Death of an old friend

[chataigner]

Today I decided that resuscitation was no longer appropriate and said goodbye to my 25yrs + Hotpoint dishwasher. It has had more lives than the proverbial cat.

In '99 it stopped filling which I traced to a faulty micro-switch linked to a level float, could not find a spare here in France, so "adapted" it to fit a micro-switch I happened to have by drilling some new fixing holes.

In 2003 the upper rotor stopped turning, made it a new ultra-low friction bearing from some PTFE I had laying around.

In 2006 the wheels on the baskets started to let go every now and again - replacements found on ebay and fitted.

In 2013 the door started leaking, worn rubber seal, improvised a replacement from some draught proofing strip (works fine).

This time it was back to not filling, traced to the inlet solenoid valve. Found a replacement on line, but it's a fancy one with overflow protection, around £65 plus postage and no guarantee that I wont find another problem when I've replaced it and even if it all works, I still have a 25yr + rusty machine which uses a LOT of water and electricity and is noisy.

Time for a new one !

Sad though...

 

[kirkpoore1]

 

[Rod]

Well you certainly got your monies worth.
New ones use very little water, are very quiet but more than likely will not last half that time?

Rod

 

[9fingers]

.... but more than likely will not last half that time?

Rod

and almost certainly less accommodating of improvised repairs!

Bob

 

[RogerS]

David, you're an inspiration to us all for keeping it going for that length of time. There are quite a few of us on here who share the same aspirations for our own elderly appliances.

We have an excellent NEFF dishwasher (and touching wood) it is quite old but even if it does fail I have a complete set of spares gutted from the same model when I renovated that old black-and-white cottage a few years back.

When our Sharp combination microwave died, because we were replacing it with a similar model, I cannibalised that for the 'spare store'. Ditto the bathroom heater control panel when the element died.

 

[9fingers]

Our household dishwasher has been around for over 61 years and as well as washing dishes can also make and fix electrical, wooden and mechanical things. So far he seems to be lasting very well and to date has not needed any spare parts fitting unlike the lady of the house who is rapidly becoming worth her weight in scrap titanium :lol:

Bob

 

[chataigner]

David, you're an inspiration to us all for keeping it going for that length of time. There are quite a few of us on here who share the same aspirations for our own elderly appliances.

We have an excellent NEFF dishwasher (and touching wood) it is quite old but even if it does fail I have a complete set of spares gutted from the same model when I renovated that old black-and-white cottage a few years back.

When our Sharp combination microwave died, because we were replacing it with a similar model, I cannibalised that for the 'spare store'. Ditto the bathroom heater control panel when the element died.

You remind me of how my best friend and I kept our motor bikes going as students - we decided on a model (Ariel Huntmaster 650cc parallel twin) then bought up every wreck and siezed up motor we could lay our hands on, all for next to nothing. Lots gong cheap at the time as the spares situation was none too good after the factory stopped production. Built two really good ones and a couple of not so good stand-bys from the parts, plus loads of spares. It all worked fine, swopping bits as required from a communal lock-up garage. Until one day I met my friend coming the other way in the local town, both on our rebuilt Huntmasters and after a moment or two of chat we noticed we both had the same registration.