We techs rely on accurate technical documentation to do our jobs. You can't make a troubleshooting plan or make meaningful electrical measurements without a good schematic. But what do you do when your technical info contradicts itself?
Let's take a look at this Whirlpool refrigerator, specifically focusing on the evaporator fan. Here it is on the schematic, marked up for your viewing pleasure:
Looks like a standard 120 VAC fan motor. But now, let's take a look at some of the wri
The very first step in troubleshooting a broken appliance happens long before the tech sets foot in the customer's home. In fact, it can happen even before the tech knows about the service call. We're talking about formulating a problem statement.
What I mean by a problem statement is very specific. A valid problem statement answers these two questions: "What is the appliance not doing that it should be doing?" and/or "What is the appliance doing that it shouldn't be doing?" It doesn't go b
Manufacturers do sometimes help us techs out -- Samsung has been putting on training sessions pretty regularly both for their own models, and for Dacor-branded models as well (Samsung acquired Dacor a few years back, for those who don't know). While a lot of how we troubleshoot is by understanding the principles that are common to all appliances, you always need a bit of info specific to the appliance you're working on. In particular, information about the exact implementation of the technology
How you go about your troubleshooting makes all the difference between whether you're a Parts-Changing Monkey or a real appliance repair technician. While parts-changers rely on pattern recognition and rote memorization of "if this problem, then that part", a real tech uses analytical troubleshooting techniques and understanding of the technology involved to get to the right problem every time.
That's exactly what this excerpt from one of our technical training webinar recordings demonstrat
Jazz boards are a classic common-fail item in Whirlpool refrigerators, so important to know the right way to go about troubleshooting them. The good news is that they operate on the same principles that all control boards do, so if you know your basic electricity and troubleshooting principles, making big money off of these is a snap.
This is exactly the kind of stuff we teach in our Core Appliance Repair Training Course over at the Master Samurai Tech Academy. If you want a taste of that g
Our scenario today is a dryer that heats intermittently. Blitzing through the Ten-Step Tango, we select the heating element as our LOI.
But how do we test the heater's power supply? Do we have to start tearing things apart to do our tests?
If you've been around Appliantology long enough or taken our courses over at Master Samurai Tech, then you'll know that the answer is, of course, "no". Instead, we've just got to look at the schematic and pick some clever test points.
All
Linear motors -- primarily in the form of linear compressors -- aren't new technology, but they've only been migrating into the appliance world over the past few years. These "new" compressors have their own unique failure modes and troubleshooting dos and don'ts. To really have a good idea of how to diagnose them, you need to understand how they work.
That's exactly what we show in this short excerpt from one of our longer technical training webinars. Give it a watch and learn something!
All appliance repair techs should understand the AC split-phase household electrical power supply that they deal with on a daily basis. But the fact is that most do not, and there's a lot of disinformation and "tech myths" out there about these power supplies. But they re easy to understand once you grasp a few fundamental concepts about electricity and split-phase voltage.
And that's exactly what we cover in this webinar recording!
Topics covered include:
How sine waves are us
The technical side of the service call is generally what gets the spotlight, but what you do before, after, and during the call is just as important to your profitability -- and I'm not just talking about soft skills. The way you organize your thought process and go about your troubleshoot is vital to service call success. And that's exactly what we talk about in this short excerpt from one of our many technical training webinar recordings.
Topics covered include:
How to run a servi
How do you use a schematic to analyze a circuit, and how do you then apply that knowledge to a real-world troubleshoot?
That's the question we answer in this Schematic Workshop webinar! We start off by working through the most interesting parts of this dryer circuit, and then we move on to several more schematic exercises. You can watch an excerpt of the full webinar below:
Want to see the rest of the troubleshoot? Click below to watch the full recording and step up your trou
Sealed system thermodynamics is a deep well, but fortunately, you only need to skim the surface to gain a functional understanding. And as techs, it's this functional understanding that we need to acquire in order to effectively troubleshoot.
To do that, we're going to cover the three central concepts to understanding a sealed system: saturation, subcooling, and superheat. Let's start with the one upon which the other two hinge: saturation.
In order to talk about what saturation is, we
Schematics and wiring diagrams -- two different kinds of service documents that seem similar, but actually serve completely different purposes. One of them is essential to any electrical troubleshooting and should be consulted on every service call, while the other has much more niche applications. But which is which, and how do you tell them apart?
That's what we explore in this workshop, which is an excerpt of the discussion from one of our latest Live Dojo workshops. In it, we go through
Here's your problem statement: in this GE dryer, the timer doesn't advance in auto-dry. How do you approach this like a real tech, without making guesses and monkey-jabs?
In this excerpt from a longer webinar, the Samurai shows using the timer chart and the schematic in conjunction to form a foolproof troubleshooting plan. Give it a watch!
Want to watch the full recording? Click below -- viewable only by premium tech members.
Got a short and sweet one for you today. Here's the scenario:
You're troubleshooting an LG wall oven that doesn't heat. You've gone ahead and torn it down as much as you could to do an ohms measurement on the broil element (in spec) and the temperature sensor (also in spec). You confirmed that the unit was getting a good 240 VAC power supply. You wanted to test the bake element too, but you didn't have a second man with you, so you gave up on that idea. Instead, you just replaced the main c
Here's a puzzling scenario on a Samsung refrigerator: the ice dispenser door keeps opening and closing nonstop.
When you encounter a weird problem like this, it's easy to lose your head and just start throwing parts at the machine and hoping one of them will fix it. But it's always important to keep our fundamental troubleshooting principles firmly in mind. In this particular case, troubleshooting is made even more difficult by Samsung providing us with a very low-resolution schematic -- bu
Many appliance repair techs are intimidated when it comes to troubleshooting control boards. When we talk about "control boards," we're really talking about a single-board computer. After all, we are talking about computers here -- computers that just so happen to run appliances. Samsung is especially famous among techs for being “too electronic” or using too many control boards. Many techs will install a replacement control board from Samsung without running a single test, just to avoid the hea
Timer charts may be for old-skool appliances with mechanical timers, but there are still plenty of old-skool appliances knocking around, so reading timer charts remains a vital troubleshooting skill.
That's exactly what we cover in this workshop: how to cohere the timer chart and the schematic, reading them in tandem. Kind of like they're dance partners in the Timer Chart Cha-Cha!
Topics covered in this workshop include:
How to decipher the rows and columns on a timer chart
When it comes to switches in appliances, it's hard to think of one more ubiquitous than the relay. It can be used with and without a control board, and it allows a small voltage to control a much larger voltage. But what exactly does that mean, and how do they do that? And what about triacs, the relay's solid-state cousin?
We cover both of these devices, including how they work and how to troubleshoot them, in detail in this excerpt from one of our recent Live Dojo workshops. Give it a watc
Here at Appliantology, our primary mission is to support appliance repair techs in performing prediagnosis: the method of performing as much troubleshooting as you possibly can before setting foot in the customer’s home. Prediagnosis is the biggest factor in increasing FCC (First Call Complete) rates, and the higher the FCC rate, the higher your company's profitability.
So how exactly does one prediagnose, and how does Appliantology help with that? Well, let's walk through the journey of an
You open up the terminal block on a Bosch range, and you see this. What's wrong with this picture? (Hint: those of you who have watched this webinar recording should know what's up).
A few questions for you sharp Appliantology techs:
Will the machine run in this configuration?
Why is it not okay to leave the machine in this configuration?
Does this machine have a 3 or 4 wire power cord?
How would you correct this situation?
Let me know your answers
You're investigating a refrigerator that's not cooling properly, and you see the following bits of evidence:
Two questions for you to answer:
What (if anything) does the rime ice on the evaporator tell you?
The source of the problem with this refrigerator is present in one of these photos. What is it?
Let us know your answers in the comments, and we'll let you know if you're right!
Want to troubleshoot refrigeration problems like this (and much m
Both of the big Korean manufacturers -- LG and Samsung -- have a little trick that they like to use in their schematics. While I think they do it to keep the lines from becoming too much of a tangled mess, it can sometimes be a bit unclear for the uninitiated. Here's an example of an LG refrigerator schematic:
The whole picture is a bit much, but notice all those bubbles popping up around the schematic? Let's pick one of those and focus in on it. Here's one coming off the sub PCB:
Anytime you work on a refrigerator with a control board, you've got multiple NTC thermistors in play. With how ubiquitous these devices are, it's important to know them inside and out -- especially how to test them. That's why we've made a webinar all about NTC thermistor technology for your viewing pleasure!
In this short excerpt from one of our many technical training webinars, we cover topics like:
What is an NTC thermistor used for and where will you find them?
What does
How are we as techs supposed to understand the specifications we see on a split-phase motor's label? What's the difference between a motor's output power and its input power, and which of those specs is given on the label? What do acronyms like FLA and LRA mean? All that and more covered in this short video on motor specifications.
This is just a short excerpt from the great technical discussions we have every other Saturday during our Live Dojo Workshops. If you're not joining us for these
I want you to take a look at the door switch I've circled below. Think about it for a minute, then answer one question: what single test could you do to prove beyond a doubt whether or not that door switch is operating within spec?
There's no trickery going on here -- it's just a simple switch. But many techs will test it using a flawed, limited test that has a big chance of leading them to the wrong conclusion. And they'll do a bunch of unnecessary disassembly. Post your answer in th
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