Many people who are unfamiliar with the appliance industry and often spare parts in general don’t get why some things are so complex and that is completely understandable in many respects. It is better for us to try to explain this as succinctly as possible and the reasons why contacting and checking via email is better as we're not chasing every sale; we're chasing getting it right. 

The common things we see pretty much every day is people relying on images and sizes, numbers on parts and so on to try to identify what it is that they might need and sadly, for many years, that’s not enough. 

We could bore you to death explaining all this at great length and how it all works for each brand or manufacturer and for many, even which particular machine it might be, but you don’t have all day, and to be honest, you’re probably not all that interested. 

But this huge complexity is why we recommend that you ask us as, an end user making an error in ordering a part has a 55% or greater chance where it’s complex that they will get it wrong. 

With us doing the same thing, there’s a less than 0.001% chance of any error, which is why it’s very often better to ask us to help you. 

Yes, we will get it wrong less than once in ten thousand.

But, we know and understand how to check and track parts.  And when we ask you for information it's not because we're trying to be difficult or make things hard, it's so that we get the part/s you need 100% correct, first time, every time. 

Why Is It So Complicated 

Well, back in the good old days makers would have a range, all retailers would have that same range and all the models would be related often sharing common parts between them. So you’d have on pump for example that fitted scores of models. 

That is not the case now. 

Consumers want different specifications, colours, features, and so on, and retailers want exclusive or as exclusive as they can get machines to prevent price comparisons and all that sort of stuff, so we end up with a plethora of models, all with slight variations. 

Then we have the internet. 

You see, it used to be that when there was any real substantial change to a machine you’d get a different model number. Which was great, different model meant different parts and you looked it up on that and “bingo”, correct parts. 

Not now. Now there will be incremental and sometimes even major changes made but the model still sold under the same model number only now you have umpteen versions of that model and, believe us, it’s not uncommon at all now to see scores of versions, often over 100 distinct versions of a particular model. 

So no, it’s not easy these days. 

And this us dumbing it down as short as we can, we’re not even getting into changes to parts here!!

So what many people think is simple, we’re afraid it isn’t. 

Multiple Variations & Changes

What all this leads to is multiple iterations of any model. To put that in a way that most people will understand, it’s like cars in a way. 

You have a say, Ford Fiesta, but what one, from what year, on what VIN number and so on, and you need all that as they’re all different in some way/s and yet, they are all a Ford Fiesta. It’s the same with appliances now. 

You have software variations, fit variations, even wholly different parts used between some versions and then atop all that, you have date code changes, changes to parts and it all gets very confusing very fast if you don’t know what machine it is, what part it is, where to look, where to check for changes and so forth. 

It would be crazy to expect a normal person, unfamiliar with how all that works to be able to suss what part/s it was that they needed. And to be correct. 

Even people in the trade struggle at times so there’s no stigma or embarrassment in asking for help, in fact, we openly encourage it. 

Doing so prevents errors, costs and time for both you, the customer and ourselves plus it means we give better service. 

Common Things That Change

• Software on boards
• Sizes
• Fitments, how a part connects and secures
• Mouldings that are shaped to fit
• Element ratings
• Thermostat ratings
• Power ratings
• Connections
• Internal wiring of parts
• Inlet and outlets as well as sizes
• Profiles of seals etc
• Weighting of hinges, you need the correct spring strengths etc as well as fitting, sizes

And this is not an exhaustive list, these are just some of the most common things off the tops of our heads.