Useful Information Warranties For me a manufacturer’s warranty period only tells you how confident the manufacturer is with the durability of their product. But the consumer guarantee act says a product should last a reasonable amount of time, which is usually way longer than the manufacturer’s warranty period. For example if your whiteware appliance fails in under 8 years the consumers guarantee act considers that insufficient usage and your entitled to have it repaired or replaced free under the consumer guarantee act. Apparently the cost of this repair or replacement should be met by the retailer, which doesn’t seem right to me as they didn’t design or build it so I would rather go to the manufacturer. Whoever you go to don’t be put off if they are reluctant to honor this guarantee, as it is not their call, it’s your right! Generally people don’t pursue this and over the years it has led to manufacturers producing inferior products, which end up in landfill too soon. Here is a rough guide to how long you should expect things to last. Toasters, Food processors, Kettles, Computers, Printers/Scanners, Cordless phones, Mobile phones, MP3 players                                                   5 years + Vacuum cleaners, TV’s, Heat pumps, Dehumidifiers, Microwave ovens, Washing machines, Heaters                                                                        10 years+ Dishwashers, Stoves, Clothes driers, Fridges/Freezers, Hi quality DVD/Home Theatre systems                                                                                    15 years+   Water If electronic equipment comes into contact with lots of water don’t automatically assume it will never work again. If the water was pure and clean it may not have damaged the circuitry as pure water has quite a high resistance to electricity. Remove its power supplies (i.e. Battery and/or power adapter) immediately, open any compartments (i.e. battery, memory stick, tape, disc etc.) and shake as much water off it as possible. Then place it in a warm place (but below 50°C) for 2-3 days and hope for the best. Its worked for me on a few occasions and you’ve got nothing to loose.   Care Modern electronics is completely different than what it was 15 years ago with many devices getting smaller. This has been achieved by the use of extremely small components some no bigger than the size of a full stop, and components being very tightly packed together. The problem with all this miniaturization is that now very small foreign bodies can now short out adjacent tracks and conductors and weak acids or alkaloids can completely dissolve them. This means it is more important to ensure your devices don’t get contaminated with anything. Home | Services | Useful Information |  Evironmental Links | Contact Us Copyright  © 2010 Brendan Moore  -  Sustain Electronics  - All rights reserved.