# Bluddy Russell Hobbs.



## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Our as new Russell Hobbs automatic kettle bought for €3 six years ago now needs a new pourer filter. A small plastic and gauze filter.
Cost new they are £6 and £4 postage.! 
You can buy new auto kettles from Aldi and Lidl as well as some supermarkets for €9.99 guaranteed. Throw away society. Yes.

Ray.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

€3? That would be cheap here never mind France.

I bet most of these old recognised brand names that used to be quality products are all made in the same cheap sweatshops in China or somewhere in South eastern Asia now. All that remains is the name.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

It was bought at a boot sale Barry but boxed as new. Maybe Brits going back. And yes Russell Hobbs moved it's manufacturing abroad some years ago. 
It's just the ridiculous price for a small simple price is out of all proportion to the overall cost.

Ray.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

Why do you need a new filter ? Have you broken it ?

If it is just clogged up, soak it in vinegar from a supermarket - we do that monthly to keep it and the kettle free of calcareous hardness deposits. Cost ? 85c in Intermarche.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

We had the same problem with a cheap kettle. Probably the same one Ray is on about. The gauze filter kept coming adrift and made it dangerous. I just told Mrs D to go out and buy a more expensive one which she did. It lights up blue which is very pleasing.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

My wife bought almost the same model in UK at £25 but it's unbearably NOISY.!!!! I hate it.
The €3 ones filter has been cleaned numerous times and thats probably whats cause it to disintegrate the gauze Dave. 
We do have a couple more as spares from when we did B&B but hid does not like the beige and bland colours.

This is the offending item...…………
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RUSSELL-...a=1&pg=2060778&_trksid=p2060778.c100290.m3507

Ray.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Can't you paint them a nice shade of red?


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

A kettle is a kettle

Ours are guareenteed for 3 years 

But do you know what ?

Life’s to short to even bother 

Sandra


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Sorry Sandra but many people don't see the pleasure and satisfaction someone (me) can get with a bargain. It's part of my war baby make up and even more pleasure is derived when I hear of people paying through the nose for something when it's cost me pennies.

So if I can get pleasure acquiring an appliance for a tenth of the going rate and it serves it's purpose for many years, why not? 
We have gone from rags to riches and back to rags again but no one would see that from our lifestyle.

Ray.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

What ever Ray

Me I’m getting to old to bother 

I wish I had your energy

But crap joints and pain 

Chips aren’t really that important anymore 

Sadly nothing really is, I really don’t care that much

It shouldn’t be I know 

I’m pleased that you are still getting pleasure 

Love to both of you 

Sandra


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

That war baby thing is hard to shake off isn't it? I have the affliction and so do both of my brothers. My middle brother will often email me to say that he needs help to pull the trigger and buy something he really wants. He calls it "brushing dad off my shoulder" because it was our father who instilled in us this love of a bargain and the need to spend as little as possible on something. My eldest brother lives in what I can only describe as a "Steptoe's Yard". He can not throw anything away. He has old trucks and cars and diggers spread out all over his property. If someone offers to buy something he prices it at a ridiculous figure and so it stays where it will, eventually, rot.
Chris was brought up by his widowed mother. She would have had less money than we did and came from that same era. He, though, is the opposite. His outlook on life is to spend what you have while you have and sod the future. It has led to some serious disagreements and still does. Perhaps losing her husband while still young made her live for today?


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Yes Pat, my war widowed mother struggled to keep a roof over our heads and I never knew how hard it was for her until later in life.
Make do and mend is difficult to shake. Only yesterday I opened and cleaned the contacts of a Sky Remote to get it working again even though I have two spares in the drawer? I have trouble ditching something that still has a use. 
I'm not quite like Steptoe but I could be. At my age and not knowing about our future in France I find myself chucking some old and not used items into a sack only to recover one or two before it gets dumped.

But again in a way it's pleasant being able to help someone who rings up and asks if I have a spare gizmo, like a kettle or surge protector.?

Ray.


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## Ozzyjohn (Sep 3, 2007)

Penquin said:


> Why do you need a new filter ? Have you broken it ?
> 
> If it is just clogged up, soak it in vinegar from a supermarket - we do that monthly to keep it and the kettle free of calcareous hardness deposits. Cost ? 85c in Intermarche.


Actually, if you keep the kettle free from deposits (using vinegar - which can be re-used several times for this purpose), why do you need a filter on a kettle? They never used to have them at all. A quick weekly clean with vinegar and the filter effectively becomes redundant.

I suppose part of the cost of a replacement filter is "justified" by them having to maintain stock for all the different kettles they have produced etc

Regards
John


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Yes John. But this particular filter aids the auto switch off facility by restricting escaping steam. It's just disintegrated over time. 
I still can't bring myself to fork out a tenner for 2p of plastic especially when a whole new kettle is from a tenner and up.

Ray.


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## Ozzyjohn (Sep 3, 2007)

Aah, I see Ray - I hadn’t thought of the secondary purpose of the filter. So maybe a piece of fine mesh - the filter on ours is plastic - I bet I could fabricate a replacement from any one of the many sized nylon / plastic sieves in Mrs O’s surplus kitchen equipment box. Alternatively, and this may only be viable if you don’t fill the kettle through the spout, could you block off part of the spout to restrict the escaping steam so that the auto switch off works - without restricting the water flow significantly?

I’d rather fix something for free if I can - in fact I often attempt to repair or re-use things even when it makes no economic sense to do so. 


Regards,
John


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Yes, agreed John. My choice every time but as we do have several spares I don't think I will be fabricating a repair that might end up in hid cuppa. Not worth the hassle. But I will now have fun perusing the stalls for a suitable replacement. Although I will probably end up with a cupboard full of kettles.

Ray.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Come and live in the North

You don’t need filters or vinegar

Our kettles never fur up

It’s the water you see , only the people are hard, with a soft center 

Sandra


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Ha ha not likely Sandra. Living in France is like being on holiday all the time.

Ray.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Do you have Gas Ray? Just get one of those camping kettles with a whistle on like we have in the MH. It will never ever break. And people say I'm as thick as mince!


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Yep Baz. We only use the gas one when the power goes out. Last time was over a year ago. 
Thing is we are 'geared' up to make a cuppa blindfold as it's all in the one place. 

You get used to things. Like the 'home' screen on a computer.
Dunno what happened but after my wife had spent an hour clicking all sorts of things I ended up with a half page home screen?
It transpired it was bluddy Edge and nothing I tried would resize it to full page. Always had half a page and several small screens at the top. 
In the end had to delete Edge and lose all my favourites and tool bar tabs. Took a whole morning to get back to square one again.

I guess I'm a creature of habit.

Ray.


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