He may not be as famous as singer Susan Boyle, but a Gwent man has created his own YouTube sensation, with videos of how to fit parts to fridges and washing machines.

The do it yourself videos created by Paul Charmbury, 43, of Caerwent, have now been viewed by over 500,000 people on the website.

They have helped him build up a business selling household appliance parts all over the world.

His business is doing so well, he is hoping to sell his 500,000th part during 2010 - just two and a half years after he set up the online company.

Mr Charmbury believes he was the first person to post DIY appliance-fitting videos on the internet and he has established www.apart4u.co.uk as an international hit, now employing seven people.

Mr Charmbury sold appliance parts from four shops but after what he describes as “the demise of the high street” and competition from industry giants, he sold up in the late 1990s and spent all his money buying a boat and sailing around the world.

On his return, he sold parts on Ebay to earn a living before the idea for www.apart4u.co.uk came to him four years ago.

He said: “A friend in Scotland asked me ‘how do I fit a cooker element?’ I’d had a video camera for Christmas and thought the easiest way would be to make a video tutorial.”

Mr Charmbury believed D.I.Y videos would encourage the public to buy parts off him rather than simply paying a professional to do the work.

He has now created hundreds of tutorials, selling the 100,000 household appliance parts he stocks all over Europe and to countries like Australia and Singapore.

He and his staff make the tutorials at his Caldicot warehouse, filming, editing and doing voiceovers.

Mr Charmbury added: “One video can sell a part for 15 years. People watch them on YouTube and that directs them to our website.

“Customers are constantly asking us for new videos and we are sending up to 100 parts a day out in the post all over the world.”