Appliance repair for do it yourselfers

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[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.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

Washing machine (many years old Whirlpool) had clutch fail. I was out of work at the time and had time on my hands, so I fixed it. Cost me about 70 bucks for the parts and I had to buy a D-ring plier. Still working today.

[shotgun]

You forgot the fourth thing.

Another person’s shit is his bread and butter

[daniel1212]

"I found this website and thought it might be helpful for the do it yourselfers here at FR." I was there myself in looking for a condenser fan for a neighbor. But to save money once you find the right part and mftr, # then look elsewhere for the part, and the numbers it replaces, and match them up in looking for the lowest price.

In my case the fan motor cost $45+Shipping at partselect.com but the same motor (mftr part # WR60X10220) cost as low as $16 new with free shipping on Ebay and $14 on Walmart. Guess where I placed the order. Thank God for such options.

[patriot torch]

Same here my friend.

[Varsity Flight]

Thx

📌🔝

[Varsity Flight]

Same toaster

[MomwithHope]

Today we changed the door switch on our clothes dryer, old one wore out and did not work. This is just one repair where the internet has saved us a bundle. The repair service we used to use now charges 165.00 for a service call. Plus parts. Found the model number of the dryer and did some research. Got the part for 5.93 free shipping and watched a short you tube. You tube has tons of fix it videos.

[Bobalu]

I love PEX, it’s so easy to run and resistant to freezing and breaking...

A neighbor near my house in Illinois had his copper hot water line bust beneath his concrete slab floor in his house... He ran PEX up from the water heater and through the attic space and fixed it all in one afternoon for next to nothing compared to breaking up the floor and doing a repair.

[jpsb]

I had the same problem. Bought a box fan for 10 bucks and put it behind the fridge. Problem solved for at least ten plus years, best I know the fridge is still working. At least it was a few years ago then I sold the business.

[patriot torch]

I heard pex is the way to go. Easier for the do it yourselfer as well.

[jpsb]

bkmked

[caww]

I’m a gal and have found when something isn’t working right taking it apart and putting it back together fix’s whatever was going on.

[patriot torch]

Yeah, your not alone. I’ve found that to be the case a few times.

[higgmeister]

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!

40 years ago a friend and co-worker was hired by Nippon Electric Company, Limited, now called NEC.   They sent him to Japan to go to school on their long distance telephone switch.   He quickly learned that the Japanese psyche was the total opposite of our Western beliefs.   With the intention of saving face, their training taught them, in troubleshooting, to always consider the most difficult and improbable problem and gradually work down to the simplest thing.   They could spend hours in testing every component before finally deciding to check if the switching system was powered on.   To ask a Japanese engineer to see if the system is powered on first would be an insult.   My friend didn't stay with NEC very long.

Our long distance telephone vendors back then were Digital Switch Corporation in Plano, Texas and Northern Telecom Limited of Ontario, Canada (fondly nicknamed the John Deere Tractor switch for obvious reasons).

[21twelve]

Chris Fix is a guy that does auto repairs.

I love his “Hey Guys!” at the beginning of his videos. He’s a young guy (20’s?) that fixes cars on his driveway. His site is the #2 automotive repair site after Ford’s!

[Myrddin]

VOM is the least of it. I have a First Class Radiotelephone License with Ships RADAR endorsement (grandfathered to GROL by FCC) and Extra Class ham license. I made a decent living at Marine Electric company fixing the electronics on 180 tuna boats/work boats/freighters/sport fishers/base stations. The TV set fix was a "bush league" effort.

As an entertaining aside, my dad was called out of town to care for sick relatives. My mom remained at home. I lived 30 miles north. My dad would call my mom each morning and evening. Landline. The morning calls had a terrible "hum". Afternoon calls had none. After a week, my mom called to ask for some help. I did some basic checks and determined that a big 4 prong extension cord that was deeply buried behind lots of furniture was the culprit. I unplugged it and the hum went away. Mom was happy. I didn't pursue it further. Weeks later, my dad returned home. Finding the princess telephone next to his easy chair lacked dial tone, he plugged the cable back in. The morning hum pattern returned. Dad decided to investigate. Hi pulled his big chair from the corner. A 4 prong jack/plug assembly connecting the Princess phone to the extension cord appeared "discolored". On investigation, the mystery was solved. Every morning the cat was going being the chair and pissing on the connector. The Princess phone has a lighted dial. The AC power for the lighted dial was coupled to the tip/ring by the cat piss. By afternoon it dried and the "hum" disappeared.

[Myrddin]

During my time at PacBell, we had an engineer from NEC visiting. His job was to shadow the craft staff and document work tasks. He was very thorough in paying attention to the jargon to ensure writing effectively. The first draft of the maintenance procedures manual arrived for reading and approvals. A howl of laughter ensued as the procedure called for connecting the "buttinsky" to the tip/ring on the frame.

[Myrddin]

the cat was going behind the chair and pissing on the 4 prong jack/plug

[Tijeras_Slim]

Repair Clinic also has parts and videos. Fixed my microwave for $30.

[Myrddin]

I missed the advent of the "John Deere" switches. I was in Toll COE from 1980 to 1983. After that, I did the PREMIS/LAC conversion, then SOAC/LFACS. Later, the upgrade of COSMOS from PDP 11/70 to UNISYS 7000 systems. We upgraded MIZAR from 3B20S to UNISYS 7000 after that. Having finished the conversions, I upgraded the COSMOS/MIZAR systems to be networked with TCP/IP and implemented the CSFT capability to permit changing CallWaiting/Call Forwarding/SpeedCall and one other service using just a voice response (English/Spanish/Mandarin) to add/delete/change services with Touch Tone response. The updates were complete in around 30 minutes depending on MIZAR update cycles to the switches. No humans involved. Made possible by the "leave the connections in place" databases in LFACS. I stopped doing all that in Nov 1991 when I left the company for my current employer. Had I remained, I would have had over 40 years with the company. I'll hit the 30 year mark with my current employer in December.