New Legislation . Appliances must be easily repairable

[Dustydog]

Over the last few months the Laws are changing. Do you think it will be easier to repair things on the caravan now than say two years ago? I site the example of the Whale Watermaster socket inlet flap. To change the flap requires removal of the whole unit, including sealant just to replace a snap in piece of plastic flap £5.00. Will my fridge and oven just fall out after removing a screw🤪

 

[otherclive]

I don’t think the legislation covers ease of repairs targeting the DIY’er. It requires spares to be available for 10 years, but I’ve not looked at the scope of appliance coverage. However the design of your flap isn’t good irrespective of legislation if it requires the whole unit to be removed, repaired and then resealed back into place.

 

[Dustydog]

I don’t think the legislation covers ease of repairs targeting the DIY’er. It requires spares to be available for 10 years, but I’ve not looked at the scope of appliance coverage. However the design of your flap isn’t good irrespective of legislation if it requires the whole unit to be removed, repaired and then resealed back into place.

Clive
The legislation in simple words says the appliance must be easy to repair. Look at current washing machines, they have been built to make it impossible to economically repair.

 

[otherclive]

Clive
The legislation in simple words says the appliance must be easy to repair. Look at current washing machines, they have been built to make it impossible to economically repair.

Here’s a useful Which summary of what repairs a DIYer could undertake and what a tradesperson may be required to undertake. The DIY cohort can be done by any competent DIYervnow providing the spares are available. As well as spares there also needs to be instructions available to enable folks to understand just how to do the job. From experience with dryers and washing machines it’s not always easy to figure out how an appliance dismantles but the web is useful on that account. I think the biggest benefit of the new regulations is spares availability for a guaranteed period of time.

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/0...ntroduced-what-do-they-actually-mean-for-you/

 

[Hutch]

Here’s a useful Which summary of what repairs a DIYer could undertake and what a tradesperson may be required to undertake. The DIY cohort can be done by any competent DIYervnow providing the spares are available. As well as spares there also needs to be instructions available to enable folks to understand just how to do the job. From experience with dryers and washing machines it’s not always easy to figure out how an appliance dismantles but the web is useful on that account. I think the biggest benefit of the new regulations is spares availability for a guaranteed period of time.

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/0...ntroduced-what-do-they-actually-mean-for-you/

I think OC advice is great, I have repaired our washing machine several times, drive belts, Front door seals and cleaned out the water system, and it is not an easy job, given the fact that my engineering skills are limited, !!!😥 DIY stuff on item like these are not easy,
What they are Impliging is that spares will be available for more than 5 years.

 

[Buckman]

What I find annoying is when you only require a small part for a unit, but you can't buy just the small part and have to buy the whole unit. I think this has happened to many of us? Not exactly environmentally friendly?

 

[otherclive]

What I find annoying is when you only require a small part for a unit, but you can't buy just the small part and have to buy the whole unit. I think this has happened to many of us? Not exactly environmentally friendly?

No different to cars. When my Superbs ABS threw a wobbler my later model had a totally integrated unit unlike the previous model which had three sub assemblies each of which could be replaced separately. £1600 to replace…….ouch.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I haven't looked at the underlying legislation yet, but from what I have seen, the RTR (Tight To Repair) in the UK is limited to certain products, and not all of those products will be repairable down to the component level.

This is considerably weaker than laws in other countries which cover a wider range of products. I can only hope the idea will either be adopted by manufacturers to cover items not presently listed, and/or the legislation will be expanded to cover more items.

Don't assume that all products will be covered by this. Its a right to repair not a right to DIY. There are many products (e.g. like gas and electrical appliances and installations) where aspects of their installation repair or even removal are covered by legislation, and they will still need to be performed by competent registered fitters.

 

[Buckman]

I haven't looked at the underlying legislation yet, but from what I have seen, the RTR (Tight To Repair) in the UK is limited to certain products, and not all of those products will be repairable down to the component level.

Some of us are competent enough to work down to component level however many PCB have the markings removed from the component making it impossible to repair. PCB then goes into the bin and one then needs to fork out a load of money to replace the PCB which probably could have been fixed for under £10!