By Samurai Appliance Repair Man, http://www.Appliantology.org Over the past couple of decades, appliance technology has become much more complicated, yet technician troubleshooting skills have eroded. This creates some uncertainty about the direction our industry is going. Are we going to be a profession, filled with well-paid, highly-skilled technicians at the top of their game, or…
Tag: appliance repair
Triacs Operation for Appliance Techs
By Samurai Appliance Repair Man, http://www.Appliantology.org Triacs are used extensively in modern appliance control boards to control AC loads. Professional appliance repair technicians need to understand how triacs work and to know when they are controlling the power supply to the load they’re troubleshooting. In this article, I’ll show you how to identify a triac…
Realignment in the Appliance Industry
By Dean Landers, Landers Appliance, DLanders@LandersAppliance.com Don’t look now but our industry is changing and at a very rapid pace. At the time of writing this article, the Korean electronics company Samsung just announced the purchase of Dacor (Investopedia guesses the purchase price was $150 million), which causes my mind to spin as I think…
Troubleshoot from the Computer Board and Avoid Unnecessary Appliance Disassembly
By Samurai Appliance Repair Man, http://www.Appliantology.org True confession time: I am the laziest tech you’ll ever meet. That’s why I LOVE computer-controlled appliances. I can troubleshoot almost any problem from the main computer board with minimal disassembly. Using a Samsung electric dryer as an example, I show you how to use the schematic to troubleshoot…
What’s Your Sine? Understanding Household AC Split-Phase Voltage
By Samurai Appliance Repair Man, http://www.Appliantology.org All appliance repair techs should understand the split-phase household electrical power supply that they deal with on a daily basis. It just takes a little high school math and science, which the Samurai explains to you along with lots of helpful images. AC voltage is just one of many…
Clearing Up Capacitor Confusion for Appliance Repair Techs
By Samurai Appliance Repair Man, http://www.Appliantology.org All capacitors are open circuits and, conversely, all open circuits are capacitors. Most techs also know that capacitors store a charge. Some techs know that capacitors block direct current. Yet capacitors are still used in DC circuits. Huh? How can capacitors be used in DC circuits if they block…
Gas Oven Hot Surface Ignition Systems – Technology and Troubleshooting
By Samurai Appliance Repair Man, http://www.Appliantology.org Most modern gas ovens use a carborundum ignitor to both control the gas valve and ignite the gas. Even though these are simple systems, I’ve found that many appliance techs do not have a detailed understanding of how these systems work and, as a result, there’s a lot “tech…
ioAST Opportunities
By Adam Butcher, Fred’s Appliance The Institute of Appliance Service Technicians has been working to improve the quality of appliance repair and service by testing and certifying appliance repair technicians. The Institute of Appliance Service Technicians strives to promote a high standard in appliance repair and service across all brands and designs and to protect…
Why We Attend the Annual Service Training Institute
By Samurai Appliance Repair Man, http://www.Appliantology.org Time management is a common problem for people in service businesses like ours. Everything tends to be emergency driven and we feel pressure from the demands of customers and the other aspects of running a business. The result of constant fire-fighting is burnout. That’s why we must MAKE the…
Troubleshooting a Whirlpool Kitchenaid Dishwasher with a Blinking Clean Light
By Samurai Appliance Repair Man, http://www.Appliantology.org In this amazing journey through the dishwasher looking glass, learn everything you ever wanted to know about the mysterious problem of the Clean light blinking 7 times in a Whirlpool – Kitchenaid dishwasher but didn’t know enough to even ask. You’ll learn what this mysterious blinking light means, the…
One Easy Trick to Blow-Up Your Customer’s Home
By Samurai Appliance Repair Man, http://www.Appliantology.org In this month’s appliance repair thriller, the Samurai fixed a Frigidaire gas range by replacing the bake igniter, only to find there was another problem: the gas valve wasn’t closing all the way, allowing a little bit of gas to continue flowing. If he hadn’t spotted this, the results…
Loose Electrical Connections and Heat
By Samurai Appliance Repair Man, http://www.Appliantology.org We all know that loose electrical connections cause multiple problems in appliances, heat being the most common one. But why does this happen? And what are the other negative effects on the circuitry and other components of the appliance? With a little help from my trusty friend Ohm’s Law,…
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