Here's something for you sharp Appliantology techs to puzzle over: what in the world is the circled symbol on this schematic?

Is that a wiring harness? Maybe this diagram's strange way of showing a splice?

To figure out what it is, we've got to have a functional understanding of how Electrolux likes to design their water valve circuits. Let's look at a similar configuration that's drawn differently.

There we have it -- on this schematic, the engineers decided to throw us a bone and actually use the standard symbol for what they're trying to depict. Which is, of course, a couple of diodes.

By the way, if you're curious why those diodes are there and what purpose they serve, click here to read my previous blog post about this exact configuration.

So why did they decide to draw those diodes in the most obtuse, inscrutable way possible? Well, Electrolux has always had a special contempt for technicians. The legends say that Electrolux's head engineer has had a grudge against techs ever since he caught one fooling around with his wife. But we'll never know for certain.

The important thing is that we have a functional understanding of these circuits so that we can jump the gaps left for us by shoddy schematics. And that only comes with a grounded understanding of electricity, circuits, and plenty of practice troubleshooting with schematics.

If you'd like to learn these skills, you should check out our courses over at the Master Samurai Tech Academy. Click here to check out our courses and enroll today.