A genuine Mistake ? (1 Viewer)

[johnpengers]

We had a problem with our oven(tec Tower)not getting up to temperature.To cut a long story short I rang the main dealer who told me it was a faulty gas valve.I enquired how much for them to replace it.

The service manager quoted me eight hours labour at £95 per hour and about £150
for the valve. When I regained consciousness I asked what it entailed,The whole
fridge/freezer/oven unit had to be removed and the disconnection of the gas/electric/12 volt had to be done via the external fridge vents.

To be fair he talked me through what to do and after a couple of hours out it came....I was highly delighted and quite proud of myself.I changed the gas valve (which cost me £150 quid,gave everything a damn good clean and put it all back.......Not a blind bit of difference !!!!!!!......exactly the same as before !!!!!!

I sat in our kitchen acting like a bear with a sore arse and when I calmed down started to go through what else it could be but I wasn't looking forward to taking the whole bloody unit out again.

Anyway......I remembered when I was dismantling the oven from the freezer it was on sliders and the gas and 12 volt connection were the only two I needed to disconnect.
I took the top outside vent off,disconnected the relevent fittings,Took off the front control panel plus two screws and gently slid the oven off the freezer which all in all took me about an hour !!!!!! This left the fridge/freezer and it's connections still in situ !!.

I got the oven in our kitchen,once again cleaned out the burner,gas jet and this time replaced the thermocouple at £30......put it all back and hey presto......working as it should.

I wouldn't have been impressed paying all that money for labour at the dealership if an amateur like me could do it in half the time !!!! After checking and double checking the gas joints etc I was feeling pretty pleased with myself.

I was a heating engineer by trade many years ago so I has a little experience with gas systems......The motto of my long winded tale is...if you're confident then have a go....it's not that hard with the right info.

Hope this comes in handy for somebody.

John P.

 

[DavidG58]

You are a much braver man than me, but well done you and a great result, of sorts

Any chance of returning the unneeded valve?

 

[johnpengers]

The trouble is David, I don't know exactly what the trouble was.
It could have been the gas valve,could have been the thermocouple though I doubt it or just a dirty jet.......who knows ?
I certainly saved myself nearly a grand and I'm sure they wouldn't have cleaned like I did.

Regards

John P.

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[Deleted member 29692]

I used to do a lot of fault finding on electrical systems.

Half the time I would dismantle something that wasn't working, not find anything wrong, put it all back together again for it to work perfectly.

That's the nature of fault finding.

 

[Larrynwin]

Nice one John, glad it's sorted. I got brave and fitted electric rad in bathroom , wow , I need to take it easy

 

[vin0114]

good work John, did similar when central heating boiler seal burst 2 weeks before we moved house. Stripped it down and contacted Baxi at Preston who said 'our seals don't fail - we'll send you a new boiler!' got call at work from lady next door that a parcel had been left but she could not lift it -went home and all fitted back together and working fine once again - happy days.
Vin

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[Hils and Glenns]

I took the top outside vent off,disconnected the relevent fittings,Took off the front control panel plus two screws and gently slid the oven off the freezer which all in all took me about an hour !!!!!! This left the fridge/freezer and it's connections still in situ !!.

I'm not technical at all so excuse me if this is an ignorant question, but does that mean it would be possible to remove the oven and fit a microwave instead?

 

[SandraL]

I recently removed my tower oven to replace the hinges. In our case there were no sliding bits, the oven was secured to the fridge with self tap screws that were only accessible with entire unit removed.
I think oven could be removed and replaced with microwave. The oven flue would possbly need shortening inside van depending on height of microwave?
Hardest bit would be getting trim bits looking professional.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

I'm not technical at all so excuse me if this is an ignorant question, but does that mean it would be possible to remove the oven and fit a microwave instead?

Yes, it will be possible.

It's highly unlikely to be as simple as a straight swap though.

First of all unless you can find a microwave that's exactly the same size as your oven there will be modifications needed to the cabinets.

Secondly the gas supply to the oven will need removing/capping properly and finally there almost certainly won't be an adequate electrical supply in place so that will need running in.

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[Larrynwin]

Not something I have considered as microwave needs hook up but oven, although small and a bit high , will cook food on gas.

 

[Minxy]

The trouble is David, I don't know exactly what the trouble was.
It could have been the gas valve,could have been the thermocouple though I doubt it or just a dirty jet.......who knows ?
I certainly saved myself nearly a grand and I'm sure they wouldn't have cleaned like I did.

Regards

John P.

... so I take it you don't feel like removing the unit to take out the gas valve and put the old one back to check then ...

 

[Lenny HB]

Well done. With those labour charges was the dealer by any chance Southdown?

Reminds me, a few years ago our oven at home temperature was way out on it brought a new thermostat, after stripping the oven down discovered the existing one had an adjustment on the back.

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[johnpengers]

I'm not technical at all so excuse me if this is an ignorant question, but does that mean it would be possible to remove the oven and fit a microwave instead?

I would say it's possible.Nic is correct though,it won't be a straight swap.
I did think about replacing the oven with a microwave as we're never off "grid"but there's a lot of joinery to factor in and as the people who know me I'm a bit anal about things not being perfect !!
What I am up to at the moment is fitting another oven under the hob....it means losing a cupboard but the Liner has loads of storage so no problem.
The original oven will stay but will only be used now and then.....its in a silly place anyway as my wife(Civita)is only little and has to stand on a step stool to see in the thing.

If anybody is interested I'll take photos of my progress with the new oven.

Regards.

John P

 

[Kool Kroozer]

Well done chap, cant blame you for having a go and most of all suceeding in your quest - great job well done !

 

[Hils and Glenns]

The original oven will stay but will only be used now and then.....its in a silly place anyway as my wife(Civita)is only little and has to stand on a step stool to see in the thing.

Me too. Ours is hardly ever used. I think its quite dangerous for a short person to lift a hot dish out of it. It sounds as though replacing it would be a bit beyond our competency though. Also its not certain at the moment that we will be keeping the van.

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[Zepp]

Well done good job

 

[canopus]

' To cut a long story short I rang the main dealer who told me '

Shouldn't that be 'only dealer'. Thats why Southdown's prices are so high they have the monopoly on Conc's. Well played for tackling the job yourself and saving sh1t loads of money into the bargain.

 

[Minxy]

What I am up to at the moment is fitting another oven under the hob....it means losing a cupboard but the Liner has loads of storage so no problem

Can't you move the existing oven to the new location seeing as it's 'separate' from the fridge/freezer and put a cupboard in the gap where it was?

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[johnpengers]

' To cut a long story short I rang the main dealer who told me '

Shouldn't that be 'only dealer'. Thats why Southdown's prices are so high they have the monopoly on Conc's. Well played for tackling the job yourself and saving sh1t loads of money into the bargain.

LOL......Just trying to be a bit diplomatic....You caught me !!!

Regards

John P

 

[johnpengers]

Can't you move the existing oven to the new location seeing as it's 'separate' from the fridge/freezer and put a cupboard in the gap where it was?

Great Idea but........There would be a hell of a lot of work to reinstate the original oven space into a cupboard,Blanking off the gas is no problem neither is the 12 volt supply but its the cabinetry issue.

I'd have to either source the exact wood to make a new cupboard door or in some way make the door fit from where the new oven is going....Hope that makes sense I would have to have it built professionally otherwise
I won't be satisfied with it.

Having said that......It probably wouldn't cost as much as the new oven we've bought !!!...........Where were you a fortnight ago ?????

Anyway.....Apparently the original oven is to be used as a plate warmer !!!!
Posh or what !!!!

Regards

John P