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Samurai Appliance Repair Man's Blog

A blog by Samurai Appliance Repair Man in General

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About this blog

Pearls of appliance repair wisdom from the Appliantology Forums

Entries in this blog

GE Refrigerator Repair Survival Kit

Brother Durham has assembled a very handy collection of essential technical manuals and tools needed when working on GE refrigerators. Brethren, let us attend: Adding a couple shameless plugs of my own... How to test GE refrigerator fan motors with a 9-volt battery: http://appliantology.org/topic/45190-how-to-test-the-evaporator-and-condenser-fan-motors-in-a-ge-refrigerator-with-a-9-volt-battery/ How to troubleshoot GE inverter compressors: http://appliantology.org/topic/44976-troubleshooting-an
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

8

Gas range goes BOOM! after a particular stove burner is lit

In this adventure into appliance dysfunction, the customer called me with a scary problem with her gas range. After she would fire up the left-front (LF) cooktop burner and it was on for less than a minute, a big flash-boom would erupt from underneath the burners. I reproduced the problem when I was there and it was a pretty impressive explosion! I wish I had gotten video of it but thought better of repeating it. I knew I was dealing with a gas leak and had to get to the burner gas supply tubes
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

6

Wall Oven Wiring Fail

I went to remove a wall oven today and ran into a little problem. Can you find it? I run into this kind of problem all the time up here in the backwoods of New Hampster. It's an endemic problem with electricians and handymen not bothering to read the installation instructions. For the record, this installation fail was done by a licensed electrician. Kind of a wake up call for the whole licensing racket, isn't it? Having a "licensed" electrician is still no guarantee that he knows what in the h

What about Protection Plans or Extended Warranties for New Appliances? Are they worth buying?

I get asked about new appliance protection plans and extended warranties a lot both during real-life service calls as The Appliance Guru and via emails from this site. So, FWIW, I thought I'd offer my contemplations and musings on the topic. First off, you gotta realize that protection plans and extended warranties are only as good as the people offering or doing the actual service work. Protection plans are basically a form of insurance. Lots of companies want to get in on the protection plan b

Soot: A Clear and Present Danger in your Gas Oven

I was at a service call on gas range the other day for an oven that wouldn't bake or broil. The cause turned out to be a bad range control board. Nothing unusual about that. The astonishing thing with this range was the inside of the oven cell-- all the surfaces inside were coated with a thick layer of soot (click the images for a larger view): This is NOT a normal condition in any gas range. If you see soot accumulated on your oven cell walls, even a little, STOP USING IT AND GET IT CHECKED O

The Silver Bullet Fix for LE Error Codes in LG Dishwashers

Of all the error codes seen in LG dishwashers, the LE error is probably the common one asked about in The Samurai Appliance Repair Academy Kitchen Forum. So much so that it seemed like this one needed a Silver Bullet answer. And who better to fire that silver bullet than the Dean of LG Appliantology himself, john63. Y'all go grab you a cold one and let's listen to the big guns going off: Source: LG LDF6810ST Error Code "LE"

Diagnosing Catastrophic Front Load Washer Drum Bearing and Inner Basket Failures

Front Load Washers Rule! First, lemme start off by saying I love front load washers. I think they offer the best clothes washing technology out there combining low water use with a gentle tumble wash that's easy on the fabrics, making your clothes last longer, and does a very thorough job of cleaning the clothes compared to the high efficiency (HE) top load washers. We're a family of five with dogs and cats. We've used a front load washer for over 16 years at our house and, aside from routine r

How to troubleshoot a Bosch dishwasher that won't finish a cycle, runs forever, or shows 2H in the display

This is always a problem with the dishwasher's water heating system. In Bosch dishwashers, if they can't heat the water enough, they'll just keep running until they do. Kinda dumb design, I think. In comparison, Whirlpool-built dishwashers at least give you an obvious fault code like the clean light flashing seven times. But, I rectum that's my Pro-Amerkan bias bleedin' through. Water heating problems in Bosch dishwashers come down to one of two problems: - problem with the control board not se
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

0

Icemaker Wiring Info for Frigidaire Whirlpool and LG Refrigerators

Sometimes, you want to use an ice maker made from one manufacturer in a refrigerator made by a different manufacturer. The trick is knowing how to map out the wire harness so you can splice the wires into the harness in the right order and not pop the breaker or blow out the ice maker. Brother Reginald has prepared this nice table that lists wire cross reference info for Whirlpool, Frigidaire, and LG ice makers. Wire away! Source: How do I splice ice maker wires?
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

1

Every day should be a day of thanksgiving

It's interesting how just finding the little things to be thankful for each day can transform our outlook and affect everything about us-- our mood, attitude, memory, even our health. Sometimes, I lose sight of that in my day-to-day struggles and get bogged down in tedious things or things that are not uplifting or beneficial. Or I focus and dwell on things that give me tension or irritation. That's why I'm glad there's a special day just for giving thanks-- it's a reminder that everyday shoul
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

2

What brand of appliance can you buy today that will give 10 to 15 years of trouble-free operation?

Many appliance owners are frustrated today because they don't realize that the days of buying an appliance and having it work trouble-free for 10 to 15 years are long gone. The good news is that you can buy an appliance today for about what you would have paid 15-20 years ago. The bad news is that there's an on-going cost of appliance ownership in doing repairs-- industry average is every 2 to 4 years. What varies among brands and models is how big will that repair need to be, not whether or not
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

0

Announcing the Winners of the First-Annual-Ever-yet-(somehow)-World-Famous Appliantology Photo Caption Contest!

We held the First-Annual-Ever-yet-(somehow)-World-Famous Appliantology Photo Caption Contest both at our Facebook Page and here at my Appliantology blog. The judges have all harumphed, guffawed, flatulated and conferred. And now, finally... The results are in! Before I reveal the clever and literarily-endowed recipients of the coveted Appliantology Photo Caption Award™, I'll show you the uncaptioned photo. Behold... Here, now, I give you the two winners for the First-Annual-Ever-yet-(somehow)-
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

1

How to Fix All Serial Communications Error Codes in Whirlpool-built Front-load Washers

The dreaded “serial communications error” in Whirlpool-built front-load washers appears as various codes, depending on the particular model. On the Old-Skool Duet washers, the most common communications error code was F-11: communications error between the Central Control Unit (CCU) and Motor Control Unit (MCU). On the new model Duet washers, this same error has been re-labelled as F-28. On some Maytag front loaders (all built by Whirlpool, in case you didn’t already know that), you may see an F
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

4

Caption Contest! There's even a prize... read on!

I removed the back of the control panel on a range the other day, and found this little critter. (My customer freaked!) Seems like this pic is just a-squeakin' for a good caption. If you've got one, put it in the comments below. Vote for a caption by "liking" it. If your caption gets the most "likes," you'll win your very own official Appliantology travel mug and will be the envy of all your friends. Contest ends at midnight this coming Sunday, November 24.
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

9

Oven Self-Clean Folly

This is the time of year, the countdown to Thanksgiving, that we professional Appliantologists lovingly refer to as “Cooking Season.” I love cooking season. It marks the next season in my local appliance service bidness from the warm refrigerator fire drills all summer long, through the inevitable slowdown after Labor Day, to cooking season when families get together to break bread and turkey legs, crack a few cold ones, catch up on each other’s lives and generally get on each other’s nerves.
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

0

Naked Before Millions

Hoo-wee! We just passed One Million views on my YouTube channel! With over 140 videos (and counting) of my gnarly, naked knuckles whuppin' up on a bunch of appliances, you're sure to find some inspiration for your own appliance battles. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and observe, first-hand, my patented appliance repair battle techniques.
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

3

Learn Samurai's Secret that Stops the Stink in Your Front-Load Washer

One of the most common complaints I hear people make about front-load washers is about odor: stinky basket, stinky door gasket, stinky towels, stinky underwear... okay, I'll stop there. In almost every case, when I see (smell) this problem on service calls, they all invariably have the same cause: incorrect detergent usage, either too much or the wrong kind. For front-load washers (and HE top-loaders), you should only be using HE detergent. And, no, using less of the regular stuff is not the sam
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

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