So I watched this guy showing how to fix a loose oven door hinge on a GE slide-in range by just bending the bracket a tiny bit with pliers. I tried it on a customer's unit in Phoenix last Tuesday, and the hinge snapped clean off after I barely put any pressure on it. The bracket was way more brittle than it looked in the video, probably from years of heat cycles. Ended up having to order a whole new hinge assembly that cost me $45 and the customer was without her oven for an extra two days. Now I'm wondering if those old hinges are just ticking time bombs or if I just got unlucky with that particular model. Has anyone else had a hinge crack on them doing that bend trick?
Had a Samsung dryer from 2018 that sounded like a jet engine every cycle. Tried replacing the idler pulley first but that didn't do it. Turns out the rear drum glides were just worn down after 5 years of heavy use, swapped them for $12 parts from a shop in Austin and it runs quieter than new now. Anyone else run into this with the older Samsung models?
I was working on a Bosch dishwasher last Tuesday, tightening the door panel screws like I always did, nice and snug. Then I cracked the plastic trim. Customer just stared at me while I stood there holding the broken piece. That's when my buddy pointed out most appliance screws only need a quarter turn past hand tight. Has anyone else had a similar wake up call about using too much force?
That HF wrench was off by like 15 foot-pounds on a compressor head bolt, and his Snap-on got it right the first time. Has anyone else found a cheap tool that was secretly ruining their repairs without knowing it?
Had a guy tell me his neighbor charged him $80 just to look at a fridge that wasn't cooling, and now I'm wondering if I should bump up my own diagnostic fee from $50 since I've been using the same rate for like 3 years now, anyone else adjust theirs lately?
Last month in Phoenix I got a call at 2AM for a fridge that wasn't making ice. Drove 25 miles one way only to find the water line was just kinked behind the unit. The guy could have waited till morning. Now I route all after-hours calls to voicemail and respond at 7AM. Anyone else set a hard cut-off time for emergency calls?
I switched to a dab of silicone grease instead after watching a repair in St. Louis last summer where the tech showed me the before and after on a noisy spring, and now I'm curious who else has made that swap and what they use for the soap dispenser latch?
I drove 45 minutes out to a house near Glendale last Tuesday for what sounded like a bad compressor relay. Turns out the customer had a container of metal utensils right next to the condenser fan blade, and it was just hitting them on each rotation. I felt dumb for not asking them to check first, but now I always tell people to clear the area around the back of their fridge before I roll out. Saved myself another 30 miles of driving later in the week when I did that with a different customer. Has anyone else wasted time on a simple debris issue that could have been caught with a quick phone call?
The $20 one gave me a false open reading but the Fluke caught the real partial short, has anyone else had that scare with cheap meters?
I had this Samsung fridge that was running warm but the compressor was humming. I figured the main board was toast, so I picked up a universal control kit from a local parts house in Austin for about 80 bucks. After wiring it up per the diagram, the fridge kicked on but the compressor started making a weird clicking noise. Turns out the original board had a bad relay that was killing the start capacitor, so bypassing it actually let the compressor run right again. Has anyone else had a universal board fix a deeper problem like that?
I figured a bad board on a 4-year-old fridge, swapped it out for $180, and it died again in 2 days. Turns out the run cap was reading way low and frying the relay every time, learned to test caps before throwing parts at anything. Anyone else have a stupid expensive lesson from skipping a simple meter check?
My old drawer latch broke on a Friday night with no parts open until Monday, so I wedged a folded piece of aluminum foil in there to hold it shut, and that janky fix is still holding up after 3 months without a single leak. Anyone else got a hack that should not work but totally does?
I started doing appliance repair about 8 years ago and this guy named Ed who had been in the game since the 70s gave me that advice. I thought I knew better and spent a solid 45 minutes chasing a bad thermistor on a Samsung dryer only to find a lint clog the size of my fist in the duct behind the machine. After I cleared it, the thermistor reading was fine and the dryer worked perfect. Now I always pop the vent off and do a quick visual before I break out the multimeter. Has anyone else had a simple duct check save them from a wild goose chase?
I swear I used to fix more top loads back in 2018, but now it feels like every other call is a front load with a moldy gasket or a bad door lock. Did something shift in the last 6 years like manufacturers pushing cheaper front load designs, or are people just buying them more now? What's your take on which one actually gives you less headache on a Tuesday afternoon?
Saw it happen Tuesday at a job in Portland, stripped the board traces instantly and turned a 15 minute repair into a whole new part order, have you ever had to spend your own money fixing someone else's shortcut?
Been fighting a bunch of Maytag Bravos washers lately where the drain pump would lock up with socks and debris. Pulling the pump off every time was taking me 45 minutes for each job. I tried using a wet/dry vac on the drain hose first to pull out anything loose, and it cut my time down to maybe 15 minutes. Still have to pull the pump sometimes but about 60% of the time the vac gets the clog. Has anyone else used this approach or found a better way to clear those pumps without full disassembly?
I used to always reset a tripped breaker by flipping it all the way off then back on. Did that for three years on every call. Last week a customer watched me do it and goes "you know you only need to push it past the middle to reset, right?" I thought he was messing with me. Turns out I was wearing out the mechanism for nothing. Has anyone else done dumb stuff like that for way too long?
Someone in this community told me to pour hot water down the freezer drain line with a turkey baster to clear ice buildup. I thought it was dumb and would just make more ice. Tried it last week on a 3 year old Whirlpool that was pooling water. Drained right out. I owe that random guy a beer.
Been seeing a lot of people say you gotta clean the lint filter on dryers every time. I used to do it too but after 10 years on the road and fixing my own machines I started noticing something. If you got a good quality dryer and your lint screen is in decent shape you can go 3 or 4 loads easy before it starts affecting airflow. I tested it with a manometer on a Whirlpool in my own house. After 3 loads the static pressure barely moved. After 5 loads it dropped maybe 15 percent. The real issue is people forget to clean the vent tube behind the machine that runs to outside. That clogs way faster than the screen does and causes fires. Has anyone else actually measured the difference instead of just guessing?
Got a call last week for a Samsung that wouldn't drain. Pulled the pump, checked the impeller, all clear. Tested continuity, fine. Spent 2 hours chasing wires and checking the control board before I realized the drain hose had a clog way up near the standpipe. First time I've seen a clog that high. Felt like an idiot. Has anyone else dealt with a Samsung drain issue that turned out to be something dumb like that?
I did a service call last month in a house outside Charlotte where the fridge was fine but the hallway floor was warped. Customer said no leaks anywhere but I popped off the kickplate and found the plastic supply line had this hairline crack you couldn't see unless you bent it just right. It was only dripping maybe a cup of water a day but over 6 months it soaked through the subfloor. I replaced it with a braided steel line and told them to check those every couple years. Has anyone else run into those invisible micro cracks on the plastic tubing? Feels like a ticking time bomb on older installs.
My coworker Dave told me to put a bad control board in the freezer for 20 minutes to fix a Samsung fridge that kept cycling. It actually worked and the board ran fine for another 3 weeks after that. Has anyone else tried this or was Dave just lucky?
I was at a job in Austin last Tuesday, a 5 year old Samsung fridge not cooling, and I spent an hour checking the compressor and starter relay. Turned out it was just a clogged evaporator fan from ice buildup, I cleared it and it ran fine. Anyone else ever waste time on the wrong part because you jumped to the hardest fix first?