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Samurai Appliance Repair Man's Blog

A blog by Samurai Appliance Repair Man in General

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Pearls of appliance repair wisdom from the Appliantology Forums

Entries in this blog

Master Samurai Tech Radio, Episode 11

In this episode...   - Upcoming webinar on Schematic-foo: ancient Samurai art using tech sheets as deadly weapons in appliance repair. Get details here: http://appliantology.org/calendar/event/768-schematic-workshop-webinar/ - Appliance product training today: we don't need hands-on, we need brains on. The future is here NOW! - Bidness Talk: Pricing your services; fixed and variable costs; how much should you be charging for repairs? Strategic customer selection and when to fire your customer; P

Master Samurai Tech Radio Episode 21 – Battle of the Titans: Samsung, Whirlpool, Kenmore, Amazon

Industry News: Employment numbers for the appliance repair industry Whirlpool lawsuit against Samsung because Samsung is kicking Whirlpool's corporate *ss on front load washers Samsung opening a new, state-of-the-art $380 million manufacturing facility in South Carolina Kenmore appliances on Amazon Appliantology monthly workshops Refrigerator sealed system repairs: what you really need to know Top Kendo Master at Appliantology each mo

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

Multi-tech Operators: Grow your business with Master Samurai Tech

The problem in the appliance repair trade today is that we have too many parts changers and not enough technicians. Even many experienced techs don't know the fundamentals and technology we're working with on modern appliances today. I'm talking about things like basic electricity, circuits, reading schematics, knowing how to troubleshoot, motors, microcomputer control systems.  What this means is this: you're probably not going to find techs to hire with the skills you need to grow your bu

Great News for current Professional Appliantologist members!

Great news: the annual fee for Professional Appliantologist members will never increase as long as you keep your membership active. That last part is very important for reasons I’ll explain below. The annual fee for new Professional Appliantologist members has increased. This does not affect current members as long they do not allow their membership to expire. The annual fee increase is also great news for prospective new members! Huh? Why? Because it means we are still accepting

Appliance Tech Certification: What does it mean? And who cares?

I get asked frequently about technician certification and there’s a lot of misunderstanding and confusion out there in the tech community about it. So I wanted to offer some thoughts that may help you think more clearly and realistically about this topic. The number one question you should ask yourself about any certification is, “What does it mean?”  Does it mean that someone simply paid a fee to take and pass a test? If so, is the person certified in this way a better technician as a

Free Short Course from the Master Samurai Tech Academy: The Ten Step Tango Troubleshooting Procedure

Troubleshooting is the big missing skill among appliance techs today. In fact, many techs don’t even know what troubleshooting is and mistake pattern recognition and factoids for real troubleshooting. Classical troubleshooting is a structured and scientific method for thinking and solving appliance problems. There is a method to the madness! The Master Samurai Tech troubleshooting method is called the Ten Step Tango (TST). There are specific dance steps to troubleshooting, and we teach

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

Master Samurai Tech Radio Episode 20: Consumer Right to Repair Laws

- Industry news: Consumer right to repair laws coming to a state near you. Consumers will have the right to purchase appliance service manuals from the manufacturer. What does it mean for you as a professional appliance repair technician? - The Ten Step Tango troubleshooting procedure: Troubleshooting techniques for any appliance brand or type. If you aren't already registered at the site, click here to sign up for the free TST course. - Tech training webinars at MasterSamuraiTech.com

3 Sure-Fire Ways to Spot an Appliance Repair Hack in Your Home

[A Note to my Brethren in the Craft: This article is released into the Public Domain. You are encouraged to copy it, modify it as you wish, post it on your website and social networks, with or without attribution, your choice. The objective is to raise consumer awareness about the rampant problem of moral and technical deficiency plaguing our trade today. We need to expose these hacks and parts changing monkeys who are ripping people off, either knowingly or through willful ignorance, and giving

Gas Dryer Ignition Systems Webinar Recording

We went on a journey of wonder and discovery in last night's webinar and demystified those vexing gas dryer ignition systems. We learned how the two-stage gas valve works; how it is controlled by those three valve coils, a radiant sensor, and ignitor. We also learned what a "split coil" is and how it works. We also had an encounter with technical gremlins that attempted to thwart the Appliantological gospel but they were quickly slain. The recording also includes a good roll of the video I

Troubleshooting Gas Ovens like a Master Samurai Tech

In the last webinar, we put on our Master Samurai Tech hats and did a cleanup service call on a gas oven after a parts changing monkey (PCM) had already been out and failed to diagnose and repair the problem. We looked at what the PCM did on the service call as well as he did not do but should have done. We did a quick review of how hot surface ignition (HSI) systems work and how variations in supply voltage can affect the operation of these systems. Then we got inside the head of a Master Samur

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 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!   

Appliantology's Best Kept Secret: the Webinar Recordings Index Page

Y’all gather ‘round and ol’ Samurai’s gonna tell you about the best kept secret at Appliantology.  You know the Samurai does periodic webinars on a wide range of appliance repair topics.  At the webinars, we talk about all kinda cool techie topics like basic electric circuits, troubleshooting strategies and tactics, reading schematics, computer control and digital communications in appliances, electric motor operation, gas flame sensing and reignition technologies, and more. Over 30 ho

The Future of Appliance Repair: a Profession or an "Idiocracy"?

We have a lot of moving parts at play in the appliance repair industry today. Over the past couple of decades, appliance technology has become much more complicated, yet technician troubleshooting skills have eroded. This creates some uncertainty about the direction our industry is going.  Are we going to be a profession, filled with well-paid, highly-skilled technicians at the top of their game, or a semi-skilled trade, filled with low-paid parts changers who are essentially just the eyes

Webinar Recording for Office Hours, March 6, 2017

We talked about lots of good stuff last night at the Office Hours webinar. I started off with a brief presentation on Neutral and Ground in AC circuits, explaining how they are different and each serves different purposes in AC circuits.  Then we applied what we learned about power supplies in that presentation to decipher some crappy instructions in a service bulletin for a Whirlpool inverter microwave where we had to figure out how to test the digital data input to the inverter.  We

Annual Service Training Institute 2017 in San Diego

Had a great week at the Annual Service Training Institute (ASTI) in San Diego last week! Got to hang out with old friends as well as meet lots of Appliantologists and Master Samurai Tech students in-person for the first time. For technical training, I focused mostly on high-end appliances since that's about all that's worth fixing these days. Attended some technical training on Sub-Zero, Wolf, Bertazzoni, DCS, and a couple others, and some business courses.  I also conducted an all-day

New Personal Hygiene Appliance for Future Appliance Repairs

You old timers remember back in the day when we used to get service calls on scrotum scrubbers? Yeah, I was really glad when people stopped using those. Well, just when you thought the bad old days were gone for good, get ready, guys, because there's a new, even more disgusting personal hygiene appliance coming to the market that we'll be getting calls on: the butt wiper. Coming to a neighborhood near you:   
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

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The Master Samurai Tech Ten-Step Tango for Troubleshooting Appliances

Troubleshooting is the big missing skill among appliance techs today. This is the skill that distinguishes parts changing monkeys (PCMs) from Master Samurai Techs. It's the difference between a drunken street brawler making monkey jabs versus a trained MMA fighter making kill shots. PCMs will thrash about wildly, monkey-jabbing at components hoping to get lucky and usually end up getting their asses kicked. Anyone can monkey jab and the sad truth is that this is the dominant practice o
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

4

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
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