Simple home DIY repairs

[Victor68]

I think I want to change trade and be Grab Food delivery liao. All expert handyman, how to cari makan?

[inlinesix]

5 minutes ago, Victor68 said:

I think I want to change trade and be Grab Food delivery liao. All expert handyman, how to cari makan?

You can meh?

😂

[Victor68]

14 minutes ago, inlinesix said:

You can meh?

😂

Learning here to try to earn a living. Recession time leh

[inlinesix]

1 minute ago, Victor68 said:

Learning here to try to earn a living. Recession time leh

I am Grab Hitch Driver 

[Volvobrick]

1 hour ago, Victor68 said:

I think I want to change trade and be Grab Food delivery liao. All expert handyman, how to cari makan?

I just repaired a pump by replacing the capacitor. Maybe can cari makan doing this... 😅

[AndrewLee72]

Wah.. all experts here. Can i seek Guru advise. My Sharp 45" smart TV . 3yr liao. Juz start to power restart by itself after watching tv program like for 1-2mins. Try even remove tv remote batteries. Off n On main power plug. Still same. Sian. Need to buy new TV.

Edited January 4, 2023 by AndrewLee72

[Hamburger]

My sharp TV of 5 yrs also suddenly could not be power up.

First thought, search online for new TV.

[AndrewLee72]

Wah lao. Sharp de lousy. Ok next TV get Samsung.

[Mkl22]

Sharp, Philips both cmi. Samsung also not that great. Had best experience with  Sony CRT and Panasonic plasma. 

[Ender]

On 4/16/2022 at 1:01 AM, Ender said:

Replaced the battery of my Redmi Note 8 pro since it was bloated. Followed on of the youtube..

Battery arrived in 12 days from China. Vost about $19.30. Considered fast despite the lock down there. 

This battery lasted about a year and begin to lose charge fast. Although still decent for a day used, but decide to change the battery again. This time bough from Tmall shipped via ezbuy, cheaper.

[Kb27]

My experience with changing door lock, bcuz it was broken in some places:

This type of round knob door lock used in my toilet door. There is a pinhole where you use a "key" to poke and then wiggle the round handle free. Then you unloosen 2 screws to remove the whole thing. Easier said than done.

The problem is my toilet door (as well as the lock) is over 20 yrs old and the lock has rusted inside and jammed, having been constantly exposed to moisture. I couldn't use the pinhole to unloosen the knob. So I can't reach the 2 screws. There is another metal cover over the 2 screws, which I use an aviation snip to cut free. The knob is still blocking direct access to the screws. One screw I manage to remove, the 2nd one head is damaged and jammed.

I used drill with various bits and finally got the screw head off, but still the lock would not come out easy. The only way it could come out is to remove the blocking knob handle...and doing all this without damaging the door. Lock is cheap, door is not.

Finally, I resort to a hand saw and bring out the big gun, an angle grinder to remove the knob.

This is a damn lousy design lock. I have another bedroom door using the same type of lock and I can't remove the knob again. I have to deal with it later.

This is a better design from NELON, which I installed in MBR door, only 2 screws accessible from outside, less likely to jam. However it has a more or less standard backset adjustable from 60mm to 70mm. The toilet door existing hole is 85mm, so this doesn't fit there.

[Kklim]

My 10" wall fan can oscsillate but the blades aren't spinning. Capacitor problem?

[Didu]

On 5/14/2023 at 4:19 PM, Kklim said:

My 10" wall fan can oscsillate but the blades aren't spinning. Capacitor problem?

Try this:

Open up the casing to expose the fan motor. Spray WD-40 at both ends of the shaft where it touches the motor housing.

[Didu]

Any bros here knows how to repair aircon?  😁

Albanian Man Moves To S’pore For Love & Becomes Air-Con Repairman, Now Drives A BMW

“If you work hard, Singapore gives you the opportunity to make money,” says Hermes Xhika, who was “broke as hell” when he first moved here and had to rely on “the $2 chicken rice at Woodlands MRT station” to get by. He now lives in a landed property and drives a BMW.

It was Singapore’s hot weather that changed an Albanian man’s life. Around 12 years ago, Hermes Xhika (pronounced ‘Jhika’) was an IT undergrad in his native Albania when he got into a bad car accident. His head injuries were severe enough that he spent several days in the ICU, and another three months recuperating in hospital with his jaw wired shut.

While scrolling through Facebook on his phone to pass time, Hermes saw the profile of a Singaporean woman who would later become his wife. “She was the friend of a friend. I said hi to her, we started chatting and things progressed from there,” he told 8days.sg.

Determined to make their long-distance relationship work, Hermes, now 31, eventually dropped out of university to relocate to Singapore in 2014. “It made more sense for me to move here, because I can speak English but my wife couldn’t speak Albanian,” he said.

He expected his father to be “super angry”, as he had been paying for Hermes’ private schooling. But the construction company owner, who “had no idea that the [luxury] brand Hermès existed” when he named his son, was surprisingly understanding.

Hermes recalled: “He just said, ‘You’re not a kid anymore, you can make your own decisions’. But he still doesn’t believe that I’m working so hard here. Back in Albania, I was just a student who had never worked a day in my life.”

After moving to Singapore, Hermes married his wife Irene Ang at a simple ROM ceremony, spending $20 on a faux diamond engagement ring. The couple “struggled badly financially”, as Hermes had not found a full-time job and Irene was then a new property agent who was earning less than $2,000 a month.

“You need to earn a lot of money here to enjoy life the same way we did in Europe,” Hermes noted. “My wife and I were broke as hell. We ate $2 chicken rice. I remember it was at Woodlands MRT station near Causeway Point, because we went there hundreds of times.”

Money was extra tight as they also had to pay rent, having moved out of Irene’s family home as her parents disapproved of their relationship. “We rented a HDB room for $700. We were very poor, so we couldn’t even get a comfortable room.

He thought hard about how to improve his financial situation. “I was going around Singapore trying to find a job. I didn’t mind anything, I just wanted to get a job so I could stay here,” he said.

He tried working for a pest control company, but was shortchanged by the boss who paid him only $600 for three weeks of work. “I wanted to beat him up, to be honest. I worked super long hours from 1pm to 2am and even helped him make a website. But now I thank him, because I won’t work for anyone again,” recalled Hermes.

That experience pushed him to start his own business. “It came to me, why not do air-con repair? Air-con is a necessity in Singapore. I did my research — there are 8 to 9 million units here,” he said. 

The perpetually humid weather meant that Hermes could have a steady income if he played his cards right. In 2016, he set up his own company called Lion City Aircon offering installation and repair services. “I was a computer guy. I didn’t know what I was doing. But if you want to do something just go for it man, figure out the issues later. If you worry too much about the what-ifs, it’s never going to happen,” he shared with 8days.sg.

Hermes rented a Honda Fit, “put a bunch of tools in it”, and began hustling for business. He roped in a local air-con technician and learnt how to do repairs and installations from him. “I was very interested. Two months is more than enough time to learn a new skill,” he said.

Being an “ang moh” repairing air-conditioners was a novelty, which made Hermes’ company stand out. “Some clients were shocked when I arrived at their house. They were like, ‘Eh? This ang moh come to my house you know’,” he said. But it was a double-edged sword, as he observed: “It’s very easy to remember a white guy fixing the air-con, so I need to make sure that I do my job well.”

For this story, 8days.sg shadowed Hermes for an installation job at a Choa Chu Kang condominium, a very messy affair with dust, dirt and lifting of bulky compressors that weigh up to 80kg each. And no air-con. “Because I’m the one installing it,” he laughed. “The first few weeks on the job I was shy about using people’s bathrooms and stuff, but I got used to it.”

He remembered a particular job at the home of a fellow European. “He was British or German, and he kind of looked down on me. He kept asking how much I was making, and I just said enough to pay my bills,” Hermes shared.

In 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. People started working from home. It was during that time that Hermes saw a huge jump in business. “I had more jobs because everyone wanted to make sure their air-con was working properly. I applied to MOH and thankfully they gave me a permit to work on urgent cases [as an essential service]. I was working throughout and didn’t stay a single day at home,” he said.

Air-con repair can be very lucrative, as he found out. “If you work very hard six days a week, all day from morning till night, you can earn up to $15,000 a month. That was when I realised that I shouldn’t be worried or ashamed. I don’t mind going to Orchard Road in my safety harness,” said Hermes. “But I had to work like crazy. There are some installations that you have to do all night. I have not gained weight since I started this company. I don’t have time to eat, so it’s like doing intermittent fasting (laughs).”

Some seven years ago, Hermes was relying on $2 chicken rice to get by. These days, the Singapore PR drives a BMW 216i Gran Coupe (he declined to be photographed with it as he did not want to "show off") and lives in a rented landed property in Upper Thomson, which he and his wife also use as a home office and warehouse for Hermes’ air-con paraphernalia. The couple is planning to buy their own place soon. 

https://www.8days.sg/liveandlearn/lifestyle/albanian-man-lion-city-aircon-782851

[Lala81]

On 5/14/2023 at 5:02 PM, Didu said:

Any bros here knows how to repair aircon?  😁

Albanian Man Moves To S’pore For Love & Becomes Air-Con Repairman, Now Drives A BMW

“If you work hard, Singapore gives you the opportunity to make money,” says Hermes Xhika, who was “broke as hell” when he first moved here and had to rely on “the $2 chicken rice at Woodlands MRT station” to get by. He now lives in a landed property and drives a BMW.

It was Singapore’s hot weather that changed an Albanian man’s life. Around 12 years ago, Hermes Xhika (pronounced ‘Jhika’) was an IT undergrad in his native Albania when he got into a bad car accident. His head injuries were severe enough that he spent several days in the ICU, and another three months recuperating in hospital with his jaw wired shut.

While scrolling through Facebook on his phone to pass time, Hermes saw the profile of a Singaporean woman who would later become his wife. “She was the friend of a friend. I said hi to her, we started chatting and things progressed from there,” he told 8days.sg.

Determined to make their long-distance relationship work, Hermes, now 31, eventually dropped out of university to relocate to Singapore in 2014. “It made more sense for me to move here, because I can speak English but my wife couldn’t speak Albanian,” he said.

He expected his father to be “super angry”, as he had been paying for Hermes’ private schooling. But the construction company owner, who “had no idea that the [luxury] brand Hermès existed” when he named his son, was surprisingly understanding.

Hermes recalled: “He just said, ‘You’re not a kid anymore, you can make your own decisions’. But he still doesn’t believe that I’m working so hard here. Back in Albania, I was just a student who had never worked a day in my life.”

After moving to Singapore, Hermes married his wife Irene Ang at a simple ROM ceremony, spending $20 on a faux diamond engagement ring. The couple “struggled badly financially”, as Hermes had not found a full-time job and Irene was then a new property agent who was earning less than $2,000 a month.

“You need to earn a lot of money here to enjoy life the same way we did in Europe,” Hermes noted. “My wife and I were broke as hell. We ate $2 chicken rice. I remember it was at Woodlands MRT station near Causeway Point, because we went there hundreds of times.”

Money was extra tight as they also had to pay rent, having moved out of Irene’s family home as her parents disapproved of their relationship. “We rented a HDB room for $700. We were very poor, so we couldn’t even get a comfortable room.

He thought hard about how to improve his financial situation. “I was going around Singapore trying to find a job. I didn’t mind anything, I just wanted to get a job so I could stay here,” he said.

He tried working for a pest control company, but was shortchanged by the boss who paid him only $600 for three weeks of work. “I wanted to beat him up, to be honest. I worked super long hours from 1pm to 2am and even helped him make a website. But now I thank him, because I won’t work for anyone again,” recalled Hermes.

That experience pushed him to start his own business. “It came to me, why not do air-con repair? Air-con is a necessity in Singapore. I did my research — there are 8 to 9 million units here,” he said. 

The perpetually humid weather meant that Hermes could have a steady income if he played his cards right. In 2016, he set up his own company called Lion City Aircon offering installation and repair services. “I was a computer guy. I didn’t know what I was doing. But if you want to do something just go for it man, figure out the issues later. If you worry too much about the what-ifs, it’s never going to happen,” he shared with 8days.sg.

Hermes rented a Honda Fit, “put a bunch of tools in it”, and began hustling for business. He roped in a local air-con technician and learnt how to do repairs and installations from him. “I was very interested. Two months is more than enough time to learn a new skill,” he said.

Being an “ang moh” repairing air-conditioners was a novelty, which made Hermes’ company stand out. “Some clients were shocked when I arrived at their house. They were like, ‘Eh? This ang moh come to my house you know’,” he said. But it was a double-edged sword, as he observed: “It’s very easy to remember a white guy fixing the air-con, so I need to make sure that I do my job well.”

For this story, 8days.sg shadowed Hermes for an installation job at a Choa Chu Kang condominium, a very messy affair with dust, dirt and lifting of bulky compressors that weigh up to 80kg each. And no air-con. “Because I’m the one installing it,” he laughed. “The first few weeks on the job I was shy about using people’s bathrooms and stuff, but I got used to it.”

He remembered a particular job at the home of a fellow European. “He was British or German, and he kind of looked down on me. He kept asking how much I was making, and I just said enough to pay my bills,” Hermes shared.

In 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. People started working from home. It was during that time that Hermes saw a huge jump in business. “I had more jobs because everyone wanted to make sure their air-con was working properly. I applied to MOH and thankfully they gave me a permit to work on urgent cases [as an essential service]. I was working throughout and didn’t stay a single day at home,” he said.

Air-con repair can be very lucrative, as he found out. “If you work very hard six days a week, all day from morning till night, you can earn up to $15,000 a month. That was when I realised that I shouldn’t be worried or ashamed. I don’t mind going to Orchard Road in my safety harness,” said Hermes. “But I had to work like crazy. There are some installations that you have to do all night. I have not gained weight since I started this company. I don’t have time to eat, so it’s like doing intermittent fasting (laughs).”

Some seven years ago, Hermes was relying on $2 chicken rice to get by. These days, the Singapore PR drives a BMW 216i Gran Coupe (he declined to be photographed with it as he did not want to "show off") and lives in a rented landed property in Upper Thomson, which he and his wife also use as a home office and warehouse for Hermes’ air-con paraphernalia. The couple is planning to buy their own place soon. 

https://www.8days.sg/liveandlearn/lifestyle/albanian-man-lion-city-aircon-782851

good for him. 

 

 

[Kklim]

On 5/14/2023 at 4:47 PM, Didu said:

Try this:

Open up the casing to expose the fan motor. Spray WD-40 at both ends of the shaft where it touches the motor housing.

Thanks! Will try this 

[Lala81]

Just washed my FCUs with the bosch yesterday. Actually only my MBR FCU is bit dirty. 

Too bad the weather is not rainy, so can't take the opportunity to clean my son's window ledge as well from the bird poop and grime from upper floors.

[mersaylee]

Maybe I should also start my own company...recently managed to revive a dead fan coil supposedly a declared dead unit few years ago ...😁