Global Gourmet Hot Dog Maker Machine

Win an American Hot Dog Maker #5
Well, it's not every day that I get a hot dog machine. But today was special, this neat box turned up and myself and the kids decided to give it a go straight away!

Unpacking it, you have the main unit, with the rollers on the top for the hot dogs, then a door below to fit your buns in and warm them up, just like you get at the shops!

We bought the 'regular' frankfurter style hot dogs, the tiny ones in the tins are no good as they're too thin (And taste horrible too), but get those or bigger and you'll be fine. The unit is ready to take 4 hot dogs as standard (But with experimentation I added another three on top of these and they cooked fine, just rotate them a couple of times, bonus!)

Here you see it warming up the kids lunch today! You switch the main red power switch on and then set the timer. I put it on for 15 minutes and it got the hot dogs really hot and buns hot and a little crispy, just how we like them.

We put them on cold, turned on and left it to it, no need to preheat or anything and you just wait until it pings and they're ready. Simple and the kids found it easy to use too, so something they'd happily use themselves too since no pans, mess or anything. Just pay attention that the rollers (in the top) get too hot to touch and the trays inside get really hot too, so be careful!

If I had to criticise it, it would be on the size of the bread roll tray. It says it'll take four, but buying supermarket hot dog buns (Which aren't huge) we could only fit 3 in, putting a fourth would have squashed them too much. But that's a minor thing really, just swap them around during cooking and all was fine.

I'm not sure if this was our imagination, but the taste of the hot dogs was much nicer than when we normally do them. (We usually cook them in water in a pan on the hob) So perhaps it's because they're not being drowned in water, but they had a lot of flavour to them and still nice and soft on the inside. We're very happy with this, one that will be used again and again.
Cleaning too wasn't too bad, wait for it to cool down, take the drip tray and bun tray and give them a clean in warm soapy water. Then get a cloth and clean the rollers. I turned the on switch on (but not the timer switch) which made the rollers roll so I could clean them all the way round. 5 minutes quick clean was all it took. Just as well as I'm lazy when it comes to cleaning up gadgets.

So we think this was a winner, quick easy meal and does the job perfectly.
Give it a try and let me know what you think: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MSK7C02

Note: I received this item in exchange for this unbiased and honest review.

Even better, you can also enter a giveaway to win one:

Win an American Hot Dog Maker #5

Fixing white goods and the spare parts scam

I'm sure a lot of people have had this problem. Some of their kitchen appliances (white goods) have failed and normally the appliance is quite a few years old. Now I know a lot of people aren't into pulling their electrical items apart, so will inevitably call somebody out who will say one of the following:

• "Appliance is too old, it needs replacing"
• "Uneconomical to repair, replace it"
• "Parts are hard to get for this now"

Or one of another similar list of reasons. Now the problem is this, manufacturers like to keep updating their product line, give you the shiny new colour, new front control panel with more buttons, make it more ECO-friendly, or one of many other things. Most of this is so they can sell more appliances, etc. Which is fine. Except in a lot of these items (Dishwashers, fridges, cooker, washing machine, dryer, microwave, television, DVD, etc) we don't buy regularly, we keep them for a long time and run them until they completely die. They get quite a bit of abuse. Think about your fridge for example. On 24x7, if it misses 5 minutes of being on you'll panic and curse at the device. So that 24x7 is quite punishing on the components, the compressor pump, cooling pipes, electronic (or mechanical) temperature controller, etc. And in the good old days, they were made to last, the components were decent quality, they were manufactured with care and tested well for their runtime expectations.

Now unfortunately I don't believe that's the case with modern devices. I don't believe the components are made to a good standard, they're not tested for longevity and in some cases are assembled and rushed out of the factory so quickly that genuine errors or details are missed that will cause premature (?) failure of the components.

So now onto my way of doing things. I very rarely call in a repairer to look into these things. I'll always take a look myself first. A lot of household appliances are quite simple in how they operate and all work to a few simple principles. Generally, power goes in, gets converted, switched or regulated and will then drive one or more items to produce the end result (Heck, apply that to everything in your life!).

Now onto the parts. Parts ARE available for pretty much everything. And they aren't as specific as the manufacturer or assembler likes to make you think. After all, a pump can be used in many appliances (Washing machine, dryer, dishwasher), so why would one pump not work for all those appliances? Well generally it's because of the fittings the manufacturer (Or assembler, because let's face it, the dishwasher company won't manufacture the pump, they'll buy it in to specification and assemble it into their device) decided to use that makes it 'unique' to their product.

That takes me onto replacement parts. The spare parts industry is huge, and it can be as people need spare parts, either the fitter who comes out and fixes your appliances, or the DIYer who needs the spare part. Either way we know we need xyz part for our shiny appliance, and so we happily tap that appliance and part into the web and duly order the part we're told we need.

I'm guilty of that. I realised this over the past few days, and now I've realised it, I'm banging my head against the desk. Why would it be a specific part for that appliance? Surely if we know the specifications, we can use any old part. OK we might have to adapt it, or use a different fitting, but that ultimately will work! (Caveat, if you don't know what you're doing with electical systems, plumbing, etc, be wary of this approach!)

So just for future, THINK before ordering the part you're told to for a specific appliance, model and part. Look wider and think, can I do this using more basic off the shelf parts? Try local DIY store or plumber/builders merchants, as chances are the pipe, pump, fitting, electrical switch, motor, etc, are easily sourced and will fit with the right tweak or enclosure!

Also, be wary of the online spare parts industry, specifically for your white goods. These guys are also into ripping you off, stating 'alternative' similar parts or similar wording. Most times their part/product listing database is nowhere near accurate. E.g. you tell it you want part xyz for appliance manufactured by abc model def. Their database tells you a similar part you need, but will ALWAYS contain the words "Please check specifications before ordering/fitting" which basically means they're trying to sell you anything they want, regardless of if it'll fit or not! They'll then try to get you to by the "Genuine" manufacturer part at higher cost, but then won't state the dimensions or specifications for this manufacturer part!

Here is a DIRECT quote from such a website, when somebody dares to ask the specifications of a "genuine" manufacturer spare part:

"what is the internal diameter of the rubber end ?" - User question

"Our parts usually do not have measurements listed as they are model specific. As long as your model number matches this part, it will fit your appliance." - website answer