Even Festool only guarantee 10 yr parts availability (or a free replacement if they run out of parts ...)
Commiserations or condolences, whichever it turns out to be :-(
Commiserations or condolences, whichever it turns out to be :-(
Fhiaba fridge
- Thread starter jim1950
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
i can’t see from your photos if yours is the same model as mine.
we have discovered a hidden service menu within the main menu, this enabled us to rectify our problem. I have put a photo of our display to see if yours is the same.
jim1950
Established Member
HI Kenny on his way here now, I will get back to you later to update JIm
jim1950
Established Member
Hi Alice yes we have the same Aga premium series fridge freezer, we was silly enough to buy the wine store as well.
He did turn up yesterday and spent three and a half hours working on the two units, replaced printed circuit board, sensors and heater in the freezer and two thermocouples in the wine store, still waiting to see if all is normal freezer still not down to -18 and no ice yet.
We started this process at the end of last year by contacting Fhaiaba in Italy after a long time of noreply from Kenny.
I agree with you great units when working but I do wish we had never gone into the Aga showroom, tried to buy British to find out later its not and to find out Aga is a nightmare to deal with, if we had gone for one of the big American makes I could find a number of people happy to repair them.
Good luck in getting yours repaired
He did turn up yesterday and spent three and a half hours working on the two units, replaced printed circuit board, sensors and heater in the freezer and two thermocouples in the wine store, still waiting to see if all is normal freezer still not down to -18 and no ice yet.
We started this process at the end of last year by contacting Fhaiaba in Italy after a long time of noreply from Kenny.
I agree with you great units when working but I do wish we had never gone into the Aga showroom, tried to buy British to find out later its not and to find out Aga is a nightmare to deal with, if we had gone for one of the big American makes I could find a number of people happy to repair them.
Good luck in getting yours repaired
jim1950
Established Member
Update, well after Kenny the only UK Fhaiaba engineer/agent spend 4hrs on Wednesday working on the fridge and saying he'd replaced all the parts relating to the problem this morning the alarm is flashing again and the same error massage.
I'm left thinking should someone (i'm to old) should start a Fhaiaba repair company after all the competition is not very good
I'm left thinking should someone (i'm to old) should start a Fhaiaba repair company after all the competition is not very good
NikNak
Established Member
Hope you didn't/haven't paid yet 
Wouldn't be surprised if all of the repair parts were sold to one source.
jim1950
Established Member
yes I paid him before he leftHope you didn't/haven't paid yet
jim1950
Established Member
JobandKnock
Amateur curmudgeon
Electronics at 10/12 years of age, especially Italian? Think I'd call it a day. Computers only last a certain length of time and then they are unrepairable scrap. Can't see the circuit boards in your fridge being any different to the one in my laptop TBH. I find that a lot of power tools and cars are just the same these days - too complex, too much done by bespoke chips, too many soldered connections, too many crimped wires
J-G
Established Member
I take exception to that (very incorrect) statement ! I have customers who are still using computers I built for them in 1998 and I had a call out to one that I didn't build but was supplied in 1992 (the customer had pulled the video cable out without realizing!)
Laptops are a slightly different kettle of fish of course and I don't recommend them except for temporary use away from the office environment - ie. data research in libraries etc.
JobandKnock
Amateur curmudgeon
You may object to it, but the reality is that most large organisations replace computers in well under 10 years because by the time they are disposed of they are slow, undersized or underpowered (or both) for the current operating systems, or simply cannot be updated to use the latest operating system, have insufficient data storage but most importantly have become unreliable with age
Similarly industrial electronics don't fare well with age - they become unreliable (ever seen failed crimped ferrules, or multi head connectors, or solder joints?) and then fail, wires fatigue break and fail due to vibration, etc and you then frequently find that appropriate spares are simply unavailable.
Same goes for electronics in cars - the scrap yards are full of vehicles which are written off because replacement electronic components were just too expensive (my brother had a Renault which suffered that fate at 6 years of age, I had two Citroens which didn't reach 10 years due to electronics failures which were too costly to fix - please don't say "French vehicles" because my to date 4 Berlingo's have been excellent, all reaching 150k plus miles - but they are relatively unsophisticated, electronically)
Similarly industrial electronics don't fare well with age - they become unreliable (ever seen failed crimped ferrules, or multi head connectors, or solder joints?) and then fail, wires fatigue break and fail due to vibration, etc and you then frequently find that appropriate spares are simply unavailable.
Same goes for electronics in cars - the scrap yards are full of vehicles which are written off because replacement electronic components were just too expensive (my brother had a Renault which suffered that fate at 6 years of age, I had two Citroens which didn't reach 10 years due to electronics failures which were too costly to fix - please don't say "French vehicles" because my to date 4 Berlingo's have been excellent, all reaching 150k plus miles - but they are relatively unsophisticated, electronically)
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Electronics are now much harder to diagnose and fault find any problems due to two main reasons, 1) surface mount components and multi layer PCB's and 2) Their function is dictated by software contained within an ASIC and you have no access to how that functions. In the days when logic functions were delivered using individual chips you could fault find using either a simple logic probe or a logic analyser and work your way round the system, now you have inputs and outputs but no idea whats going on in between and often it can even be difficult to work out some of the I/O's. Something else that happens to devices that store code is bit rot, they degrade and data often defaults to 0 when it should be a 1, this can just crash the program. As for Pc's you are often forced to upgrade because newer programs require more powerful CPU's and faster memory, not to mention that a time comes when your OS is no longer supported and you are exposed to vunerabilities because patches are nolonger supplied to fix these faults, think of XP. Back in 1998 we were still using 32 bit software, there was little that ran on the 64 bit version of XP outside of bigger company databases and some scientific software.
Vehicle electronics are often let down by the wiring loom and interconnects, complexity is normally not an issue if the quality matches but with automotive it is done on the cheap, defstan would just cost way to much and so many connectors are classed as single use because the concept is that once assembled on the line that is it for the life of the vehicle, alright until someone goes wrong and even ECU connectors will have a limited number of disconnect operations to keep cost down. When I used to design and build test facilities for automotive looms the one thing totally forbiden was insertion, instead we used custom moulded interfaces with spring loaded pins so the loom was not "used". On old diesels with just mechanical pump line nozzle injection you could get them three times round the clock if serviced regular, then came the electronic pump but still using mechanical injectors and things started to go down hill, pump timing solenoids would fail and a real nightmare to get to in order to replace, you had to cut and rejoin the wires as they just came straight from the pump mounted module. Now we have the common rail systems, lots more sensors and components along with Piezo injectors and many more cheap connectors, great until something goes wrong and now requires computer diagnostics which are not as precise as people think, some faults can be masked by others and dealers will resort to swapping parts to fix.
Vehicle electronics are often let down by the wiring loom and interconnects, complexity is normally not an issue if the quality matches but with automotive it is done on the cheap, defstan would just cost way to much and so many connectors are classed as single use because the concept is that once assembled on the line that is it for the life of the vehicle, alright until someone goes wrong and even ECU connectors will have a limited number of disconnect operations to keep cost down. When I used to design and build test facilities for automotive looms the one thing totally forbiden was insertion, instead we used custom moulded interfaces with spring loaded pins so the loom was not "used". On old diesels with just mechanical pump line nozzle injection you could get them three times round the clock if serviced regular, then came the electronic pump but still using mechanical injectors and things started to go down hill, pump timing solenoids would fail and a real nightmare to get to in order to replace, you had to cut and rejoin the wires as they just came straight from the pump mounted module. Now we have the common rail systems, lots more sensors and components along with Piezo injectors and many more cheap connectors, great until something goes wrong and now requires computer diagnostics which are not as precise as people think, some faults can be masked by others and dealers will resort to swapping parts to fix.
J-G
Established Member
I know little about car electronics - I've run my Honda Civic from new in 2007 with no issues of any kind, it just goes. As far as PC's are concerned, I've been building custom units for small to medium businesses since 1989 - biggest customer had 28 on their network, one had 18 in high street shops from Birmingham to Norwich all reporting to a Midland's head office by modem overnight. I still have PC's running XP 32 bit. As far as the O/S becoming outdated/obsolete is concerned, I have always advised my customers to prevent auto-update and deplore the fact that Win 10 makes that virtually impossible.
Upgrading memory and/or Hard drive space is a trivial matter as is swapping out a Video or Network card but I accept that upgrading the CPU can be problematic and the change of interface slots from ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIe was troublesome. Age of hardware generally has little issue with loss of performance - the amount of data being throughput can of course and you may wish to equate that with age. I've always tried to design for a long future with upgrade options in the light of potentially changing circumstances.
The fact that mainstream purveyors build down to a price with built-in obsolescence is the problem you are highlighting - along with the attitude that 'I must have the latest version'.
Upgrading memory and/or Hard drive space is a trivial matter as is swapping out a Video or Network card but I accept that upgrading the CPU can be problematic and the change of interface slots from ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIe was troublesome. Age of hardware generally has little issue with loss of performance - the amount of data being throughput can of course and you may wish to equate that with age. I've always tried to design for a long future with upgrade options in the light of potentially changing circumstances.
The fact that mainstream purveyors build down to a price with built-in obsolescence is the problem you are highlighting - along with the attitude that 'I must have the latest version'.
Terry - Somerset
Established Member
Those with specialist knowledge and skills can often keep equipment (be it cars, IT, media systems etc) going long after for most consumers they are obselete.
A 10+ year old IT system can be kept running if the requirement doesn't change too much. But for most folk it becomes increasingly clunky - no updates or bug fixes, increasingly slow as data volumes increase, inability to run current software, no drivers available for printers, etc etc.
Cars similarly have electrical issues - although for any car the requirement changes little. No manufacturer wants to stock (or even worse remanufacture) obselete components. So a failure on an older car often means second hand (no problem with that) or junk the car.
As woodworkers we take some pride or enjoyment in both using and keeping outdated techniques and skills alive. For the average member of the public IKEA, John Lewis and Furnitire Village is where furniture is sold.
I used to value things whose life could be extended by careful maintenance and repair - furniture, clothes, houses, cars etc.
A few decades ago I did some work in Saudi Arabia. I was astonished to find that buildings constructed only a few years previously were being demolished to make room for something "better". I came to realise that if needs were changing, how those needs were met also needed to change.
Back to the original thread- I don't understand the benefits a fridge freezer costing many £000's has over that which performs identically for 10-20% of the cost. For white goods - "buy mid-range", if it breaks in the first 5 years consider "repair", after that - "replace". Going through the hoops to get an old premium chunk of iron and insulation fixed just doesn't make sense.
Perhaps I have no soul!!
A 10+ year old IT system can be kept running if the requirement doesn't change too much. But for most folk it becomes increasingly clunky - no updates or bug fixes, increasingly slow as data volumes increase, inability to run current software, no drivers available for printers, etc etc.
Cars similarly have electrical issues - although for any car the requirement changes little. No manufacturer wants to stock (or even worse remanufacture) obselete components. So a failure on an older car often means second hand (no problem with that) or junk the car.
As woodworkers we take some pride or enjoyment in both using and keeping outdated techniques and skills alive. For the average member of the public IKEA, John Lewis and Furnitire Village is where furniture is sold.
I used to value things whose life could be extended by careful maintenance and repair - furniture, clothes, houses, cars etc.
A few decades ago I did some work in Saudi Arabia. I was astonished to find that buildings constructed only a few years previously were being demolished to make room for something "better". I came to realise that if needs were changing, how those needs were met also needed to change.
Back to the original thread- I don't understand the benefits a fridge freezer costing many £000's has over that which performs identically for 10-20% of the cost. For white goods - "buy mid-range", if it breaks in the first 5 years consider "repair", after that - "replace". Going through the hoops to get an old premium chunk of iron and insulation fixed just doesn't make sense.
Perhaps I have no soul!!
jim1950
Established Member
yes I would tend to agree but this fridge is sold as a life time product with a 25/30 year life and I think in this case it's a lack of engineers with knowledge of the product and only one place to go for spare who won't sell them to you. Repairs do appear to be a problem in other country's
Have said that I've just converted a 1960s Lec fridge into a drinks cabinet it was still working when I gutted it
That is what the modern salesman loves and adores, you have a perfectly working something that still does what it did on the day you purchased it but a newer version comes out with an extra feature that you never have or will use but for some reason you do not stop and think, the words newer or latest block all logical thoughts and the salesman has got you. It happens with so much consumer driven products, but the class leader has to be "fashion", what a load of dogs dangly bits that sector is, who cares who made it, what label it has or who else owns one, I am a fashion leader not a follower even if it is only for all the scruffy older guys around who don't live just to portray an image.
The days of fix and repair not replace have been exterminated by marketing companies and greed, it is another thing that is driving enviromental damage and excessive consumption of materials. There are so many examples that you could fill many books and the big loser is often the user. Example, rear wiper motor on a japanese SUV quoted at £187 and two weeks lead time. Took it off and it was designed to be throwaway, but with careful work we got it apart and cleaned the armature and freed a tight brush, worked for next three years until vehicle sold. Diesel pump on another Japanese pickup, replacement was best part of £900 or £350 used. Went to scrappy and found vehicle with pump and cylinder head missing, how much for the pump. Guy said it was only good for spares as it is a type such and such with security features so yours £30. Took it and then compared to the one we already had, identical apart from a different shut off valve with a lump on top, steel plate and different connector, to change would have meant stripping pump. Measured things up before taking a pair of mole grips and crushing the plastic lump on top that was filled with some type of epoxy, after breaking it away from the solenoid I found a standard type of solenoid underneath with a single wire. Fitted pump and all worked great, what the OEM had done was just fit a moulded module on top of the solenoid with a security device and steel plate to prevent tampering, saved a packet but a dealer would have just billed the customer.
J-G
Established Member
I'm sorry Terry, again you are mistaken. One thing in favour of Win 10 is the fact that even printers that are 10+ years old still 'find' suitable drivers. I'm using an old Brother laser printer that I've had since 2014, it came to me because the owner wanted 'a new one' because it was 5 years old. I run it on a Win 7 PC but write to it from Win 10, Win 7 (another) & XP units - the XP machine was the only one that needed a manual installation. Increased data volumes can be handled by larger or faster storage, ie. adding an SSD will speed up data transfer dramatically and that can be done easily.
pgrbff
Established Member
Too many soldered connections?
I did have some simulation software, Orcad that worked on XP but not windows 7 but luckily no longer needed and photographers have the issue with having to use the later versions of Lightroom so as the program can handle the RAW files, latest camera needs latest version and Adobe no longer supports XP as of version 3 as they try and migrate everyone onto using cloud based software, maybe we will all end up with just thin clients one day. I must say that I did like the days of NT and then forced over to XP and now not happy with Windows 10, all went wrong when things went to .net. Why is it that Microsoft changes something and then you need to use 3rd party software to put it back, ie the start menu.
