List of items you won't work on?

How to repair in your community
21

Interesting point on microwaves and valid replacement parts. Think our blanket ban is simpler even though we do have a detector to look for leaks.

I won’t deny a blanket ban is simpler to implement, it just doesn’t sit right with me, knowing that 10%%ish (my estimate) of microwaves can be fixed in under 5 minutes with no risk!

I (and many other repairers) have fixed many coffee machines. It is sometimes something really simple (cleaning, descaling, tightening loose connections, …).

When I’m triaging, I usually assess these as “medium suitability” - though the repair is occasionally very simple, I would say the majority will easily use the full 45 minute slot to diagnose, causing repairers to overrun. Therefore if the repair cafe is fully booked I would encourage that a more digestible repair is booked preferentially.
I can see how different repair cafe models (with different amounts of time available and with/without booking) would have different policies.

this is an interesting document thank you for sharing. How do you determine “expert” do volunteers self-determine this or is there a competency assessment?

I think I’ll change this to “experienced”, and elaborate that the experience should be with the specific type of item rather than general repair experience. Someone who self-assesses as “experienced” with valve amplifiers occasionally is not going to struggle with the safety considerations.

22

Here in Silicon Valley we tend to work on nearly anything that can be carried through the door, but we have recently started compiling a list of things that we really shouldn’t touch.

Safety-Critical Items

  • Helmets (bike, motorcycle, climbing, sports)

  • Car seats, boosters, stroller restraint systems

  • Fire extinguishers, smoke/CO alarms

  • Medical devices (CPAPs, insulin pumps, oxygen equipment, AEDs)

  • Gas-fueled appliances (camping stoves, heaters, BBQ regulators)

  • Pressurized systems (air compressors, pressure cookers, propane tanks)

  • Safety equipment (climbing ropes, harnesses, fall-arrest gear)

High-Voltage / High-Energy Electronics

  • CRT TVs/monitors

  • Ebike or scooter batteries

Items Too Large, Dirty, or Hazardous for the Venue

  • Large appliances (washers, dryers, refrigerators)

  • Fuel-contaminated tools

  • Mold-infested or pest-infested items

  • Items leaking oil, fuel, or unknown fluids

Miscellaneous

  • Items that have been recalled or have a known hazard

  • Firearms, tasers, or stun devices

  • Other items may be rejected at the discretion of the organizers

23

So your lead textile repairer wants people to put damaged fast-fashion items into landfill?!? :exploding_head:

Obviously we should explain to people why it’s a bad idea to buy certain items, I do that all the time, but every item that we refuse to repair is another wasted item.

24

When we run repair cafes around Cambs, 1-3 per weekend, each 3h long, we are often fully booked. Spending 30 minutes to repair an item that will break again elsewhere in a few months (or worse, cannot be fixed!) is a false economy if it means we have turned away an item with better long term prospects, which is the reality for fully booked repair cafes.

So it may not be as clear cut as it seems - if something is likely to go to landfill, better for it not to be the item that could last another 5 years!

25

Slightly different at the Suffolk Repair Shed, since we aren’t so time constrained as a cafe, but on the other hand have to be careful not to provide unfair competition to local repair businesses.

Anyway our current no-no list goes as follows

Things to avoid much more often than not

White goods (inc microwaves)

Printers (inkjets where not printing, but paper transport usually fixable)

Pressure washers (particularly Karcher cheap models – no spares)

Bose (very poor info – no interest in providing spares)

Kettles

Things to asses very carefully before accepting (we are in a very hard water area so de-scaling - aka defugging - is often a good first response)

Hifi equipment (especially cheap modular 80’s or later)

Expensive coffee machines (Try a dose of defugger before rejecting)

Steam mops and irons – if don’t respond to defugging

Hair straighteners (if not dismantleable)

Cheap shredders (Expensive ones better supported, or worth making parts for)

Cheap toasters with bust filament, (magnetic retainer usually fixable)

Ceramic items in more than 4 pieces

Christmas lights

Bikes - to avoid compettion

Petrol powered garden equipment - ditto. Electric powered fair game

Genuine Heirlooms - don’t want to be like the TV show, and some jobs just too far beyond skill levels.

That still leaves plenty to get on with - overall success rate 78%, 55% for electronics, 70% for electrical.

26

great thread. Learning lots

What about items with certain IP ratings for water ingress. I see some mentioning electric toothbrushes, but how do you guarantee a proper seal if you crack open a plastic shell? Better to avoid?

27

For best efforts repairs, I think a human being paying attention when reassembling a device, making sure o rings aren’t pinched etc, taking a few minutes over the task, is just as good as the original factory operative; ok they might have had a jig or whatever, but they didn’t care as much, or spend as much time…

At the end of the day we all have to be confident in our work and only take the risks we feel comfortable with. And that’s fine to be different for different people at different times or in different contexts. So long as you can write a plausible risk method statement to cover yourselves you can even get insurance!!

In terms of water ingress, I would be more careful with a mains powered device than a battery one, for example. It all depends on how easily it came apart and therefore how well it will go back together again….

28

And another thing - we don’t repair impossible devices!

It might never happen to your repair cafe, but one time a few years ago, we had a customer come in with an electronics project he was troubleshooting and needed our help.

He had purchased at some expense a bedini resonator kit from eBay, which promised over unity energy gain, free energy etc.

He was confused to find that the circuit was just consuming power like every other circuit on the planet and not providing the free energy he was expecting.

We tried to gently suggest that he might have been mis-sold and free energy was, at least in our understanding, basically impossible.

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