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Appliance Repair Tech Tips

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The Difference Between Troubleshooting like a PCM vs. like a Real Tech

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

Son of Samurai

Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

How Do Diodes Work and How Do They Affect Circuits?

We encounter diodes in a variety of situations, such as in certain refrigerator water valve configurations. If you want to be able to properly troubleshoot these setups, you need to understand the underlying technology of diodes. How doe they affect the circuit around them? And how do you test them? These are the questions that we answer for you in this short video introduction to diodes. In just 6 minutes, you'll learn about how they work and how to properly test them. Plus, you'll learn a

Son of Samurai

Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

Easy Tricks to Break Down and Understand any Circuit

Reading schematics is an essential part of troubleshooting, but it's not always clear how to break down a circuit into understandable bits. Is there an easy rule of thumb for identifying what component does what and how to go about testing it? In this excerpt from one of our many full-length technical training webinar recordings, you'll learn exactly that! In addition, we'll show you how to break down a seemingly tangled schematic and identify loads in series vs. loads in parallel -- all in

Son of Samurai

Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

What is LG's FlowSense and How Does It Work in Gas Dryers?

Take a look at this LG gas dryer schematic, paying special attention to the circuit with the flame detector. If you trace it out, it becomes a bit puzzling what that circuit is actually doing. The hi-limit thermostat, the safety thermostat, and the flame detector don’t appear to have any direct effect on the gas valve coils as you would find in other dryers. So what purpose do they serve?  This markup makes it all clear.   Unlike many circuits that use controls li

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Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

A Short, Practical Guide to Circuits and AC Power

Electricity and circuits are at the core of what we do as techs. You've got to have a solid understanding of these in order to do any meaningful troubleshooting. So that's exactly what we cover in this excerpt from one of our many technical training webinar recordings. Give it a watch and build yourself a solid foundation! This video is an excerpt from a longer Master Samurai Tech webinar and is free for anyone to watch. In the full webinar, we covered topics such as: Neut

Son of Samurai

Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

A 7 Minute Rundown on How Thermistors Work and How to Troubleshoot Them

In this clip from a longer webinar, we give you the long and short of how NTC thermistors work and how to troubleshoot them. Don't know what NTC means? Don't worry -- that's covered in this video, too! Want to watch the full webinar, which goes through using the Samurai's Troubleshooting Ten-Step Tango to nail refrigerator problems every time? Click below -- viewable only by premium members.

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Learn How to Identify the Three Kinds of Dryer Thermal Controls

This past Sunday, we gave a webinar covering everything you need to know about thermal controls in dryers and the underlying technologies behind them. The full recording dives into all the details of identifying, understanding, and troubleshooting these ubiquitous devices. In this short clip, we'll introduce you to the three technologies and show how different manufacturers give them various (and sometimes confusing) names. Want to watch the full webinar recording? Click belo

Son of Samurai

Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

Identifying and Understanding Transistor Switches on Schematics

There are a lot of funky things going on on this Electrolux dishwasher schematic -- including normal-looking switches that are labelled "transistor switches". What does this label mean, exactly, and how does it affect our troubleshooting? That's what the Samurai breaks down in this short clip from a longer technical webinar recording. Want to watch the full webinar? Click below to watch -- available only to premium members.

Son of Samurai

Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

A Real World Example to Help You Understand Shunts and Loads in Series

Some circuits have a bit more going on than they seem at first glance, and this Whirlpool washer has one such circuit. Watch the excerpt below to learn how to unravel this tangled mess of lines and apply it to your troubleshooting. Want to watch the full webinar recording where we go through the entire schematic analysis, covering tracing everything out and covering topics like triacs, shunts, and series loads? Click below -- viewable only by premium members.

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Are Thermistors Interchangeable?

Thermistors are everywhere in appliances these days, and they're a relatively common-fail item, so wouldn't it be nice to stock a supply of them in your service vehicle to be used on any occasion? Well, in order to determine how feasible that is, we need to answer a question: are all thermistors interchangeable? The short answer is no. The long answer is that thermistors are not interchangeable brand-to-brand, but they can be interchangeable within the same brand, depending on the manu

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Troubleshooting a Thermador Gas Range with ZERO Disassembly

It should always be our goal to get our diagnosis with as little disassembly as possible using our schematic-reading know-how, but did you know that you can sometimes track down the problem without any disassembly at all? That's just what the Samurai did for this Thermador gas range. Want to learn how he pulled off this magic trick? Watch the video below. Want to watch the full recording? Click below -- viewable only by premium members.

Son of Samurai

Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

Troubleshooting a Bosch Dishwasher No Heat Problem Using the Schematic and Live Tests

We techs should always be looking to sharpen our repair skills, and one of the best ways to do that is to learn from each other's experiences. In this excerpt from a longer webinar, the Samurai walks through a Bosch dishwasher no heat problem that he encountered, working through his thought process and schematic analysis step by step. Watch it and learn a thing or two! Want to watch the full webinar recording? Click below -- viewable only by premium members.

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Using Frequency Measurements as a Troubleshooting Tool

Here's our scenario: you're working on a Samsung WA50K8600AW washer that won't advance in the cycle. Error codes and test modes aren't telling you anything useful, and the control doesn't even seem to be trying to advance the cycle. You've checked the air tube connected to the pressure sensor, too, and everything is clear there. What can you do here? Do you just call it a bad board and move on? Let's see if there's a smarter test we can do on this one. What if we could test the signal

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Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

What is a Sine Wave and Why Do We Use it to Represent Voltage?

You don't have to be a physicist or a mathematician to troubleshoot properly, but you can't get around the fact that math is the only way to really understand electricity. Sine waves are one such mathematical representation used for both voltage and current. But how does this representation work, exactly, and how does it help us wrap our head around voltage, current, and power? That's what we'll break down for you in this excerpt from one of our many full-length technical webinar recordings

Son of Samurai

Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

Can you Check a BLDC Fan Motor with Ohms?

Let's say you're on a call for a Whirlpool GI6FARXXY07 refrigerator. You notice that the evaporator fan isn't running, even when the unit isn't in defrost. "Simple enough," you think, and you disconnect the fan harness and check its resistance. Wow -- 500 K-ohms! No way that's in spec. Gotta be a bad fan motor, right? Before we get too hasty, let's step back for a moment and do what we should have done at the start -- look at the schematic. When we do that, we can pretty easily locate

Son of Samurai

Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

[Video] Step-by-Step Troubleshooting Guide for a Samsung Electric Dryer

In this recording from a recent live technical training webinar, we walked through the whole thought flow for troubleshooting this Samsung dryer that always runs when the door is closed. There's no guesswork or monkey-jabbing here -- strictly analytical and accurate diagnostic techniques that bring us ever closer to the solution. Here's a short excerpt to show you what we're on about: Want to troubleshoot like a real tech? Click the video below to see how. Viewable only by pr

Son of Samurai

Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

Deciphering an Unclear Frigidaire Cooktop Schematic

Sometimes, manufacturers don't write out schematics as clearly as they should. In cases like this Frigidaire cooktop, the way that the relays for the simmer function are drawn is downright obtuse. In our latest workshop webinar, we broke down the function of this circuit and really understand how it works, bringing our electrical and technical know-how to bear to make logical deductions about the circuit. Did you miss the original webinar and want to watch this webinar recording? Click

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Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

A Short, Sweet Video Tutorial on How to Troubleshoot a Samsung with Minimal Disassembly

Knowing how to properly use a schematic for your troubleshooting is key to saving money and time. In this short presentation, the Samurai shows performing circuit analysis to identify the most useful, but also the most convenient tests to quickly zero in on the problem. Topics covered include: - reading schematic diagrams - strategic selection of your reference voltage  - doing live testing (appliance plugged in and running) vs. Ohms testing - using a loading meter to test AC line vol

Son of Samurai

Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

Troubleshooting a Samsung Dryer: Won't Start but Always Runs

Join me on another short troubleshooting journey -- this one taken from a real tech's experience that he posted on Appliantology. You're troubleshooting a Samsung dryer that won't start-- the control panel will let you select a cycle, but it won't actually run if you press the start button. But the real head-scratcher is that, despite not being able to start a cycle, the machine always runs when the door is closed. Sounds tricky, but as you'll see, the troubleshoot is pretty simple if

Son of Samurai

Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

[Webinar Recording] Troubleshooting a Dishwasher Wash Motor Problem with a Single Test

We covered not one, but two different workshop topics in our last webinar, and I now present to you the second one! In this workshop about a dishwasher with a starting-and-stopping motor, we covered topics like: How to nail this problem using a single test Analyzing the wash motor circuit to understand how it works Identifying how the board senses circuit current ...and more! Click below to watch the full recording -- available only to premium tech member

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Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

A Real-World Example of How to Troubleshoot Multi-Board Configurations

In our latest workshop webinar, we cultivated the much-desired skill of troubleshooting appliances with multiple control boards. Topics included: Using the schematic to form your troubleshooting strategy Identifying inputs and outputs Making meaningful measurements and understanding what their results mean ...and much more! Want to learn this stuff for yourself? The full webinar recording is available right now to premium tech members of Appliantology. Click b

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Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

Want to Learn How to Troubleshoot Like a Pro? Watch This.

We talk a lot here at Appliantology about always consulting the schematic as the first step of your troubleshooting. But how exactly do you do that? That's where the Troubleshooting Ten Step Tango comes in! Watch the clip below where the Samurai demonstrates how to use this reliable, universally applicable troubleshooting framework to troubleshoot a real-world refrigerator scenario. Want to watch the full webinar recording and learn how to use the schematic and the Ten Step T

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Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

Unravel the Mystery of this Simmer Switch Circuit...

Take a look at the circuit for this electric cooktop element. Notice anything odd about it? Looks pretty straightforward, right? Well, it certainly is straightforward when the simmer switch isn't closed. Here's what the circuit looks like when it's not running on simmer. L1 goes through the simmer select board and a temperature-controlled switch, and L2 goes through the relay board and a couple other switches. Standard stuff for one of these elements. But what's going

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Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

Sharpen your Schematic Analysis Skills for the New Year

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

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Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

How Refrigerator Water Systems Work

There's a very common configuration of valves that are used in refrigerators with ice makers and dispensers -- so common that every tech should be very familiar with how it works and what terms are used to refer to it. You can't troubleshoot what you don't understand! We'll use a GE refrigerator as our example, but this same system is used across almost all refrigerators with water supplies. Here's a snippet from a GE manual: All this is saying is that you have three valves in th

Son of Samurai

Son of Samurai in Tech Talk

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