Appliance Repair Wisdom for the Ages

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

audblog audio post

Saturday, July 26, 2003

Fun facts to know and tell about interchangeable dryer parts. Thanks for passing that along, Jim!

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

Excellent question, thanks for asking! This is a point of confusion for many grasshoppers. The rule for using plumber's (teflon) tape is to apply it only to Male Pipe Threads (also called "Male Iron Pipe" or MIP)--never to flare connection threads. This is illustrated in this picture. More information on gas connections here.

To make the connection to your appliance, you should always use a gas flex connector.

Remember to leak test all your gas connections!

Friday, July 18, 2003

The Samurai's fame continues to grow like that mildew on your basement walls. You might as well read about it here first before you see it tonight on CNNFOXMSNBCCBSNBCABCAOL. Donations for bail money can be made to the United Samurai Beer Fund. Domo.

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

The Samurai has returned from a truly enchanting backpacking trip to the Pemigewassett Wilderness area. The weather gods did grin down upon us, allowing us to feast our buggy eyes on the crown jewels of the Pemi: The Bonds. Yea, the valleys did echo with the soft fluttering of camera shutters flick-flickering as the mountains stretched out in the sunlight.

Our intrepid group consisted of Rob and Jess, Ouzo, and the Samurai. We started at the Zealand Falls Trail, hiked on past the AMC Zealand Falls hut (mobbed with pasty flatlanders who smelled like aftershave and detergent!) and then on up the Twinway to the expansive views at Zeacliff. From there, we kept on truckin' on the Twinway until we came to the junction with the Bondcliff Trail. We hiked the Bondcliff Trail over Mt. Guyot and down the other side to the Guyot Campsite. At camp, we stayed at the Guyot shelter. Nice shelter, even had a porch and furniture! We settled in, fetched water from a mossy mountain stream, made dinner, and then shucked and jived 'till we fell asleep.

The next day, we had our minds blown. With such a beautiful day, we got some classic views of the famous outcrops at Bondcliff as well as of Bondcliff seen from West Bond and from Mt. Bond. Sometimes, the vistas were so turquoise that it seemed like we were underwater. We just took our time traipsing along the open ridges and even napping atop West Bond. We ended the day by taking in a glorious sunset atop West Bond.

Looking out from the shelter the next morning, the sky was heavily overcast and it soon began raining. After a hearty breakfast, we broke camp and headed out. When we broke out above treeline, the wind was whipping the chilly rain horizontally. On the summit of South Twin, visibility became so poor that it was sometimes tricky to follow the trail. But as we headed down North Twin, the rain soon stopped and we walked into bright sunshine. The contrast was amazing, like this whole trip.

You can see all the pictures from this trip here. And to complete this magical mystery tour, click the audblog link below to listen to a couple of short sound clips recorded live on the trail.

audblog audio post

Monday, July 14, 2003

audblog audio post

Sunday, July 13, 2003

Yep, heading out tomorrow for a backpacking trip to the Bonds with a couple of friends up visiting from Georgia. We'll be off stomping schist until Wednesday night. Should be back online around then. In the meantime, keep checking back here for live audblog posts from the summits.

This excellent page explains it all.

Saturday, July 12, 2003

Ain't no thang, m'main man. You probably just got the air tube for the pressure switch pinched when you re-installed the cabinet. This photo 'splains it all to you. Yea verily, flip that console up, unpinch that puppy and marital bliss shall be restored unto thee.

Go whup up on that bad boy!

Thursday, July 10, 2003

audblog audio post

Wednesday, July 09, 2003

Click here for the tech sheet.

This is a plugged condensate drain port at the bottom of the freezer. For information on techniques for clearing the drain port, click here.

Tuesday, July 08, 2003

Lots of excellent information on this popular refrigerator in this Service Manual. You can buy parts for this refrigerator here.

Monday, July 07, 2003

Here's yet another reason why the Samurai loves Whirlpool: Service Matters Online. This ain't no fluff site, this is hard core technical reference material directly from Whirlpool Corporation for Whirlpool owners. Kenmore appliances with model numbers beginning with 106, 110, 562, 665, and 198 are also manufactured by Whirlpool so this same information applies. Merry Christmas!

This is almost always the pump. You can confirm by pulling the pump off the motor shaft. If it looks like this, then you need to replace the pump. Here's help on removing and replacing the cabinet on this direct-drive washer.

Start with the simple things. Make sure the drain hose isn't kinked. Been seeing a lot of this lately.

This is a belt drive washer. In addition to driving the transmission, the belt also drives the pump, shown here. Pull the belt off the pump and turn the pump pulley by hand. If it's hard to turn or seized up, the pump is fried. You can buy a new pump here.

As long as you're down there, better check on that belt, too. Also, a genuine manufacturer's repair manual for this washer can help keep you from banging your head against the wall.

Friday, July 04, 2003

Been having some spectaculous hikes in the White Mountains of New Hampshire this summer. I hope you've been getting out and doing some hillstomping in your neck of the woods. You can check out my ever-expanding collection of summer hikes for this year ratcheer.

Thursday, July 03, 2003

Get 'em here.

This applies mainly to Kenmore Dishwashers with the model number 665.15835791 but also to any Whirlpool or Kenmore dishwasher with an electronic display. There are several possible trouble makers on this dishwasher that can cause this problem and we'll go through the most common ones that I've found in the course of performing my ceremonial duties as Samurai Appliance Repair Man.

Ichiban Troublemaker: Bad Door Latch Switches

These little suckers cause more problems than any other single component on this dishwasher. To check 'em, first cut the circuit breaker to the dishwasher 'cause the wires that attach to the switches are hot and if'n you touch 'em, they'll shock the bejeezus outchyo ace. Yeah, uh huh.

Anyway, you'll have to take the door apart to the get to 'em. Once you do, look up top and they're located here. When you pull out the whole door latch assembly, it all looks like this here.

Now, if one of these door switches are bad, you'll usually be able to see a burnt wire and one of the switches will be obviously AFU 'cause it won't click when actuated. 'Course, it's always a good idea to verify with your ohm meter. If one of the switches are fried, don't be a bonehead and just change the bad switch. Save yourself some trouble down the road (and avoid an unpleasant dishwasher fire) by changing both switches and the wire harness. You can buy the whole replacement kit here.

Next Most Common Troublemaker: Blown Thermal Fuse

The thermal fuse is located in the control panel, called out as item #18 in this picture. You can check it with a simple continuity test. Or you can jumper it out to see if the dishwasher will start running normally. If it's bad, you can order your replacement thermal fuse here.

The Worst Case: Blown or Oversensitive Electronic Control Board

Control board problems can stem from crap and noise in the dishwasher's electrical supply which make the electronics on the control board go flakey. This problem has been documented by Whirlpool in a tech memo (if your Kenmore model number begins with 665 then, yes, Whirlpool made your dishwasher). Or, it could just be a bad control board, plain n' simple.

More good discussion on problems with these dishwashers here and here.

To learn more about your dishwasher, or to order parts, click here.

Appliantology

audblog audio post

Wednesday, July 02, 2003

Good question! Yes, clearing these plugs can be tricky and sometimes requires the application of a carefully selected African Engineering Technology (AET). I'll share some of the AETs that I've found to be most helpful.

First thing to do is gain access to the condensate drip cup. On your Whirlpool-built fridge, it looks like this. As you can see, the cup itself pulls right out. Sometimes you'll find ice built up in there, sometimes dark grey slimy gookus that moves if you poke it...scary stuff! Either way, clean the drip cup out in the sink.

Then, you may need to clear the drain tube that the drip cup plugs into. If there's ice in there, you may be able to carefully poke through it using a chop stick or thin blade screwdriver. Be careful not to damage the tube. If it's just more gookus built up in there, I like to use a length of 1/4" nylon tubing to push it through and then flush with hot water.

On some refrigerators, you can't remove the drip cup in order to clear an extensive ice plug. What's a grasshopper to do? Just add salt! Works great on the icy winter roads up here in yankee land and it does a good job at melting ice plugs in refrigerator condensate drain tubes, too. Argh!

Tuesday, July 01, 2003

If the freezer temp is good, then you're better off replacing a 20 year old ice maker. You can find your replacement ice maker kit here.

Listen to me now, believe me later, and hear me next week: your dryer vent sux!

audblog audio post

This sounds like a classic case of bad door gaskets. Feast your Vulcan squinties on both the freezer and beer cooler compartment door gaskets of your fridge. You'll probably notice that one or both of 'em are all boogared up and skanky looking. If so, you'll need to replace 'em. Let this illuminating tome on Zen and the Art of Refrigerator Door Gasket Replacement be your guiding light in this, your hour of appliance peril. Easy job IF you can grasp the finer points of finesse which I so eloquently explain. You can use your model number to look up and purchase your replacement door gaskets here.