Tech Tip

Stuff for other Techs

  • Repairs,  Tech Tip

    Whirlpool French Door Freezer Door Not Closing All The Way

    If the ice bucket scoop is put into the holder the wrong way, it will hold the freezer drawer open and cause cooling problems.

    There is a slight glitch in the video at the beginning – what I was showing is that the freezer door is being held open about a finger thickness. Not enough to turn the light on and trigger the door alarm, but enough to coat the evaporator and warm up both sections.

    httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzv5wP0S7K4

  • Repairs,  Tech Tip

    Dryer Element Shorted to Ground

    image

    Here is another dryer element that shorted out to ground. This means that whenever the dryer was on, even on the air fluff cycle, the element was going full blast. This took out the safety cut-out fuse. 

    From now on, unless I see really bad venting issues on blown safety cut-out fuse jobs, I’m checking the element to make sure it is not grounded.

  • Tech Tip

    Blown MCU Boards in Whirlpool Duet Washers

    EDIT:  I received the following comment from David which may explain the ‘soapy’ looking residue.  “As an engineer that works at a place that builds up circuit boards for other companies, I can say that the ‘soapy’ residue looks more like the end result of typical board wash at the end of an assembly line. The wash is meant to make the the solder flux inert. Different types of flux are easier or more difficult to remove completely.”

    Original Post:

    I’m seeing more and more of these Duets with funky MCU (motor control unit) boards. Often the washer will not even lock – just gives 3 beeps. When you disconnect the MCU at the CCU then at least the door will lock and you know you have a MCU problem. In this case, when I pulled the board out of the plastic housing, you can see that there has been soapy condensation dripping down the back of this board. I will keep checking these as I replace them to see if this soap residue is common to all these. FTR – this customer did have HE detergent in the laundry room. That does not mean they’ve always been using it, but right now they are.

    EDIT Aug 15/11: Here is another one. You can see the soapy drip trail heading right at the burnt out spot on the board.   EDIT Aug 15/11: Here is another one.

    Edit Sept 30/11: Another one. Multiple trails of soap residue.

    Edit May 8/13: More residue trails.

    MCU

  • Repairs,  Tech Tip

    Kitchen Aid Dishwasher Not Draining

    Here’s a hint for all you tech’s and DYI’ers out there.

    If you have a Whirlpool or Kitchen Aid dishwasher that is either not draining or draining slow … and you’ve checked all the regular culprits for this problem (blocked drain hose at sink stack, crushed or collapsed hose, plugged sump, etc.), then you need to check the backflow check-valve in the hose itself.

    The valve is a little rubber flapper and is located inside the hose just before the 90 deg elbow where the drain hose fits onto the bottom of the sump/pump.

    If you use a flashlight and backlight it, you should see it flap open when the drain pump starts.  It will look like a little black circle sitting on the side of the drain hose.

    If junk gets stuck up behind it, the flap can be prevented form opening all the way.  Also, if the flap gets lodged into the opening instead of resting on the face, it will not open up all the way.

    In the video, you can clearly see it moving slightly as the water rushes by it – that is what you should be seeing.

  • Tech Tip

    Duet Washer Repair

    Duet RepairThis is a tech tip for anyone servicing a Whirlpool Duet Washer. Quite often we end up having to drain the washer through the pump. Normally this would be messy, wet job. However Whirlpool was kind to us by providing a built in drain pan to drain the pump into – the bottom cover.

    Remove the bottom cover. Move the wire harness down out of the way. remove the pump from the base of the washer and pull it forward. Hang the lip of the pump over the edge of the bottom cover that you’ve laid flat in front of the washer. Open the pump and drain into the cover. Don’t overflow it!