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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

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

Official Appliantology Service Call Mugs™ now available

Brethren, we're always looking for new ways to establish credibility and trust with our customers. This is an especially difficult task in our trade because of the many hacks, shysters and parts-changing monkeys that infest our venerable Craft. Now you can instantly show your customers that you're not just another PCM-- nawsir, you can show them that you're an appliantological GOD with the Official Appliantology Service Call Mug™! There's just no surer way to inspire trust and confidence in

Digital Data Communications in Appliances - Samsung Dryer

Most appliances today use computers to control the various appliance functions. Computers talk in logical 1's and 0's which are actually pulses or square waves of voltage that you can see on an oscilloscope or measure with a meter. These pulses are arranged in a specific sequence to transmit and receive information inside the appliance. In this video, the Samurai uses a Samsung dryer to show you what these pulses look like and how to use this information for troubleshooting. Come with me no
Tech Talk

Refrigerator troubleshooting quiz

Problem statement: Freezer (FC) at 0ºF. Refrigerator (RC) section is warm. Tech's questions— help a brutha out: How can we force defrost in the RC compartment? Explain your answer. How can we make sure the RC fan is running? Explain your answer. How do we make sure the compressor is running at full speed? Explain your answer. How do you explain the high temps in the RC?  (For you computer virgins, you can mouse over the schematic and click for a larger vi
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man in Tech Talk

11

New Training Course Coming Soon - Oven and Range Repair

UPDATE: The Oven and Range Repair course is now open for enrollment. Click here for details.  Team Samurai is turning up the heat this July with a new full-length technical course: Oven and Range Repair The content that we’ve created for you is absolutely fantastic. We cannot wait to be able to open the doors so you can see it for yourself. This is a mondo course, with over 30 original videos and 7 Case Studies, that was almost a year in the making using the same training structur
Tech Talk

Samurai's Big Three Troubleshooting Secrets

It's tough for appliance techs today. Our biggest competition is from cheap replacement machines. The proliferation of pricey electronic boards in appliances (and their uncertain procurement these days) means that if you can't quickly do a slam-dunk diagnosis, you are at risk of losing customers and your profitability. Meanwhile, electrical troubleshooting is largely a lost science. What exactly have we lost? The Old Skool troubleshooting techniques that us old timers learned way back. And
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man in Tech Talk

10

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

Master Samurai Tech Radio, Episode 1

The inaugural episode of Master Samurai Tech Radio is out! We just submitted it to iTunes so the iTunes subscription link will take a few days to work. But meanwhile, you can download or stream it here: http://mastersamuraitech.com/master-samurai-tech-radio-episode-1/

An open letter to America’s college cupcakes on Veterans Day

Brethren, on this Veteran's Day, I present to you a timely and fitting guest blog post by Ray Starmann, the Editor in Chief of US Defense Watch. Enjoy!   An open letter to America’s college cupcakes on Veterans Day November 11, 2016 by Ray Starmann, US Defense Watch, http://usdefensewatch.com/2016/11/an-open-letter-to-americas-college-cupcakes-on-veterans-day/   Dear College Cupcakes: America has watched for the last year or so, as our nation’s universities

Kenmore: Just another brand or yet another scam?

Sears is a popular place to buy appliances because they are located all over the country, they frequently have special offers, and they are an old, familiar name. When you stroll through the rows of shiny machines in a Sears store you see all the major brands, including lots of Kenmores. Does buying this "Sears brand" have any downside for the consumer? Ya sure, ya betcha! Although there are still a few folks who haven't gotten the memo yet, most people understand that there ain’t no Kenmore fac

The Appliantology Academy's Appliance Tech Boot Camp, Coming This Spring

Question: what's one job skill that cannot be outsourced to India or China? Answer: home services. Looking to get in on the glamour life of being a professional appliance repair technician but you don't have the time or the money to travel somewhere and be gone for a few weeks at a time? Now you can learn appliance repair at your own pace right online at your computer with the Appliantology Academy's Appliance Tech Boot Camp. The Appliance Tech Boot Camp is a structured and guided online trainin

Want an Interesting and Lucrative Career? Skip College and Go Into Appliance Repair!

I was born in 1960. Both my parents were first-generation Americans, offspring of immigrants; my moms's side from Greece and my dad's side from Ireland via Canada. When I was growing up, the Kool-Aid was that you had to go college if you were going to be "somebody who mattered." My parents, both of the post-WWII Baby Boomer generation, totally drank that Kool-Aid and relentlessly bathed me in the College-Industrial complex propaganda: "Go to college and you'll earn more money." "Go to college to

Appliantology is Changing with the Times

It's a great time to be a Professional Appliantologist at Appliantology! A lot has changed at Appliantology.org over the years! We've gone from being a site that focused on helping DIYers to a site focused on supporting the professional tech community. In the past, one of the ways this site supported and funded itself was through parts sales to DIYers. But today, parts sales to DIYers isn't nearly as big a source of funding for this site as it once was. Part of this change was a result of increa

Master Samurai Tech Radio, Episode 4

In this jam-packed episode: - New credit card readers for the EMV technology; merchant (appliance service company) liability for fraud if not using the new readers. - Square has already issued the new EMV readers. - Electrolux buying GE Appliances - complications, lawsuit, implications for the appliance market. Samsung and LG brought into the fray! - First military veteran scholarship awarded! If you're a veteran, apply for a full-tuition scholarship in the Fundamentals of Appliance Repair train

Master Samurai Tech to Provide Online Appliance Repair Training for Mr. Appliance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Master Samurai Tech to Provide Online Appliance Repair Training for Mr. Appliance  New London, NH, USA, February 14, 2016 - Master Samurai Tech, a nationally-recognized online appliance repair training academy, has been selected to provide technical training to Mr. Appliance franchisees and technicians.  Master Samurai Tech will create a custom training website exclusively for Mr. Appliance
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

9

Rigging and using a compressor test cord to manually operate a compressor

One of the many things that can make a refrigerator warm up is the compressor is trying but failing to start. You may occasionally hear this type of noise from the back of the refrigerator (starts about 15 seconds in): This is the sound of your compressor trying, but failing miserably, to start. Best case scenario: Bad compressor start relay. Worst case scenario: open compressor start winding or seized compressor bearing == buy a new refrigerator. Question: How do you tell which is which? Answ
Tech Talk

Triac Operation for Appliance Techs

Had some good questions at the webinar on the Bi-Directional PSC drive motor system used in Whirlpool VM washers. Professional Appliantologist members can grab some popcorn and watch the webinar recording here: Bi-directional PSC Drive Motor Systems in Whirlpool VM Washers During the webinar, Joe asked how triacs are turned off. I wanted to give a more complete and accurate answer in this post.  To understand how triacs are turned off once they're turned on (and conducting) we need to
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man in Tech Talk

9

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

The REAL New World Order is here!

Christ is risen from death and the rebellious sons of god (fallen angels) from Genesis 6:1-4 are judged and condemned (Psalm 82). The disinheritance from the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11 and Deuteronomy 32:8-9) is ended. The long exile of the 12 tribes is over. ALL people are freed from bondage, liberated from death and the power of demons, and all are called back into communion with the Most High God in the Messiah to be a new creation: the New Israel, a global Eden!   

What's wrong with this picture?

This is a picture from a recent service call I did. That white/translucent plastic tubing you see coming out of the floor and connecting to the gray PEX tubing on the refrigerator is a big No-No. That's a flood waiting to happen. Think about it: that plastic tubing us under household water pressure 24/7-- that's 40 to 60 psi. Combine that with with the fact that it gets hot behind a refrigerator that's pushed back against the wall, especially in summer. Heat... plastic... brittle... cracked or b

Replacing the Door Boot Seal on an LG Front Load Washer

Every battle-hardened professional Appliantologist has his favorite technique for replacing the door gasket (also called the "boot" or "bellows") on front load washers. Although the door gasket on all makes of front loaders are very similar in construction, there are enough differences among the brands that certain techniques work better on some brands than on others. For example, many Appliantologists prefer to replace the door gasket on a Whirlpool Duet washer without removing the entire front
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