Help with old Ekco U353

[Carol Witt]

I am a heartbroken Scot writing from Sydney Australia. I have carried around an old Ekco U353 radio (that was a wedding present to my parents) for many years. It always worked perfectly. My daughter’s boyfriend (a sound technician no less) decided to turn it on and off and on and off rather rapidly. No idea why… probably experimenting. He then declared “oops, it’s a valve radio! I might have blown the valve!”

Well, he’s done something - it is now stone dead and does not make a sound.

It is a pretty uncommon item in Australia. I was wondering….

Is that probably what he has done? What would rapid off/on/off/on do to such a radio. It was happily playing (well warmed up) when this happened. And it was working 100% before that. Can you advise me what to do now? I’m hoping it is just a question of finding a valve and replacing it?? How that’s done is anyone’s guess. But I guess I’ll approach this in stages.

Any help whatsoever would be very very appreciated.

Cheers,

Carol

[Station X]

Hello and welcome to the forums.

The first thing to check is whether the valves are lighting up. You should be able to observe the glow through the back cover, possibly in the dark. Report back what you see.

A feature of 'U' series sets is that if one of the valves blows none of the others will light up, even if they're perfectly OK.

[JacKam_]

a fuse, maybe ?

[paulsherwin]

This radio is 60 years old, and if it's never had any restoration work done to it then it's been on borrowed time for a while. It will be full of Hunts Mouldseal capacitors which really need changing. With a bit of TLC it could soldier on for another 60 years.

It doesn't normally hurt a valve radio to turn it off and on again rapidly, so your daughter's boyfriend shouldn't feel too guilty. It just reflects the fragility of the unrestored set. It's unlikely that a valve has been damaged - they are a lot tougher and long lasting than most people assume. My first guess would be that the on/off switch has failed open circuit - the contacts can oxidise after many years.

The switch will be repairable, but you really need some help from someone familiar with valve radios. There are plenty of vintage radio enthusiasts in Australia, but it's a big place (Sydney alone is a big place) so you're unlikely to find somebody suitable living next door. A modern electronics service company is very unlikely to be able to help.

I can't remember if this model has an internal mains fuse, but if it does then that would be an easy thing to check.

This is what's called a 'live chassis' radio - one side of the mains is directly connected to the chassis. Be very careful working on it and always unplug it before doing anything internal to it - don't rely on the on/off switch.

[threeseven]

The on/off switch is a distinct possibility, if it is, they sometimes sort themselves out with some careful manipulation. You need to be familiar with how they should feel and sound when operated though. I've had a couple of sets that had that issue. As has been suggested though, first check is to see if the valve heaters glow, this can be seen through the slots in the back cover. If you have no knowledge or experience of electronics, old or new though, it is unwise and unsafe to go any further.
In that case you would need to find someone with the knowledge of such items to repair it.
I have several of these sets and use one regularly, they are good performers and have a good look.

[Nuvistor]

They are nice radios, I have the Ferranti version. A couple of web links that may be useful for you.
https://vintage-radio.com.au

http://spindoctormusic.com.au/valve_...ir_sydney.html

I have no knowledge of either organisation but they are a little nearer to you than the UK, hope you can get it fixed.
Frank

[JacKam_]

There is a service shhet at :
https://www.************************.../EKCO/U353.PDF

[JacKam_]

Oops, I didn't know that the site is banned. I have downloaded the pdf.

[Cobaltblue]

Hi JacKam

You are trying to link to a site that carries circuits available top right.

If you download the pdf that will be deleted as well.

Read rule B8

Cheers

Mike T

[Station X]

Here's an extract from the circuit showing the area where the fault is most likely to be found. I don't know whether a "sound engineer" would be capable of understanding this.

[dave walsh]

This is interesting Carol. Don't despair! One place in your neighbourhood suggests 400$+ for a repair and more for something European .
You can safely ignore that I would think.

I imagine you are unable to effect a repair yourself but I could be wrong There seems to be a place in Greenwood?-ask them and others.

Above all don't accept any quote from anyone without advice from someone on here or in Australia that you feel able to rely on. This should NOT be an expensive episode. As implied earlier, the term "sound engineer" suggests someone who experiments with sound in a trendy manner but may actually [perhaps] have even less real technical knowledge than yourself. Apologies if I'm wrong about this but it's not clear!

As Paul suggests it could have happened anytime but even if the repair cost is relatively minimal you may want to extract an incompetence levy from the perpetrator, if only to test him out. I have a daughter

Best wishes and let us know how you go on.

Dave W

[petervk2mlg]

Hi Carol,
I can give you the name and contact details of a competent vintage radio tech in Sydney if you like.

Peter

[JacKam_]

Carol.

Unplug it, wait 10 minutes or more, then use a multimeter to check the path from the plug to power transformer.

[julie_m]

There isn't a power transformer; this is a "universal" set, for AC or DC supplies.

[Station X]

Indeed. That's quite clear from the circuit extract I posted in post #10.