c/appliance-repairers

The ice maker that ate my Tuesday afternoon in Baltimore

Went to swap a bad water inlet valve on a Samsung fridge, but the lines were so crusted with sediment the whole bracket snapped off when I wiggled it... had to cut the back panel and re-run the tubing with a push fitting. Anyone else carry spare 1/4 inch line and brackets for these messy jobs, or do you always prep the customer before you crack it open?

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burns.brooke•16h ago

That chat with a neighbor made me double check my parts ordering

Guy two streets over told me he lost a full repair job because the part he ordered was a revision off by one digit. I know my supplier has that same issue with compressor relays, spent an hour cross checking part numbers on three units last night. You trust your local supplier's database or do you verify against the manufacturer's list every time?

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the_lee•3d ago

That 3AM washer spin failure left me staring at a flood in Tulsa

The drum bearings finally gave out on a 10 year old Whirlpool at 3AM, water everywhere, and I had to tell the customer the repair cost more than a new unit, has anyone else dealt with a bearing swap on these newer sealed tubs or do you just walk away?

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sullivan.john•3d ago

Found a way to unstick a seized dryer drum without tearing it apart

Had a customer in Tulsa with a dryer that wouldn't budge, motor hummed but the drum was locked up. I was ready to pull the whole unit and replace the bearings, which would've run them close to $400 in parts. Then my helper said to check the blower wheel first, figured it was just a sock jamming the fan. Pop the vent off, sure enough a damp washcloth had wrapped around the blower shaft and seized everything. Took me 20 minutes to clear it out, customer paid $80 for the service call instead. Anyone else found cheap fixes hiding behind the obvious moving parts before you go for the big disassembly?

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joseph_fisher95•4d ago

Hit 500 compressor swaps last week, still not sure if that makes me good or just stubborn

Curious if anyone else has hit a milestone that made them question their whole approach, or if 500 is just the point where you stop second guessing yourself.

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webb.stella•8d ago

Took me 6 months to realize I was testing capacitors wrong

I always pulled the cap out and discharged it with a screwdriver before testing, but I never let it sit long enough. Last week a GE fridge compressor was kicking off and I kept reading good capacitance on a start cap, so I ordered a new board. Customer called back angry and my buddy on site said, hold on, you're testing it while it still holds residual charge. Soon as I waited 5 minutes and shorted it properly, the meter dropped to 60 percent of rated. Now I test every cap twice, once right after pulling and once after sitting. Has anyone else had a similar brain fart with bleed-down time?

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diana55•12d ago

The washing machine that fought back at a rental in Tucson

Last month I got called out to a duplex where the tenant swore the washer was haunted, which turned out to be a sock wedged in the drain pump, but not before it sprayed soapy water all over my boots and the dog started barking at the spin cycle. The kicker was the tenant had already paid $80 for a 'cleaning service' that just ran an empty cycle with vinegar, so I had to show her the actual lint and coin buildup I pulled out. Now I always bring a headlamp and a small mirror to check the pump housing on front loaders, since you can't see squat without contorting yourself into a pretzel. Has anyone else had a job where the homeowner tried a DIY fix that made things ten times worse before you even showed up?

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stellag21•14d ago

The $15 O-ring kit that saved my Saturday in Boise

Last weekend a customer's dishwasher was dumping water everywhere and I was about to order a whole new sump assembly, $90 plus shipping. My buddy Mike, who's been doing this for 20 years, said just swap the O-rings first, most leaks are those cheap seals. I grabbed a $15 kit from the local supply house, took 20 minutes to replace two rings, and it sealed perfectly. He was right, and now I always carry that kit in my van. Has anyone else had a small fix save them from a big parts order?

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betty_shah•16d ago

Took 12 years to admit my T-handle torx set was a waste of money

Been doing appliance repairs since 2012, always carried a full T-handle torx set in my bag. The drivers looked professional, steel felt solid in hand. But every time I busted one out for a tight screw on a Samsung dryer or a Whirlpool tub ring, the handle would slip and I'd strip the screw head. Last month I borrowed my buddy's ratcheting bit driver at a job in Austin and finished a motor swap in half the time. That was the wakeup call. Ended up selling my whole T-handle collection on Craigslist for $40 and never looked back. Anyone else find that regular ratchets beat T-handles for tight spaces, or am I the only one who held onto old tools out of habit?

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the_aaron•17d ago

Caught a customer on the phone after I fixed their dryer vent 3 times

I was out at a house in Fresno last Tuesday, swapping the same dryer heating element for the third visit, when the owner got a call from her sister and said, 'the guy keeps coming back, I think he's just milking it.' I wanted to walk out right then, but I finished the job, showed her the burnt wires and the lint trap clog, and left my invoice with a note about checking the outdoor flap. She called my office two days later to apologize and book a duct cleaning, but that moment made me wonder how often customers think we're the problem when the real issue is their setup.

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mila_jones39•18d ago

That one Tuesday where everything that could break did

Last fall I had a day that still sticks with me. Started with a washer that dumped water all over a basement in Everett, then a dryer that was just clicking and doing nothing, and by noon I was elbow deep in a dishwasher that kept tripping the breaker. I mean, I’ve had bad days before, but this was three calls back to back, and the parts I needed were all at different supply houses across town. By 4pm I was sitting in my van eating a cold sandwich, wondering if I should have stayed in the warehouse job I had back in 2015. What made it weird is that the next day every single repair went smooth, like the universe was apologizing. Has anyone else had a day like that where you just want to quit, and then it turns around for no reason? And am I the only one who keeps a list of the worst days just to remember they’re not the norm?

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holly_flores79•18d ago

Why do people still yank out dryer thermostats before testing them?

I went on a service call last Tuesday in Phoenix and the previous guy had already swapped the thermal fuse AND the thermostat on a Whirlpool. The real issue was a clogged vent hose, it took me 4 minutes with a $40 digital multimeter to find it. Customer paid for a part they never needed because someone skipped the basic reading. Do you all check resistance first or just toss parts at it hoping for the best? Cause I'm seeing this way too much lately.

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miles_roberts22•18d ago

compressor swap on a 12 year old fridge, now its freezing everything solid

Took on a side by side in Denver, swapped the compressor and filter drier after a burn out. Pulled a deep vacuum and weighed in the charge exactly per the tag. But now the freezer is sitting at -15 and the fridge section is at 28, way too cold. Ran the gauges and pressures look fine, suction line is sweating like crazy though. Could the TXV be stuck open from the burn out debris even after I blew out the lines with nitrogen? Has anyone dealt with a floodback issue after a compressor replacement and what did you end up doing?

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dixon.anthony•19d ago

The old refrigerant gauges had one thing right

I keep seeing younger techs out here in Tucson relying on those digital manifolds for everything. Last Tuesday I watched a guy spend 20 minutes on a no-cool call because his probe said the subcooling was fine, but he never checked the liquid line temp with his hand. The old analog gauges forced you to think about pressures and temperatures together, not just stare at a screen number. Has anyone else noticed the digital stuff gives you false confidence when the compressor is actually slugging oil?

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the_diana•20d ago

Client feedback about my dryer vent ducting changed my whole approach

Last month I did a job in Boise where the homeowner watched me use the cheap foil duct I've used for years. He asked why I wasn't using rigid metal pipe, so I explained it was faster and fine for most homes. He showed me his last repair bill from a house fire that started in a foil duct crammed behind a wall. I spent the next weekend redoing all my service van stock with semi-rigid aluminum and now I never cut corners on vent runs. The time difference is maybe 15 extra minutes per job, but the safety gain is huge. Has anyone else switched away from foil ducting and noticed any downsides with tight bends?

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nathanking•23d ago

Customer tightened the dryer vent hose with zip ties, found out why

Last Tuesday in Phoenix, a lady calls me out because her dryer quit mid-cycle. Open the back, and someone had used three zip ties to clamp the flex vent onto the exhaust port. Heat melted the plastic, and it sagged right onto the heating element. Burnt rubber smell was the giveaway. Took me 20 minutes to cut it out and put a proper clamp on. Who taught people that zip ties fix everything? Has anyone else seen this clean trick with flex pipe?

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blair_butler47•24d ago

Old school timer vs digital, I'll take the analog one every time

Been swapping out a lot of these smart appliance boards lately and honestly, the old mechanical timers were easier to diagnose. Last Tuesday I had a dryer in Columbus that kept stopping mid-cycle, took me 20 minutes with a multimeter to trace it back to a bad relay on the digital board. With the old timer setup I could watch the contacts close and hear the click, done in 5 minutes flat. Anyone else feel like the new stuff is just harder to fix without a laptop and a service manual?

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margaret_lane•24d ago

Washing machine fill hoses taught me a plumbing lesson

My neighbor, a retired plumber, watched me replace a fill hose with the washer pushed against the wall and said 'you're fighting the wrong end,' and now I always pull the machine out 2 feet first, has anyone else had a basic install bite them that way?

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the_ben•27d ago

Finally cracked a tricky LG dryer no heat call in Akron

Customer called about a dryer running but no heat. Checked the thermal fuse, thermistor, even the heating element. All showed fine on the meter. Was about to order a new control board, which was going to run them $180 plus my time. Then I remembered a tip from an old tech I met at a parts counter in Canton. He said to check the vent pressure switch on certain LG models. Sure enough, the little hose had a kink right where it connects behind the lint filter housing. Straightened it out, reheated the air, dry clothes in 40 minutes. Three hours of head scratching solved by a $0 fix. Has anyone else run into those pressure switches failing from just a pinched line, or am I the last guy to learn this one?

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mila_jones39•29d ago

Mini fridge compressor burnout at a rental, 2 weeks in

Had a tenant call about a mini fridge in a unit I manage, loud buzzing then it just quit. Pulled it out, compressor was hot to the touch and the start relay smelled burnt. This was a budget brand, maybe 4 years old, and honestly the labor to swap parts is more than the fridge is worth. I told the tenant to just get a new one, but now Im second guessing if I shouldve tried replacing the relay and capacitor. Has anyone else dealt with this on small fridges where the fix cost almost as much as the unit? What do you tell your clients or landlords in that spot?

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green.jenny•29d ago

The $9 dollar part that kept tripping breakers on 3 dryers

Last month I had three different calls in Tacoma where dryers kept tripping the breaker after 10 minutes. First two I swapped the heating element and the thermostats, still failed. Third one I checked the blower wheel fins first because they looked warped, and that was it, the motor was drawing too much current and overheating. Replaced the wheel for $9 and the dryer ran a full cycle fine. Went back to the first two jobs and did the same fix, problem solved both times. Has anyone else seen warped blower wheels cause intermittent breaker trips instead of a straight thermal cutout?

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thompson.xena•1mo ago

Finally tried a compressor-driven fridge instead of that absorption unit in my camper van and it chilled drinks in under 10 minutes flat, why did I wait 2 years for this

I was up in Flagstaff last summer fighting with that propane fridge that couldn't keep ice cream solid above 80 degrees, swapped it out for a 12V compressor model off Amazon for $450 and now I actually trust my food won't spoil on long trips, anyone else swear by compressor units over absorption?

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wendysmith•1mo ago

Picked up a tip from a retired guy at the parts counter

I was waiting for a control board at the supply house and this old timer next to me said he always tests the door switch first on any washer that won't spin. He claimed it saves him 20 minutes per call and he was right, I tried it on a Samsung yesterday and found a bad switch in under 2 minutes. Anyone else start their troubleshooting with the simplest part first or do you go straight for the multimeter?

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riley595•1mo ago

Callout post: The guy who told me to clean dryer ducts with a leaf blower was right

Last week a commenter on here said to use a leaf blower from the outside to clear out lint from the dryer vent. I figured it would just blow lint back inside or something. But I tried it on a 40 foot run in a rental I was fixing up and it shot out a wad of lint the size of a football. Saved me two hours of fighting with a brush kit. Anyone else tried this trick and had it work out?

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noahw53•1mo ago

Hit 200 refrigerator compressor replacements last Thursday and finally stopped guessing on capacitor sizes

I just realized that every time I swap a compressor on a 10+ year old Whirlpool, the run capacitor is always 5-10 microfarads off from the spec sheet, so now I just bring a handful of the common ones and test them with my meter before ordering anything new has anyone else noticed this on older units?

2 comments