📢Hub Chatter

c/appliance-repairers

16

ellis.victor•5d ago

Warning: Don't use third-party dryers on Whirlpool front-loaders from 2022

Had a customer call me last Thursday crying about a burning smell. Her Whirlpool front-loader was only 4 months old. She used some cheap detergent pods from the dollar store and it gummed up the drum bearings. Took me 2 hours to scrape out the residue. The repair cost her $180. Has anyone else seen this with those pods yet?

27

nathan_barnes•5d ago

Tried a cheap capacitor tester from harbor freight and got some weird readings

I picked up one of those little component testers for about 15 bucks last month just to check some microwave caps. Threw a 10uF 250V cap on it that I knew was good from a working board and it showed 8.2uF with a high ESR. Tested the same cap on my buddy's fluke meter and it came back at 10.1uF with normal ESR. Guess you really get what you pay for with test gear. Anyone else run into false readings from those cheap all-in-one testers?

6

noahclark•6d ago

Clients keep thinking a fridge can be leveled with the front feet only

I had a call last week in Austin where the guy said his new fridge was making a weird noise. He'd only adjusted the front rollers and left the back ones sitting on the plastic caps... the whole thing was rocking like a boat. I see this in at least 4 out of 10 installs. Anyone else deal with people who ignore the back leveling legs?

9

lee_grant97•7d ago

Ditched my old multimeter for a clamp meter on compressor checks

I used to always hook up my standard multimeter leads to test compressor windings, took forever and I kept getting sketchy readings. Switched to a clamp meter about 2 months ago after a buddy told me, "Just clamp it on the start wire, you'll see." Now I check start and run caps in seconds without breaking the circuit. Anyone have issues with clamp meters being less accurate on small draw like a fridge compressor?

6

casey_barnes•8d ago

Finally gave in and bought a decent multimeter instead of my $15 harbor freight special

For years I was that guy who swore a cheap multimeter was fine for checking continuity and basic voltage on washers and dryers. I figured why spend $150 on a Fluke when my $15 meter could tell me if a part was dead or not. Then last week I had a call at a house in Oakville where a GE front-loader was tripping the breaker randomly. My cheap meter kept giving me weird fluctuating readings on the heating element. I swapped to a borrowed Fluke 117 from another guy on the crew and within 5 minutes I found a partial short that the cheap meter just couldn't catch. So I bit the bullet and ordered a Klein CL800 off Amazon for about $100. It arrived yesterday and already helped me diagnose a bad capacitor on a fridge compressor that I would have misread before. Has anyone else here had a similar wake-up call with a basic tool they thought was fine?

20

hugow30•9d ago

Decided between a used torque wrench and a cheap new one for compressor work

Tbh I went with the used Snap-on from a pawn shop for $40 instead of a $20 Amazon special, and my bolt torques have been way more consistent since. Has anyone else had luck with older pro tools over budget replacements?

5

roseb62•10d ago

My Frigidaire ice maker quit after 11 months and I fixed it with a toothpick

Last Tuesday I woke up to no ice cubes and found the water line was frozen solid inside the dispenser. I spent an hour reading forums and trying to thaw it with a hairdryer but that just made a mess. Turned out the real issue was a tiny piece of mineral buildup blocking the valve, not a freeze at all. I used a wooden toothpick to gently poke it loose and now it's working fine. Anyone else dealt with a Frigidaire ice maker that acts up like this and found a better fix?

20

jade3•10d ago

Customer told me their dryer was "just making a little noise"

Got a call last Tuesday from a lady in Arlington who said her dryer was making a little noise. Showed up and the drum glides were completely gone, metal on metal for who knows how long. The back panel had actually worn a groove into the drum itself. Told her it was gonna be around $450 for a new drum and the repair parts. She got mad and said I was trying to upsell her. Ma'am, your dryer is literally eating itself alive. I ended up walking away from the job because she wanted me to just slap some new glides on and ignore the damaged drum. That thing is gonna fail again in two months and she'll blame me. Anyone else run into customers who think they know better than what you can see with your own eyes?

32

abby_scott•11d ago

I finally learned why that old lady kept calling me back

Fixed her refrigerator three times in six months. Last time she stood in the kitchen and watched me, then said 'you're missing the rubber strip behind the fan cover.' She was right. How do you handle customers who know more than they let on?

6

julia_burns9•14d ago

Finally got that 10-year-old Samsung fridge ice maker working again

After three failed attempts over the last 2 months swapping out the auger motor and ice bucket assembly, turns out the real issue was a frozen water line behind the fridge that I cleared with a hair dryer in 20 minutes.

4

the_lucas•15d ago

Had a whirlpool washer leave lint all over dark clothes

I've been fixing appliances for about 8 years now and this one threw me for a loop. Customer called saying their washer was coating black shirts in white fuzz, and I figured it was a bad drain pump or clogged filter. Turned out the plastic baffle inside the tub had cracked and was grinding fabric into pulp. Replaced that part and ran a load with rags, night and day difference in just one cycle. Anybody else run into weird fabric damage causes that weren't obvious at first?

0

joelthomas•16d ago

Came across a stat that blew my mind about compressor failure rates

I was looking through some old service logs last night from a shop I used to work at back in 2013. We kept paper records for everything and I got curious about how many compressors we replaced in a year. Turns out it was about 40 units a year for just our three trucks. Fast forward to last week and I stumbled on a forum post from a guy in Florida who said his shop does over 100 compressor swaps a year. That shocked me because I thought we were busy. But then I checked manufacturer data from Copeland and it said nearly 80 percent of compressor failures are caused by liquid slugging or contamination. I had no idea the percentage was that high. It really made me think about how we diagnose things. Has anyone else looked at their own numbers and been surprised by what causes most callbacks?

22

finleyk87•17d ago

A customer in Austin told me I was using too much lubricant on dryer drum rollers

I had this older guy drop off a dryer for a noisy drum, and as I was showing him what I did, he pointed out I was greasing the axle inside the roller instead of just the outer bushing. Told me it would just collect lint and gum up faster, which honestly made total sense once I thought about it. Been doing it the right way for about 6 months now, and I gotta say those rollers are lasting way longer. Anyone else get a simple tip from a customer that changed how you do a basic repair?

14

jana_henderson52•17d ago

Debate: should you repair a 10-year-old fridge or just tell the customer to replace it?

I was at a job last week in a house out in the suburbs, fixing a Whirlpool fridge that was maybe 12 years old. The compressor was making this weird knocking sound, and I figured it was on its way out. I told the homeowner, a lady named Carol, that a new compressor would run her about $400 with labor, but a new basic fridge is around $700. She looked at me and said, "I want you to fix it because this one has the ice maker I like." That got me thinking... are we doing people a favor by trying to keep old machines running, or are we just kicking the can down the road? On one side, fixing saves them money now, and parts are usually available. On the other, a 10-year-old fridge is starting to waste electricity, and a new one might last longer without issues. I've seen compressors fail again within a year on older units, even after a repair. What do you all think, when do you draw the line and say it's time for a new one?

23

laura_ross•18d ago

Worst week I've had in a while after a fridge call in Tacoma

Ngl, I had a week last month that made me want to quit. I got a call about a Samsung fridge not cooling right in Tacoma, drove 45 minutes, found the evaporator fan was dead. Took me 3 trips to the supply house because the first part was wrong and the second one had a bent blade. By Friday I was caked in dust and my back was shot from pulling that thing out. Has anyone else had a run of jobs where nothing goes smooth?

3

fox.jesse•21d ago

That week where every single icemaker I touched tried to fight me

Last Tuesday I rolled up to a service call in Oak Park for a fridge that was making this grinding noise like it was chewing rocks. Turns out the icemaker had a frozen auger motor, so I swapped it out, easy enough. Then Wednesday I get to a house where the icemaker is just dumping water all over the floor because the fill tube cracked. Thursday I had a Samsung where the ice cubes came out tasting like old fish because the water line had some kind of biofilm in it, had to run a whole cleaning cycle three times. By Friday I told my buddy Mike I was ready to smash every icemaker in town with a sledgehammer. The worst part was Saturday, a customer asked me if I could make her icemaker produce smaller cubes because they were too big for her fancy whiskey glasses. Has anyone else had a run where one thing just follows you around all week?

16

maxb46•22d ago

Customer pointed out a quirk in my dryer vent installs

Had a woman in Phoenix say her old repair guy always left a 2 inch gap before the wall plate. I laughed it off but tried it on the next job and airflow actually felt better. Anyone else tweak their vent routing based on homeowner feedback?

11

tessacarter•24d ago

Spent 3 hours swapping a dryer drum with the old belt still looped around the motor pulley - rookie mistake that cost me a redo on a Samsung DV42H

Pulled the new belt off and realized the old one was still riding behind the idler pulley, so the drum was spinning but not heating right... anyone else forget to double check belt routing on these front load models before buttoning up?

17

campbell.robin•1mo ago

Used to swap compressor relays blind, now I always meter first

Honestly, for my first 5 years in this trade I would just swap the relay and hope it fixed the no-start issue on refrigerators. Got burned twice last summer where the relay was fine but the compressor was drawing locked rotor amps. Now I always throw my meter on the windings first. Takes 2 minutes and saves me a callback 90 percent of the time. Anyone else still skip this step out of habit?

21

ruby561•1mo ago

Grateful for a tip from an old timer that saved me 3 hours

A retired repairman named Bob at the hardware store told me to check the door switch before pulling a washer apart. Sure enough, that little plastic lever was cracked on a $15 part. Has anyone else gotten good advice from someone you just met at a supply counter?

9

king.lisa•1mo ago

Debate: OEM parts vs aftermarket for a Fridigaire fridge compressor?

So I had to replace a compressor on a Fridigaire fridge last month. The OEM part was $320 but the aftermarket was $150 from a supplier I trust. I went with the aftermarket to save money and it's been running fine for 3 weeks now... but I'm still worried about the warranty. Which way do you guys lean on this stuff?

20

leohart•1mo ago

Found out my drier vent was 80% blocked after I cleaned a 3-foot lint snake out of it

I was diagnosing a no-heat call at a house on Maple Street last Tuesday and figured it was the thermal fuse again. Popped the back panel and saw the vent was nearly solid with lint, like a giant grey slug in there. After I pulled it all out and cleared the path, the drier ran perfect and the customer said her clothes used to take 3 cycles to dry. Has anyone else found something wild blocking a vent, like a bird nest or something weirder?

9

the_felix•1mo ago

Noticed how fridge compressors went from bulletproof to disposable

Ive been fixing appliances for 25 years and the difference in fridge compressors is wild. Back in the late 90s, those old Copeland and Tecumseh units would run 15-20 years easy. Now we see inverter compressors start failing after 4-5 years on the same brands. Its mostly manufacturers squeezing every penny out of parts to hit lower price points. Has anyone else seen this shift in reliability over the last decade?

2

the_jana•1mo ago

Found a sneaky cause of ice maker failures after 3 calls to the same house in Phoenix

I kept getting service calls for a fridge that wouldn't make ice. Customer said it was a new unit, only 8 months old. I swapped the water valve, then the control board, and the ice maker still wouldn't drop cubes. On the third trip I finally noticed the water line had a tiny kink behind the fridge where it pressed against the wall. That kink was barely letting any water through, but it wasn't leaking so I missed it the first two times. A $5 brass coupler and a straight section of hose later, ice maker works perfect. How do you guys check for hidden water line issues before swapping expensive parts?

6

robin_campbell36•1mo ago

I used to think multimeters were overkill for basic fridge diagnostics

For years I'd just guess based on compressor warmth or listen for clicks... changed my tune after a call in Portland last Tuesday. Found a bad start relay on a Whirlpool fridge in 5 minutes with a $40 Klein multimeter, saved me from swapping a $600 compressor. Anyone else skip the meter and regret it later?