this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2025
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Brussels

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No junkyards in Brussels & appliance parts dealers don’t have the part I need. Do I have to throw away a whole washing machine? (fedia.io)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I fixed the motor for my washing machine. All the components work fine now (motor, drain pump, water inlet valve). But the controller board is trapped in an error state because it does not know that I fixed the motor.

So I need to reset the PCB to clear the error. Beko refuses to tell me the special sequence of keys to reset the board. And I won’t pay them €200 (more than the value of the quite old machine) to send someone out to reset the board.

Buying a new PCB would likely fix the problem, but the parts dealers sell just about every part for my model except the PCB.

I need a junkyard that that allows people to remove parts. These seem non-existent in Brussels. I only found 2 trash points where large appliances go to die. I’ve been kicked out of them like half a dozen times now. It seems they pile the e-waste quite high, which causes more damage and creates a safety hazard (which would be part of why they kick people out). They seem to be breaking stuff down to its raw materals for melting down. I see no middle step in the process; no way for repairers to salvage the components they need.

So ultimately it looks like I will have to throw away a functional washing machine just because some bits on the circuit board are flipped the wrong way.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah but I boycott both eBay and Paypal.

In fact mail order is generally a problem because I also have problems with banks and try to rely on cash locally. Prepaid cards would normally be the way unbanked people can make online purchases but Belgium does not seem to have them. I have only seen long-term payment cards, like what bPost charges ~€20/year for.