small appliance repair

[The Real BigGuy]

Originally Posted by DickR

My approach to broken appliances is to open it up to find out what is broken. The worst thing that can happen is the item is toast (even if it is literally a toaster!), and must be replaced anyway. Failure can be due to as simple a thing as a blown fuse near where the power cord enters the box, and replacing the fuse likely is easy. Things like a drum belt in a dryer or water valve in a washer can be bought online and installed DIY fashion without too much fuss. There are plenty of U-tube videos online to provide helpful guidance. Electronics is another matter. So many things have a circuit board governing its operation that a failed board may be the reason for failure, and that likely is not repairable. Still, replacement boards are available online for many appliances, but price is another matter. It may be no more costly to replace the appliance, depending on its age.

I totally agree with you. I’m always taking things apart because I approach it from a “it doesn’t work now so the worst that can happen is it won’t work after I try and fix it. My wife thinks I’m this super fix all handy man but it’s really that I’m not afraid to try fixing things. As long as you take your time, I find that most mechanical things are fixable. A plus is that you really get to see how things work and you sometimes get to try your best “McGuyver”(sp?) repair!!


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Fix ‘em yourself or toss them.

I sometimes wish I couldn’t fix them because we have some really old stuff now

Just fixed the dryer again, for the 4th or 5th time. It’s probably 30 years old.

I thought for sure the pump was shot on our kenmore elite dishwasher. It’s probably 20 years old. Horrible grinding noise. You could hear the pump stop and start. Ordered new pump, it wasn’t cheap, like $300. I could not believe how easy it was to get out. 3 clips on the bottom and you lift out the whole innards out from inside.

I was about to swap the pump and decided to take the pump itself apart. Thought for sure that would be hard too and was a breeze. Turns out the pump was perfectly fine. It was a couple tines from a plastic fork. There is like a little garbage disposal in there that grinds food. Tines we’re sticking through a screen with a blade on the other side scraping against the screen. Didn’t need an o-ring or anything. I love well built serviceable stuff.

Purring fine now. Didn’t cost a dime. Except shipping the part back and forth. Luckily they had good return policy. Should have taken it apart first but didn’t want the dishwasher apart for a week. Nice having the parts you need ahead.

Like someone said. Half of it is being brave enough to try it. Often it’s way easier than you think. You often have nothing to loose in trying. I dreaded taking the dishwasher apart. It literally took 20 minutes with no blood or flood. Didn’t even have to slide the unit out or disconnect the water supply.

P.S. YouTube is your friend. If it’s DIY fixable, there is a dozen videos on it.