Kenwood dishwasher fun (KDW12ST3A): Part One

I bought my Kenwood KDW12ST3A dishwasher from Currys about 8 years ago. If memory serves, it cost £219 in the sale.

I bought it because my Candy dishwasher had exploded a few days earlier and I was desperate to replace it (and for that you can read that the pile of unwashed crockery in the kitchen sink was beginning to hum). The Kenwood was/is stainless steel and looked really nice in the corner of my kitchen. It was a few years later that I came across a bunch of reviews on the internet and the general view was that this dishwasher was a cheap-shit piece of chinese tat that was undeserving of the Kenwood brand. Many people had many problems with this machine. Alas, this had not been my experience and my dishwasher ran without fault for 8 years. And then a couple of months ago the fun started.

The first problem was an evident overheat - at the end of a particular wash cycle the contents of the dishwasher were roasting hot. At the next use the main circulation pump refused to run and so the dishwasher returned an error. For the first time ever, I took my dishwasher apart. At this stage, all I wanted to do was take a look inside. So far as the pump goes, it is a fairly simple motor arrangement. I was able to attach a screwdriver to the end of the pump's main shaft and discovered that the pump was jammed. I imagine it was some detritus or something, because I managed to free it by gently turning the shaft back and forth. I also noticed that the large starter capacitor on the pump was looking out of shape so I removed it and using my ESR meter, established it was toast. I ordered a new cap from CPC (a "Ducati 4.16.10.08.64", CPC part CA05818), and once fitted, and with the pump removed, cleaned, and re-installed, the dishwasher was up and running again. That was in June.

Fast-forward to the end of July and the second problem manifests itself. I don't know whether this was connected to the first problem but the dishwasher was failing to heat - the water inside was stone cold - and was returning an "E3" error. According to the manual, the E3 is a failure to heat and could be caused by a number of things including broken thermostat or broken heater. Some research on the internet also points to a possible broken control board or broken pressure safety switch.

First check was on the heater. Apparently, if the heater reads 29 - 31ohms resistance across its terminals, it's fine. Mine was fine. So, there being basically no information about the thermostat in this machine, I just replaced it (espares part ES1560613). This made no difference at all. I then looked at the pressure switch. This seemed OK and I was going to leave it bearing in mind the cost of a replacement (espares part ES1560552) but having actually inspected the device, I discovered that the only moving part was the microswitch inside it. The switch is an Omron D3V-16-3C5 and can be bought from Farnell for about 65p. Here's a few photos of the part in situ, and replacing the old switch with the new one. Needless to say, it made no difference....

So, what next? I took the front door apart to gain access to the control board. I've added some photos of this below. What I was looking for was signs of overheating in the board, My logic was that if the board is faulty, it might not be switching the heater on. Now, there was some evidence of overheating on the main switchboard, but the board with the relays on it looked fine. Whilst the door was off I took the opportunity to check continuity in all the wiring and it was all fine. So, I took the plunge and bought a new control board set. These are hard-wired together so its a case of all or nothing (espares part ES1551964). Now, this wasn't cheap but I'm still a long way off the cost of buying a new dishwasher. When the part arrived today I was hopeful.

Here are some photos of the removal process. To get at the little board that lives near the on/off switch, the actual door handle must be removed (unscrew the two machine screws that I've highlighted, so that the plastic tray which contains everything can be slid down the inside of the door).

The next pictures compare the new parts with the old. The old part in each image is on top. Interesting date codes on some of the PCBs...

 And now it's all back together it's still not working properly. I'm still getting the E3 error but the water is being heated a little. It's far from hot (hence the E3), but it is noticeably tepid. What is going on? I'm going to have a think about my next move.

More soon, no doubt...

D

Too many friends? Eat this.

First off, I can't take any credit for this recipe which is very similar to something that Jon Favreau cooked in his brilliant movie "Chef". No doubt its a common enough recipe beyond that. Here, I've just added a bit of salami and some bits of fresh tomato but the basic premise is the same - lots of olive oil, garlic, chilli and parsley - with some cooked pasta stirred through it. I'm also conscious that:

• the main substance of this post is a recipe rather than a repair or fix of something; and
• I've not posted a repair or fix of something on this page for about a year

The main reasons for that are:

• I was describing this recipe to someone the other day and they asked me to send the details. Putting the recipe on here seemed the more logical thing to do; and
• I've not successfully repaired or fixed anything for about a year

Anyway, if you fancy making this for your tea, it is really is very simple.

Ingredients (serves one (or two as a starter)):

• Lots of garlic chopped length ways, not crushed or diced
• Salami (done in a sort of julienne)
• Dried chilli flakes (I like it hot so about a tablespoon)
• About four baby plum tomatoes (chopped into quarters lengthways)
• A good handful of chopped fresh parsley ( I prefer the curly variety but any will do)
• An obscene amount of good olive oil (I use EV)
• Whatever pasta floats your boat (I used bronze-die penne because its great at holding the oil)

Method:

Get the ingredients ready. If you're using dried pasta, you can do all the chopping whilst bringing the water for the pasta to the boil.

Assuming that your pasta is going to take about 8 minutes to cook, you want to be adding the chopped garlic to a frying pan with the olive oil just before adding the pasta to the boiling water. The oil in the pan should be hot but not smoking.

Allow the garlic to sizzle for a minute or two until it starts to colour. At this point, turn the heat right down and add the salami and chilli flakes.

Resist the temptation to stir. For the next five minutes the contents of the frying pan should barely sizzle. It's more like a steep than a fry. All the while though, the heat in the pan will be turning that garlic into something that is soft, sweet and mellow.

About two minutes before the pasta is ready, turn the frying pan heat up a bit and add the tomatoes. Again, do not stir. And again, you do not want much of a sizzle - really, all you are doing is warming the tomatoes through rather than cooking them.

When the pasta is ready, drain it properly. But before you do that, add all the parsley to the frying pan and turn the heat up. By the time you've drained the pasta, the contents of the frying pan should be sizzling.

Turn the heat off as you add the drained pasta to the frying pan. Stir a bit and then serve immediately.

Have a bread roll handy for mopping up any spare oil.

Avoid interacting with people for at least two days after consuming this meal. You'll stink if you put the correct amount of garlic in :)

Enjoy

D...

E Cig Juice / E Liquid in Southport

So, its been over a year since I packed in the "analogues" and started vaping instead. My first device was a Kangertech EVOD which was very good indeed. In fact, I still use an EVOD when I'm out and about although nowadays it is the newer mark II version with dual coils and a glass tank. But when I'm at home or at work I use my Kraken (see earlier post), which is attached to an Astro telescopic mech running a Samsung INR18650-25R. Inside the Kraken I've got dual twisted kanthal coils running at 0.3ohms, and rayon wicks.

This is the set-up I've had for the past few months and I'm very happy with it. However, it does get through a rather large amount of juice. The tank on the Kraken holds 2mls and I can pretty much drain that in one 15 minute vaping session. Since that could amount to a fairly expensive habit, I also make my own ecig juice. In an earlier post I shared my DIY magnetic stirrer which effectively mixes the various ingredients that I make up in 200ml batches. And this brings me to the point of my post. My personal recipe for menthol ecig juice is actually pretty good and I've been toying with the idea of selling it. I have no shop and I'm not (at this stage, at least), interested in opening a webstore, but I thought I'd stick this post up on the off-chance that people in the locality might be interested in buying some. For the time being I'd only be interested in selling locally - Southport in Merseyside - whilst I gauge demand.

[Updated] Coming soon - my new juice shop!
[Updated] Nah, I couldn't be arsed.

More soon, no doubt....

D

Magnetic stirrer....

Well, I'm now mixing my own e-juice. It's dead easy but my preference for a 50/50 PG/VG mix means plenty of stirring is required. Even with the juice warmed up in a hot water bath, it is taking ages to stir. Having priced up a fancy "laboratory" style stirrer, I decided I'd save the £130 and make my own.

I had everything I needed apart from a box to put it all in. I settled on a high quality airtight sandwich box from Home Bargains which cost me 79p. The fan is a spare from an old computer, along with the fan speed controller. Power is supplied by one of the hundreds of 12v PSUs I have lying around.

Basically, I've glued two strong neodymium magnets to the centre of the fan blades. When the fan spins, so do the magnets. I then place my beaker of juice over the fan and put a steel bar in there which spins along with the magnets on the fan. For stirring e-juice, I've ordered a proper lab style stirring bar which is coated in PTFE which is inert and shouldn't taint the juice or scratch my beaker EDIT: I now have a selection of lab grade, teflon coated, magnetic stirring bars. Genuis.

More soon, no doubt....

D

Fogger V2 (version 2, 2.1, 2.2???)

This evening I have been mostly taking my FT Fogger V2 apart. I received this a few weeks ago and after a quick clean, rolled a 1.5ohm coil and set it up with a 2mm silica wick with a 1mm flavour wick across the top. This set up was hugely successful - at the time I had no mech mods and so was running on a Smoktech SID, hence the high-ish ohmage. The whole thing looked a bit odd but, as I say, it worked. My only problem was with the rather tight draw. A bit of research into that got me to Mawsley's review of the V2. Having read all that, including the apparent risk of a short in several different areas, I put the Fogger away until I had time for a full tear-down.

So, as I say, tonight I took it apart. Relevant pictures are below. As can be seen, the version I have differs from the one reviewed by Mawsley. It looks as though the main concern about the short in the base has been addressed. There's also an extra silicone pad in the base which will go some way to prevent the centre pin (live) from rocking in the post. I also noticed that the insulator for the centre pin is not delrin and instead is very squidgy and soft silicone. In one of the pictures below you can see how my first and only coil has already toasted the top of that. Anyway, I decided that this could go back together without any safety modifications required (but I do intend to do something about the soft insulators in the near future). I did however enlarge the four airholes in the centre pin. This has made a significant difference to the flow - its much airier now, although I think I'd prefer it even looser. Will have to have a think about how best to achieve that. Right now its ticking over on a new coil at 1 ohm with a nice cotton wick. It looks great on my PH22 and its all foggy in here ;) The flavour is far more intense with the cotton, too.

I've added the pictures below for reference. They are pretty self-explanatory I think, so I've not added any commentary. Any questions, just drop me a line.

More soon, no doubt.

D

EGO CTwist (clone) broken wire repair

[UPDATE FEBRUARY 2017 - The fix below was done three years ago. The repaired battery ran fine with no issues until it gradually died, as all Egos do. Now we are in 2017. Egos are, these days, extremely cheap to buy. My strong recommendation is that if you damage your Ego battery you should throw it away and buy a new one. I'll leave the original post up for reference purposes only. D]

Well, this evening I've been mostly fixing this broken Ego CTwist (clone) battery. It was dropped, the end popped out, a wire broke off and there was a short which melted the plastic sheath on a couple of the wires. In particular, the green wire from the base of the battery was fried along its full length. The positive red wire from the top of the battery was also burnt. The wires themselves are extremely fine and I was unable to obtain a direct replacement. I therefore used the thinnest wire (7/0.2mm) I could find at Maplin. It was still about twice the O/D of the original stuff and refitting the battery into the tube was a bit of a squeeze, but it went in eventually. If you're still interested, the rotating dial on the base of the battery was a bit of a fiddle to remove but its only clipped in to place as you can see from the pictures. Finally, the actual battery has soldered tabs so replacing the wires simply involved soldering onto the tabs. If they'd have been soldered directly to the battery I would not have done the repair.

More soon, no doubt...

D