c/appliance-repairers

Genuinely confused about whether to replace a control board or just re-solder a relay on a 5 year old dryer

I had a Samsung dryer that stopped heating last week, just totally dead. My usual move is to order a new control board for like $180 and swap it in, takes maybe 20 minutes. But a guy in my local parts shop said I should try re-soldering the relay on the board first, says he does it all the time for $2 worth of solder. I gave it a shot, messed up one trace, board is toast, now I'm out the board AND my time. Some of my buddies swear fixing the original board is the only way to go, others say never waste an hour on a repair that might fail again in 6 months. What do you all do when you run into this, replace the whole board or try a component level fix first?

Tried using a shop vac to speed up a dryer vent cleaning... bad idea

I was cleaning out a dryer vent last week on a job in Austin and thought I'd hook up my shop vac to suck out the lint faster. Well, the suction collapsed the flexible metal vent hose in on itself and I couldn't get it unclogged for 45 minutes. Learned the hard way that shop vacs are too strong for those cheap vent kits. Any of you guys run into this issue with certain vent materials?

PSA: that LG ice maker board will kill itself if you don't seal the door gasket right

Had a job in Phoenix last month where the evap fan was running nonstop because moisture was getting into the control board from a bad top freezer door seal. Customer paid $280 for a new board before I even looked at the gasket - has anyone else seen this pattern with the linear compressor models?

Pro tip: Don't ignore a funky smell from a dryer vent until it's too late

I was in a basement in Denver last month clearing a basic lint clog when I found a dead squirrel wedged in the vent housing. Now I'm wondering if we should warn customers about animal blockages during routine calls or just handle it and move on.

That old timer who swore by a butter knife for prying off ice maker molds

I laughed at my uncle Frank when he pulled a regular butter knife out of his pocket to pop a stuck ice maker mold off a 10 year old Whirlpool in Cleveland last spring. Darn thing worked perfect without scratching a thing and saved me digging for my real pry tool. Anyone else got a weird tool trick that actually works better than the real thing?

Walked into a repair shop in Denver that had 3 dead dryers all with the same problem

I was picking up a part from a shop on Federal Blvd last Tuesday and noticed they had three identical dryers lined up in the back. All of them were Kenmore units from the same year, all with busted drum rollers. The guy told me he sees at least one a month with that exact failure. Has anyone else noticed a pattern with those plastic rollers on the late model Kenmores?

Spent $400 on a used thermal camera for finding fridge leaks and it already paid for itself

Honestly I was skeptical at first. Picked up a used Flir E4 off someone on FB marketplace. Took it to a job where a commercial fridge was cycling nonstop and I couldn't find the leak no matter what. Used the camera and spotted a tiny gap in the door seal I never would've seen. Fixed it in 10 minutes. Customer was happy and it saved me like three hours of troubleshooting. Has anyone else bought one of these and found it useful for other stuff too?

I finally stopped arguing after a customer showed me my own mistake

I was fixing a Samsung dryer at a house in Arlington and kept insisting the thermal fuse was fine, but the homeowner pulled up a service bulletin on his phone showing a known issue with the vent sensor that I had totally missed. He was right and I had to eat crow right there in his laundry room, which taught me to actually check the manufacturer updates before talking back. Anyone else had a customer school them on something you thought you knew cold?

Just crossed 500 refrigerator compressor swaps and the wear on my hands surprised me

Last Thursday I finished my 500th compressor swap on a Whirlpool fridge out in Davenport. I started counting a few years back just out of curiosity, and seeing that number really made me think about how much physical work goes into this trade. My hands are way tougher than they were five years ago, and I can feel it in my knuckles every morning now. Has anyone else noticed their body changing after a certain job count?

The night a dead mouse made me rethink my sealing game

Last Tuesday I pulled a fridge at a house in Clifton and found a nest of old insulation and a dead mouse right under the compressor. The thing was completely dried out, so it must have been in there for weeks. That got me thinking about how those little gaps in the back panel are basically a highway for critters. Now I always check the base seal and any open vent slots on every unit I touch. Any of you ever find something weird stuffed inside a customer's machine?

Finally gave in and tried a torque wrench on fridge compressor bolts after years of just feeling it out

I used to think torque wrenches were overkill for appliance work until I had a compressor fail on a Samsung fridge 3 months after I replaced it. Customer was livid and I had to eat the cost of a new unit and my labor. Got curious and checked the spec sheet - 45 ft-lbs on those bolts. My calibrated elbow was probably way off. Been using a click-type torque wrench for the last 6 weeks and no leaks or stripped threads yet. Anyone else had a comeback from not torquing to spec?

That customer who refused to pay because I fixed his fridge in 5 minutes

Had a call last Tuesday in Austin for a fridge not cooling. Got there, found the condenser fan blade was just stuck on a bit of ice from a slow defrost drain. Took me maybe 5 minutes to clear it with a heat gun and some compressed air. Guy looked at his watch and said "$89 for 5 minutes? That's robbery." Tried explaining he was paying for the knowledge, not the time, but he wasn't having it. Ended up calling his wife and she actually apologized for him and paid me. Anyone else run into people who think you should only charge by the hour?

Talked to a retired Maytag tech who fixed dryers with a paperclip last Tuesday

I was swapping stories with this guy named Pete at a supply house in Denver. He worked on Maytag machines back in the 80s and 90s. He told me half his fixes were just cleaning lint out of places nobody checks, not replacing parts. Said he used a straightened paperclip to clear a clogged moisture sensor vent on a ten year old dryer in under 2 minutes. That stuck with me because I spent way too long swapping thermal fuses on those without checking the vent path first. Made me rethink how often I go straight for the part swap instead of the simple stuff. Has anyone else had a older tech show you a trick that saved you time?

Had to choose between OEM part and off-brand for a GE dishwasher pump... went with the cheap one

Why does nobody talk about Samsung dryer moisture sensors failing

I was working on a Samsung dryer last month in a customer's basement near Springfield. The clothes were coming out damp after a full cycle and the sensor bar looked clean. Turned out the sensor harness had a broken wire inside the insulation where nobody can see it. Spent 45 minutes tracing it with a multimeter before I found the break. Has anyone else run into this sneaky wiring issue on these models?

Just figured out I was over-tightening compressor bolts on fridges for 10 years

Was working on a customer's old Whirlpool in Bakersfield last Tuesday and the compressor mount was rattling like crazy... turns out I had been cranking those bolts down way too hard, which caused micro-cracks in the base plate over time. A senior tech from across town saw my setup and pointed it out, said to just snug them with a torque of 15 ft-lbs max. Has anyone else realized they were messing up something basic for years?

Heard a contractor say he never cleans dryer vents, scared me

I overheard a guy at the hardware store bragging about skipping vent cleaning on 30 jobs last year to save time. That's a fire waiting to happen, especially with all that lint buildup in standard dryers. Has anyone else run into homeowners who don't know this is a risk?

Tried to save a client $200 by fixing their dryer belt myself on a Friday afternoon

I had an old Kenmore dryer that needed a belt swap, and I thought I'd be slick by using a universal kit instead of ordering the exact part. After 4 tries with different belt lengths, I finally got one on, only to have it snap after 3 minutes of running. The noise was insane, like a dying cat in a metal box, and the client heard it from their living room. Learned that day that universal belts are a total gamble on older models, and now I just order OEM every time. Has anyone else had a universal part completely blow up on them?

Old timer told me to swap capacitor values and it saved a 3-day headache

A repair guy I met at a parts counter in Pittsburgh told me to always use a 50 microfarad cap instead of the 45 the manual says on certain AC units. I tried it on a Lennox unit last Tuesday that kept tripping the breaker, and it fired right up and ran smooth. Anyone else get advice that went against the book but actually worked?

Vent: took me 5 years to finally give in on parts warranties

I used to think paying extra for extended warranties on compressors was a waste... till I had to replace a sealed system 3 times in one year at a shop in Tulsa. Now I won't touch a job without at least a 2 year warranty on the part. Any of you guys buy the cheap warranty just to keep the customer happy?

Vent: Found out I was over-tightening compressor bolts for 6 years

I had a compressor rattle loose on a 5-year-old Frigidaire last week, and when I went to torque it down, I noticed the tab on the mounting bracket had a stress crack. It hit me that my old Snap-on torque wrench was never calibrated, and I was probably putting 20 ft-lbs on a spec that calls for 8. Has anyone else had a tool give them bad habits without realizing it?

Took me 3 years to realize I was torquing dryer drum bolts wrong

Been doing dryer repairs for about 4 years now, started as a helper. Last month I had a call where the drum started squeaking 2 weeks after I replaced the belt and idler pulley. Customer was pissed. I pulled it apart and saw the bolts had backed out just enough to let the drum wobble. Turns out I was just snugging them by feel, not using a torque wrench. My old timer boss never mentioned it. Now I always check the manual for torque specs on rotating assemblies. Any of you guys had a basic thing you did wrong for years before someone set you straight?

I thought those cheap multimeters from Harbor Freight were total junk.

For years I stuck with my Fluke, convinced anything under fifty bucks would give false reads or die fast. Then my buddy left his Pittsburgh model at my shop after a job and I used it for a month out of laziness. It held calibration through checking a dozen motors and gave me the same voltage reads as my main meter. Has anyone else had a tool they wrote off turn out to be surprisingly decent for daily use?

Vent: I used to test every capacitor with my old analog meter before swapping them out.

After a job in Tempe last year where I misread the needle and wasted an hour, I switched to a Klein digital clamp meter. Do you guys still carry an analog backup or is digital the only way now?

My old way of testing dryer thermostats was costing me time

For years, I would just check for continuity with a multimeter and call it good. Last Tuesday, I was at a job in Cedar Park and the dryer kept overheating even after I swapped the old thermostat. I finally started checking the actual resistance values against the service sheet, and the new part was out of spec by 15 ohms. Now I always verify the numbers before I install anything. How do you guys test these parts to make sure they're right?