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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

Tip for Testing the Door Switches in a Microwave Oven

Most microwave ovens have three safety microswitches in the door latch assembly. The diagram below is typical: These microswitches aren't the most robust switches ever made and can be down right squirrely. They may test good one minute and then look bad the next. When a switch looks flakey like that, trust your meter and just replace it. Chief jumptrout's experience with this is typical: Source: Weird microswitch
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

0

Tip for removing the top panel and tub from the NEW versions of the Whirlpool Cabrio washers

Just when we were getting used to the old Whirlpool Cabrio (and Maytag Bravo and Kenmore Oasis) washers-- not liking them, mind you-- but getting used to working on this cheesy bucket of bolts, Whirlpool goes and changes the design. Two things in particular that have changed that affect how the washer is disassembled is the top panel and tub removal. Academy Fellow nickfixit explains in his own colorful way: Source: Cannot release top spring clips on Whirlpool WTW5600XW0 Cabrio

Tip for checking a mechanical cold control in a refrigerator

Some refrigerators use a mechanical cold control like this one: for regulating the temperature inside the compartments. These controls have a feeler capillary tube attached to the body of the cold control. Inside the body, changes in temperature, as picked up by the capillary tube, cause the bellows to expand and contract which, in turn, causes a set of electrical contacts to open and close. These contacts control the line power to the compressor and need to be closed for the compressor to run.
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

2

Three reasons why doing component replacements on electronic boards is a bad idea

A recent topic in the tech forums here at Appliantology illustrates perfectly a point I’ve made in the past that replacing components on electronic control boards, rather than replacing the whole board, is a bad idea both for the customer and for the technician. The discussion was about a power supply problem on the main control board in a Kitchenaid KSCS25INSS refrigerator which is NLA. This topic pointed out three specific reasons why replacing components on electronic control boards is i

Things customers say while you're in their home on a service call...

Every day, professional Appliantologists have the unique privilege of going into people's homes on appliance repair service calls. And it really is a privilege... most of the time. We meet all kinds of people and every professional Appliantologist has fond memories of those "special" customers because of some of the things those customers say to brighten our day while we're in their homes and working on their appliance. Here's a slice-of-life collection of some of these memorable pearls from our

Theory of Operation of Electrode Gas Flame Detection

If you're working on a gas stove where the burners keep clicking even after the flame is established, you may be tempted to throw a new spark module at it and hope for the best. But you would probably be disappointed. Let's start the troubleshooting process with a fundamental understanding of how the spark module is supposed to detect that the burner has established a flame: Source: G.E. ZGU36L6H4SS Cooktop

The Wisdom of the Samurai

<p align="center"><a href="http://appliantology.smugmug.com/Other/Email/15982217_Lxgcv#1204029422_vWpkN-A-LB" title="Buddyrows" target="_blank"><img src="http://appliantology.smugmug.com/Other/Email/photo/1204029422_vWpkN-L.jpg" title="Buddyrows" alt="Buddyrows"/></a></p> Samurai Appliance Repair Man http://fixitnow.com

The Willie Method ™ for testing the radiant (flame) sensor in a gas dryer burner

Gas dryer not firing up and all the components of the burner check out good but you're not sure how to check that flame sensor on the side of the burner tube? Samurai Appliance Repair Academy Fellow Budget Appliance Repair (a.k.a., Willie) reveals the wax on-wax off moves for testing the radiant sensor in a gas dryer. Here's the part link for the replacement radiant sensor ==> Flame Sensor This video shows you how to replace it: Source: Maytag gas dryer LDG9334AAE not heating--can I jump
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

2

The Willie Method ™ for testing a microwave oven magnetron tube

Sometimes, when you're troubleshooting a microwave, it can be tricky to tell whether or not the magnetron tube is bad. In the case with many GE microwaves, the magnetron can test good according to the filament resistance specifications yet fail when you're actually trying to get the damn thing to heat up your bagel. One of the outstanding Master Appliantologists at Appliantology.org, Budget Appliance Repair (a.k.a., Willie) offered the following procedure for assessing the operational state of t
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

3

The Warm Refrigerator Troubleshooting Flowchart

Refrigerator warming up and you can't think straight enough to figure out what's wrong because you're in a pure, blind panic? Well, you just unbunch them panties and sing along with the Samurai in his Warm Refrigerator Troubleshooting Flowchart and you'll have the problem figured out before you can say, "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis."

The Smart Kitchen of Tomorrow is Here Today

I know from comments on my previous blog post on The Future of Appliance Repair: a Profession or an "Idiocracy"? that many appliance techs are bemoaning the increasing computerization of appliances. For most of these techs, it's because they have no idea how to troubleshoot them and so feel threatened. Many are even thinking, wishfully but incorrectly, that the increasing use of electronics in appliances is just a fad and will go away.  Nyet, tovarish!  Computers in appliances are not

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"
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