Britannia Ovens (esp Range cookers) your experience

[Guest]

I've had it with that thing. If it was up to me it would be on Ebay and I'd just buy another Eglu. Its soo hard to clean, you can't reach inside it properly so I have to use a broom and then there's those roosting bars.

 

Now I'll admit that I wasnt' in the mood today but I do it every Sunday. I feel like a day off just feet up watching the Christms movies and sitting in front of the fire. But its Sunday so it has to be cleaned.

 

When we got it 3 of the bars fell off. I've tried nails which I never seem to have in the right lengh, wood clue and staples from my staple gun but NOTHING I do seems to get them to stay joined on. Every time I clean it more bars come off and will not re-attach. I lay them all out and stomp in the original tacks and pray they don't fall off when I pick them up. This is how I got it out today.

 

 

Then I spent 20 minutes trying to put it all back together again. Then I gingerly picked it up and..

 

All the bits I'd got back on fell off again.

 

Then I lost my temper and threw it back on the ground.

 

BIG MISTAKE

 

 

So I've spent ages cleaning individual bars and laying them back inside the cube - none of them are attached except 2 which valliantly hang on to the middle strut.

 

They are only fit for firewood those bars.

[Nicola H]

Oh dear what a shame that isn't very good at all..............

 

In my first Eglu a Mark 1 the bars did the same thing I used small screws to put them back together and they never fell apart again, later on i replaced the bars with new ones bought from Omlet when they were half price.................I would try some small screws it should work.

[Guest]

Thanks I havn't tried screws. There is a huge box of them in the shed I'll have to give it a go, soon as I can face being outside again.

[chelsea]

I dont know whether its just the cube bars? we have 2 eglus with spare roosting bars and still have our original bars (sept 2006) and all intact.

[Snowy]

Not a good day for that to happen is it? My eglu bars and their spare set were absolutely fine. But the cube bars are very fragile. I need a second set but am loath to fork out for them.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Poor you, how frustrating .

 

My 2 sets of eglu II bars have had a couple of bars come loose. I've hammered in tiny wee nails which seem to do the trick.

[feemcg]

My cube bars were the same (there's been a lot of posts about them and I'm sure some people have complained to omlet too). My OH eventually screwed them all together and they're great now - they should come in 2 pieces, in my opinion. When you consider what we've all paid too . My eglu bars are solid and I've never had a problem with them.

[Guest]

My eglu bars were fine, still are although its sitting empty.

 

The length of these cube bars makes it hard I guess. Oh just noticed its dark, better go and check the girls havn't fallen through them!

[Chicken Licken]

My original eglu bars are great, my first spare pair are waiting to be burnt - they were loose when they arrived and quickly broke, the second replacement set are fine. I think sometimes they are poorly put together and don't always fit well into the moulded shape of the eglu! Still sure they will make good (though expensive) kindling for the fire.

[BeckyBoo]

Cube bars are RUBBISH! Ours fell apart within two or three cleans and I had to nail them back together which I resented having spent the best part of £600 or whatever it was on a cube. The run is also impossible to clean as previously mentioned as you've either got to take it to bits (ours is not now mobile as the grass has grown through the skirting) or crawl in through the tiny door. Poor you, I hate doing something when I'm not in the mood it makes things so hard work. Hope you have a better day tomorrow.

Mrs Bertie

[Egluntyne]

One set of Eglu roosting bars fell apart the first time I used the power washer on them

 

A nail soon fixed it.

[Los Tres Pollos]

Just want to add my 2p worth as all the comments seem to be bad. My was delivered in August with a spare set of bars. Daily s"Ooops, word censored!"ping and regular cleaning every two/three weeks (swapping between sets), both sets are still intact, no issues.

 

Just hope I haven't spoken too soon :!:

[BeckyBoo]

I thought I'd better just qualify y last post as I was interrupted by a small demanding boy, I intended to add that complain as I might, I still absolutely love our cube, its funky, I can hose it and dry it within an hour and put the chickens back in it and it's a real conversation point, never mind that our hens love it. So the roosting bars and titchy door are niggles, albeit fairly major ones at this time of year when everything to do with hosing is nasty and cold!

 

Mrs B

[Janty]

I prefer the cube to the eglu but we did get the cube first...I think that it's a case of what you are used to. The roosting bars on both the eglu and cube have been a pain though. I ordered new sets which arrived with big chunks out of them and one set was falling apart. When I rang Omlet I was just told to glue them back together. After sales care does leave a lot to be desired I feel.

 

I took the roosting bars apart, sanded them down, glued and screwed them and then finished them off with several coats of plasticote. They have been fine since.

[Egluntyne]

Why not make your own roosting bars like charlottechicken did **See Here**.

[The Dogmother]

Mel had some eglu bars that fell apart, but I think she just screwed them back together.

[Guest]

Yep I'm going to try screwing, nailing and stapling doesn't work so I hope thats the answer.

[Rona]

If the wood splits, you might just have to drill a small pilot hole first.

[The Dogmother]

I'd recommend drilling a hole first, then counter-sinking it before screwing the bars together, but then I'm picky

[Egluntyne]

Use a bradawl to get it going.

[Guest]

oooh I had to look Bradawl up. My Dad always called it a "pig stick" which I knew wasn't the right word for it but I've never called it anything else.

[The Dogmother]

I'd be inclined to call Omlet and let them know Pengy.

[Guest]

Mum did call when we first got it but she couldn't get past the call centre woman on the phone who really didn't seem to care. Mentioned that it was a "recon" Yeah, those bars were new - no way had a chicken been on them.

[The Dogmother]

They don't use a call centre Pengy - all the calls go through the three girls working at the Mothership. You really should try to call again or email johannes@omlet.co.uk

 

When they sell a recon or ex-show model, they always replace the bars (for hygiene reasons) and also the shade. I know this because my orange eglu was a recon and was spotless too.

 

Often the recons are used at show, but without any chooks in them, so they often aren't even marked. i do know though that they have had problems with the roosting bars of late and that they are looking at some alternatives.

 

I'm not excusing any bad customer service that you may have experienced, just passing on information that i have; I hope that it helps.

[Rona]

I bought a recon eglu that had been used at a show. It had obviously had chickens in it and the perches had been used, but I gave it a good clean anyway before my girls arrived. The shade was a new one but I think it is a cube one as it is rectangular and not pointy. I bought a spare set of perches so I have one set in use and one in the wash. They seem to hold together well enough but I can imagine that the longer length of the cube ones would make them very fragile as they are quite flimsily assembled.