Repair cafes

I happened across a post on a local Facebook page advertising a 'repair cafe' in my town and asking for volunteer repairers. The idea is to correct simple faults in consumer goods so they don't get sent to the skip.

I'm all for that, being an inveterate repairer myself, and would like to encourage others to repair rather than replace. However, when I looked at the Repair Cafe websites they said that taking things away for repair isn't allowed. They gave an example of the sort of thing that is allowed as 'replacing a fuse'.

I don't know. I'm happy to show someone how to replace a fuse if they don't know (though it seems pretty obvious!) but I'd want to know why it blew in the first place. Which would involve taking it away. The example they all seem to give is 'repairing a toaster!' Do toasters blow fuses?

It's obviously a good idea in principle but I'd be interested to hear if anyone has engaged with schemes like this and actually helped people in their local community - is there an appetite for this sort of thing?

Robin

Edited By Robin Graham on 09/12/2022 00:44:16

I'm guessing the points are to avoid the item being removed from the customer's sight to remove any liabilities of theft or deliberate damage? I’d also guess that the repairer turns up with the same sort of kit that they'd carry for a home visit repair - wire, cables, fuses, common power caps, multimeter and simple tools etc in the case of electrical repairs or perhaps a selection of tiny screws and bits for fixing broken watch bracelets...

Why not go there, sit with them for half a day and observe what they are doing?

You will soon learn whether it fits in with your expectations of what it should be.

As a result of that observation, you can decide if you can make a useful contribution working under their system, or if not, what other options are available to you.

I think the problem of leaving it there for any repair other than fuse replacement will entail the use of a PAT tester and someone qualified to use it.

These types of places have featured on tv occasionally and people doing the repairs appeared to get involved to a much deeper level than replacing a fuse.

That however is the total of my knowledge of the subject and perhaps following the advice given by DC31k would be the best option for anyone interested.

Edited By V8Eng on 09/12/2022 08:53:10

Are these well meaning people qualified electricians? If not, surely they would be opening themselves up to legal and possible criminal proceedings if even their simple 'fuse' replacement (without throughly investigating the cause of same) later resulted in a fire / deaths?

Whilst I fully applaud the general concept, simple mechanical / cosmetic repairs to a variety of non-electrical items are perfectly acceptable and help reduce waste / environmental issues and are unlikely to have any comeback, but electrical 'fiddling about' could open a proper can of worms. Like it or not, many electrical items are designed not to be fixed, OK, people like us really don't accept that and will have a go (and succeed most times) but - and this is the crux of the matter - it's on our own head if it all goes wrong!

Regards Mike

At the Men's Shed we repair things that require soldering and maybe a bit of wire but mostly don't do electrical. Various furniture repairs mostly. It isn't worth the effort to re-handle a fork nowadays, though we did a broom for a lady on Wednesday.
There is the problem of running costs. Some people expect big jobs done free. I think the TV programmes are a problem as they give the public the wrong idea about what is possible, and free.

However I agree it is a disgrace what goes into the municipal 'recycling' centre. The people there keep saying 'we are a recycling centre not a dump' but they won't let you take good items out of the skip.

I would assume these places have insurance cover and appropriate restrictions on competency are imposed by the insurers?

I have not seen a programme about repair cafes as such only occasional coverage on news type broadcasts.

Our area recycling centres (formerly tips) seem to take in good stuff and recycle it with a re-use scheme link to that here:-

Recycling

Edited By V8Eng on 09/12/2022 11:27:21

As Bayzle says, TV has much to blame.

If you occasionally watch programs on TV like 'Money for nothing' the presenters select stuff from the recycling centre and then magically get some artistic type to cover it in gaudy fabric, luminous paint etc etc. To be fair some of the results are very clever (even so would most of us really give them houseroom?). But their 'budgets' are totally unreasonable. Stuff seems to be moved around the country (transport costs?) and for a few quid seem to spend a horrendous amount of time transforming an item (hourly rates of labour costs?). Totally unrealistic. Yes it saves stuff going into the tip but doubt if it makes a difference in the long term (fills an hour of TV though).

The 'Repair shop' simillarly gives a 'free' impression, although I would not knock the very high standard of skill they have and the work they produce, it may give viewers a wrong impression of the true cost of repairs as it is not mentioned (I understand they do ask participants for a voluntary contribution to charity)

regards Mike

When I worked at a repair cafe run by a local Men In Sheds I ended up sharpening about ten pairs of garden shears on a bench grinder. I passed each back with a cut sheet of paper as proof of success.

I'd think there's too deep a minefield of liability to want to do anything that plugs into the mains unless the repair's extremely simple.

I've been a volunteer at the Portsmouth Repair Café for over a year and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I certainly haven't picked up on any of the negative or nervous vibes that seem to permeate some of these posts. We do a monthly café on a Saturday morning in a local church hall, with an occasional pop-up at Southsea Library.

The overall Repair Café organisation has been running for, I think, ten years now and the legal and liability issues are well established. As such I have not troubled myself unduly about them.

Broadly, the rule is that the owner must be present throughout the (attempted) repair. They sign a disclaimer beforehand acknowledging that success is not guaranteed, and that they accept the risk of further damage to the item. We don't repair white goods, collect and deliver, or take things away to repair. That said, we make exceptions in special cases subject to consent from all parties. After all, as my father used to say, rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men.

All our volunteers stick within their own range of competence, but we have some very competent people and offer tool sharpening, jewellery repairs, fabric and needlework, clockmaking, cycle, electronic, software, electrical, metal- and wood-work repairs, and other specialisms. Each volunteer brings their own tools and such materials as they expect to need, and there is a central stock of commonly used things. We operate a booking system so it is often possible to diagnose and plan in advance. There is a very good culture of sharing experience, tools, materials, advice, skills and humour. New volunteers are offered the chance to buddy-up with somebody more experienced for as long as they want to before they fly solo.

I would say that most of our requests are for repairs to household electrical items, and we have a very good success rate with them. Those of us who tackle them all have knowledge and experience and we have no prima donnas, so seeking advice when needed is normal. The café owns its own PAT tester, and there are qualified and experienced testers among the volunteers, so electrical safety is taken seriously.

As its name suggests, it is a café, so it is as much a social occasion as a technical one, and we are kept well suplied with hot drinksand cake. I have yet to encounter a client who is demanding or unpleasant; on the contrary I have had many pleasant and interesting conversations while working. The café is self-supporting and is largely financed by donations from our clients.

Robin, I suggest that if you are interested you go along and have a look. If it appeals, give it a try!

George

Edited By Georgineer on 09/12/2022 17:45:45

.

I hope Robin will forgive me a small digression ro expand upon Bazyle’s quote:

I have recently been looking at computer monitors, and happened across this brief document on Benq’s website:

**LINK**

https://esupportdownload.benq.com/esupport/LCD%20MONITOR/UserManual/SW240/SW240_DI_EN-EU_210223103219.pdf

It’s worth having a look … to appreciate the progress that has been made in the transition from dumping to recycling.

MichaelG.

Thanks for replies, and especially to George for giving a real-life account of how these things work. I should probably give it a go. If only to know what easily fixed things go wrong with toasters! Well, that's your element burned out missus, I'll just pop in a piece of nichrome from my bag, spot weld it with the spot welder in my bag, job done.

More seriously, it's perhaps about community as well as fixing things, as George suggests.

I share the frustration with 'Money for Nothing' etc! Completely ridiculous.

Michael - digressions are welcome when pertinent. As it happens my trusty LG computer monitor has recently gone 'on the blink'. It tries to wake up, but flashes on and off in a way reminiscent of a fluorescent tube with a dodgy starter. When it eventually starts, it stays on. I have no idea how to fix it though! Any suggestions welcome.

Robin

Hi Robin I had a similar problem with my monitor and it was a capacitor in the power supply faulty. It took a while to get the casing open firstly without damage then a quick search of the components showed that the top of one capacitor had a raised blown top. Ordered a new one on line, actually a 5 pack, but very cheap and problem solved. I found some information on line to give me a bit of help to get the case open.

David

Robin, if you join "Vintage Radio" there are many members who will I think will be only to glad to offer advice on your TV problem. But it could be as David reports, just a capacitor. When I've had a look inside a modern TV, it would appear there is not much which can be fixed by anyone any more, more like a small computer.

Thanks for this David - I had wondered if it was a blown capacitor. I'll have a look.

I'm now fixed up - I have little-used flatscreen TV with a VGA port (my computer is ancient - no HDMI!) so that's now my monitor. It's actually much nicer than the LG monitor, so I won't be going back, but it would be good to mend the LG.

Robin.

I should add that often the most difficult and challenging part of a repair, when the owner is present, is out-thinking the idiot who designed the casing and actually getting inside the appliance. Fortunately there are many how-to-do-it guides on the internet which can be called up on laptops or mobile phones, and the best of them can be very helpful. The worst of them...

George

We had a guy at work who had an endless supply of broken cheap crappy radios, he brought them in to the electrical maintenance workshops for a free repair. When a workshop got fed up with an unfeasable number of radios for a man to have and sent him away he would move on to another workshop and so on. The suspicion was that he was selling them on somewhere.

Mike

Hi, I used to repair quite a good number of mains valve radios, record players, car radios and the odd TV. that many of the guys that worked at the same place as I did, back in the 70's and 80's, but then it became difficult to get replacement parts as those that supplied them, stopped dealing non trade persons. It used to give me a little extra beer money back then. When things really started to use IC's, it became impossible for the likes of myself to do much, as you would be working totally blind without a circuit diagram. The most expensive thing I repaired though, was a fairly powerful Yamaha natural sound stereo amplifier, it had about five power transistors shorted out and a few power diodes open circuited and a few resisters cooked, which cost around £30.00 plus to replace, which was quite a bit of money back then, and I think the service sheet/circuit diagram cost about £10.00. The guy who owned it, had it placed in a unit while in use, which didn't allow a very good air flow through the vents as the top vent was only about 15mm below a shelf, and the gap each side wasn't much more than 20mm. I believe he decided to relocate it in a better position after I fixed it.

Regards Nick.