Category: Appliances

With the UK now in a heatwave, many of us have been up the attic or in to our garages to bring out the fans. There are a huge range of different types of fans on the market now ranging drastically in price.

The standard pedestal fans cost around £15-£50 each and tend to give off a good blast of air. You can often opt for one that can be tilted, height adjusted and also set to rotate. These fans do often require quite a bit of space, especially floor space as they tend to have a large base to ensure they stand up on their own.

Tower fans are a great choice -these are a relatively new design and are extremely popular. They can cost around the same as a pedestal fan but often cost a little bit more. They will also oscillate and you can usually change the speed settings of the fan.

you can get USB desk top fans which are ideal if you have limited space in a bedroom for example. The only issue with these are they do tend to be quite loud and sometimes a little unreliable. If putting in a child’s bedroom be sure to turn them off when you go to bed and don’t put them too close to where they are sleeping.  

Coffee pod machines have been around for some time now and the cost to buy one seems to be forever dropping. There are a number of different manufacturers that make coffee pod machines such as De’longhi and Tassimo. They all have different features and many of them use different pods. The cost of the machines varies from around £35 upwards of £200 depending on the make and model but often the expense with these machines is not the initial cost.

Although you can be spoilt for choice when it comes to your choice of pod, from coffee to hot chocolate, the pods themselves can work out very costly. You will often pick up a pack of coffee pods for around £4 for 8. That works out at around fifty pence per coffee which is a lot more expensive than instant or coffee beans. With some you also need to buy the milk pods which again all add to the cost. Although these c=machines will produce a nice tasting coffee, you may be better to save your money and invest in a great coffee bean machine with a milk frothier, as even though they are a lot more to buy, will not cost nearly as much to run.

Often children and many adults love slushies or ice drinks. You see them all the time at fairgrounds, parks and cinemas or soft play but can you have them at home? Slush Puppy, the brand that created the Slush, do sell their own machines. You can buy the industrial ones but they cost a lot upfront and to run or you can buy a smaller one that allows for just one flavour for around £40 – £50. These can be great for a party but as they need to be ran all the time, they are not very good for having on throughout a normal day.

There are some other machines that work in a similar way and they still make the snow cone maker machine that comes in the form of a snowman or a penguin. These machines look fun but are actually really impractical and hard to turn. The handle often ends up breaking off before you have had much use out of them.

An automatic ice shaver or grater is the perfect option. It is easy to use, you only turn it on when you need to use it and you can add your flavours afterwards. You can also use them to make cocktails so this doesn’t just have to be a kids toy. They come in around the £35 – £60 range so not far off the same price as a slush puppy maker.

Choosing appliances for your kitchen can be a bit of a minefield. You may find that you have to choose them in a rush if one has broken and you need to replace it asap. This can mean that you do not get the chance to compare functions and specs very easily or shop around for the best price. When it comes to replacing a cooker, you need to first decide if you want electric, gas or a combination or both. You can get a fully electric cooker, fully gas cooker or gas hobs and electric oven or vice versa. You may opt for integrated appliances if you are having a fitted kitchen installed or if you already have integrated appliances. When choosing these, you need to be certain that you get the measurements exactly right.

If you decide to choose a gas cooker, then you need to make sure that you already have the gas supply plumbed in. If not, you will need to arrange for a gas engineer to come and install a supply for you. This can be a fair amount of work and cost quite a bit of money, so think carefully before buying a gas cooker if you do not have the supply. Even if you do that the gas supply coming into the home you still need to get a gas engineer out to come and swap the supply over to the new cooker. They must be Corgi registered in order to do this. Although the process is often quite straight forward, never be tempted to have a go at doing it yourself. Not only is this very dangerous but you could also be fined ten thousand pounds if you do. A gas engineer will swap the cookers over for you and then should run a test on the gas meter to ensure that there are no gas leaks. If they find any leaks, they will be able to advise you of what you need to do and disconnect the appliance if needed. It is important that you have a carbon monoxide detector in your home which will sound if carbon monoxide is detected. This is especially important if you have a gas cooker. If buying a gas cooker second hand, ideally try and see it working before it is disconnected as otherwise you may pay to have it plumbed in to then find out that it doesn’t work as it should do.

So many of our items now have internal batteries built in such as laptops, phones, tablets and power banks. These devices may use a number of different connections for charging such as Micro USB  or lightning connections. You should always try and charge the device using the cable that was supplied with it but you may need to replace it after a while or get another one to keep in another room. When buying charging cables be sure to only buy them from genuine retailers. Unfortunately, all chargers can fail or even become dangerous over time but it is more common with charging cables that have not been made to standard.

When you plug your device in, be sure not to leave it on anything that could potentially be flammable such as a blanket or cushion. Chargers and their devices can become very hot quite quickly which can be a fire hazard.

Although charging cables do get warm, they shouldn’t get so hot you can’t touch them. IF you have a cable that gets this hot it may be worth throwing it away and investing in a new one as it is likely that it is faulty and needs to be replaced.