Forum Topic

Take Part:  UCL Home Appliance & Electronics  Maintenance & Repair Project

Do please take part in the Big Repair Project!  I know there are lots of people here who have mended or attempted to mend their home appliances and electronics.It would be really good if we moved to towards being able to make more repairs now that we have a Right to Repair.  Throwing away appliances when a small repair could be easily done if we could only find someone capable is such a terrible waste of resources.  More repair shops would also create employment and teach more practical skills.The UCL Plastic Innovation Hub is asking for participants:https://www.bigrepairproject.org.uk/

Philippa Bond ● 1451d45 Comments

http://transitiontowntooting.blogspot.com/2021/02/tooting-share-repair.html

Philippa Bond ● 1445d

Transition Town Tooting are running or hosting this:https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tooting-restart-party-march-2022-tickets-271978955377

Philippa Bond ● 1446d

https://www.swlondoner.co.uk/life/14022022-repair-cafe-opening-in-twickenham/The Restart Project and Repair Cafes pop up all over the place - the problem is just finding and catching them when they are near to you.  They are always looking for volunteers.

Philippa Bond ● 1447d

https://www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk/about-material-focus/apply-for-funding/

Philippa Bond ● 1448d

The British Heart Foundation is well known for taking working electrical goods - big and small - and furniture.They have been very successful because they collect and so can be very choosy.You may be able to persuade your Local Council to have a collection point in the high street.  It would be a great way of filling an empty shop.  Charity shops have to have someone  to PAT test items before they are sold. Lots of shops that sell electrical goods will take back ones you no longer want - especially the smaller ones:https://www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk/electrical-recycling-near-me/ If you buy something big then if you ask the company you're buying from you can often get the old appliance collected at the same time for a small fee.You do have a really good Household Reuse & Recycling Centre at Smugglers Way - something other boroughs should learn from.  Maybe you could share a delivery of items with a friend/s?I particularly like this charity which takes small items of furniture (often BHF turn-downs that need a bit of TLC) in Shepherds Bush and it would be good if there were more like this:https://www.petitmiracles.org.uk/

Philippa Bond ● 1448d

I would like to see somewhere on every high street where you could take unwanted electrical devices because, as I understand it, most or all, charity shops don’t take them.  Very occasionally I want to get rid of an electrical item, I’ve barely used and wish I hadn’t bought. Not everyone gets in their car and goes to recycling.  With so many empty shops, I think there must be room on our high streets for this.  Someone would be maybe employed by the Council to test items are safe and these items could be re-sold at a low cost or given away.

Martine Guy ● 1448d

Well Barbara, that is because MANY appliances and gadgets are not being maintained or repaired or mended or plain and simply FIXED!  They are just being chucked without any attempt to remedy the problems.  It is costing both us and the the planet.I completely agree with you that there are a lot of unnecessary ones BTW.

Philippa Bond ● 1448d

You go from one thing to another, what has this to do with electronics. Start another thread, that was a joke.

Barbara Stevens ● 1449d

I also remember years ago when I first discovered Transition Town Kingston reading how the lady who was running the clothes mending group had started it because she had discovered that parents were unable to sew the buttons back on their children's school shirts.  I myself worked in an office with a chap who would throw away his shirts if he lost a button.  Both my father and father-in-law could do this.  I think they had to  know how to in the army but it is one of many simple sewing mending something that many many people are unable to do nowadays.

Philippa Bond ● 1449d

So now a carer has to feed you, wipe your nose, wipe your bum, and clean out your tumble dryer fluff. Electronics is electronics. Circuit boards, soldering irons, dry joints not connecting properly.

Barbara Stevens ● 1449d

But the word Maintenance is in the heading!  Semantics doesn't change the problem when something doesn't work!  Which? used to send regular emails out on maintenance of appliances.  I've written here before on some of that - people who have and use tumble dryers who don't clean out the fluff and whose carers etc don't either is something that worries me greatly in our fragmented and broken care system.

Philippa Bond ● 1449d

Well said Yvonne. I tried to post something along those lines but couldnt get it quite right, whereas you have.👏👏

Andy Pike ● 1449d

Michael, perhaps it is due to th batteries being a fire hazzard?

Ed Robinson ● 1449d

The UK Right to Repair law does seem to have some unnecessary exclusions. Ok, perhaps microwave ovens and tumble driers because if badly repaired they can be dangerous but I cant see why smartphones and laptops would be?https://www.wired.co.uk/article/right-to-repair-uk

Michael Ixer ● 1449d

Although a lot of things can be repaired in many cases as Alan mentions it is too late.The EU gives consumers rights that guarantees a minimum of 2 years. What is the case now post Brexit??Why can't the government as part of the Brexit dividend increase this or at least increase the sales tax accordingly?Take back control they said - well hey have it but don't know what to do with it as always!"..EU law also stipulates that you must give the consumer a minimum 2-year guarantee (legal guarantee) as a protection against faulty goods, or goods that don't look or work as advertised. In some countries national law may require you to provide longer guarantees."https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/dealing-with-customers/consumer-contracts-guarantees/consumer-guarantees/index_en.htm

Ed Robinson ● 1449d

I agree with you Alan.E-spares are absolutely amazing!What I do not necessarily agree with this thread is the mixing (confusion) of maintenance with repair of appliances.  Electronics are a different thing, at least to me.  I cannot repair a computer but yes I can maintain it (backups, updates, etc).As for smaller appliances, I do not think replacing a plug to be repair (even if the appliance will not work unless you change the plug).  It is normal maintenance (as is the replacing of fuses in a plug).Changing light bulbs is ridiculous to mention as it equates to sewing a button that was fallen off!The Dyson vacuum cleaners are a nightmare but thank goodness for e-spares!Also, the washing machine we have had for the last 6 years does need repairing by specialists as its main "brains" are in sealed components that cannot be repaired but need replacing.We had to have our combination boiler repaired because the problem was with the pressure valve.  By the way, I will never touch our boiler (other than replacing fuses or increasing the pressure if need be).As a very boring comment, my mother had a fantastic vacuum cleaner for over 40 years - it needed repair about three times....  And this was not emptying the bag!

Ivonne Holliday ● 1449d

Interesting how another thread on a sensible topic descends into bickering. I hope the survey and log entries prove useful to UCL's project. Slightly off topic but I was discussing with a friend a few days ago how in the past we used to make our own Hi Fi cables soldering 5 pin DIN plugs and cables, or computer RS232 cables. You wouldn't be able to make your own HDMI, USB and RJ45 or RJ11 cables these days.

Michael Ixer ● 1449d

"But to tell most women to mend something themselves is a bit stupid and dangerous..."Women don't need men to put them down when some of them manage well themselves. For the record my mum could change a fuse, put a plug on, and fix a toaster. There's no reason why ANY woman couldn't or shouldn't do these things.

Mark Phillips ● 1449d

Barbara Stevens ● 1449d

An interesting project by UCL, I like it.I hate waste, and try to use stuff as long as I can before it goes to the tip (recycling or landfill).  There are some really great resources available on the internet that just weren't there 25 years ago.  https://www.espares.co.uk/ is a website that sells parts, but also they have created lots of youtube videos to show you how to fit the parts.  I've replaced a dyson vacuum motor, and washing machine seal, door lock and brushes thanks to their help.  That kept things from landfill.  I've also upgraded a laptop's hard drive to get many more years from it.The biggest problem with a lot of modern stuff (including the machines above) is that it is not designed to be easy to fix.  Plastic one-time use clips which will break as you try to undo them are common, having to prise cases apart and bits that are glued together.  The dyson was a nightmare to get apart without breaking the case due to the way it clipped together.Making it easy to repair, and repair well, is great for the environment.Fairphone is this idea for phones, framework for laptops, and even Dell are getting in on the act with the Luna laptop concept.

Alan Sherman ● 1450d

We have British Standards and there are EU Standards too.  Unfortunately you can buy cheap stuff on the internet which doesn't comply with either of those standards.  Cuts to services like Trading Standards have meant fewer TS officers to chase up illegal and dangerous imports.  Every so often you hear of warnings about items which explode and catch fire but many other items will be of poor quality.  Internet sellers don't necessarily take these dangerous items off sale or change them for other poor standard items. We buy this poor quality stuff that doesn't work well and when it fails in vast amounts expect our Local Councils to deal with increasing amounts of it.  The more waste we make the more it costs to dispose of it safely.  Consequently a greater expense added to Council Tax which residents often cause but don't like paying towards!That's why we are moving towards a Circular Economy where the valuable elements of our waste are stripped out to be used again.  However also slowing down the rate at which we throw stuff away by mending it or finding others to mend it will reduce the amount of waste that is creating more pollution, CO2 and cost at the end of its life.

Philippa Bond ● 1450d

It seems to me that we need improvements to our consumer rights.Appliances should state their expected life expectancy on the package along with the manufacturer's warranty period.Sales tax could then be set accordingly.We are not in the EU anymore we can have more progressive sales taxes.

Ed Robinson ● 1450d

You call people, ignorant sexist bigots. Mr. Spiteful.

Barbara Stevens ● 1450d

Carter, we have to read yours.

Barbara Stevens ● 1450d

What a spiteful,foolish comment! If you don't want to read it, bugger off and do something else. No one wants to read offensive comments like yours, Stevens.

Richard Carter ● 1450d

Shut up Philippa, your really boring. go and preach somewhere else.

Barbara Stevens ● 1450d

Have you never repaired anything yourself Barbara?  Do you always get someone else to do it for you?  Not everything is too dangerous to do yourself.  You make it sound as if you have never changed a light bulb or the batteries in a torch.Do you remember that we used to have to wire plugs before we could plug electrical equipment in?  Why wouldn't anybody learn how to do it rather than wait around for someone else?  My father taught me long before I left home.If it is something that you don't feel confident about then hopefully you can find a repairer.  We need more repairers and we need a lot of equipment to NOT be made deliberately so that the simplest of repairs/fixes can't be made.One of the things I put off for years was the rubber seal around the oven door.  When I eventually got around to it it was actually far easier than many trickier things I do every day.  It was actually harder changing the light bulb in the oven which had failed as the glass cover was baked on. Changing the belts on the Hoover is easy and they were easy to find online. I discovered that my in-laws had bought a bagless vacuum but then couldn't undo the clips.  I think that was because it became harder to find the bags for their Hoover.  Of course those or universal bags are easy to find online only they had no idea what the internet was and never asked for help. There are so many different brands of vacuums now that it has made it harder for supermarkets (there are fewer ironmongers) to stock so many different types.  There never was any reason why other than competition there should be so many different ones. How many people overcharge their laptops or mobile phones and leave them charging especially overnight on flammable surfaces?  If you want to find out more then check out the London Fire Brigade website.BTW Turn off and unplug electrical equipment before you start dismantling anything. 

Philippa Bond ● 1450d

No David you  recycle at apprpriate tips where the appliances are sent off for their electrical parts to be stripped and re used and the metal recycled .simples

Andy Pike ● 1450d

How much does a microwave cost, how much for the part, how much to be repaired. Most items bought years ago lasted a long time, well if they don't last long then your either not using it properly or its not been made properly.

Barbara Stevens ● 1450d

I agree Richard, in-built obsolescence is and always has been disgraceful.  I remember sometime in the '80s we used to "laugh" when an appliance went wrong and we used to say sarcastically "in-built obsolescence"!  In-built obsolescence is a travesty of common sense but glorious for economic reasons.  Just as is changing phones every two or three years today. We must find a way to counteract the throw-away society - the sooner the better!

Ivonne Holliday ● 1450d

"I wouldn't want to use a microwave if an attempted repair had been made."Well those microwave spare parts suppliers must be wasting their time, I guess.https://www.partscentre.co.uk/kitchen-appliances/microwave?product_list_limit=25

David Ainsworth ● 1450d

Well don't buy a new item, leave the broken one in your cellar hoping it will mend itself. There are lots of kitchen gadgets that aren't really needed, but people buy them because somebody else has one. There are too many don't do this don't do that.

Barbara Stevens ● 1451d

"easier to chuck and buy a new item."Easier in the short term maybe.It won't be easy to get a new planet when this one is shot.And even if it is possible, Musk, Bezos and Branson get first dibs.https://tinyurl.com/yc3de26m

David Ainsworth ● 1451d

Also I meant to put this on here the other week. My other half had some batteries in and old flora tub, the other weekend it was late in the evening and we were watching TV, all of a sudden an almighty bang. I looked at our wall lights, straight away thinking a bulk had blown, the other half ran round the room looking at everything. Found out in the end a small 9V square battery exploded, it actually exploded in half, so be careful where you keep your batteries.

Barbara Stevens ● 1451d

"So we all start repairing electrical appliances. Should keep the brigade busy with the resultant electrical fires following amateur repairs."So, instead we dump it all to fester in landfill for centuries. Let's just save our money. Leave the landfill for future generations.

David Ainsworth ● 1451d

Philippa, you have contradicted yourself, you are telling people to do the repairs themselves, then telling them to go to a repair shop. The reason people don't go to a repair shop is, how much it will cost. Any small item had for a few years is easier to chuck and buy a new item. I wouldn't want to use a microwave if an attempted repair had been made.

Barbara Stevens ● 1451d

Jeez, Mr Pike. What do you do when a light bulb blows? Move house?

David Ainsworth ● 1451d

Richard in bowing to your undoubted expertise in absolutely everything, it seems the people on the working party had similar concerns about DIY electrical repairs. Perhaps you should gave been their to demean their valid concerns to.Why on earth didnt the google"Richard knows everything" and invite you along? Scandalous behaviour  or did they but that was the day you were playing foreign secretary?

Andy Pike ● 1451d

"Also to get repaired would cost more to repair than buy a new item."Oh dear, do try to keep up: of course it's more expensive, that's the whole point of planned obsolescence: to encourage you to junk the old item and buy a new one!

Richard Carter ● 1451d

Also to get repaired would cost more to repair than buy a new item.

Barbara Stevens ● 1451d

My son was an Electronics Engineer,  he could mend a hair dryer, he also mended Roberts Radio's, most items. He used to work at R & M Rentals in Isleworth, also TV's. But he was qualified and had been to college. Also they learned circuit boards. Most items these days are not made to last. First thing to check is the plug  that the fuse hasn't gone. But to tell most women to mend something themselves is a bit stupid and dangerous,my other half has cleaned out the back of the washing machine by tipping it up, put new brushes in the motor and cleaned scale. Also put new brushes in to the motor of my Vax Hoover. How can you tell somebody to mend things themselves when tumble dryers go up in smoke even after they have been made with a fault.

Barbara Stevens ● 1451d

You're rather missing the point, Andy: this is about countering the planned obsolescence of appliances, a process that only benefits the producers and results in enormous waste, not about "mending kettles."

Richard Carter ● 1451d

So we all start repairing electrical appliances. Should keep the brigade busy with the resultant electrical fires following amateur repairs.

Andy Pike ● 1451d

I thought the right to repair was housing legislation regarding tenants right to repair.( ie right to get repairs done) Surely we don't need a right, to repair our own kettles etc

Andy Pike ● 1451d

Thank you for posting this, Philippa, it sounds a really good idea.

Richard Carter ● 1451d