From the workshop
What we check first, what the error codes actually mean, and when an appliance has reached the end of its life. Written by the people attending the jobs.
Why Your Fridge Is Freezing Food in the Fridge Section
Lettuce gone to ice and milk with crystals in it mean the fridge section is running too cold. A thermostat setting, blocked airflow or a failed sensor or damper is the usual cause.
Read more: Why Your Fridge Is Freezing Food in the Fridge Section →Fridge Door Won't Stay Shut or Swings Open
A fridge door that drifts open is usually a levelling problem, a worn hinge or a seal that has stopped gripping. Each has a simple check, and a door left ajar costs you cold air and food.
Read more: Fridge Door Won't Stay Shut or Swings Open →Why Your Fridge Is Beeping and What to Do About It
A fridge that beeps is telling you one of three things: a door is open, the inside is too warm, or the power failed. Work out which before you silence it.
Read more: Why Your Fridge Is Beeping and What to Do About It →Fridge and Freezer After a Power Cut: What Is Safe and What to Check
A closed fridge keeps food cold for about four hours and a closed freezer about 24. After that, what matters is the food, and then whether the appliance restarts properly.
Read more: Fridge and Freezer After a Power Cut: What Is Safe and What to Check →Appliance Error Code: What It Means and What to Do
An error code is a message from the control board, and the same code means different things on different brands. Note the code and the model number, then try a power reset and a few basic checks.
Read more: Appliance Error Code: What It Means and What to Do →Dishwasher Not Filling With Water? Causes and What to Check
A dishwasher that starts but takes in little or no water usually has a closed tap, a kinked hose, a blocked inlet screen or a failed inlet valve. The first three cost nothing to check.
Read more: Dishwasher Not Filling With Water? Causes and What to Check →
Why the model number matters more than the fault
Two machines with the same complaint, one ten years old and one two, can be a five-minute job or one we'd talk you out of. The plate on the appliance decides which conversation you're having before anyone leaves the workshop.
Read more: Why the model number matters more than the fault →
Dishwasher won't start? Work through it before you book anyone
No lights, no beep, nothing on the display. Before you assume the control board is dead, there are four places this fault usually lives, and three of them cost nothing to check.
Read more: Dishwasher won't start? Work through it before you book anyone →
What to check before you hand over cash for a second-hand machine
A $200 washer from a driveway in Warilla that cost its new owner $560. The things I would look at before paying, most of which take two minutes and none of which need a technician.
Read more: What to check before you hand over cash for a second-hand machine →
The fridge that died in the move
Laid flat in a trailer on the Saturday, plugged in that night, warm by Sunday lunch. The owner thought the removalists had killed it. Nothing was broken, and standing it up for a day fixed it.
Read more: The fridge that died in the move →
The washing machine that takes ten minutes to fill
A brand new house in Shell Cove, a brand new front loader, and a fill so slow the machine gave up and threw an error. Nothing was broken. The order I check the water side in, and the two bits you can do yourself.
Read more: The washing machine that takes ten minutes to fill →
A top loader that fills up and then just sits there
Full of water, quiet, and going nowhere. In a lean-to laundry in Warilla it was a lid switch. It is usually something small, and there is a fixed order I check things in before anyone mentions the word motor.
Read more: A top loader that fills up and then just sits there →
What wears out first in a dishwasher that runs every night
A house in Albion Park was on its second dishwasher in six years and had decided the brand was rubbish. The brand was fine. They were counting the machine's life in the wrong unit.
Read more: What wears out first in a dishwasher that runs every night →
Choosing a chest freezer, and finding it somewhere to live
A family in Flinders rang about a month after they bought one, convinced it was faulty. It ran non-stop, the lid was warm, and there was nothing wrong with the machine at all.
Read more: Choosing a chest freezer, and finding it somewhere to live →
When the oven takes the power out for the whole house
A woman in Barrack Heights had been resetting her switchboard every Sunday for a month to get a roast on. The oven wasn't being temperamental. It was telling her something.
Read more: When the oven takes the power out for the whole house →
The garage fridge that goes wrong in winter, not summer
A bloke in Blackbutt rang in July because the ice cream in his garage freezer had gone soft. The fridge side was perfect. Nothing on that machine had failed.
Read more: The garage fridge that goes wrong in winter, not summer →
Appliances in a house that sits empty most of the year
Weekenders and holiday lets around Shellharbour break appliances in a completely different way to lived-in houses. Almost none of it is wear. It's the sitting still.
Read more: Appliances in a house that sits empty most of the year →
Integrated appliances in the new estates, and the day one fails
The kitchens going into Flinders, Shell Cove and Calderwood are beautiful and genuinely awkward to work on. Here's what that means for you when something stops.
Read more: Integrated appliances in the new estates, and the day one fails →
Those brown freckles on your stainless steel have a name
A customer in Shell Cove wanted a two-year-old fridge door replaced because it had gone spotty. It wasn't faulty, and it wasn't going to get worse on the inside. Here's the difference.
Read more: Those brown freckles on your stainless steel have a name →
What beach sand actually does to a washing machine
Nobody rings up and says the washing machine is full of sand. They ring about something else entirely, and then I open the pump filter. Around here it's a fault I see far more than I should.
Read more: What beach sand actually does to a washing machine →
The rangehood is the first thing to die near the beach
Grease from inside, salt from outside, and a motor nobody has cleaned in a decade. Rangehoods fail earlier than anything else in a coastal kitchen, and usually for a fixable reason.
Read more: The rangehood is the first thing to die near the beach →
Repair or replace? How we actually make the call
There's no universal rule, but there is a short list of faults where the repair stops making sense. Here's what we tell people, and why we say it before charging them.
Read more: Repair or replace? How we actually make the call →
Why your fridge runs constantly near the water
A fridge that never switches off, and still isn't properly cold, is the classic beachside suburb fault. Nine times out of ten it starts at the condenser coils.
Read more: Why your fridge runs constantly near the water →
Dishwasher not draining? Work through it in this order
Water sitting in the base after a cycle is the most common call we get, and about half of them clear without a technician. Here's the order to check things in.
Read more: Dishwasher not draining? Work through it in this order →