Posted on 09/21/2021 11:29:52 AM PDT by patriot torch
I just had an appliance repairman show up to diagnose my refrigerator problem and he quoted 350 dollars to replace an evaporator fan. The refrigerator is 17 years old and not worth that amount of money stuck into it.
After paying 95 dollars for a service call, I decided to do some research of my own. I always prefer to do my own repairs on most things, but its often the diagnosis issue I struggle with. Repairmen are often highly educated and are worth their pay. But on simpler repairs I would rather choose to repair things myself.
I found this website and thought it might be helpful for the do it yourselfers here at FR.
We had a washer that stopped aggitating so I figured I’d take it apart to see what makes it tick. I figured it would have something to do with the transmission. When I got to a certain point in disassembly, a thin serrated flat washer fell to the floor in two pieces. I figured that could not be the cause, since it would be so simple to repair. So I reassembled it and called a repairman. When he was finished, I asked him what was the cause, he called it a thrush washer and showed me the damaged washer. Yup, the same one I had previously in my hand.
(4) If it can leak, it will leak.
For you folks who may have had a leaking fridge door on an LG fridge with a French door, the culprit is likely one of two things, a loose hose going into either the small water chamber (allows for cold water to the first person who gets there in the morning), the valve for water, or the water chamber itself (two plastic halves). All these are accessible inside the left door bottom behind an easily removed plastic cover. After much back and forth with the warranty people, I fixed it myself with an original LG part for $45. It was the water chamber itself. Only figured it out when my wife suggested using a blue shop towel to wipe at different areas around the tubes and chamber. It was the seam in the chamber itself that was apparently separating.
#4: DON’T LICK YOUR FINGERS!
As Red Green said, If you can’t be handsome, then you oughta be handy. (Or something like that)
Just had the same experience. My fridge was half working, I think not was going into a defrost mode, and I would have to jiggle the controls to get it to come back on.
So I had a service guy come check it, the defrost control board needs replacement. In addition they suggested I replace the thermostat control. Service call $100 and parts and labor to fix $550. They would have to order the parts. There unit is 11 years old and I don’t want to buy another.
So I looked into a DIY video on how to replace the board, very easy, 15 minutes tops. So I look online for a part. The main parts places wanted almost $300 for that board. I went to Ebay and found the same exact part for $25.00, it just came in today. So I will change it out myself and save $500.
I bought two just in case, so all in $50 for parts, my labor Zero.
I’ve used Parts Select to fix a refrigerator and my two wall ovens. One of the ovens has been fixed twice. It’s a great resource.
Not sure if it was just my phone or not, but it took a long time to load the page whenever I searched on the website. Did you have the same issue?
I will have to check that out. Thanks
Thank you for posting that.
There are many advantages to DIY repair:
1) You care, and want it fixed right.
2) You aren’t making money on the repair, so you’re not looking for extra costs.
3) Your old “thing” may be better than the China-made garbage that would replace it.
Those are just a few, and there are certainly others, if you have the time and interest to repair.
I try to fix or replace most things, myself. My dryer runs on a replacement pulley I turned on a lathe from a piece of walnut firewood, for instance.
I have been finally driven to repair my home’s heat pump, myself, after going through every HVAC service in the phone book over a period of 10 years. I don’t think that there is much, if any, honesty in HVAC, and I thought the system should have been more reliable than what I was seeing. Watching previous repairs and the Internet help, but there is some weaselly stuff on the Internet, too. The “supply chain” crunch is real, too. Parts and tools can be hard to get.
My 30-year-old USA-made microwave finally died for good (likely) a few weeks ago. Some things can’t last forever. Now, the ONLY replacements are made in Chyna. I’ll be happy if it makes it through the warranty. If it dies, I’ll probably scrap it for parts to resurrect the old one.
Thanks again for posting that site. I’ll see if what I need for the old microwave is out there.
My brother and I recently went by the house we grew up in back in the early 70’s.
The current owner invited use in.
The copper colored refrigerator my dad and mom bought in ‘71-72 is still in use in the basement rec room.
How about 2 minutes of watching someone’s hands moving about in front of the camera while they jabber, before they actually do what they say they were going to do.
If I had that time back, there might be a couple more days to my life.
we’ve saved money by watching you tube videos....there seems to be a how to video on everything....
A friend of mine who runs a commercial A/C sales and support company once said ‘plumbers are simply electricians who have tested a hot socket one too many times’
well my husband got it unglues to a point...he went to remove the screen and there still remained a white surface behind it....he had only removed part of the screen....the computer guy said he's never seen that done without shattering the screen in a zillon pieces....lol....
we didn't save any money and infact repaired that computer and bought a good refurbished one as well....
“Just gotta always remember that shiite runs downhill.”
there’s a bit more to it than that: hot water on the left, cold water on the right ...
I have a 60" plasma TV in my basement that I very seldom use.
A number of years back, I decided to go down and watch a DVD but the TV wouldn't power on. I spent weeks searching the internet trying to figure out what the problem was and how much it was going to cost me to have it repaired and how the heck was I going to be able to take it to a repair shop. Of course I assumed the worst.........
Then I came across a simple article that said the first thing to do is UNPLUG IT for a few minutes then plug it back in.......Yep, that worked.......LOL!
Apparently what may have happened is that it experienced a brief power spike that happens occasionally and the circuitry shut down. I since replaced the power strip with a quality surge protector and it never happened again...........
Sometimes we overlook the simplest of solutions looking for the worst case scenario.......
Don’t know if you seen what I posted on #36, here it is again just in case. (Though it seems you would have already checked for this)
Some time back a friend alerted me to videos on YouTube for microwave repair. Turns out that very often an internal fuse will blow. 50 cent fuse and 30 minute repair to salvage a 300 dollar microwave. I can only imagine how many microwaves were thrown to the curb when a cheap and easy repair could have solved the issue.
Here’s the link:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8i3iYtQOih4
Most evaporator fan motors are real easy to change, you just have to remove everything on the inside to get to it, but it all comes right apart.just buy it and change it should be $30-$60
LOL, yeah, that too!
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