108 Nudgee Rd
Hamilton
Brisbane 4007

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Albion Appliance Service
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Category Archives: Tips & Advice

GAS?

Do we repair gas appliances? If you have a combined gas/electric stove, we can help you with the electric oven, but the stove will need to be attached to a flexible gas line, allowing it to be moved away from the wall.

If you have a dedicated gas appliance, such as a gas cooktop, we recommend All Gas Appliance Service on 0412400086.

Shown here, Westinghouse 900mm gas/electric stove

Your electronic cook top

If you have an induction cook top , and suddenly one day one whole side stops working or the display starts to go haywire or doesn’t work at all, this is often caused by damage to the one or all of the boards.

On an induction cook top, this will often be more expensive to repair than to replace. But we think we may have identified a reason for this happening.

When a saucepan or frying pan is on the cook top it should stay exactly on top of the element. If it needs to be moved off the heat, ONLY move it onto another element spot or off the cook top completely. And don’t take a hot pot out of the oven and place it on the cook top for convenience. You may cook your control boards.

Give us a call on 36301611 if you need help with your coil, solid plate, ceramic or induction cook top.

SPARE PARTS OVER CHRISTMAS

Are you planning some repairs to your washer, oven or dishwasher over Christmas? Be it a belt for a dryer, a motor for your washer or a pump for your dishwasher, if you’ve been waiting for some time to get to the job done yourself, get the part early.

We don’t sell parts, but if you are thinking about doing a job yourself, make sure to plan ahead. Call the service agents for your brand and order now. Particularly if you have Fisher & Paykel or Haier, you won’t be able to pick up the part from an outlet, you must order to obtain the part. And for other brands, the part may have to come from elsewhere in Australia. So get planning now; Christmas slows down everything and you probably won’t find the part between Christmas and New Year.

Remember, if you do not have electrical qualifications you cannot do any electrical work on your appliance and this definitely includes your oven, cook top or stove. You may void your home insurance if you cause a fire , not to mention the danger to yourself and family.

Handy oven and cooktop hints from Chef

For easier cleaning, spill-overs should be removed as quickly as possible – this is especially the case with ceramic cooking surfaces.

Make sure the bottom of saucepans etc. is dry before leaving on ceramic surface.

Try to size-match the diameter of the cooking utensil with the cooking zone.

If you can’t see a bottom element in your oven, you must avoid using any covering on (or cooking on) the oven floor as the liner will be damaged.

When using “Fan Bake” in multifunction cookers, pre-heat the oven to 30°C higher than the recipe calls for, then turn down before loading. Remember, fan baking will cook at 20-30°C lower than conventional cooking temperatures.

Avoid spraying caustic oven cleaners on fan blades, racks and shelves.

If your cooker is fitted with a 24 hour digital clock, add 1200 to any setting after midday i.e. 3pm becomes 1500 hours.

its time to remember the hardest working member of our household. our fridge

Try to limit the number of times and the actual amount of time the fridge is open. Although fridges have advanced in some ways, when you open the fridge or freezer door, it feels …lovely and cool. So all that nice food cooling air inside is now in the kitchen, and a whole lot of warm air just filled up the fridge. That’s no good for the food inside which is supposed to be cold. And its no good for the fan which is conducting the cold air from the freezer, and its no good for the compressor which is the heart and soul of your fridge; it has to keep powering up and starting again. If these components have to keep powering up over and over, it shortens their lives. You’ll need a new fan if the fan goes… but you’ll need a new fridge if the compressor fails.

And by the way, if a fly flies OUT of your fridge .. its too warm in there

Could not find a banana for size comparison so here is a fly.

How much capacity do I need?

Have we told you your washing machine needs replacing? Yes, we are sad too; we like repairing but sometimes your loved machine has given its all and now its time to say goodbye. So which machine to choose?

An 14kg front load washer? A 5.5 kg top load washer? The weight the washer can handle is measured as the dry weight of the clothes. That’s according to the manufacturer, but do they care if your bearings fail a couple of years after warranty expires? Bear in mind that a dry towel is MUCH lighter than a soaking wet one, and the weight you exert on the bearings during spin will affect their longevity, so maybe go underweight a bit with the towels, blankets and doonas.

The 5.5kg top load washer will use more water (approx 68Litres) than the 5.5kg front load equivalent (approx 50Litres) , but this may only be a big factor if you are using it often. If you only use it once a week, that’s not going to be a massive concern.

LG 14kg front loader

Capacity means more than just the weight of laundry, it also refers to the volume of each washer’s drum. Smaller machines may struggle to fit larger items such as doonas and blankets, even if they are under the weight limit. 

Your required capacity is also influenced by other factors, such as how many hours a day they can run, the required quality of cleanliness, and if they are personal garments or not.  Our technicians recommend you don’t do all your washes in one go; give the bearings a chance to cool down between finishing one wash and starting another, to give those aforesaid bearings a chance to recover.

Bear in mind if you have too large a washer, for one or two people, you are wasting water and soap each time you don’t fill it up with washing, so that is a consideration as well.

We won’t recommend a particular washer on here. And for various reasons, mostly to do with not wanting to be taken to court, we won’t tell you which ones we definitely don’t recommend. But stay clear of very cheap and unheard of brands, they tend to have soft little tubing inside, and poor connections.

Fisher & Paykel 10kg top loader

HOW DID THAT EVEN GET THERE?

A recent visitor to our workshop, this dryer was making a rattly sound. It turned out the peg had travelled all the way through the workings of the dryer ending up jammed up against the vent and making that fun chicka chicka sound you get when something is caught against a fan. Fortunately the technician was able to remove it with no harm done but that was luck; it may have caught in places where it might have caused a fire. So its worth checking to make sure only clothes are going for the merry-go-round in your dryer. This customer was also lucky, as there was a bamboo skewer caught in the filter as well

Look at reviews for info about warranty claims and service availability

We get a lot of calls from customers who have certain white goods which they want repaired. They have already tried the brand’s customer support area and found there is a wait of at least two weeks before someone can inspect the dishwasher/washer/oven etc, so then they start calling around to service companies like ours. While there are some of these brands we look at, those companies sometimes are the best people to look at their own machines; but who wants to wait two or three weeks before they will come out to your machine? Have a look at their website.. don”t look at the bouquets (friends can always write those), but rather, look at the brickbats. If there are lots of people complaining about how long it takes to get a service person out, or if there are big numbers of complaints about warranty, move onto another brand.

108 Nudgee Rd
Hamilton
Brisbane 4007

Need urgent help?
Call us right now...
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