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Our Picks
Top content from across the community, hand-picked by us.
Troubleshooting a Whirlpool Dishwasher with a Cheater Cord
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Here's the situation: our tech has a Whirlpool dishwasher that does everything normally, except the wash motor simply won't run. Board or motor? Here's how to use your cheater cord to directly test the motor.
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- 3 replies
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Picked By
Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
How Refrigerator Water Systems Work
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
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!
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- 0 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Pop Quiz: What's Wrong with this Range Wiring?
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
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).
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- 11 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Identifying Power Supplies on a Samsung Control Board
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
See if you can identify two things on this Samsung dishwasher schematic:
1. Where does the control board receive line and neutral?
2. Where doe the sub-control boards get their DC power supply?
1. Where does the control board receive line and neutral?
2. Where doe the sub-control boards get their DC power supply?
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- 1 reply
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Can You Solve this Schematic Symbol Mystery?
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Here's something for you sharp Appliantology techs to puzzle over: what in the world is the circled symbol on this schematic?
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- 5 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
How Does this Dryer Run in a Seemingly Impossible Configuration?
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
As the picture says, the dryer runs like this. And even weirder, when you correct the wiring, it stops running. What one test could you do that would prove your hypothesis about this faulty circuit?
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- 7 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
One Powerful Measurement Could Have Saved This Tech Hours of Troubleshooting...
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Here's the situation: the tech is working on a dryer that keeps blowing its thermal fuse. The tech has already replaced the fuse once, and it's now blown again. What could be causing this, and what's the best way to tell?
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- 11 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
How do Relays and Triacs Work?
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Whether a control board in an appliance is simple or sophisticated, there's one trick it has to pull off: switching high AC voltage using low DC voltage. They pull this off by using relays or triacs, devices that all of us are at least passingly familiar with.But how do these very common control components work, exactly? And how is troubleshooting a relay different from troubleshooting a triac? That's what we'll look at today.
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,3-Way Valve Configurations in Refrigerators
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
There's more than one way for a 3-way valve sealed system to be configured, and if you want to troubleshoot these machines right, you've gotta know the difference.
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,What's the Difference Between AFCIs and GFCIs?
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Two of the most common circuit protection devices we'll see on outlets or circuit breakers are AFCIs and GFCIs. But what exactly are these devices, what do they do, and what are the differences between them?
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Know your Power Supplies
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
For those of us techs based in the States, it can be easy to think that electricity just "happens to exist" as our familiar 120/240 volt split-phase power. But that's only one of many forms that electrical power can take. It can come in a variety of voltages and phases, all depending on what standard a particular country or region decided upon.
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- 3 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Start Capacitors and Run Capacitors in Split-Phase Motors
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Ever seen a capacitor somewhere in a split-phase motor's circuit and wondered what exactly the point of that things is? That's what we'll talk about in this blog post.
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- 4 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,Demystifying Samsung Refrigerators
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Samsung has developed something of a reputation in the tech community, and not necessarily the most flattering one. Many consider the brand to be overly-complicated and impossible to troubleshoot, and some refuse to work on these machines at all. But is this attitude really warranted?
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,How do Oven Gas Valves Actually Work? Find Out Here...
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
We've all changed countless ignitors in gas ovens, and any tech worth his salt knows that the definitive way to detect a failed ignitor is with a current measurement. But why does low current through the ignitor cause ignition to fail? Where does that current spec come from?
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
When Ohm's Law Doesn't Apply...
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Ohm's law, meaning the set of simple equations that define the relationship between voltage, current, resistance, and power, is an essential tool for appliance techs. This said, there are some loads to which Ohm's law doesn't apply.
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
EEPs: What they are and how to use them
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
When you need to test a component, do you always need to just resign yourself to tearing apart the appliance until you reach it? Or is that a waste of time and energy (not to mention unnecessary liability), when you could be working smarter, not harder?
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- 5 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,What's the Difference Between Neutral and Ground?
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Is there a reason to distinguish ground from neutral when it comes to electrical testing? If you need a reference for a voltage measurement, doesn't ground work just as well as neutral?
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Control Board Troubleshooting: Inputs, Outputs, and Algorithms
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Many techs are intimidated when it comes to troubleshooting control boards. After all, we're talking about computers here -- computers that just so happen to run appliances. But as complicated as that may sound, control board troubleshooting really boils down to just three things: measuring your inputs, measuring your outputs, and understanding the board's algorithm.
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- 5 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
BrandSource Partners with Master Samurai Tech Academy for Tech Training
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Team Samurai has been training appliance techs at the Master Samurai Tech Academy for over 6 years now, and helping out repairmen on the web for far longer. Mr. Appliance has already used our online training for 4 years to make their techs the best they can be. Now, BrandSource has teamed up with us, too!
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,Here's why YOU have been doing your voltage measurements all wrong...
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Have you ever been robbed of a quick troubleshoot by ghost voltage? How about by an open neutral? Sounds like you need to start using a loading meter for ALL of your AC voltage measurements. Watch the video below to learn why, and find out some things you didn't know about circuits and electrical measurements along the way.
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Quick Tips for Reading Unclear or Ambiguous Schematics
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Sometimes, the schematics that manufacturers give us aren't as clear as we would like them to be. Take this refrigerator, for example...
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,Would you Troubleshoot this Washer Motor Problem the Right Way?
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
Do you know the most efficient way to troubleshoot this washer motor, or would you go through unnecessary disassembly? Watch this webinar excerpt to find out.
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- 2 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Can Low Water Pressure Cause Solenoid Valves to Leak?
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
We run into water inlet solenoid valves in many different situations -- washers, dishwashers, refrigerators -- so it's important to have a firm grasp on exactly how they work. For example, I just talked with a tech recently who was wondering why low water pressure can cause inlet valves to leak.
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- 5 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,Learn the Samurai's Secret Technique for Deciphering Timer Charts...
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
In this short, informative video, the Samurai walks through the steps of the patented Timer Chart Cha-Cha -- a system for reading and applying timer charts to schematics so that you can make sense of what's going on in the circuit. In just 2 minutes, you'll learn the steps of the Cha-Cha which empower you to troubleshoot timer-controlled circuits with ease.
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,Pop Quiz: Can You Solve this Series Circuit Puzzle?
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Son of Samurai's Blog,
In this excerpt from one of our many illuminating webinar recordings, the Samurai traces out the circuit for a refrigerator evaporator fan. Interestingly, the neutral side of the fan's power supply goes through both the defrost terminator and the defrost heater. How can this be?
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- 4 replies