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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

Tech Talk

Watch this dryer motor centrifugal switch in action

The lowly and dirty centrifugal switch mounted on the motor gets little love and attention. Always taken for granted and ignored and never respected.  But without the centrifugal switch, to take the start winding out of the circuit once the rotor gets spinning from a dead stop, the motor will draw high amps and kick out on internal thermal overload protection.  Well, boys and girls, in this exciting episode of Appliantology TV, we're going to see the mighty centrifugal switch in action
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man in Tech Talk

0

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

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

Valentine's Day and 21st Wedding Anniversary Dinner with Mrs. Samurai

I took Mrs. Samurai to the Inn at Pleasant Lake last night to celebrate both Valentine's Day and the 21st anniversary of our Greek Orthodox wedding (we had our pagan wedding two years prior-- we've been married for almost 23 years of pure bliss). The meal was a gourmet six-course affair at a flat rate of $72/seating. I have never had a meal like that! It began with a cocktail hour during which the chef and owner of the Inn came out and introduced the guests to the coming meal with mouth-wat
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

4

Using the Tech Sheet Schematic to Root Out Appliance Gremlins

We all love those jobs where, given the brand, model, and problem description, you walk into the house already knowing what the problem is. After you've worked as an appliance tech for a while, you start noting that every machine has weak points and particular failure patterns. Some failures become so well-known that the manufacturer will issue a service bulletin on it. But what about those jobs where it's not a clear case of plug n' chug, in other words, where you DON'T know exactly what part t

Using the Schematic to Troubleshoot a No-Op Problem in a Whirlpool Alpha Platform Front Load Washer

Using a Whirlpool Alpha Platform WFW94HEXW0 front load washer as an example, we're going to use the schematic and that gray muck swirling betwixt our ears to troubleshoot a no run situation in this washer. The scenario is that the display panel lights up, you hear the door lock go THUNK! and lock the door but then... nuttin'.  Learn how to troubleshoot using schematic analysis like a real appliance technician at Master Samurai Tech.  

Using the Gallery Section at the Appliantology Academy

If you are registered here at the Appliantology Academy, you have the ability to create your own album. Share the trials and triumphs of your appliance repair battles. Furthermore, good, annotated appliance repair-related photos can earn you a free Merit Apprenticeship here at the Academy! This screencast is dedicated to Sublime Master Strathy <iframe width=652 height=533 frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/embed?sc=cle0FMgl8&w=650&v=3"></

Using Temperature Data Loggers to Solve Mysterious Refrigerator Temperature Problems

<p>As professional Appliantologists, we've all run into situations where we realized that we needed a way to log temperature data inside a refrigerator for at least 24 hours to get a clear picture of what's going on inside that box.  A couple of examples are:</p> <blockquote>Customer complains of warm temperatures in the beer compartment of her Maytag side-by-side refrigerator but says that the freezer compartment is fine (and we know how accurate customer temperature measureme

Using Jing to Make Screen Shots and Post them at the Appliantology Forums

Here's a screencast I made showing how to use Jing to clip an image, upload it to the Gallery at the Appliantology Academy and then post that image in a topic in the forums. <iframe width=652 height=533 frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/embed?sc=cleY1YBmm&w=650&v=3"></iframe> (If the screencast won't play, you need to update the Java version on your computer.)

Using an Oscilloscope to Understand 120 VAC Split-phase Household Power Supplies

Can you believe there are techs out there who use an o-scope to look at the output from a sound mixer and conclude this is how Line voltage works? The output of a sound mixer is the output of a summing amplifier (Google it). It is an electronically modified signal. To look at this output and assume that Line voltage behaves this way is the height of stupidity. I call it "Idiot with an O-scope syndrome."  Household power supplies in North America use what's called a split-phase system. The t

Using an Airflow Meter to Check Your Dryer Vent for Safety and Efficiency

In this journey into appliance repair enlightenment, Samurai Appliance Repair Man shows you how to use an airflow meter to analytically test the back pressure on a dryer vent for safety and efficiency. Looks can be deceiving, as this video shows, and even a short simple dryer vent that appears to be ideal can have airflow problems. So it's always wise to use a meter to actually measure the back pressure. Here's the air flow tester I used in the video ==> http://www.repairclinic.com/PartDeta

Using a Test Cord to Diagnose a Microwave

A powerful troubleshooting technique when working on microwave oven that won't heat is to split the problem in half to determine if the problem is coming form the low voltage side or the high voltage side. A test cord can be a very useful troubleshooting tool because it allows you to so just that. Sublime Master Chat_In_RI enlightens us on this technique: Source: GE Double Oven Microwave not heating
Tech Talk

Using a Resistor Substitution Box to troubleshoot appliance temperature sensing circuits

Many modern appliances use a computer to control the various loads in the appliance. But computers are also used for temperature monitoring and sensing. Typical temperature sensors used in modern appliances are NTC thermistors (refrigerators, dryers, washers, dishwashers) and RTDs (resistive temperature devices--used in ovens). If you're a member here at Appliantology, you can watch this webinar recording on Appliance Temperature Sensing Devices & Technology for a deep dive into how the comp
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man in Tech Talk

4

Updated Appliance Tech Webinar Recordings Index Page

Master Samurai Tech Academy students may access the webinar recordings here. Mr. Appliance® Academy Bundle 1 students may access the webinar recordings here. Professional Appliantologist members may access the webinar recordings here. The index page is continually updated with new webinar recordings but this is the index page as of this post: Ultra Short Primer on Basic Electricity, Circuits, Ohm's Law, and Schematic Reading Basic Refrigerator Troubleshooting Schem

Unreported footage from the tsunami released!

<embed width="520" height="440" quality="high" bgcolor="#000000" name="main" id="main" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" src="http://video.godlikeproductions.com/modules/vPlayer/vPlayer.swf?f=http://video.godlikeproductions.com/modules/vPlayer/vPlayercfg.php?fid=a7e16bcce2a99a5fd92" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"/></embed>

Unlocking a Stuck Door on a Maytag Whirlpool Alpha Platform Front Load Washer

In this scintillating safari into front load washer wasteland, Samurai Appliance Repair Man shows you how to manually unlock the door on a front load washer with the door stuck locked. This particular kata is for the Maytag-Whirlpool Alpha 2 platform front load washers but the same technique can be applied to most other models. To order parts, call our parts department at 877-803-7957

Understanding the run cycles and the operating sequence of the neutral drain in a Whirlpool / Kenmore direct-drive washer

The neutral drain is a feature added to the later production models of the Whirlpool/Kenmore direct-drive top-loading washer to prevent the washer transmission from going into spin while the tub was still full of water. To accomplish this, Whirlpool jiggered a way of putting the transmission into neutral while the drain pump drained the water. Understanding this neutral drain feature has befuddled many Grasshoppers and Master Appliantologists alike. This post will hopefully demystify that for

Understanding the Neutral Drain Function in a Whirlpool Direct-Drive Washer Transmission

The neutral drain in the Whirlpool direct-drive washer puts the transmission into neutral while the tub is draining. The purpose is to save wear and tear on the clutch, drive coupler, and motor. While it's function and operation are simple and easy to understand, it can still be confusing for folks. Chief Master Appliantologist DADoESTX offers one of the simplest and clearest explanations of the neutral drain function that I've ever read: Source: Whirlpool WTW5505SQ1

Understanding the Adaptive Defrost Control in the new-style GE top-mount refrigerators

This little video explains the ADC system used in GE's newer top-mount refrigerators, the so-called "TMNF" line. Example model numbers are: GTH/HTH 16 cuft GTH/HTH 17 cuft GTH/DTH/GTS/PTS 18 cuft In the video, I explain I how this ADC works and how to put it into manual defrost mode. (Short answer: Press the fresh food door switch 3 times within 5 seconds and close the FF door when the control is not in defrost or dwell.) [media=]

Understanding how the Water Level Sensor in LG Washing Machines work

Water level sensing in LG washers is done differently from how you may be used to seeing it done in other brands. Whirlpool, GE, Electrolux and others use an air tube connecting an air dome on the tub to a pressure sensor with a physical diaphragm or transducer that "feels" the water level increase as an increase in pressure inside the air tube. LG uses frequency measurements. How's that again? I'll let Brother john63, Dean of LG Appliantology explain: Source: LG PRESSURE SENSOR OPERATION
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