If you’re looking for a good reference to help you understand
simple home wiring, the Samurai recommends The Basics of Household Wiring DVD. If you think you already know it all, then you don’t know what you don’t know. Think about that, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” You know, the mark of an educated person isn’t that they know everything or even a lot of things; no, the mark of an educated person is that they do know what they don’t know. I’ve been working with electricity for over 30 years and there were things in this DVD that even I didn’t know.

My Diddy always telled me, he said, “Son, the only real sin is wasting good beer.” No, wait, wrong quote; he used tell me, “Son, the day you stop learning is the day you might as well check out ‘cuz yer brain done died so what’s the point of living?” Yeah, my Diddy taught me lots of stuff. He even taught me how to tell time on his watch, which he never took out of his pocket. But, hey, that’s a story for another post. What were we talking about?

Oh yes: The Basics of Household Wiring is a professionally produced DVD by the production company, Getting Up To Speed. This excellent tutorial is designed to help you clearly understand electricity in your home, and demonstrates how to safely perform simple electrical projects. You can feast your Vulcan squinties on sample clips of this DVD here.

Topics covered in this comprehensive DVD
include:

• The Basics of Electricity
  • Safety, code reference, permits and insurance compliance
  • Wire colours and their meaning
  • How electricity is distributed in your home

• Service Panels
  • Understanding the purpose and function

• Grounding
  • The importance of grounding

• Circuit Breakers
  • Their important role and function
  • How they operate
  • What to do when a breaker trips and how to reset

• Household Wiring
  • Different types and sizes of wire
  • Wire colors and their meaning
  • Cabling
  • Wire gauges and how to interpret wire size

• Understanding Amperage
  • How to choose the appropriate wire size based on
    required amps

• Short Circuits
  • The causes of short circuits

• Amps, Volts and Watts
  • Definitions
  • Understanding circuitry in your home
  • Learn how to calculate the safe capacity for a circuit
    breaker
  • How to avoid overloading a circuit in your home

• Safety & Testing
  • Safe practices for working around electricity in your
    home
  • Proper testing of currents using voltage meters

• Electrical Outlets
  • Understanding receptacles
  • The anatomy and function of common receptacles
  • How to properly replace an outlet

• G.F.C.I.’s
  • Understanding the role of a Ground Fault Circuit
    Interrupter
  • How they operate

• Switches
  • The basics of a two-way or single pole switch
  • Testing a switch with a continuity tester
  • Safely replacing a switch

• Light Fixtures
  • How to safely install a light fixture in your home

This DVD is a must-have if you’re planning on tackling any home electrical project. Also, if you’re attempting any electrical repair on your appliances, it is essential that you arm yourself with a solid understanding of electricity in your home and the basics of wiring. The Basics of Household Wiring does exactly that.

Ok, so right about now you’re saying, “I’m a believer! Gimme, gimme! How much?” That’s sweet of you to offer to buy it, but this DVD ain’t for sale. Nope. Since the Samurai is all-touchy, all-feely, and all-smelly, he is giving this DVD away as a free gift to his tired, his poor, his huddled grasshoppers yearning to fix it now with your love-offering of $40 or more to the United Samurai Beer Fund.

Recommended Reading: Making Basic Electrical Measurements.

Popeye wrote:

Mr. Samurai……….

I have a 5 year old Kenmore Washing machine with a direct drive. All is well until the start of the spin/rinse cycle. At that point, a distinctive regular clicking sound eminates from the bowels of the machine. Everything else functions normally. Water drains, rinse water is applied, water drains, tub spins. On the final high speed cycle, the clicking continues at a rythmic pace, the tub spins faster and towards the end of the cycle a distinctive smell of rubber can be detected.

I took the back off and there is no evidence of any leaking fluids, undo vibrations, or other abnormal visual signs of any problems.

So, Mr. Samurai, what’s is your diagnosis? Also, what is your favorite beer? We would like to contribute to the fund.

Peace,
Popeye the Sailor Man

_______________________________

Message sent from IP: 66.177.87.125

Shiver me timbers, you went and turned a simple problem into a complicated one. Argh!

Your washer needed a stunningly simple repair which rated a single beer on the SUDS scale and that you could have done in 30-minutes. But, nooooo! Instead of spending a few minutes reading my enlightening disassembly instructions, you dove right in without knowing what you were doing, just like Popeye, and removed the back panel. Take a moment now and read this— go ahead, I’ll wait.

As you read there, you disassembled your washer completely wrong. In addition to being no closer to fixing the problem, you’ve created a whole new problem in getting that back panel re-attached correctly, with all the accouterments. Now’s the time when you smack your head with a hammer and yell, “DOH!”

So, what’s the real problem with your washer? Bad drive coupler– this page explains how to fix that the right way.

Instead of making simple repairs complicated, take the time to learn that which you do not know (but think you do) and you’ll save yourself a lot of time and aggravation.

For more information on your washer or to order parts, click here.

Appliance Wisdom

Got Parts?

Whirlpool / Kenmore Calypso Washer Debacle

Mailbag: How do the Valve Coils in a Gas Dryer Work?

The Samurai School of Appliantology: Now Accepting New Students

Mailbag: Love Letter to the Samurai

Mailbag: Mental Therapy for Appliance Repair

Appliance Repair Revelation, Converting a Gas Range

Appliance Repair Revelation, Making Basic Electrical Measurements

Mailbag: Bad Ignitor or Valve on a Gas Oven?

Master Appliantologists at the Appliantology Group Repair Forum

Mailbag: Using Your Gas Range to Heat Your Home

Dos Domos

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Satellite Radio Gizmology

The Orbiter Crashes

Star Warz: XM vs. Sirius

Heavy Metal Irony Award Nominee

Appliantology for November 2004

The repair forum at the Appliantology Group has become very active lately and I’m grateful for all the help from other Master Appliantologists in answering appliance repair questions. Many questions would go unanswered without their help. I’ve put together this roster of Master Appliantologists to introduce grasshoppers to the experts who hang out at the Appliantology Group and answer questions.

Appliances are electro-mechanical devices— that’s a fancy word that means they have electrical and mechanical parts. This also means that appliances can have either electrical or mechanical failures. Most people with one eye and half a brain in their skull can figure out the mechanical part. But very few do-it-yourselfers have even the basic skills needed to troubleshoot an electrical problem in an appliance such as reading a schematic and wiring diagram and using an inexpensive multimeter, like the one shown here to the right ($15), to make electrical measurements.

Reading wiring diagrams and schematics is something I do all the time with enrolled students in the Samurai School of Appliantology. But if you don’t know how to use a basic multimeter to make two simple electrical measurements, then you don’t have a prayer of troubleshooting even the most minor electrical problem–all you’ll be able to do is guess about which part might be bad. That’s what we call the Shotgun Parts Changing School of Appliance Repair.

Also, if you don’t know how to use a multimeter, you’re not even eligible to enroll in the Samurai School for live appliance repair help. I used to spend hours on the phone, explaining to grasshoppers how to use the $20 multimeter they just bought from Radio Shack to measure continuity or voltage. “Ok, put the black probe in the ‘-‘ slot and the…” Those days are over.

Ok, grab ‘hold of those two large lumps at the base of your spine and let’s light this candle.

Resistance and Continuity Measurements

Using a Multimeter to Measure Continuity or Resistance

The picture above shows how to measure resistance (click it for a larger view). Resistance is measured in units called “ohms.” You’ll commonly want to know the resistance of things like bake elements and solenoid coils. For example, a good bake element typically has a resistance of about 30 ohms. If your oven’s not baking and you measure the resistance of the bake element and the meter doesn’t move, then you know you’got a bad element.

A special type of resistance measurement that we commonly make in the field is a continuity measurement. When we’re testing continuity, we don’t care what the actual resistance is, we just want to know if the thing being tested (switch, wire, fuse, etc.) will allow electricity to flow through it. Continuity is a “yay” or “nay” measurement, a component either has continuity or it doesn’t–it’s kinda like pregnancy in that sense.

Two things to remember when making resistance measurements: 1) the circuit should be de-energized (for those of you in Palm Beach, this means to unplug the appliance first!) and 2) remove at least one wire attached to the component you’re testing to disconnect it from the rest of the circuit so you’re not getting a false reading by measuring through the rest of the circuit.

You wouldn’t believe the number of grasshoppers I talk to who just off and changed the bake element when the oven didn’t work only to find that that wasn’t the problem! A simple ohm measurement would’ve saved them a lot of money and headache. But, some people can’t be bothered with a bunch of “useless theory.”

Voltage Measurements

Using a Multimeter to Measure Voltage

The picture above shows how to measure voltage. A voltage measurement at the outlet should be the first thing you do whenever you have an appliance that is completely inoperative, or if you have an electric dryer that’s not heating, or an electric range that doesn’t get hot enough. You’ll need to know the basic anatomy of these various electrical outlets to know what to measure for. Check out the links below for illuminating illustrations of these outlets:

• Standard Household Outlet
• Three-Prong Electric Dryer Outlet
• Four-Prong Electric Dryer Outlet
• Three-Prong Electric Range Outlet
• Four-Prong Electric Range Outlet

Obviously, to measure voltage, there must be power present. This means you can have a hair-raising experience if you touch the wrong thing with your bare hands. As long as you’re holding the probes by the insulated handles and are careful about where you place the metal points of the probes, you’ll be fine. I’ve been working with electricity for over 30 years and I still get shocked every now and then. It only hurts a little, kinda like a snake bite, and it fades quickly. So don’t freak out.

Besides the outlets, you’ll frequently need to measure voltage at various points inside the appliance. Usually, you’re measuring this voltage with respect to ground. That just means that you can clamp one probe to an unpainted metal place on the appliance chassis and then touch the other probe to the points of interest. Your other hand should either be tucked in your pocket or behind your back. This way, you won’t get shocked because you won’t be giving the current a path to flow through your body. Easy, da?

Current Measurements

Using a Clamp-on Amp Meter to Measure Current

Here’s a clamp-on ampmeter (or amp meter) being used to measure current flow through a wire. This is a common test for determining whether or not a gas oven ignitor is good or bad–the only way to really know is by measuring its current draw and comparing to rated draw. And, yes, Homer, the ignitor can glow orange and still be bad.

You’ll also want to measure current draw in cases where you have an electric motor that runs a few minutes then shuts off to see if the problem is with the motor drawing excessive current.

Recommended reading:

• The Secrets of Household Electricity… REVEALED!
• Using Test Equipment
• FAQs for Appliance Repair
• The Samurai Appliance Repair Forum

Buy Appliance Parts Here