Just another typical electrical/electronic failure

[manofthecoldland]

Being a long termer here, I am no longer surprised at material failures or breakdowns due to a host of reasons you may not encounter in other countries and climates.

Replacing light switches, main house lines, wiring that needs extra armor against insects and rodents, etc. is fairly normal and usually of moderate cost. TVs, radios and computer failures seem higher than normal to what I am used to in my other cold climate where I normally spend time. But we can live with that.

What did surprise me the other day was for our relatively new, high quality Condura Inverter refrigerator to fail. SInce  the now Aussie daughter in law bought it for us less than year ago, and it is under warranty, I thought we were in for some long time, service free use.  Wrong again.

So she takes her paperwork down to the appliance store. They are surprised to see that it is completely paid for (since most are bought on installment plans) and will text her when a technician is free. Doesn't happen for 2 days, so she goes again after no response to her inquiry texts. Today 3 techs show up in a truck incase they need to take it into the shop. Not necessary.

The electronics failed. Ants got in, they said.

We keep it on a concrete floor where she cooks but insects etc. have access. She had been bugging me to have our do-all man make a wooden stand for it on casters so she can access and empty the water drip container more easily and frequently, but I kept putting it off for awhile until last week. My mistake. Maybe some overspill contributed. I don't know.

Now here's the interesting part...  The guy(s) said that it would take a month to order the part ( I wasn't involved since I prefer to leave these things to her ).... but since she wouldn't have it.... they could find a replacement part and come back tomorrow with it to do the repair. BUT... she would need to pay P2K for the part.

She comes upstairs to my computer desk to inform me. 

Since the asawa sometimes communicates poorly, I had to pepper her with questions to fill in all the puzzling blanks.

Yes, its covered under the warranty.  No, they do not have a replacement part in the store shop. But they can get one (maybe from somewhere else in town or up from Iloilo City.... they didn't say). 

But if we want it fixed right away, we will have to buy the part.  Then, when they submit the warranty paperwork, some distance source will send the replacement part..... and they will then bring it to her and we will have (our very own) spare replacement electronic box for the future if/when we need it !

I OK'd the solution.  Tomorrow our family do-all guy will bring over the wooden stand on casters so we can protect the frigerator better against ants and overflow.  I will have him either solignon,, or aceite or varnish the thing, etc. in the hope that ants/insects  don't create future mischief. 

Now I am beginning to see why she always insisted upon placing our refrigerators up on small wooden stands all these years while living in different places... which never made much sense to me and looked unsightly to boot.

 

[expatuk2014]

Ants ! The little blighters amaze me, they get everywhere ! Its got to the point now that things like jars of coffee,sugar,biscuits etc once opened need a food bag over the top before the lids are replaced ! Things like when the doorbell stops working, its because the ants have made a nest in the push button ! For me i was surprised when i went to use a tape measure !

I began to pull out the tape and the little pests crawled out all over my hand !so i pulled the tape out all way locked it and spayed the holder with WD40 ! No ants since !

[Snowy79]

39 minutes ago, expatuk2014 said:

Ants ! The little blighters amaze me, they get everywhere ! Its got to the point now that things like jars of coffee,sugar,biscuits etc once opened need a food bag over the top before the lids are replaced ! Things like when the doorbell stops working, its because the ants have made a nest in the push button ! For me i was surprised when i went to use a tape measure !

I began to pull out the tape and the little pests crawled out all over my hand !so i pulled the tape out all way locked it and spayed the holder with WD40 ! No ants since !

I know where you're coming from.  My last place had light switches that were intermittent so as they were cheap I just bought some replacements, on taking the old ones out I discovered ants had somehow got in under the rocker switch and died, turning to a nice glue like substance and enough to prevent the current flowing.

[Gator]

Reading this I’m reminded of my youth and my elderly Aunt who lived a “Cracker House” in central Florida. She used to place the small bowels of water under the legs of her kitchen table, refrigerator and a cupboard (used for food storage only). She said it kept the ants (sugar and red ones) from climbing onto / into them and I’ll be damned if it can ever recall seeing an any ants in the cupboard or on the table.  But I do recall seeing many floating in the bowels! 
 

I think she also added a bit of 20 Mule Team Borax to the water too. Just for good measure I suppose or to kill any that escaped. Sometimes old school is the simplest solution; especially if it works. 

[Joey G]

diatomaceous earth.... cheap and safe.. and the stuff works... Google it 

[manofthecoldland]

8 hours ago, Gator said:

Reading this I’m reminded of my youth and my elderly Aunt who lived a “Cracker House” in central Florida. She used to place the small bowels of water under the legs of her kitchen table, refrigerator and a cupboard (used for food storage only). She said it kept the ants (sugar and red ones) from climbing onto / into them and I’ll be damned if it can ever recall seeing an any ants in the cupboard or on the table.  But I do recall seeing many floating in the bowels! 
 

I think she also added a bit of 20 Mule Team Borax to the water too. Just for good measure I suppose or to kill any that escaped. Sometimes old school is the simplest solution; especially if it works. 

I think most Pinay use moat pans or trays quite regularly.  If anything is out of the refrig. or sealed container, insects come for it, so the only way to protect it is with a water pan and fly cover....... or eat it up right away.

[RBM]

Most success we have experienced is with the cheap chalk available anywhere. Some lines of them are persistent, takes a few days but always works.

[jimeve]

41 minutes ago, RBM said:

Most success we have experienced is with the cheap chalk available anywhere. Some lines of them are persistent, takes a few days but always works.

We have been invaded by ants in the past, just getting the upper hand on killing them. I'v been using borax and sugar mixed 50/50 ratio. It even kills red ants, and also kills roaches. I buy Borax from Lee plaza in Dumaguete. P22 for a small bag. Non poisonous to mammals.

[manofthecoldland]

54 minutes ago, jimeve said:

We have been invaded by ants in the past, just getting the upper hand on killing them. I'v been using borax and sugar mixed 50/50 ratio. It even kills red ants, and also kills roaches. I buy Borax from Lee plaza in Dumaguete. P22 for a small bag. Non poisonous to mammals.

I've been using a 3-5% ratio of boraxo to sugar for many years. I also add in a bit of cheap hotcake syrup for sweetness  variety. The idea of the low ratio, is so they don't die quickly, but take it back to the nest to feed to others, and the death rate is leveraged... hopefully getting the queen as well. You want to wipe out the colony.

[Clermont]

3 hours ago, manofthecoldland said:

 You want to wipe out the colony.

That's sadistic.