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Our Picks
Top content from across the community, hand-picked by us.
Are Thermistors Interchangeable?
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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?
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
A Real World Example to Help You Understand Shunts and Loads in Series
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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.
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Identifying and Understanding Transistor Switches on Schematics
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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.
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Using Frequency Measurements as a Troubleshooting Tool
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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?
What can you do here? Do you just call it a bad board and move on?
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- 4 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Can you Check a BLDC Fan Motor with Ohms?
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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?
Wow -- 500 K-ohms! No way that's in spec. Gotta be a bad fan motor, right?
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- 3 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Troubleshooting a Samsung Dryer: Won't Start but Always Runs
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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.
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- 5 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
A Real-World Example of How to Troubleshoot Multi-Board Configurations
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
In our latest workshop webinar, we cultivated the much-desired skill of troubleshooting appliances with multiple control boards. Watch and learn!
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Unravel the Mystery of this Simmer Switch Circuit...
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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...
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- 4 replies
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Troubleshooting a Whirlpool Dishwasher with a Cheater Cord
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
How Refrigerator Water Systems Work
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Pop Quiz: What's Wrong with this Range Wiring?
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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 Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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 Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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 Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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 Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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 Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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 Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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 Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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 Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,
Start Capacitors and Run Capacitors in Split-Phase Motors
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,Demystifying Samsung Refrigerators
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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 Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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 Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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 Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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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Samurai Appliance Repair Man,What's the Difference Between Neutral and Ground?
Son of Samurai posted a blog entry in Appliance Repair Tech Tips,
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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