These are some of the things that I have repaired as part of Illumination Repairs since November 2021.

This was the second shredder that I repaired – this one had a bent paper switch – the one that activates the shedder when you put paper in the feed. The first one had a broken switch and I re-wired and replced the switch.

The one of the bi-metallic strips needed replacing – I had a spare lying around from a kettle that could not be repair due to a broken and non-replaceable element. This one went to a charity shop – it was an Asda basic range kettle and wasn’t worth much so we gave it away after extending it’s life.

This toaster – the metal strips that holds the bread has come off it’s rails – it was given a new lease of life via the charity shop – it made nice toast – well, you have to try these things out (you do actually, more about that later) but wasn’t worth much but someone will have the use of it and it’s one less easily mended electrical in landfill.

It wasn’t puncturing the pods. It turned out that it did if you put the pods in at a certain angle. It wasn’t broken as such but perhaps a little worn and worked perfectly if you were careful. It went back to a very grateful client who gave a donation. Nice machine.

This clock wasn’t flipping over the days of the week due to a broken mechansim post and so the gears were not engaging. I replaced the post with a screw and it went back to it’s owner.

After much investigation, it turns out that there is a switch in the charging point socket. When it is charging the circuit goes one way; when it is not charging i.e. when the charging plug is not inserted a switch closes enabling the battery to power the motors, lights, horn, radio and a host of other accessories. The problem was that the switch was stuck – it only needed to free the mechanism of the switch. The parent of the owner was very grateful and I have since heard that her children are getting a lot of use out of it again. We don’t usually repair things this big – it was sat in my sitting room for several weeks. We were sad and also pleased to see it go at the same time!

The steam was working but the iron was not getting hot – I replaced a relay that controlled the current to the iron element once I found the problem – it is always worth investigating – the obvious answer was that the element in the iron was defective but by a series of resistance measurements that was found not to be true and I was able to trace it back to the relay. The owner was very pleased and made a generous donation.

Despite the owners very thorough cleaning regime it turned out that the reason this coffee machine stopped brewing was a blockage in the hot water pipe.

Whenever we complete a repair on anything that uses mains electricity we have to ensure that it is safe and to that end we Portable Appliance Test (PAT) the items and record the results then apply a sticker to show that it has been done and the appliance is safe.

The first part of the test is a visual check of plugs for sound connections, that the cable is secure, that an appropriate value fuse is inserted and that it is in good condition (no tin foil, nails or other bodges), no signs of overheating or cracks and other damage to the plug. The cable is inspected to show that it is in good condition and we check for cracks and other damage on the appliance. We then determine what “Class” of electrical item we are dealing with and set the PAT Tester to check the appliance according to it’s class. Class I tests Earth Conductivity (Bonding) and Insulation resistance. Class II, just Insulation Resistance. We can also do a “cord test” which is generally detachable cables like “kettle leads”. All of the values should be (well) within the values set by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Code of Practice for “In-Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment” 5th Edition.

This is my PAT Tester. The smart ones amongst you might be thinking the top figure – Earth Conductivity – is a little high as we would prefer the figure to be <0.1 Ohms (the guidance is <0.2 Ohms usually and in special circumstances <0.5 Ohms) but it was down to the length and conductor cross surface area of the cable.

The last part of the test is that it functions as it should do which is why I enjoyed the toast with the toaster that I repaired as well as coffee from both coffee machines.

I also replaced the screen on a DAB radio, the aerial on another DAB radio and repaired an assortment of other things that I haven’t got photgraphs for…

I decided to create a Flutter based app on the theme of Illumination Repairs… More about that next time….