Appliances tend to fail at the worst possible moment, and the replacement is rarely as simple as buying one. Collecting a new appliance is only half the job, because the old one is still standing in the kitchen and very few retailers will take it away unless you paid for that at the point of sale. Arranging van hire in Warrington for a morning deals with both ends at once, which is quicker and considerably less irritating than waiting three weeks for a delivery slot.
One Trip That Does Two Jobs
The reason this works so well as a single hire is that the two halves fit together. You drive to the retailer or the warehouse with the old appliance already loaded, collect the new one, and drop the old one at a recycling centre or a scrap merchant on the way home. That turns three separate problems into one morning. It also means you are not standing a broken washing machine in the garden for a fortnight while you work out what to do with it. The planning that makes it work is mostly measuring, because the commonest failure on this job is not transport at all, it is discovering that the new appliance is a few millimetres wider than the gap it has to slide into or will not turn the corner into the kitchen.
Measure The Gap And The Route First
Measure the space the appliance will live in, including the depth once the door is closed and the clearance a door needs to open fully. Then measure every doorway, turn and threshold between the front door and that space, and remember to allow for the trolley underneath and for the packaging if you are not unwrapping outside. American-style fridge freezers are the usual culprit, being both wider and deeper than a standard unit, and range cookers are heavy enough that a wrong turn cannot simply be reversed. Check the position of the water and waste connections and the socket before the new appliance arrives, since a machine that fits the gap but cannot reach the tap is no further forward.
Choosing A Van For One Or Two Large Items
You are not moving a houseful, so the sensible vehicle is one you can park outside a house and manoeuvre on a residential street. A short wheelbase low roof van takes a washing machine, a dishwasher, an oven or a standard fridge freezer comfortably and will get under most retail park height barriers, which matters because a good many collection points are inside covered service yards. Where the appliance is a tall American-style fridge freezer or a range cooker, a long wheelbase high roof van gives the height to keep it upright without tilting, which for refrigeration is worth having.
Keeping Refrigeration Upright
Fridges and freezers should travel upright wherever it is possible, because the compressor oil can migrate into the cooling circuit if the unit is laid over. Where a unit genuinely has to be tilted to get it through a door, keep the angle modest and the time short, and then let it stand upright for several hours before switching it on so anything that has moved settles back. Defrost and drain a freezer completely before it goes anywhere, since meltwater in a van is unpleasant and meltwater freezing in the drain line is worse. Tape doors shut and remove or secure the shelves, which are glass in most modern units and will not survive being loose.
Getting The Old Appliance Out And Away
Disconnect properly rather than hopefully. Isolate the water at the valve before you unscrew anything, have towels ready because there is always more water in a machine than you expect, and get a registered engineer to disconnect anything gas rather than doing it yourself. Old appliances are electrical waste and cannot go in a household bin. Household recycling centres take them, though van access rules and permit schemes differ between Warrington, Halton, St Helens and Cheshire East, so check the site you intend to use before the day. Scrap merchants will often take metal appliances, and refrigeration in particular has to be handled properly because of the gases involved. Retailers are also obliged to offer a take-back route on a like-for-like purchase, which is worth asking about at the counter.
Fitting It Into A Morning
This is a job that suits an early start, because retail parks are quiet before ten and recycling centres get busy later. We are open Monday to Saturday from 8am to 4pm and closed on Sunday, so collecting at eight leaves the whole morning for the round trip. There is free secure parking on site if you would rather leave your own car with us, no deposit is required on most vehicles, and our depot on Tilley Street at the main entrance to Cockhedge Shopping Centre beside Asda is straight onto the routes out to the retail parks. Households around Westbrook van hire and Walton van hire are minutes away in either direction.
Collecting From A Warehouse Or Clearance Outlet
A good many appliances are bought from a clearance outlet, a graded stock warehouse or a private seller rather than a high street retailer, and those collections work differently. Graded stock is sold as seen, so inspect the appliance before it goes in the vehicle and check the specific fault or cosmetic damage the grading refers to, since a dent on a hidden side is a bargain and a dent on the door is not. Warehouses often load by forklift and will want the vehicle positioned a particular way, while private sellers usually have no equipment at all and expect you to bring a trolley and a second person. Ask in both cases whether the appliance is already disconnected and accessible, and take a photograph before loading so there is no argument later about who caused which mark.
Tell us what you are collecting and what is coming out, and we will make sure you have something that takes both in one trip. Call the depot on 01925 396 222 the day before you go.
