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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

What are PTC compressor start relays?

PTC stands for Positive Temperature Coefficient. This refers to the silicon guts inside the relay whose resistance increases as its temperature rises. When the compressor first starts up, the resistance of the PTC stuff is very low and it lets current flow into the start winding of the compressor. As the current flows thru the PTC, it heats it up and also raises its resistance to the point that the start winding is effectively taken out of the circuit, which is what you want to happen as soon as

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

How to replace the chopper-mascerator blade in an LG Dishwasher

Many dishwashers have a part called the macerator or chopper to cut up larger chunks of food before sending the waster stream back to the wash impeller. These are not meant to function as a disposal but to protect the wash impeller from stray chunks of food that may be circulating in the dishwasher. The best way to prepare dishes for the dishwasher is to scrape off all the chunks with a fork and leave the rest. Don't pre-rinse because you'll just create a caustic slurry that will etch your gl
Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Samurai Appliance Repair Man

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[video] Troubleshooting a no convection bake problem on a GE Advantium Speedcooker

We troubleshot a GE Advantium Speedcooker from the control board for a no convection bake problem and determined that either the convective heating element or the TCO had failed open. Testing each component individually required uninstalling the oven with special equipment. So on our second visit, we returned with both parts-- the convection heating element and the TCO. The specific failure turned out to be the non-resettable TCO that had failed open.  Watch how I used the schematic to sele
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

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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

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Get World-Class Tech Help at Appliantology.org for FREE with your MST Enrollment

We on Team Samurai maintain and develop two different websites: Master Samurai Tech and Appliantology. Each site is designed to assist you in different stages of your appliance repair journey. Master Samurai Tech is an online academy that provides state-of-the-art appliance repair training, both for new techs and techs who have been in the business for 30 years or more. Appliantology is a tech support community that provides peer-to-peer tech help, service manual downloads, and li

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

Are Samsung Appliances Reliable?

Samsung's in the news lately with exploding washers and tablet computers. So people may be wondering how reliable Samsung appliances are.  Here's a good article from the Yale Appliance blog comparing Samsung repair rates with industry averages. Yale Appliance and Lighting [website] is a large appliance dealer and service center in the Boston area. Yale completes over 20,000 service calls per year so I expect their results to be a good representation of reality.  One comment that caught my e

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

Entering Program Mode and Running the Test Program in a Bosch Dishwasher

This short little video shows you how to enter program mode in Bosch SHE SHU model dishwashers. You'll want to enter program mode to retrieve error codes, which can help inform your troubleshooting strategy. You can also run the test program, which is helpful in diagnosing individual loads in the dishwasher.  One of the many benefits of Professional Appliantologist membership at Appliantology is hi-speed, unlimited service manuals and tech sheet downloads at Appliantology.org. Included with
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