for a couple of months by mopping out the water in the undertray before each use. There's not a much water, less than half a cupful, but enough to trip the float switch and abort a wash cycle. It seems to be leaking from the seal around the sump at the base of the 'drum'.

I think we had a Zanussi dishwasher at our previous house and had no problems for the 15 years or so before we moved, when it was still going strong. I also wouldn't mind too much if the drum rusted through after 25 years, but our Bosch is only about three years old! :evil:

And breathe.

 

[Zebra]

Hmmm. I wonder how silicone sealant performs against hot water and dishwasher detergent?

 

[Feltwell]

Hmmm. I wonder how silicone sealant performs against hot water and dishwasher detergent?

No idea, but if I tried I'd be tempted to use LSX instead of silicone, designed for plumbing use as it is. Might make no difference, but who knows! It works a treat on other plumbing jobs.

 

[Penners]

the 'drum'

Your dishwasher has a drum? :shock:

Do you tend to find all the dishes smashed to pieces? If so, I think you may have misunderstood the function of that particular appliance.

 

[Flyfisher]

Ahh, that's where I've been going wrong - I thought it was a bit noisy in operation :wink:

I couldn't think of another word for 'drum' when describing the inside of a dishwasher. Container? Box? No doubt Bosch have a special German word for it with about 50 letters :lol:

Anyway, Feltwell has beaten me to it with the LS-X suggestion and I've just been out to buy a tube - mainly because the tube I always keep in my plumbing spares box was solid when I opened it.

Fingers crossed!

 

[Penners]

Container? Box? No doubt Bosch have a special German word for it with about 50 letters

How's about Edelstahlfunktiongehäuse?

 

[Flyfisher]

That's what I said . . . 'drum' . (OK, I skipped the stainless steel bit)

 

[a twig]

I've used various automotive instant gasket products at times when plumbing and repairing appliances - such as this:
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/7042723/

Rated for a wide temperature range due to their application - handy stuff

Other brands are available

 

[Flyfisher]

Ha! I've got some of that stuff that I've used for tractor repairs. It didn't occur to me it might work in this case. Too late now though, I've used LS-X and will let it cure overnight before running another wash cycle. Quite a fiddly job though as I didn't want to completely dismantle the base of the machine so I just loosened the sump assembly enough to squeeze the LS-X into the gap using a no.1 standard finger before re-tightening. Fun and games!

 

[Flyfisher]

Hoorah, the LS-X seems to have done the trick. Two cycles and no trace of a leak so now I just have to reinstall everything and tidy up.

Meanwhile, I jumped into bed last night and it was freezing cold . . . . yes, the electric blanket has died :evil: Fortunately we have a spare but I'm now wondering what the next glitch will be - these things come in threes, right?

 

[a twig]

Hoorah, the LS-X seems to have done the trick. Two cycles and no trace of a leak so now I just have to reinstall everything and tidy up.

Top news - well done chap

 

[88v8]

....the electric blanket .....

Oooh, that's not very 'period'.
We have our flannelette sheets on + blanket & bedspread. We also have an old quilt that I'd like to use, but really it's too warm here under the thatch.

Ivor

 

[Feltwell]

Hoorah, the LS-X seems to have done the trick. Two cycles and no trace of a leak so now I just have to reinstall everything and tidy up.

Well done - always satisfying to fix something, doubly so I find if it's something modern that's not designed to be fixed!

Three's - hmmm, that's tempting fate. I wouldn't dare to predict!

....the electric blanket .....

Oooh, that's not very 'period'.
We have our flannelette sheets on + blanket & bedspread. We also have an old quilt that I'd like to use, but really it's too warm here under the thatch.

Ivor

That's one area where I say "stuff period"! Modern duvet for us, we did have an electric underblanket but it died

 

[Penners]

Merely being 'period' doesn't automatically make something better ( in my opinion)! There's a large catalogue of period things that, had today's replacements been invented back then, would never have seen the light of day.

For example, if pozidrive screws had been around in the past, do you think that slot-head ones would ever have been invented? Hell no - useless bloody things!

 

[Feltwell]

Too right - though I reckon Torx-drive is better still. Pozi is so dominant I doubt it will take over though.

I'd add to the list:-

Most power tools - hand tools still undoubtedly have their place, and I like using them, but on many occasions power tools save so much work
Plastic shims - so much better for packing things out than bits of cardboard or slips of wood
Rawlplugs (and modern fixings in general). For example, masonry bolts to hold cast iron downpipes on to brickwork are so much easier than hammering in bits of wood (that eventually rot) and pipe nails. Come out easily too if (when) you get it wrong! :lol:
Copper plumbing - so much easier than threading iron pipe or using lead. I've yet to be convinced on plastic plumbing though, all those O-rings to perish in years to come. I've used it in my garage for it's frost resistance though, and I have to say it is so simple to use I can see why it has it's fans.

 

[Flyfisher]

Hear hear!

And think about how much original lath and plaster or slate roofs would have been preserved by stainless steel nails had they been available a few centuries ago.

 

[Penners]

I reckon Torx-drive is better still.

Except in one respect, Feltwell. A Torx screw requires the screwdriver to be at right-angles to it in both planes, whereas pozi is a bit more tolerant of being driven in from a bit of an angle (when you find that the poxy screwhead is half covered by the poxy pipe/shelf/rack/whatever that you're fixing :evil.

 

[Flyfisher]

Hoorah, the LS-X seems to have done the trick. Two cycles and no trace of a leak so now I just have to reinstall everything and tidy up.

Well done - always satisfying to fix something, doubly so I find if it's something modern that's not designed to be fixed!

Three's - hmmm, that's tempting fate. I wouldn't dare to predict!

Actually, I've since remembered that we've already had three problems as I'd forgotten about the cooker hood/extractor lights that failed shortly before Christmas. Both lamps 'failed' at the same time so I suspected it wasn't the bulbs, which was quickly verified with a multimeter. So it had to be dismantled to check the 12v transformer (ok) and switch panel, which included the fan and auto-sensor switches as well in a separate unit. I took the switch unit apart and quickly discovered that the light switch had failed (the lights were fine when the switch contacts were shorted together). Checking for spare parts online revealed that only the complete switch housing was available at around £25. Not so bad I suppose, but it irked me that it was only one switch that had failed, a simple push switch (because of course everything has to be controlled by a microprocessor these days - no, really!). So I tracked down a identical replacement switch at Maplin of all places for the princely sum of £1.49. Throwing caution to the wind I bought two of them, unsoldered the faulty switch, soldered in a new one and hey presto everything was as good as new!

A bit of luck finding the exact switch part but, yes, very satisfying indeed to actually fix somethingfor pennies rather than have to replace a whole sub-assembly. Of course, it took most of the afternoon messing about so it would be impossible to actually make a living out of fixing such things at the component level . . . a sign of our disposable times I suppose.

 

[Penners]

Throwing caution to the wind I bought two of them.

A practice that I often follow myself, FF, on the principle that when the item next fails, I shall have a spare to hand.

Except, of course, that I'll have to find it...... .

Coincidentally, our cooker hood lights recently failed, too. I found that one of the two cheap and shoddy plastic lampholders had partially melted. So I took both of them out and replaced them with a single 12-inch fluorescent fitting. The kind of job that gives one a satisfactorily smug feeling of having improved on the original!

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Having to find a tactful way of telling the builder that his tiling above my Aga is a disgrace------------- I am fuming mad with him---- he's naffed off and left the tiles all uneven, simply because he could not be bothered to clean off the grout etc from the old tiles which I had removed.... grrrrr. The other grumble is with the plumber who simply does not seem to be able to make the cisternn handle flush properly in our bath room-- grrrr, OK folks I know that I have been spoilt having had the same Builder work for me on all my houses over 30 odd years---never had to complain, never had to wonder if he knew how to do what I asked of him, always had a workable, affordable solution for everything.