Appliance Repair Wisdom for the Ages

Sunday, February 29, 2004

For two-terminal thermostats, no. For three-terminal and four-terminal thermostats, yes. In these cases, use the wiring diagram to determine how the wires connect.

Friday, February 27, 2004

The Samurai will be off hiking in the White Mountains for a few days. Since they haven't installed computers along the hiking trails yet, Live Help will be limited to phone support until I return on Sunday or Monday (depending on weather). I'll still be able to work with existing Live Help customers via cell phone during the evening. If you need to get in touch with me during this time, use the Toll-Free Appliance Repair Hotline--I'll still able to retrieve messages and return calls.

And stay tuned here at Fixitnow.com for live reports from the trail.

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Now you can get each of the Samurai's pearls of wisdom as they're unleashed, er, I mean, released to the web. Yep, you can use your flavorite RSS reader to scoop up the latests pearls without ever having to actually click over to Fixitnow.com. Now how fainéant is that? It's even easier if you have a My Yahoo page. Just click here and all the latest posts here at the Samurai School of Appliantology will show up right on your My Yahoo page. Oh, it's tres cool. Oui, papa.

Add to My Yahoo

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

There's a saying among us professional Appliantologists, "Asko? Oh, no!" Even the Samurai cringes when he gets a service call for an Asko. Their dishwashers are famous in the repairing community as electrical nightmares--their defining characteristic is spontaneous combustion.

Asko, Bosch...why do people buy these freakin' furrin' brands? Is it an image thang? Well, for that image you pay twice as much for a dishwasher that breaks down twice as often, takes twice as long to get parts for, and costs twice as much to repair.

I don't know what part melted on your Asko-oh no dishwasher, but my recommendation would be the same no matter what it is: junk it and go buy a Whirlpool or Kitchenaid dishwasher. A really, really good and quiet one will run you about $500. If you want the stainless steel interior (though, I don't see the point of this for a residential dishwasher) it'll run you a few hundred more.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Monday, February 23, 2004

Please see our current explanation of the Live Help program at this page.

Saturday, February 21, 2004

Holy Guacamole! There are so many things screwed up here I'm not sure where to begin: basic geometry, building codes, re-sale of your house, and plain ol' common-friggin'-sense. Let's start with the basics.

Come with me now on a journey back through time, all the way back to when you were just a devilish glint in yo daddy's eye... Ok, not that far back, but let's go back to 8th grade geometry class, you know, the one where you were too busy trying to look up Mrs. Soper's dress to learn how to calculate the area of a circle. Anyway, Mrs. Soper was trying to tell you that to calculate the area of a circle, you multiply the constant PI (3.14) times the square of the radius, like ahso:

A = PI * R^2

Reducing the diameter from 4" to 3" (a 25% reduction in diameter, by the way) may not sound like much, but look at the equation for area again. Area varies with the square of the radius. This means little reductions in radius, make for big reductions in cross-sectional flow area. In your case, reducing the diameter from 4" to 3" reduces the cross sectional area from about 12.5 sq. in. to about 7 sq. in. So, a measly little 25% reduction in diameter really amounts to a 44% reduction in the cross sectional area. Do you think this will have an effect on your dryer venting efficiency, causing little annoyances like a 44% increase in drying time and a 44% increase in the cost of operating your dryer? Hmmm, there's a brain tickler for ya. Well, hang with me, Hoss, 'cuz we gittin' to the good part.

Check out this table--it lists maximum dryer vent lengths for vents with varying numbers of turns and exhaust fittings for both rigid metal duct and flexible metal duct--all based on a standard 4" diameter vent. Ok now, let's take a ezzample. S'pose you have a common, 4" rigid aluminum dryer vent that idiot builders with half their brains stuffed into Jim Beam bottles install every freakin' day all across Ameedica. And let's further suppose that the total length, including all turns, bends, and twists, is 20 feet, that you have three 90 degree elbows, and that the vent terminates in a standard 4" vent hood. Referring again to the dryer vent length table, you'll see that the maximum allowable vent length under these conditions is 18 feet--two feet shorter than our hypothetical vent, but probably close enough that the dryer will still work ok.

Now, just for grins, let's pretend our vent duct is only 3" diameter instead of 4", all else remains the same. Ain't no rocket science here, Hoss: just take the same answer we figgered out above and reduce it by 44%. In other words, where the allowable maximum length for our 4" vent was 18 feet, if we reduce the vent diameter to 3", our maximum allowable length is cut down to only 10 feet! With the total vent length at 20 feet, I can guaran-damn-tee you that you're gonna be running clothes through the dryer at least twice before they get dry, longer as the vent ages and crap builds up in there, which a 3" vent will do much more quickly. Can I hear a "Shazzayyam!"

Ok, enough higher math. Now tell me this dryer vent wasn't your idea! If so, then you need to be taken out and thrashed brutally about the thighs and buttocks. What if the concrete settles and fractures part of the duct causing lint to build up at the fault point, you're going to what...call Mr. Rooter for a ream job? Why not just build an external 4" vent and then clean or replace every 5 to 10 years or so as needed?

Finally, what happens when you go to sell your house? If I were the home inspector and I saw that--and you better believe I'd look at something like a Jimmy Hoffa dryer vent reeeeal close--I'd tell the prospective buyer, my customer, to stipulate in the contract that the dryer vent be brought up to code. And then, since the house was built by Bozo-with-a-hammer, I'd start wondering what else wasn't built to code and I'd go fishin', documenting every little thing just to cover my sweet derriere.

You get my drift, home-boy? Awwite den, go fix that dryer vent.

Recommended Reading: The Ultimate Dryer Venting Guide

Friday, February 20, 2004

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Photo Links:

• Mts. Eisenhower and Pierce, 02/20/2004
• Mts. Lafayette, Lincoln, and Little Haystack, 02/02/2004

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

• "Why isn't my dryer drying?"
• "Why isn't my washer washing?"
• "Why isn't my micro waving?"
• "Why is my refrigerator warm and my oven cold?"

Appliance problems gotcha scratching your head? Wouldn't it be great to be able to actually talk to a Master Appliantologist and get answers to your appliance repair questions?

Once again, wantonly forsaking all the laws of sound economics, the Samurai demonstrates his utter contempt for anything even remotely resembling good bidness sense. Introducing the Toll-free Appliance Repair Hotline available here, and only here, at Fixitnow.com. Call toll-free 24 hours a day, seven days a week and leave me a message describing your appliance problem. I'll call you back on my nickel and we'll talk about your appliance problem. Many times, the information you need is already at my website and I can tell you where to find it. Sometimes, it's a simple thing and I can explain how to fix it. Where else but Fixitnow.com can you find such an insane deal? Oh, and did I mention that it's free?

Sunday, February 15, 2004

This is one of those things that pegs the bizarre-o-meter so hard it slams right into cool. Quiznos is using singing vermin to sell sandwiches. I'm LMAO and can't stop watching it. Check it out.

As cool as the Samurai? Well, you just hitch 'em up, Hoss, and take this 5-second Cool Person Test. Then we'll see who's cool and who's the fool.

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Oh, star-crossed Grasshopper, like so many other GE appliance owners, you have walked into the valley of the shadow of appliance death. The all-touchy, all-feely, all-smelly Samurai feels your pain and shares your erudite assessment of GE appliances.

The control panel itself is probably fine--what you really need is the electronic range control board, WB27X5482. But this is academic since it also is no longer available (NLA). Welcome to the forsaken world of orphaned appliances.

Wait! What's that over there! A glimmer of hope? The Holy Grail? Perhaps. Here are three outfits that specialize in repairing oven timers and control boards and snatching older ranges from the jaws of NLA-hell:

• General Time Repairs
• Mid American Timers
• Stove Clock Repair

One of those guys should be able to fix that board for you. Keep the faith and you'll soon be baking cookies in your oven again.

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Monday, February 09, 2004

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Saturday, February 07, 2004

Check the simple stuff first: make sure your dishwasher racks aren't interfering with the detergent door. This will happen if the rack is put in backwards or isn't seated properly. Also, if the silverware rack has fallen off recently and you re-attached it, make sure you didn't position it right in front of the detergent dispenser.

Ok, with the simple stuff out of the way, let's get into the gory techie stuff. Start by checking the wax motors with your ohm meter, should get 600-1800 ohms. If you do, then the wax motors are good and the problem is that you're losing voltage to them. Key components to check are the thermal cutoff (normally closed) and the electronic control. Easiest to do a live test and trace the voltage back until you find it. You'll need the wiring diagram/tech sheet for this. The wiring diagram is either in the kickplate (on bottom) or in the control console but you can borrow my copy in case you can't find yours--just be sure to return it!

Referring to the wiring diagram, if you measure 120v on P8 of the electronic control but it's not making it out P9, then the electronic control is bad. Conversely, if you do measure 120v on P2-3 or P2-4 of the electronic control, then the electronic control is bad. The tech sheet also shows how to initiate the rapid advance service feature and diagnostic cycles. This can greatly facilitate troubleshooting by advancing the dishwasher to only run at the part of the cycle where the detergent door opens.

Thursday, February 05, 2004

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Link: Freeing a Stuck Motor on a GE Dishwasher

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Figure 1	Figure 2
Figure 3	Figure 4

Dryer Disassembly Link

SUDS Rating: Three Mugs

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

Ahh, yes, the humming dryer console. I know it well. First thing to do is get a couple King of Beers to have handy while you work on your King of Dryers. This repair is not quite two mugs on the SUDS appliance repair rating system.

The problem lies in one of two components: the timer or the push-to-start relay. Best way to tell which is the culprit is to check the continuity of the push-to-start relay (or switch) using your ohm meter and the dryer's wiring diagram. If you need more detailed instructions on how to check out the push-to-start relay, get the repair manual for this dryer.

If the push-to-start relay checks out ok, then replace the timer. You'll be good to go, buddy-row!