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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/rss2full.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><rss xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:creativeCommons="http://backend.userland.com/creativeCommonsRssModule" version="2.0"><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:01:00 +0000</lastBuildDate><title>Appliance Repair Blog</title><description>Appliance Repair Blog - Posts about appliance related topics and repairs from a technicians perspective. Join me as I tackle problems from the common to the not so common, and wax poetic about appliance related topics. My service calls are documented in posts with detailed problem diagnosis, troubleshooting tips, and repair information to help you with your own appliance repairs. A new post is published several times a week so visit often and see what’s going on in my world.</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/</link><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>565</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><thespringbox:skin xmlns:thespringbox="http://www.thespringbox.com/dtds/thespringbox-1.0.dtd">http://feeds.feedburner.com/technicianbrian/VADV?format=skin</thespringbox:skin><creativeCommons:license>http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/</creativeCommons:license><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/technicianbrian/VADV" type="application/rss+xml" /><feedburner:emailServiceId xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0">technicianbrian/VADV</feedburner:emailServiceId><feedburner:feedburnerHostname xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0">http://feedburner.google.com</feedburner:feedburnerHostname><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com" /><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-7686950243661732307</guid><pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-13T00:01:00.880-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">refrigeration</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">GE</category><title>GE Refrigerator not Cooing</title><description>&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SvzYdlTK1VI/AAAAAAAACtA/GsN9iXbQZTs/s1600-h/IMG_8622.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SvzYdlTK1VI/AAAAAAAACtA/GsN9iXbQZTs/s320/IMG_8622.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403431655678072146" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.792596893&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;PFS22SISBSS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.792596893&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this french door refrigerator apparently stopped cooling while the customer was asleep. Everything seemed fine the previous night, but when they were going along with their morning routine of making breakfast and lunches, the temperature didn't seem to be as cold as usual. Prior to leaving for work, they set the temperature to a colder setting, but once back home, they noticed everything in the inside of the refrigerator was about the same temperature as the outside of the refrigerator.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The path for diagnosing a refrigerator that is not cooling really depends on whether or not the problem is with the sealed refrigerant system, or something else. Refrigerators, freezers, and air conditioners all use the flow of a refrigerant to move heat from one place to another. By removing heat from lets say the freezer section, what we get is cold. Simple enough to understand, but if this system were to fail say from a leak, well the cooling process comes to an abrupt halt.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Because the actual diagnosis of a sealed system requires specialized tools, and a very good understanding of the system, the average person should really leave these problems to the professionals. But in reality, most refrigerators that stop cooling do so because of many other things, some of which have nothing to do with the refrigeration system.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When I began looking at this refrigerator, the first thing I noticed was the compressor was not running. The compressor is the component that moves the refrigerant around the sealed system and without it, well no cooling is going to take place. The compressor can stop for several reasons, but the most basic is no power. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I started by taking voltage measurements at the compressor, and this is where I found there was no power to the compressor electrical terminals. The main board located on the back of these refrigerators is what provides the electricity to make this compressor operate so that was my next place to do my electrical checks. With the cover removed, I could not only see the problem, but the smell was unmistakable. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Two of the capacitors on this board had all but blown up, leaving the rest of the board just about worthless. I did some looking around for possible reasons, then remembered a bulletin mentioning problems with these two components. My next step was to install a new &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.789539996&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;control board&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.789539996&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; in place of the old one to get this refrigerator cooling again. Once everything was connected and the unit plugged back in, the compressor turned on as usual with all the other associated fans and sounds. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="www.technicianbrian.com" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post (coming soon)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-7686950243661732307?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/OF2t1HIMoRw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/11/ge-refrigerator-not-cooing.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SvzYdlTK1VI/AAAAAAAACtA/GsN9iXbQZTs/s72-c/IMG_8622.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-2218050925296179582</guid><pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-12T19:30:19.356-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">washers</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">GE</category><title>GE Washer not Working</title><description>&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Svoax9MI55I/AAAAAAAACs4/dYn9D8Xo_Tw/s1600-h/IMG_8623.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Svoax9MI55I/AAAAAAAACs4/dYn9D8Xo_Tw/s320/IMG_8623.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402660148525721490" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.739391712&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;WCVH6800J1WW&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.739391712&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this front load washer had been working properly since it arrived in the home, but during the last wash cycle, the display went out and everything stopped working. The door was still locked and water was still in the tub. It was as if the unit had been unplugged, but the outlet was still working as verified by the working iron the customer used to test it. With clothes trapped behind the locked door soaking in water, it became important to get this washer up and running quickly. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When any appliance stops working and the lights go out, this is a sure sign of no power to the unit. This can be caused by a loose electrical connection, a damaged control board, or even a tripped circuit breaker. But the nice thing about troubleshooting this type of problem is if you can start where you still have power, simply take measurements along the way until you no longer have power. There is where you will likely find your point of failure.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This washer had a working outlet, as the customer discovered, and I verified using my multimeter. Once inside the chassis of the washer, the electrical connection from the wall outlet goes into a component called a line filter. These filters are used on most any electrical device that employs a semiconductor type circuit board as a means to control the function of the machine. Because logic boards are sensitive to electrical noise from motors and electrical circuits switching on and off, the filter will help clean up the power. It also helps to protect other devices in the home by filtering the noise produced by the washer itself.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Using my meter, I found the line voltage entering the filter, but nothing coming out. A check between the black wire and chassis ground showed source voltage on the line which means the neutral connection must be open. Without a complete circuit, current cannot flow and without current flow, well nothing is going to work. As a temporary workaround, I bypassed the filter on the neutral side and had the machine powered up and draining water. With the clothes rescued from the basket and all the machine functioned tested, I was confident the the diagnosis.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I then installed a new &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.792113362&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;filter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.792113362&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; on to the back wall of the washer and made the necessary electrical connections. Once plugged back into the wall, the unit again came to life when the power switch was pressed. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-GE_Washer_not_Working.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-2218050925296179582?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/SS_raMkqReM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/11/ge-washer-not-working.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Svoax9MI55I/AAAAAAAACs4/dYn9D8Xo_Tw/s72-c/IMG_8623.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-8316740982656253995</guid><pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-09T18:04:17.518-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">compactors</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">kitchenaid</category><title>Kitchenaid Compactor won't Start</title><description>&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Su-bG6qHvXI/AAAAAAAACsg/n7IRqwtpJfw/s1600-h/IMG_8594.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Su-bG6qHvXI/AAAAAAAACsg/n7IRqwtpJfw/s320/IMG_8594.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399705021367958898" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.791386830&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;KUCC151LPA1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.791386830&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this compactor had been suffering from some intermittent starting problems during the past few weeks, and the customer thought they had the problem solved after adjusting the metal arm attached to the drawer foot peddle. The compactor seemed to start more consistently, but it still required the start button to be pressed multiple times before any movement would occur. Then finally, the compactor wouldn't start at all, no matter what was done, leaving this compactor to be nothing more than a fancy trash can.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most domestic compactors come in two different varieties. Screw type and scissor type. Both have the same task of applying downward pressure into the drawer bin through the use of a motor. And each will use various switches to help keep the user safe by preventing the unit from operating when the drawer is opened. So no matter the type of compactor in use, their mechanical systems may vary is design, but their electrical components have much in common.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I only mention this because it is often times one of these interlock switches that will keep the units from working. Like most any appliance that has decided to take a powder, checking for voltage at the various components would be the correct way to approach this problem. And once it is determined which component the voltage stops at, then that is the likely point of failure.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As the customer had already noticed, this model of compactor uses a metal tab affixed to the drawer release lever to activate a cycle. By lifting up on the pedal, the tab will actuate the push button start switch. This is a very common failure, as I wrote about in my post &lt;a href="http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/04/kitchenaid-trash-compactor-not-starting.html"&gt;Kitchenaid Trash Compactor not Starting&lt;/a&gt; and a simple bending of the tab will keep things operational. But when pushing the button by hand doesn't snap the compactor motor to life, then something a little more in depth must be causing the problem.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Like I said above, when it doesn't work, look for where the voltage stops. Using my multimeter, I simply followed the wiring from the wall outlet through each of the safety and control switches in this compactor. Testing each to ensure they were opening and closing the circuit as expected. In doing so, I found them all to be satisfactory with the exception of one. The start switch mounted to the front of the chassis, the one that starts the cycle, would not pass voltage in either position. A resistance check found an open circuit when actuated, and released.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With the front panel removed so I could properly test the switch, I installed a new &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.791386831&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;start switch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.791386831&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; in place of the failed one. With wires reconnected and power to the unit again, I pressed the switch button and witnessed the compactor ram start is downward journey. I also made some adjustments to the actuator tab on the drawer peddle to keep this compactor starting properly.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Kitchenaid_Compactor_wont_Start.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-8316740982656253995?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/ZBESkPERSBU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/11/kitchenaid-compactor-wont-start.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Su-bG6qHvXI/AAAAAAAACsg/n7IRqwtpJfw/s72-c/IMG_8594.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-3965788973859188512</guid><pubDate>Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-09T18:03:49.946-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">washers</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">GE</category><title>GE Washer won't Drain or Spin</title><description>&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Suj3VuqnzCI/AAAAAAAACsQ/bD9I_teEJAE/s1600-h/IMG_8583.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Suj3VuqnzCI/AAAAAAAACsQ/bD9I_teEJAE/s320/IMG_8583.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397836106079652898" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.790719341&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;EWA5600G0WW&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.790719341&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this top load washer was washing properly, but during the last load, water was still remaining in the tub. The customer selected a drain and spin cycle to try and spin the rest of the water out of the load, but even after several attempts, there was still a measurable amount of water remaining in the tub. Unable to get the washer to drain itself, the customer called for service to get this unit back up and running.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Generally, when a washer of any type does not drain, it is a matter of locating the blockage from the drain line to get water flowing again. This may be something in the line itself, or more commonly the drain pump will be the problem. Drain pumps are often going to be the narrowest part of the drain system and can either be physically blocked or simply stop working due to mechanical or electrical issues. No matter the cause, if water isn't flowing, start looking for the reason.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now when I talked with the customer about the call, the part the customer failed to mention was what kind of laundry was being washed. Now I often don't care because it's still broken, but when I arrived and had a look, the strands of green yarn were a good indication there may have once been a rug washed in this unit. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The customer confirmed my suspicion and really thought it would be as big a deal as it turned out. There was green yarn everywhere and when I tried to drain the tub, the pump simply groaned in protest. With water remaining in the tub, I knew things were going to get wet and I proceeded to remove the pump from the drain line and have a look. The drain pump itself was packed tight with green yarn rendering it useless and by all accounts toast, to use a non technical term. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Suj3alLKkII/AAAAAAAACsY/IEY5ge74OS4/s1600-h/IMG_8585.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Suj3alLKkII/AAAAAAAACsY/IEY5ge74OS4/s320/IMG_8585.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397836189431140482" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To get this washer running again, I had to remove the wash basket from the tub to clear out all remaining bits of yarn or the replacement pump was destined for a similar fate. Once I had everything clean and the new &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.710689588&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;pump and motor assembly&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.710689588&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; installed, I ran some water into the tub and then started a drain cycle to flush out the exterior portion of the drain. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After about an hour of work, I had the washer running like new. The customer had learned a valuable lesson in what not to put in your washer. And for those that have not had this experience any of the rubber backed rugs, or blankets with tasseled ends, or the kids favorite well worn stuffed animal are not good candidates for your washer. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-GE_Washer_wont_Drain_or_Spin.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-3965788973859188512?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/si4l6x_jgbA" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/11/ge-washer-wont-drain-or-spin.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Suj3VuqnzCI/AAAAAAAACsQ/bD9I_teEJAE/s72-c/IMG_8583.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-952917852353732291</guid><pubDate>Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-06T19:59:35.876-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">news</category><title>Potential Kenmore Washer Class Action Lawsuit</title><description>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SvOQJhYKfdI/AAAAAAAACso/fmAWrvdIPRE/s1600-h/lawsuit.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400818871400299986" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SvOQJhYKfdI/AAAAAAAACso/fmAWrvdIPRE/s320/lawsuit.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;This is an interesting article found by a fellow appliance professional regarding a possible class action lawsuit. The appliance in question is the Kenmore Elite HE3t and HE4t (built by Whirlpool by the way) that suffered from an F11 error. Being an owner of one of these washers myself, and yes I too had the F11 problem occur, I am somewhat interested in the outcome of any legal proceedings. But at the same time, being in the business that I am in, I know all to well that appliances break. Are there design or production problems. Yes. Are there components that fail, break or don't work as expected. Well yes again. So it will prove to be interesting how this whole thing plays out. I am not a lawyer and don't play one on TV, so I am not really sure what the lawsuit would try to solve, or how any damages would be determined. But the one thing I do suspect is the winners will most likely be the lawyers. Just my two cents.-Me&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Article -&lt;br /&gt;Sheller, P.C. is currently investigating claims related to Kenmore Elite HE3t and HE4t washing machine "motor control," "central control," "circuit board" or "computer board" failures for a potential class action. These claims often become apparent to consumers when their Kenmore HE3t or Kenmore HE4t washing machine becomes inoperable and displays the F11 error code.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Read the full story at &lt;a href="http://www.sheller.com/Practice.asp?PracticeID=236" target="new"&gt;Sheller.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-952917852353732291?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/technicianbrian/VADV?a=l_1aIslkvZs:7XHUNQNS3ZY:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/technicianbrian/VADV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/technicianbrian/VADV?a=l_1aIslkvZs:7XHUNQNS3ZY:XhI0_UKdTUU"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/technicianbrian/VADV?i=l_1aIslkvZs:7XHUNQNS3ZY:XhI0_UKdTUU" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/l_1aIslkvZs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/11/potential-kenmore-washers-class-action.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SvOQJhYKfdI/AAAAAAAACso/fmAWrvdIPRE/s72-c/lawsuit.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-5104085059170483896</guid><pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-09T18:03:18.251-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">frigidaire</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">refrigeration</category><title>Frigidaire Refrigerator not making Ice</title><description>&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuZLIo8EZyI/AAAAAAAACsI/4WNxR4_a9lI/s1600-h/IMG_8581.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuZLIo8EZyI/AAAAAAAACsI/4WNxR4_a9lI/s320/IMG_8581.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397083815250519842" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.790033232&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;FRS20ZGGB0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.790033232&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this side by side refrigerator stopped making ice a few weeks ago and the man of the house decided to do a little research, save some money and fix it himself. He started with the logical point of failure, the ice maker itself, and after replacing it there still wasn't any ice. Then after doing some more tinkering and getting some actual advice online, he proceeded to replace the dual water valve with out any luck. After a few weeks and well over $100 dollars, the lady of the house called for service to get the ice maker working again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now this post isn't meant to poke fun at the DIY'ers or even to discourage people from trying. As a professional technician, I want people to learn as much as they want to about their appliances and how they work. The more you know will allow you to be better informed when you do need to call for service and to avoid getting scammed by those technicians that like to be less honest than the rest of us. There are many repairs that the average person can do to save some money by doing it themselves. Just know when to stop and ask for help before things get more expensive than it would have been to have it fixed by a professional. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Even though the customer had already replaced some components, I started as I normally would by verifying the failure, then proceeded with my normal coarse of diagnosis. Many ice makers that are part of the freezer are simple self contained machines that only require an external power and water source to make ice. This makes the trouble shooting process simple because if those two things are available, the ice maker itself becomes the likely failure. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Using my multimeter, I verified voltage to the ice maker and the customer confirmed they had seen it cycle several times recently. So with power present, that only leaves water as the missing component. Water was coming out of the dispenser, so we know water isn't turned off, which leaves the valves as a possible failure point. The customer had already replaced the dual valve and its clean appearance within the rather dusty mechanical compartment confirmed this. Using my multimeter, I set out to check for voltage to the water valves which is controlled by the ice maker itself. Think of the ice maker as a simple timer that turns on and off the various components at set times. With the ice maker cycling, I found voltage to both water valves indicating we still have power present and the ice maker is working. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now as I said, I had power to both valves. This is the one piece of information that customer didn't have when he replaced the dual water valve on the left side of the compartment. Had he known there was another valve on the right side, he may be resolved the problem himself, albeit after spending more money. On this model, there is a set of valves on the inlet side of the water system and one on the outlet side. The reason for this is to allow the water filter to be replaced without turning off the water at the source. It also offers a bit of safety because two valves would need to fail in the open position to cause a flood. But if you don't know to look for this other set of valves, well then you may need to call a professional for help.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I did a resistance check of each valve and found the inlet valve was reading as an open circuit. If current can't flow, no magnetic field will develop to open the valve. So by replacing the failed &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.707441545&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;water valve&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.707441545&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, I was able to cycle the ice maker and had water in the mold before I left the home. The customer was glad to have ice again and thought it best to call for assistance in the future. I told him either way, I was here to help. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Frigidaire_Refrigerator_not_making_Ice.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-5104085059170483896?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/0fNlp9fJd9U" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/11/frigidaire-refrigerator-not-making-ice.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuZLIo8EZyI/AAAAAAAACsI/4WNxR4_a9lI/s72-c/IMG_8581.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-7340213655910598841</guid><pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-09T18:02:50.294-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">frigidaire</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">refrigeration</category><title>Frigidaire Freezer not Cooling</title><description>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuY6cbGX1eI/AAAAAAAACrg/A78PHdpyK2U/s1600-h/IMG_8582.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuY6cbGX1eI/AAAAAAAACrg/A78PHdpyK2U/s320/IMG_8582.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397065463435351522" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.790029324&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;GLFC1526FW1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.790029324&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this chest freezer had just been delivered and the customer was waiting for the load of beef to arrive when they noticed the inside didn't feel any colder than the outside. No matter where the thermostat was set, the results seemed to be the same. With the butcher on his way, the customer was in a rather serious hurry to get this freezer down to temperature.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most chest freezers are very simple in their design and operation, which makes for some easy troubleshooting, and rather odd when one actually breaks. Unlike most upright freezers, the chest freezer usually doesn't have any exposed condenser coils and no cooling fans to move air around. They use whats called a hot wall condenser where the coils of the condenser are foamed into the walls on the outside, while the evaporator coils are foamed into the walls on the inside. Aside from the compressor itself, the entire refrigeration system is essentially inaccessible. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The electrical components are just about as basic, usually consisting of a mechanical thermostat wired directly to the compressor and some type of indicator light, indicating the freezer is plugged in. So as you can see, when one isn't working, the possibilities for failure are pretty limited.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When I arrived to this unit, the first thing I noticed is how quite it was. Because there is no condenser fan to cool the compressor the compressor itself is the only source of noise. And I didn't even hear that running. The indicator light was on telling me there was power to the unit, leaving the thermostat or possibly a loose connection as the likely culprit.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Two screws is all that holds the access panel in place, and with my trusty multimeter in hand, I checked the compressor connection for voltage and found nothing. Working backwards toward the outlet, I next checked the thermostat and found voltage going in, but not coming out. Every temperature setting gave the same results. I even checked for continuity between the two connectors and found nothing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuY6nAXDUQI/AAAAAAAACro/YRS0JcGRYA4/s1600-h/capillary+thermostat+cutaway.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuY6nAXDUQI/AAAAAAAACro/YRS0JcGRYA4/s320/capillary+thermostat+cutaway.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397065645236113666" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mechanical thermostats work by a small amount of refrigerant in a capillary sensor tube applying pressure to a bellows. As the refrigerant gets warmer, it expands and applies more pressure. The bellows will open and close electrical contacts depending on the temperature settings of the selector knob. Essentially, the thermostat is simply a switch that will turn on and off the compressor or anything else it is attached to. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This thermostat testing open all the time was never going to get the compressor running. A quick installation of a new &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.790029325&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;thermostat&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.790029325&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; had the compressor cooling down the inside of this freezer in no time. Fortunately, the butcher was running late today. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Frigidaire_Freezer_not_Cooling.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-7340213655910598841?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/xtvedUV5des" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/11/frigidaire-freezer-not-cooling.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuY6cbGX1eI/AAAAAAAACrg/A78PHdpyK2U/s72-c/IMG_8582.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-1010781845879948010</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-09T18:02:20.106-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">whirlpool</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">washers</category><title>Whirlpool Washer 'FH' Error</title><description>&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuTqEda_tvI/AAAAAAAACrQ/ZqkrhsD8L9Q/s1600-h/IMG_8508.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuTqEda_tvI/AAAAAAAACrQ/ZqkrhsD8L9Q/s320/IMG_8508.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396695615834928882" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.567880011&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;GHW9100LW1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.567880011&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this front load Duet washer displayed an 'FH' error message in the display shortly after beginning a wash load. The problem seemed to be resolved by restarting the wash cycle and everything seemed to be OK. During successive loads, the problem would occasionally reappear, but each time starting the cycle over did the trick. Recently, however, the problem was becoming more frequent and would occur more often than not.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Whenever an error message of any kind appears, it is best to use this information the machine is providing and consult the technical documentation for suggestions. I use that term because few answers usually come form error messages. Each message has a purpose and may point in a particular direction, but they are rarely spot on when it comes to locating failures.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What we need to do instead is take the information provided and use it as part of our diagnosis. Remembering of coarse that the codes appear based on what the machine was doing at the time and not necessarily what went wrong. An example of this is a washer that doesn't appear to be doing anything. If the customer unplugs the unit for a brief time, then tries to start the cycle again, the machine may log a door lock error because the door was still locked. In this case, replacing the door lock will not solve the problem.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On this washer a quick look at the tech sheet provided this tidbit of information.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;em&gt;If after 30 seconds the control does not detect water entering machine, the valves will be turned off and the error code will be displayed. Or If the control has turned the water valves on and after 8 minutes the flow sensor has detected 10.5 gallons of water passing through it, but has not detected the pressure switch trip, the valves will be turned off and the error code will flash.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;Not exactly pointing to the problem, but rather pointing in a direction. Simply stated, the machine either detected no water or to much water entering the tub.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Because it looks to be a water problem, I started a test cycle to see if anything would show itself. At the appropriate times in the cycle, each water valve turned on then off which tells me we have a working water source. The cycle continued and finished without a problem. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As pointed out in the error message the control is looking for water entering the tub when the valves are turned on. This is done through the use of a flow meter that sends signals to the control as it spins in the water stream. If the control doesn't get the signals, or detects to low a water flow, the 'FH' error will display. The other reason would be the control detecting to much water has moved past the flow meter without the pressure switch actuating. This is a safety measure to prevent flooding. Just remember to check for high water in the washer door before attempting to open it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Since each error came very early in the wash cycle I decided to make some checks of the flow meter. This component is simply a water wheel with a magnet around the center shaft. As the wheel is rotated by the flow of water, the magnet will cause a reed switch to open and close twice with each rotation. The control board uses this pulsing to determine the approximate amount of water entering the tub. The flow meters can be easily checked by measuring resistance as water is flowing. You can even remove it from the water line and blow through it for your test. The meter should cycle between an fully open and closed circuits twice each rotation. If your measurements show anything else, then the flow meter is likely failing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuTqmxwxZnI/AAAAAAAACrY/t35GFjFQ9Ck/s1600-h/IMG_4244.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuTqmxwxZnI/AAAAAAAACrY/t35GFjFQ9Ck/s320/IMG_4244.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396696205410526834" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Being a fairly basic component, it seems unlikely these flow meter would ever actually fail, but the fact is, given different water conditions the wheel inside can start to rotate slower. This may be due to hard water conditions or sediments in the water. So it doesn't need to completely fail to present itself as a problem.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In doing my checks, I found what I consider erratic behavior from the &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.618942370&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;flow meter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.618942370&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; so I decided to replace it. The shiny new flow meter was connected to the water line and to its wiring harness. I started several test cycles to see if the error would again occur with no problems found. The repair was complete and the customer could again use the washer without starting it a second time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Whirlpool_Washer_FH_Error.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-1010781845879948010?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/AEGpHmL8qjw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/11/whirlpool-washer-fh-error.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuTqEda_tvI/AAAAAAAACrQ/ZqkrhsD8L9Q/s72-c/IMG_8508.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-6116682139649819930</guid><pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-11-01T10:00:24.482-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">refrigeration</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">maytag</category><title>Maytag Refrigerator Freezing Vegetables</title><description>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuOTu5vkWVI/AAAAAAAACrA/uzxe2eKs5X0/s1600-h/IMG_8555.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuOTu5vkWVI/AAAAAAAACrA/uzxe2eKs5X0/s320/IMG_8555.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396319212503587154" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.789949685&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;MSD2656KEU&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.789949685&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this side by side refrigerator had started to freeze items in the fresh food side. It started with the vegetables in the bottom drawers, but soon ice crystals were found in the milk and other drinks. Turning the temperature up as high as it would go didn't seem to have any effect.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The cooling or refrigeration process in most refrigerators takes place in the freezer portion of the unit, while the fresh food side is cooled by circulating air. This circulation is done by one or more fan motors that move air through a series of air passages around the food items in both the freezer and fresh food sections. To keep the fresh food side at a warmer temperature to avoid freezing, a component called a air damper or diffuser is used.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuOT76IG8bI/AAAAAAAACrI/NdtGjOqUIZg/s1600-h/Side+by+Side+airflow.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 192px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuOT76IG8bI/AAAAAAAACrI/NdtGjOqUIZg/s320/Side+by+Side+airflow.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396319435944817074" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The damper is a mechanical doorway that can open and close to control the flow of cool air from the freezer section. As the fresh food compartment reaches desired temperature, the damper will close keeping the cold air in the freezer at a much lower temperature. As the need for more cooling in the fresh food section increases, the damper will open to begin the circulation process again. Dampers can be mechanical meaning they are directly controlled by the temperature selector, or they may be electronic and controlled by a control board.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When looking at this refrigerator, the frozen salad dressing was sure proof that it was much colder than it should be and nearly as cold as the freezer side. With the door open, I could feel the cold air flowing in through the damper in the upper left portion of the fresh food section. With the temperature this low, I would expect the damper to be closed, but with the cover removed, I could see it was wide open. And it was this open passage that was making it much to cold.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Being an electronic damper, I attempted to see if turning the temperature controls to the off position would cycle the damper door, but when I did, the door remained open. I did, however, hear the motor running to try and close the door which is a good indication there must be a mechanical failure somewhere in the damper. By removing the assembly, I found the plastic pin that should be on the door was broken, allowing the door to move freely from the motor drive arm.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I then installed a new &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.789949686&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;damper assembly&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.789949686&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; in its place and connected the control harness and temperature sensors. When the controls were turned back on, the damper opened to the maximum open position ready to cool. After a few minutes, the temperature in the fresh food section was again cold enough for the damper door to close. With the damper working properly, the produce shouldn't have any freezing problems.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Maytag_Refrigerator_Freezing_Vegetables.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-6116682139649819930?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/nNbrFQw5ihc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/maytag-refrigerator-freezing-vegetables.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuOTu5vkWVI/AAAAAAAACrA/uzxe2eKs5X0/s72-c/IMG_8555.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-5607681926760367576</guid><pubDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-28T18:29:01.151-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">video</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">whirlpool</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">washers</category><title>Whirlpool Front Load Washer Vibrating</title><description>&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuN_06Va3yI/AAAAAAAACqo/awolWewGJk4/s1600-h/IMG_8567.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396297325509009186" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuN_06Va3yI/AAAAAAAACqo/awolWewGJk4/s320/IMG_8567.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;amp;offerid=122738.789949523&amp;amp;type=10&amp;amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;WFW8300SW03&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;amp;bids=122738.789949523&amp;amp;type=10&amp;amp;subid=" width="1" height="1" /&gt;, this Duet Sport washer had been in the customers home for several months, and it seemed to be vibrating very badly since day one. There were multiple visits by delivery and service personnel, each attempted to make it better by leveling the unit, suggesting loading options, and even some aftermarket products to try but nothing seemed to be resolving the issue. By chance, I got involved with this issue and between myself and another persistent technician, we were able to greatly resolve the vibration problem for the customer.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To begin with, anyone that has been working on, selling, manufacturing, or using front load washers for any length of time is reading this and thinking to themselves the washer isn't level, or the floor is the problem. This holds a lot truth because no matter how well a front load washer is designed to resist vibration during the spin cycle, if it isn't level or the floor gives under the weight, it is going to be disturbing to most any customer.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As more front load washers get into peoples homes, the overall understanding and acceptance seems to be changing, but there is still plenty of learning to take place. What I mean by this is front load washers are heavy and they can spin clothes at very high rates of speed. This combined with the large capacities and most of these washer sound like jets taking off when they spin. All this movement is contained within the washer cabinet, but like any other motion it needs to be dissipated as it moves. And the result is usually what people consider excessive vibration.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have visited homes where the pictures were literally falling off the walls, but the problem wasn't with the washer itself, but rather the floor it was sitting on. The floors in homes are designed to take movement and transfer it to the walls and on to the foundation. Engineered lumber allows for long spans and attractive open spaces, but they also allow for some give underfoot. This isn't bad seismically speaking, but put a heavy front load washer upstairs and the results may not be what you expected.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's because of this known issue that often times when we hear of a front load washer vibrating we chalk it up as being out of level or on a weak floor. But if we are going to take that route, we had best be willing to do our due diligence and level the washer and explain to the customer what is going on and why their floor may be part of the problem. And when everything seems to check out OK, then it's time to dig in and really have a look around.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This washer had already been leveled by multiple people, including the customer and although it was installed on the second floor of a newer home, the vibration did seem excessive. Another tech and myself were committed it finding the problem as we didn't want to go away in shame. After ensuring that the unit was indeed level, and everything was as it should be including the entire suspension system, we started a test cycle. Even with no clothing in the wash basket, there was an odd sort of vibration felt through the floor that seemed to come and go at different points as the motor increased and decreased in speed. It wasn't until we happened to catch a glimpse of the rear pulley as it was going through the sensing process that the failure presented itself.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The wash basket is driven by the motor through a drive belt and large metal pulley. This setup moves very quickly during the spin cycle and is pretty much a blur, but at a slower pace a distinct bend in the pulley could be seen. This ever so slight bend in the metal was enough to create vibrations the customer had been dealing with.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After so many visits it was surprising that solution was as simple as replacing the wash basket &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;amp;offerid=122738.789949524&amp;amp;type=10&amp;amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;drive pulley&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;amp;bids=122738.789949524&amp;amp;type=10&amp;amp;subid=" width="1" height="1" /&gt;. Once it was in place, even test cycles with heavy loads of towels resulting in noticeably reduced vibration levels. 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&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Whirlpool_Front_Load_Washer_Vibrating.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-5607681926760367576?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/ymm2IZkYp2I" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/whirlpool-front-load-washer-vibrating.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuN_06Va3yI/AAAAAAAACqo/awolWewGJk4/s72-c/IMG_8567.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-4864941949345807616</guid><pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:00:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-27T00:00:02.088-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">news</category><title>Home Appliances and How they Stack up</title><description>&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuZEeQ5ZYVI/AAAAAAAACsA/NsAnJ9BexAA/s1600-h/IMG_4192.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuZEeQ5ZYVI/AAAAAAAACsA/NsAnJ9BexAA/s320/IMG_4192.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397076490172588370" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;With people showing more interest in not only saving energy, but doing their part to limit greenhouse gas production, it is important to understand what you pay as the end user may not tell the whole story. As we look more into what is involved in the production and distribution of various energy sources, what many once considered the better option, may not feel the same way once everything is taken into account.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Much of this information is difficult for the average consumer to really understand, let alone us technicians, but I have always felt that the better informed you can be, the better your decision making will be. I found this article that sheds some light at least from one point of view as our county works to plan for energy needs in the future.-Me&lt;/em&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Article -&lt;br /&gt;Americans have indicated they are striving to lower their carbon footprints in their everyday lives. Lawmakers are calling for cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across all sectors. And scientists have stressed that we must change the way we think about energy – and its impacts on future generations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Read the full story at &lt;a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-a-environment/64717-home-appliances-and-how-they-stack-up" target="new" &gt;The Hill&amp;#39;s Congress Blog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-4864941949345807616?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/SO0zXxyWpNE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/home-appliances-and-how-they-stack-up.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuZEeQ5ZYVI/AAAAAAAACsA/NsAnJ9BexAA/s72-c/IMG_4192.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-2891857536762512906</guid><pubDate>Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-26T00:15:53.949-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">refrigeration</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">GE</category><title>GE Refrigerator Stuck in Demo Mode</title><description>&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuNryyJ_ezI/AAAAAAAACqg/O3y3wnmqz-0/s1600-h/IMG_8568.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuNryyJ_ezI/AAAAAAAACqg/O3y3wnmqz-0/s320/IMG_8568.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396275298721299250" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://technicianbrian.partsquik.com/index.php?main_page=part_finder&amp;model_num=PSF26PGWAWW&amp;model_id=180653&amp;manufacturer=General Electric"&gt;PSF26PGWAWW&lt;/a&gt;, this side by side refrigerator was a new purchase and from the moment it was delivered, it never cooled. A technician was sent out from the dealer to investigate the problem, and it was determined the control board had failed and a part was needed to get this refrigerator cooling again. The customer was a little skeptical and wanted a second opinion. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Demo modes were created to allow certain functions of an appliance to work while on the showroom floor without needing to be completely installed. Such as dishwashers and washers to work without water, and ovens and dryers to operate without the 240vac power source. And for refrigerators, it allows everything to typically work with the exception of the compressor. This saves electricity due to excessive cooling needs from the doors being constantly opened, and keeps them is like new condition until they find a good home.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Depending on the make and model, some products will default to normal operation once power has been removed, while others, like this GE refrigerator, will stay in demo mode until reset. The demo modes are considered sales modes and as such usually are not listed in the user guides or service manuals, but most sales representatives can quickly guide you through the process.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Based on the phone conversation with the customer, the demo mode indication was clearly spelled out on the dispenser display, which controls all refrigerator functions by the way. I had to do some quick research, like I said these are sales modes that us techs usually don't deal with, but was able to get the customer the information to try a reset. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Simply holding down the Home and Help buttons for a few seconds was all it took to snap this refrigerator into reality which was verified by the compressor turning on. The customer had their new refrigerator working again and it didn't even need a part. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="www.technicianbrian.com" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post (coming soon)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-2891857536762512906?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/hvAAMjjbbXM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/ge-refrigerator-stuck-in-demo-mode.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuNryyJ_ezI/AAAAAAAACqg/O3y3wnmqz-0/s72-c/IMG_8568.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-1885631800502952362</guid><pubDate>Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-25T00:01:02.120-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">dishwashers</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">news</category><title>Affresh™ Dishwasher and Disposal Cleaner</title><description>&lt;a href="http://technicianbrian.partsquik.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&amp;products_id=1143542"&gt;&lt;img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 128px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 198px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396309045497312562" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuOKfGsYNTI/AAAAAAAACq4/uQGbocJ_iHg/s320/w10282479.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;New once-a-month solution for Dishwasher and Disposal Odor&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;Affresh Dishwasher &amp;amp; Disposal Cleaner uses innovative cleaner tablets to help remove even the most stubborn odors from dishwashers and disposals&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;Keeps the dishwasher or disposal fresh for up to a month by penetrating, dissolving and removing odor&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;Fast and simple way to keep the inside of these appliances clean and smelling fresh&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;Affresh can be used to separately clean each appliance as needed or use it on both at once for added convenience&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;Each package contains 6 Tablets&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;Recommended by Amana, KitchenAid, Maytag, and Whirlpool&lt;/li&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-1885631800502952362?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/wlulHV2DCSY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/affresh-dishwasher-and-disposal-cleaner.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SuOKfGsYNTI/AAAAAAAACq4/uQGbocJ_iHg/s72-c/w10282479.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-4665845816866478699</guid><pubDate>Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-24T13:58:01.346-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">dishwashers</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">frigidaire</category><title>Frigidaire Dishwasher Acting Strangly</title><description>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St-2ME_PzjI/AAAAAAAACqQ/TvCJfB-wYio/s1600-h/IMG_8574.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St-2ME_PzjI/AAAAAAAACqQ/TvCJfB-wYio/s320/IMG_8574.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395231197226847794" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.739200564&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;PLD2855RFC1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.739200564&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, the original title for this post was Frigidaire Dishwasher Possessed, but then I figured since the unit was repaired without any spiritual guidance, I wasn't being entirely accurate. But for the past few weeks, the customer has self described the operation of her dishwasher as simply that. Possessed. Apparently, the dishwasher would intermittently work, stop working, flash various indicator lights, display the close door message, start and stop over and over again, and in general not work very well. With a couple little ones in the house, the need for clean bottles was becoming higher on the priority list.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The original call was done by a fellow technician that, as usual, was not able to verify any of the erratic behavior as described. But the thing that was noticed was after poking around on the control panel, the dishwasher was washing and draining at the same time. Not uncommon on some units, but not normal operating practices on this design. So after conversing with tech support, he replaced the control board thinking it was suffering from some random electrical issue. The dishwasher seemed to work fine and he went on his way.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;According to the customer, the problem wasn't resolved and she called back a week later, this time describing more of the failure in detail and the point that seemed to stick out was the 'cl' code being displayed. This is a basic user code telling the customer the door has been opened and it needs to be closed to continue. The problem was, the door was already closed. Suspecting a latch switch failure, the tech returned to replace the faulty latch, and again the dishwasher tested OK.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The customer again called a couple weeks later saying the problem has not been resolved and the dishes are piling up. This time I took a trip out with the tech to see if maybe between the two of us we could scare away the failure. This doesn't really work, but it does help to ease the tension with the customer. On this visit, the dishwasher was again working just like normal, and the problems observed by the customer really didn't make any sense. Various lights on, buttons working then not working and so forth. I began to chalk some of what she described as a faulty memory, but then out came the photos.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Fortunately the customer was able to snap some pictures of the panel each time a failure occurred showing the configuration of the lights and which cycle was being used. They didn't prove anything specifically, but seeing the failure, all be it as an image, along with asking the right questions, we determined the problem to be with the dishwashers &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.789807236&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;touch panel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.789807236&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St-2PwILFAI/AAAAAAAACqY/nzxDRbk542A/s1600-h/IMG_8573.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St-2PwILFAI/AAAAAAAACqY/nzxDRbk542A/s320/IMG_8573.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395231260346618882" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How did we come to this conclusion? Well aside from the process of elimination, the photos give us reason to suspect the user interface and the buttons associated with it. After removing the ribbon cable from the control board and flexing it from side to side, we were able to get the lights on the display to turn on and off rather randomly. Also, with the door interlock bypassed, the cable flexing resulted in some intermittent behavior from the wash and drain pumps. An odd problem, but one that has finally been resolved.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Frigidaire_Dishwasher_Acting_Strangly.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-4665845816866478699?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/FKd1tvbziu4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/frigidaire-dishwasher-acting-strangly.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St-2ME_PzjI/AAAAAAAACqQ/TvCJfB-wYio/s72-c/IMG_8574.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-6276015059580304180</guid><pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-22T17:02:23.041-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">frigidaire</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">dryers</category><title>Frigidaire Dryer not Heating</title><description>&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St5foD2CFPI/AAAAAAAACqA/xOmNg5kut0k/s1600-h/IMG_8565.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St5foD2CFPI/AAAAAAAACqA/xOmNg5kut0k/s320/IMG_8565.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394854545467774194" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.763969086&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;GLEQ2152ES0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.763969086&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this electric dryer was working until recently when the customer used it to dry some clothes during her normal weekend wash. But after starting the dryer and returning some time later, all the clothes were still very damp and cold to the touch. Running a timed dry for a short period give the same results. Looking like the element was no longer working, and not quite sure how to get to it, I was given a call to get this dryer, well drying again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Typical dryer failures include a loss of heat for one reason or another, simply because there are several reason a dryer could stop heating. Not that they are inherently prone to any particular problem, but they are a heat producing appliance located in our homes and as a result are often loaded with safety components of one form or another. It is usually one of these components that is the failure point, but not due to simply failing, but rather due to how the dryer was installed and how it is used.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dryers rely on moving large amounts of warm air through the clothes in order to dry them. This air will draw the moisture from the fabric and sends it to the outside via the dryer vent. When something in this system isn't working properly, then that is when the problems begin.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I mention all this simply because most dryer problems can be prevented with a little care and cleaning of the dryer vents. By ensuring your dryer can move air with as few restrictions as possible, you will help prevent many of the typical dryer heating failures. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now on this dryer, since it was not heating, I began looking at these safety components and was playing the odds that I would find one of them had opened the circuit. But after each one appeared to be working fine, I had to step back and look a bit more at the circuit involved. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dryer heating circuits, in their simplest form will run from the terminal block to the timer or control board. Then through the safety components to the element, then through the motor and back to the terminal block. Once you know how the current flows, using a multimeter to locate the problem becomes much simpler. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Typically I start at the terminal block and then work my way around the heater circuit until the problem is found. By doing this you can determine which components are working and the one that is not will be the problem. As I again made each test from before, the results were the same, but once I made my way to the control board, the failure became visually apparent.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The control board contains the control relay to turn the heating element on and off. Due to high resistance from a loose terminal connector, the relay began to melt and eventually failed. With the problem located the fix was as simple as replacing the &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.789711583&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;control board&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.789711583&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; and getting this dryer operating again. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Frigidaire_Dryer_not_Heating.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-6276015059580304180?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/dRZJghG9lRw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/frigidaire-dryer-not-heating.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St5foD2CFPI/AAAAAAAACqA/xOmNg5kut0k/s72-c/IMG_8565.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-7840434226984059638</guid><pubDate>Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-21T00:01:00.920-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">news</category><title>Is Your Appliance Lying to You?</title><description>&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St5oZgn1DsI/AAAAAAAACqI/G58xOS1fhSQ/s1600-h/EnergyGuideDisplay.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 230px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St5oZgn1DsI/AAAAAAAACqI/G58xOS1fhSQ/s320/EnergyGuideDisplay.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394864191099440834" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The amount of energy used by home appliances has become the topic of choice in recent years as the idea of conservation in the home has grown in popularity. Years ago the idea was to make the appliances work. Now it's make them work, but use as little water and energy as possible to do it. Much of this has occurred in the background as most people are really more interested in how well their dishwasher washes and not that they are saving $4.95 a year in reduced electricity. But as part of the buying experience, I am sure people at least pay some attention to the energy guide posted prominently on the appliance showing these yearly energy costs. The problem, as noted in this article, is these generic numbers don't really show the buyer any real information as it relates to their actual usage and energy costs. But with the help of some idea's from this article, consumers can become at least better aware of their expenses as they relate to the energy used by your appliances. The energy saved due to a new appliance purchase may not seem like much, but given the number of appliances in the typical home, the value can quickly add up. - Me&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Article -&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Are your appliances fibbing to you about how much energy they're using?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's possible. A recent Department of Energy audit found flaws in the Energy Star program. And that is causing some concern among consumers that electrical appliances like washing machines, air conditioners and refrigerators may not be as efficient as they’re supposed to be.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Read the full story at &lt;a href="http://www.smartmoney.com/Spending/Deals/Vetting-the-Fridge-Is-Your-Appliance-Lying-to-You/" target="new" &gt;SmartMoney&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-7840434226984059638?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/7anbmBdesIE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/is-your-appliance-lying-to-you.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St5oZgn1DsI/AAAAAAAACqI/G58xOS1fhSQ/s72-c/EnergyGuideDisplay.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-508331126465336194</guid><pubDate>Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-20T17:12:38.209-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">whirlpool</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">washers</category><title>Whirlpool Duet F70 Fault Code</title><description>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St0UDVcdPxI/AAAAAAAACpw/SqVRIIbKz-k/s1600-h/IMG_8538.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St0UDVcdPxI/AAAAAAAACpw/SqVRIIbKz-k/s320/IMG_8538.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394489976188387090" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.789603019&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;WFW9400SW00&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.789603019&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this front load washer had been working just fine for the customer, but when it came time to use it recently, nothing would work. When the power button was pressed, the unit would beep twice, but nothing in the display illuminated. None of the other buttons seemed to do anything when pressed, with the exception of the lock button would lock the controls. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Error codes, or fault codes as they are sometimes called are a nice feature found on many of the newer electronic based appliances. They have the ability to kind of self diagnose problems when they arise, and can help find problems before they become larger issues. These error messages really only have one drawback. And that is knowing what the various codes for each machine is trying to tell us.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now understand, appliances have been using codes for some time, but there is little if any standardization as the codes change for each manufacturer and even change depending on the model from the same manufacturer. Oftentimes the information is available in the tech sheet, which should be located somewhere in the unit, but this isn't always true. So if all else fails, I suggest using this thing called the Internet. Just be aware, about half of the information you find is good, while the other half, well lets say it is less than accurate. How to separate the two is part of the reason I right these posts. But I digress.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Because the washer wouldn't do anything, the F70 code would not display, but instead I found it logged in the units memory. I was able to find it by putting the washer into a diagnostic mode, something else that's found in the tech sheet, and instead of running through a test cycle, I simply got the F70 in the display. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;According to the tech sheet, and the trusty Internet, the F70 is a communication error between the user interface board, and the main control board. These two boards talk to each other each time a button is pressed, or an indicator light turns on or off. To make sure each board is working properly, they have a heartbeat that keeps each board in sync with each other. It's when this heartbeat stops that the problems begin.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St0UIKYo2II/AAAAAAAACp4/6evfs48Wnnc/s1600-h/IMG_8539.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St0UIKYo2II/AAAAAAAACp4/6evfs48Wnnc/s320/IMG_8539.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394490059118925954" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The suggestion from the tech sheet is to remove power, then see what happens. If that doesn't work, check all the electrical connections, by the way these are normal checks for any suspected electrical problem. If the problem still exists, replace one of the control boards. Which one you replace is usually based on other observations and experience because there really isn't a field test available to narrow down the failure to a specific board. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is why you may find a technician that visits your home for a repair armed with multiple parts. It's not because they don't know what they are doing. But more likely to do with the manufacturer not providing us with the proper information to know which board has failed. With new technology comes new trouble shooting headaches.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The telling story on this machine was it wouldn't even work in diagnostics, which is an indication the failure is more likely the control board than the display board. And after installing the new &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.683447532&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;control board&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.683447532&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, a press of the power button illuminated the display confirming my diagnosis. The washer was up and running, and ready for use. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Whirlpool_Duet_F70_Fault_Code.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-508331126465336194?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/kuG1sSF1v5o" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/whirlpool-duet-f70-fault-code.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/St0UDVcdPxI/AAAAAAAACpw/SqVRIIbKz-k/s72-c/IMG_8538.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-7208705235666959847</guid><pubDate>Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-19T17:43:10.121-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">kitchenaid</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">cooking</category><title>Kitchenaid Oven no Heat after Self Clean</title><description>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Stp052WaetI/AAAAAAAACpo/t0r3GnAR_5s/s1600-h/IMG_8542.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Stp052WaetI/AAAAAAAACpo/t0r3GnAR_5s/s320/IMG_8542.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393752040920480466" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.789506163&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;KEBC107KSS5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.789506163&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this built in single oven had been functioning properly until the customer decided to run the self cleaning cycle. The oven ran through the cycle normally and unlocked the door just like it had after previous cleanings. But the next time she went to use the oven, it counted down during the preheat cycle as usual, but the inside had not heated at all. There was no visual clue that there was anything wrong, and resetting the circuit breakers didn't make any difference.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have talked about cleaning cycles before, how they essentially turn your oven into an incinerator by running the heating elements until the cavity temperature is oftentimes over 700 degrees Fahrenheit. This doesn't pose any specific problems as self cleaning ovens are designed for this, but sometimes this excessive temperature can result in the premature failure of one or more electrical components.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Many ovens and even freestanding ranges are using a device called a thermal overload or TOD. These are simple thermostats designed to open the electrical circuit in the event of an over temperature condition. This could be caused by the electronic control leaving the element on for to long, or even spilled food catching fire during normal baking. But although they are designed to only fail for safety purposes, sometimes the high temperatures generated during self clean can be enough to cause one of these TOD's to fail. And when they do, the result is usually no heat.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On this oven, I checked the wiring diagram to be sure a TOD was used on the design and found it located on the back wall behind the rear panel. This does necessitate the oven being removed from the cabinet, but the single ovens are not to heavy. Using my multimeter I did a resistance check of the TOD and found it to be an open circuit.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I installed a the &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.789506165&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;thermal overload&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.789506165&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; in place of the old one and reconnected the wires. Once the back panel was in place, I was able to reinstall the oven into its enclosure, then turned the breakers back on to give it a test. The element both produced heat very quickly indicating this problem has been resolved.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Just a note, when one of these safety devices fails, it usually a good idea to see if there may be some reason for the failure. Many built in ovens use a cooling fan to help move heat away from the cabinetry by circulating are around the chassis. If these fans fail, or even slow down, the TOD will be subjected to higher than normal temperatures and will be more likely to fail. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Kitchenaid_Oven_no_Heat_after_Self_Clean.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-7208705235666959847?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/kTrKJyRFRD0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/kitchenaid-oven-no-heat-after-self.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Stp052WaetI/AAAAAAAACpo/t0r3GnAR_5s/s72-c/IMG_8542.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-3797654818186752155</guid><pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-17T18:31:31.335-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">frigidaire</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">refrigeration</category><title>Frigidaire Refrigerator Door won't Close</title><description>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/StfVZBdYwKI/AAAAAAAACpg/yst8HsFm494/s1600-h/IMG_8558.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/StfVZBdYwKI/AAAAAAAACpg/yst8HsFm494/s320/IMG_8558.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393013704664596642" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.788188644&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;PHSC39EESS5&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.788188644&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this side by side model was in the shop for some work that is a bit serious in nature, but the customer also wanted to know if the right side door could get repaired so it closed properly. It seems the door would remain partially open unless you specifically pushed it closed and in a busy household, this didn't always get done. So while the important work was being done, I thought I would also take a look at the door cams to see if there might be a solution.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most every refrigerator uses some method to aid in making sure the doors close properly. Depending on the size and weight of the doors, some models use springs to help get the door to close, while others may rely on simple cams or even the slight rearward tilt of the cabinet. Whatever method is used, it's not really needed to close the door itself, but rather to help keep it closed. For example, a heavy door when slammed may have a tendency to contact the cabinet and bounce back open just enough that it may not be noticed. These door closing devices help prevent this form occurring and in some cases, even help the door to close.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This refrigerator uses a set of cams to help with the closing of the doors. These cams are mounted around the door pivot point and are made up of a series of ridges and valleys to help keep the door in position. When you open one of these doors, the cams will raise the door ever so slightly, then drop down into another valley to hold the door open. Depending on the make and model, there may be one or more valley that holds the door in the open position. Then as you close the door again, just before the seal contacts the cabinet, the door will fall into another valley helping to hold the door close. You will most likely notice this if you hold the door slightly open, then let it go. If your refrigerator uses a door closer, the door should shut all by itself.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Due to the customer description of the problem, I was sure the cams were either broken or at the very least dirty. To get to them, the door must be removed which isn't difficult at all, then set aside to avoid damage. In looking at the cam on the hinge side, I could see the cam has become worn over time. A quick glance at the cam on the door side showed similar wear so a new set of cams was in order.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Both cams were removed and the hinge shaft cleaned. A new &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.788188634&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;hinge cam&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.788188634&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; and &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.788188641&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;door cam&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.788188641&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; were installed without much difficulty, you really can't make a mistake. After applying a little &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.788188646&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;Sil-glyde lubricant&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.788188646&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; to keep things moving well, I put the door back on and gave it a test. The door came open and stopped as expected, and when held close to the cabinet, it closed all on it's own. Now with the door problem put to rest, it was back to the task of replacing the compressor. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Frigidaire_Refrigerator_Door_wont_Close.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-3797654818186752155?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
&lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/technicianbrian/VADV?a=wth9aVGjye0:53v0R7BPu8I:yIl2AUoC8zA"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/technicianbrian/VADV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/technicianbrian/VADV?a=wth9aVGjye0:53v0R7BPu8I:XhI0_UKdTUU"&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/technicianbrian/VADV?i=wth9aVGjye0:53v0R7BPu8I:XhI0_UKdTUU" border="0"&gt;&lt;/img&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/wth9aVGjye0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/frigidaire-refrigerator-door-wont-close.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/StfVZBdYwKI/AAAAAAAACpg/yst8HsFm494/s72-c/IMG_8558.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-7450828022399733144</guid><pubDate>Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-15T18:36:51.267-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">washers</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">maytag</category><title>Maytag Washer won't Spin</title><description>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/StU3IBLmIoI/AAAAAAAACpY/6a2G2VB-LCg/s1600-h/IMG_8545.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/StU3IBLmIoI/AAAAAAAACpY/6a2G2VB-LCg/s320/IMG_8545.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392276739741590146" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.787888559&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;MAV4755AWW&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.787888559&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this top load washer seemed to be washing clothes alright, but when it came time to spin the water out, it wasn't quite up to the task. The customer noted the motor would run and it sounded like it was spinning, but when they opened the lid, the spin basket was just sitting in one place. With the clothes remaining damp at the end of the cycle, the dryer was doing much more work then normal.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This washer, like many other top load designs, uses a gear case or transmission to convert the rotational motion of the drive motor into the back and forth action used during agitation. Then when it is time to start the spin cycle, the motor will reverse direction and the drive will be transferred into the basket to draw the water out of the clothing. Some washers use a motor mounted to the gear case with a coupler, while others, like this washer, use a belt to transfer the drive from the motor to the drive components.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Since the washer was agitating properly, I suspected the gear case was doing what it should be doing so instead concentrated on the one component that makes this washer spin. Under the base plate is the location of the drive belt along with the motor, pump, and spin pulleys. The motor provides the drive to each of these components via their individual drive pulleys. The pump simply pumps out of the tub in one directions and back in in the other so when the motor changes direction from agitate to spin, the water in the tub goes in the correct direction. The spin pulley, however, works a bit differently.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On the end of the transmission shaft is mounted the spin pulley which is responsible for not only providing rotational drive during the spin cycle, but also is the component that releases the brake assembly which holds the basket in place during agitation. The pulley is connected at the end of the shaft by an 'E' clip and is held tight by one or more metal spacers. Behind these spacers is a helix uses to apply pressure to the break, which will then allow the basket to spin freely. With age, time, and the addition of debris, the spin pulley will no longer be able to completely release the brake. With the brake still partially engaged, and the weight of a full load of clothes, the motor will not be able to start the basket spinning leaving the clothes damp at the end of the cycle. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With the brake still engaged, the motor will be able to spin resulting in the drive belt slipping on the spin pulley and oftentimes gives off a burning rubber smell. So if your washer smells like the drag strip, it may be time to have a look underneath. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I installed a new &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.532218364&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;spin pulley&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.532218364&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; after removing the old one and cleaning up the mess of dirt and cobwebs under the base. The new pulley comes with instructions and everything needed to complete the repair. I do want to point out that it is important to use the spacers properly from the kit. Getting the 'E' clip back on the end of the shaft takes some work because the spacers will make for a very tight fit, but that is how it should be. And proper lubrication of the pulley, with the included grease, is important for good long term operation. With the new pulley in place, the washer took off spinning like new even with a full load of damp towels. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Maytag_Washer_wont_Spin.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-7450828022399733144?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/SHI0eNWvKcE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/maytag-washer-wont-spin.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/StU3IBLmIoI/AAAAAAAACpY/6a2G2VB-LCg/s72-c/IMG_8545.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-6638706364116515542</guid><pubDate>Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-12T00:01:02.047-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">microwaves</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">kitchenaid</category><title>Kitchenaid Microwave inoperative Keypad</title><description>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/StJYAff392I/AAAAAAAACpQ/0l2EigcFaqE/s1600-h/IMG_8498.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/StJYAff392I/AAAAAAAACpQ/0l2EigcFaqE/s320/IMG_8498.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391468469394339682" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.787374060&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;KCMC155JSS0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.787374060&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this counter top microwave has been cooking as expected, but the customer recently noticed some of the buttons on the keypad were not working. As they were only buttons not generally used, it wasn't a big deal, but now it's not only a few buttons, but most of the buttons on the right side, including the start button which makes it difficult to use the microwave anymore.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most microwaves, and many appliances use a membrane touch pad for user input, which is essentially a sticker with little bubbles for buttons. These bubbles can be felt as you run your fingers over the keypad and will deflect from the surface as you press them. If you feel actual clicking behind the button, then that is more likely a mechanical switch and a bit different to trouble shoot. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;These membranes utilize a switch matrix which is simply a grid of wires interconnecting switches allowing many switches to be used by the unit, but requires only a few wires going to the control board. The benefit is a smaller connection, but the drawback is, when one of the wires breaks, more than one switch is going to stop working. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/StJKfxn91LI/AAAAAAAACpI/AKiDWWuOB2U/s1600-h/switch+matrix.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 236px; height: 204px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/StJKfxn91LI/AAAAAAAACpI/AKiDWWuOB2U/s320/switch+matrix.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391453613673272498" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is possible to diagnose which of the wires has failed, if you have access to the switch matrix schematic and use a multimeter, but there is no real easy way to make a repair so replacement is going to be the best option. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On this microwave, I removed the outer case to get to the screw holding the control panel in place. Even before I removed the panel, I could see the ribbon cable which contains the wires from the switch matrix was folded over and pinched between the panel and then chassis. Upon further investigation, I discovered the switch membrane had been replaced a year ago, for the same reason. This points out the importance of getting the panels back in place while ensuring all the wiring is not damaged.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By moving the ribbon cable around, I was able to get the switches that were not working, working again which is a good indication I found the break. I installed a new &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.787374061&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;switch membrane&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.787374061&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; in place of the old one, and put everything back together being careful not to damage the new ribbon cable. All the buttons worked again, including the start button. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="www.technicianbrian.com" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post (coming soon)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-6638706364116515542?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/DlgKuGFwJPg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/kitchenaid-microwave-inoperative-keypad.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/StJYAff392I/AAAAAAAACpQ/0l2EigcFaqE/s72-c/IMG_8498.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-1160191724164380926</guid><pubDate>Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-11T14:01:04.080-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">washers</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">GE</category><title>GE Washer overflowing Water</title><description>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Sst9COp0bDI/AAAAAAAACpA/5dfU6uF1sAU/s1600-h/IMG_8512.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Sst9COp0bDI/AAAAAAAACpA/5dfU6uF1sAU/s320/IMG_8512.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389538856325639218" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #WPRE6150K2WT, this top load washer had been recently delivered and was washing just fine, but during the last wash load, the water kept filling the tub to the point of overflowing. Luckily the customer was home and near the washer to hear the water running onto the floor. After the initial excitement, a drain cycle was selected and the water drained away like nothing had happened. Not willing to risk more water on the floor, service was called for to get this problem resolved.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most washer designs, be it a top loader or front loader, rely on an electrical component called a pressure switch to detect water level in the but. This switch is connected to the tub via a small hose which is used to trap air as water enters the tub. As the water level increases, the air pressure inside the hose will increase pressing against a bellows inside the switch housing. The bellow will be connected to one or more switch contacts, that will open or close depending on the pressure inside the hose. Many of these switches are mechanical and by simply blowing into the switch inlet, you can hear the switch contacts change position. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Seeing as how the complaint was the water overflowing, I started my search by verifying the water valves in the washer were closing properly and not allowing water to leak past. With the house valves turned back on, there was no indication of water leaking into the tub so I then moved on to the pressure switch as it maintains a commanding position in the water fill circuit.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I inspected the entire pressure hose for cracks or restrictions that could affect the air pressure inside the hose but found none, and both ends were securely attached to the appropriate locations. Next was some simple electrical checks to ensure the connections were good and seated to the terminals. With everything looking good, I started a large wash cycle to see if I could recreate the problem.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As the water filled, it stopped as expected at the high water mark and began to agitate. Not seeing a problem at this point, I simply had a seat so I could observe the wash cycle as it progressed. After the initial drain and spin, the valves turned back on to begin the next fill, but this time, the water just kept coming in until I paused the washer somewhere near the top. Using my multimeter, I checked the contacts on the pressure switch to see if they had closed, but instead I measured an open circuit. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With all indications pointing to a &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.786952175&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;pressure switch&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.786952175&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; failing intermittently, I installed a new switch in it's place, them proceeded to do a few more fill tests to make sure this new switch was working as expected. When I departed, everything, including the new switch was operating properly and the customer was glad to get some laundry done.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-GE_Washer_overflowing_Water.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-1160191724164380926?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/M7D2GjpnRzI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/ge-washer-overflowing-water.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Sst9COp0bDI/AAAAAAAACpA/5dfU6uF1sAU/s72-c/IMG_8512.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-544862448170846610</guid><pubDate>Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-08T09:34:56.961-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">frigidaire</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">refrigeration</category><title>Frigidaire Refrigerator not making Ice</title><description>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SsqM7yBJm5I/AAAAAAAACo4/xWj9iuwU0WA/s1600-h/IMG_8513.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SsqM7yBJm5I/AAAAAAAACo4/xWj9iuwU0WA/s320/IMG_8513.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389274862768987026" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.786901859&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;GLRT212IDW1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.786901859&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this top mount, freezer on top, refrigerator was cooling and operating as you would expect any refrigerator to do, but the ice maker seemed to have stopped making ice rather unexpectedly. After visually inspecting the icemaker itself, the customer noticed there was no water inside the mold and decided to pour some in to kind of jump start the production. Sure enough, an hour later the ice dumped into the bin, but it never made ice again. Not interested in manually adding water to a fancy ice tray, I was given the call to get this unit making ice again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most icemakers are simple in their design as really all they need to do is add some water, then dump the ice once it is frozen. Much of what it does and how it works is contained within the icemaker itself so as long as power and water is available, there really isn't much that can go wrong. Many newer style refrigerators have added control features that greatly enhance the ice making capabilities of a refrigerator, but these features also come with added complexity and cost.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The icemaker on this unit is one of the more simple designs that are not affected by outside components so my troubleshooting was able to stay with the unit itself. After the customer described what had been done already, it appeared the icemaker itself was working, but it wasn't getting any water. Without water, the icemaker will continue to run on its own timeline, but obviously won't make ice. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I began by starting a harvest cycle on the icemaker to see it in action. This is simply the icemaker going through the harvesting steps of mold heating, ejecting of ice, and refilling with water. As the ejector fingers move around, the internal mechanism will turn control switches within the icemaker on and off at preset times. While observing the fingers along their journey, I also used by multimeter to check for voltage at the plug to the water valve located behind the refrigerator. At the prescribed time, I measured 119 volts AC from the icemaker which tells me the power is there, but no water came from the valve. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I then removed the icemaker plug and checked for continuity of the water valve and found I was measuring an open circuit. This is a nice convenient place to take measurements without needing to pull the refrigerator from its enclosure. With a failed water valve, water was never going to get to the icemaker and thus, no ice. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After pulling the refrigerator away from the wall, no way around this one, I did a final resistance check at the valve itself and again found an open circuit. I removed the two water connections and the electrical connection, then installed a new &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.786901860&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;water valve&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.786901860&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;. Once installed and the connections put back in place, I initiated another harvest cycle to check the water connections before pushing the unit back against the wall. No leaks to be seen, and the water valve turned on and filled the icemaker mold at the appropriate point in the cycle. There should be ice hitting the bin within the hour.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Frigidaire_Refrigerator_not_making_Ice.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-544862448170846610?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/nC7PaHq6sjo" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/frigidaire-refrigerator-not-making-ice.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SsqM7yBJm5I/AAAAAAAACo4/xWj9iuwU0WA/s72-c/IMG_8513.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-6318723898641961119</guid><pubDate>Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-06T09:56:59.668-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">cooking</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">jenn-air</category><title>Jenn Air Cooktop Downdraft Vent Problems</title><description>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Sso6F-9VO4I/AAAAAAAACow/zo1BQRGYF4o/s1600-h/IMG_8506.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Sso6F-9VO4I/AAAAAAAACow/zo1BQRGYF4o/s320/IMG_8506.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389183778576219010" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model#&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.786898615&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;JED8430BDB&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.786898615&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this electric cooktop has an attached vent blower that would turn on and off, but the speed could not be adjusted. Not a big deal considering the vent is usually run on high most of the time, but this blower would only run on the low setting. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This design of cooktop separates the left and right cooking surfaces in order to facilitate a vent which is attached to a powerful blower motor. This motor draws air through the vent to an exhaust duct mounted below the cabinet. A very convenient setup for kitchens that cannot use a wall mounted or freestanding vent hood. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Since the blower was operational on this unit, I figured the problem wasn't in the motor but more likely the control switch itself. The blower connects to the cooktop electrically through a wire harness and connector, and this harness plugs directly into a control switch mounted at the front of the vent grill. Power for the blower comes off the terminal block leaving the switch assembly and the blower itself as the only components in the circuit. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With the cooktop removed, the only way to get to the switch, I was able to test the switch operation and verify voltage on the terminal connectors going in and coming out of the switch. With a consistent voltage going in, and coming out no matter which speed position the switch was in, it was pretty clear this switch needed to be replaced.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I installed a replacement &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.786898619&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;speed switch&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.786898619&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; being careful of the wire routing, then ran a quick test before mating the glass top back to the cooktop chassis. The blower turned on, off, and varied in speed with the turn of the knob indicating it was working correctly again. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Jenn_Air_Cooktop_Downdraft_Vent_Problems.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-6318723898641961119?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/technicianbrian/VADV/~4/MMuK09v5qJc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://www.technicianbrian.com/2009/10/jenn-air-cooktop-downdraft-vent.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (TechnicianBrian)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/Sso6F-9VO4I/AAAAAAAACow/zo1BQRGYF4o/s72-c/IMG_8506.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0">0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8422157717554120618.post-7533171712960806292</guid><pubDate>Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-05T11:07:23.599-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">maytag</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">dryers</category><title>Maytag Electric Dryer won't Start</title><description>&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SsjlH6NZddI/AAAAAAAACoo/6JubureTWXY/s1600-h/IMG_8493.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImcMkjlJ5vw/SsjlH6NZddI/AAAAAAAACoo/6JubureTWXY/s320/IMG_8493.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388808878196094418" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Model #&lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.786730656&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;MDE5806AYW&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.786730656&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt;, this electric dryer would no longer tumble when the start button was pressed, even though it was plugged in and had been working. The customer verified the circuit breaker had not tripped so assumed ever6ting was OK electrically. Not entirely sure of where to go, I was given a call to get this dryer running gain.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span id="fullpost"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When a dryer won't start or heat, there can be multiple reasons why. Aside from the normal 'is it plugged in' questions, dryers use one or more safety type devices in order to prevent vent fires due to overheating of the element. These devices, often called thermal overload devices, use temperature sensitive metal plates to open an electrical circuit when exposed to an over temperature condition. Called bi-metals, because the plates are made up of two types of metal that expand at different rates, these are often the reason dryers stop running or heating.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Since most bi-metal fuses are one shot devices, meaning once they fail, they must be replaced, the only real solution to get the dryer working again is to, well replace the failed component. But an important part of completing an effective repair is to find out why something failed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Because we know how the bi-metal works, we can take some steps to determine why it has failed. Being a temperature sensitive device, the element and heating control circuits are the logical place to start looking, and any professional technician should make this part of any TOD repair. But all to often, the real reason is something as simple as a blocked or otherwise restricted dryer vent.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dryers are very dependant on airflow to properly dry a load of clothes. The heat is used to aid in the release of moisture, but it is the airflow that really gets the work done. Without proper venting, the results are usually damp and very hot clothes at the end of the normal cycle, and/or multiple cycles needed to get a single load dry. Either way, this airflow restriction wastes time, electricity, damages clothes, and ultimately will shorten the life of the dryers thermal components. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When visiting this dryer, I found nothing would run, and after verifying the door switch was operational, the number one reason for a dryer not starting, I made my way to the inside of the rear bulkhead to take a look at the TOD's. Each TOD serves a purpose and when it fails, the result will be either no heat, or no motor operation, but the reason for the failure is usually the same. After finding the failed component, I installed a new &lt;a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;offerid=122738.762470937&amp;type=10&amp;subid=" target="new"&gt;thermal fuse&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img alt="icon" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=y6f3Ez5blVA&amp;bids=122738.762470937&amp;type=10&amp;subid="&gt; in it's place and had the motor up and running. But as I said, when one of these fails, go looking for why.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With the dryer running on air dry only, I made my way to the outside vent and found no air coming from the opening. The airflow was moving just fine from the back of the dryer leaving a blockage of some sort in the vent line. The customer was not happy that some additional work was needed to get the dryer back up to 100%, but at least it was working and ready, once the venting was cleaned.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/get_mp3.mp3?f=/appliance-repair-blog/Appliance_Repair_Blog-Maytag_Electric_Dryer_wont_Start.mp3" target="new"&gt;Listen to this Post&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img src="https://sites.google.com/a/technicianbrian.com/technicianbrian/Home/website-files/odiogo_rss.gif"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8422157717554120618-7533171712960806292?l=www.technicianbrian.com'/&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="feedflare"&gt;
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