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Old Maytag Man Commercial
Love these old Maytag commercials! This was the beginning of the ‘lonely Maytag Repairman’ … one of the best, and apparently most believed bit of advertising in the appliance industry. Every day customers (with broken Maytags), make comments about how they thought that Maytags never broke down. My standard reply is, ‘you don’t believe all advertising do you?’ (delivered with a little smile while looking over the top of my glasses. lol)
The washer and dryer shown in this commercial were pretty good units – really well built with oversized everything. However, they did break down as any old repairman could tell you. It’s fun to look back at these old commercials and see how far we’ve come. Enjoy!
The funny thing about this one is the dog … named Newton. Newton, Iowa is where the 1st Maytag production plant was. Great dog name too!
I had to add a couple more. These are so fun!
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New Appliances are not as Good as Older Appliances
…. yet, there have always been appliance repairmen.
This is a conversation that I have almost everyday. Seems like everyone has an old fridge or chest freezer in the basement that has ‘never needed a day of service.’ While in general I do believe that appliances made today will not last as long as older stuff did, I do see large differences between the appliances of yesteryear and today. i.e. fridges of more or less the same exterior dimensions hold almost 2x the food that older fridges did due to better insulation and lighter construction. Your old washer (top load style) would consume around 40 gallons per load where the new High Efficiency (HE) machines use as little as 5 gallons. The water savings are much the same in dishwashers as well.
Further, because of energy regulations, manufacturers are producing appliances with motors that are ‘just big enough’ to save energy rather than being way oversized which consumed a lot more energy. Oh … and all the complaints about electronics in stoves? They are more accurate with their temperature control now than they’ve ever been. I know people complain whenever they get a new oven or stove that it does not heat ‘properly’ but after testing, all I can ever show is that the set temperature is dead accurate. It is most often the case that people are used to the way their old stove cooked and sometimes have to adjust recipes and methods to match an appliance that is at temp rather than being 15 or 20 degrees too hot or too cool. (I use Betty Crocker cake mixes for testing … they come out great in a wide range of cooking environments, and are a great snack on a busy day. lol.)
My final thought on this topic is that modern appliances have way to many features and options. This is due to both consumer demand and regulation, but either way the multiple options and settings tend to cause more confusion than any help they may provide. I’ve ‘reset’ countless washers that were ‘not getting the clothes clean’ to use warm water instead of cold … higher water levels instead of ‘eco’ settings and less soap rather than ‘more is better.’ Too many options = confusion and a bad appliance experience.
The one thing I know is that as long as there are appliances, there will be appliance repair people!
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How To Install the New Drain Tube to Fix a Whirlpool Fridge Leaking Water
Here is a video of how I install the new drain tube that Whirlpool has produced to replace the sticking grommet that causes Whirlpool, Kitchen Aid and Maytag fridges to leak water. The part number on this kit is W10619951 and Whirlpool usually covers the price of the part for 2 years within the date of purchase. Call them at 1-800-807-6777 to see if you qualify for this part replacement. Here is the video … enjoy!
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7akWydOJyhc
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Mobile Office – Printer Setup
I often get asked how I have my ‘mobile office’ printer setup so that I’m able to print receipts or manuals or pretty much anything I need while on the road. I use 3 things:
1. My Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phone. (Bigger is better in this case! lol)
2. An app called PrinterShare
3. A HP Officejet 100 Mobile Printer – a Bluetooth battery operated printerHere’s the setup in action:
httpvh://youtu.be/Qlihtbvz4T0
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Using Clamps to Service a Washer Full of Water
This is a quick little tech tip for guys who are servicing washers that are not draining … and have a tub full of water. I use these flat paddle clamps that I got at a local hardware store for cheap. They work perfectly! Enjoy.
httpvh://youtu.be/qOCp-O0ecgA
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Whirlpool Dishwasher Leaving Bits of Food on Dishes
This was an interesting one that I eventually figured out today. Customer complaint was that her dishes were not getting clean she also mentioned that her rinse agent dispenser was not emptying – she never had to fill it as it was always full. She mentioned this as an aside, but her main complaint was the washing issue.
As a tech, sometimes the solution is in the details … it’s the little inconsequential stuff that can put you on the right track when working out a problem like this. This is why the best diagnostic tool in your kit is often your ears. It took me a long time to learn to close my mouth in customers kitchens and just listen … let him/her talk out the problem they are experiencing. Sometimes you have to wade through a lot of gunk to get to the good stuff … lol, but more often than not, the solution is in the description of the problem. In this case, the customer mentioned the rinse agent as she was going out the door. Thanks goodness she did as this is what I found:
httpvh://youtu.be/G5aqMvREfDE
So – for this one, the soap and rinse agent dispenser is activated 100% of the time when ever the door is shut on this dishwasher.
This creates two issues:
1. The dishes are not getting clean or dry.
2. There is a potential fire hazard here – if that door stayed shut long enough and the wax motor stayed energized long enough, it could begin to overheat and melt down. As it was, it was too hot to hold my finger on for longer than a second or two and that was just after 10 minutes of activation. Imagine how hot it would be after being activated overnight!I will replace the electronic control on this one and verify that the dispenser is working normally again. If anything further shows up, I’ll report as an edit here.
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Leaking Frigidaire Dishwasher
This was a fun problem that I found on this leaking Frigidaire Dishwasher last week. Customer complaint was leaking … but it only leaks about once a week or so. So it turns out that she bakes buns with her Kitchen Aid Mixer about once a week and when she is done, she loads the mixer bowl into the dishwasher, and it leaks. All the other loads during the week = no leaks! What a strange problem! lol. Well, here was what I found …
httpvh://youtu.be/jhXsjLErxxU
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Using a Temp Recorder For Fridge Diagnosis
I had a Whirlpool Freezer that was giving me a bit of trouble with the diagnosis. This freezer was stuffed completely full with harvest goods and the customer was really getting worried that stuff was not cold enough. After getting his food into a loaner freezer, I put a temperature recorder into it for 5 days to see what was happening (or in this case, not happening.) Below is a graph of the temperatures and relative humidity in this unit.
… oh look – No defrost cycles!!
A freezer like this defrosts every 6 to 12 hours based on a timer. In this case there are no associated rises in temp or relative humidity that would indicate a defrost cycle. When I was testing this unit, I could put it into defrost manually, so I know the defrost circuitry is good, the only part left is the defrost timer = easy repair!
This is the temp recorder that I use:
If you want to get a recorder for this type of work, this one is basically the same unit and is available from Amazon: Extech RHT10 Humidity And Temperature USB Datalogger
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How To Test a Whirlpool Duet Washer Motor
This video shows how to test a Whirlpool (or Maytag, Amana, Inglis) Duet style washer motor with the integrated MCU (Motor Control Unit.) The MCU used to be separate from the motor, but is now attached to the back of the motor. Testing is very much the same as when the MCU was a separate device, but I thought I would show testing on the newer style with the MCU attached.
WARNING!! This is a live test – that means that there is power (which can hurt you) and the belt, pulley and motor may spin (which can also put a world of hurt on you!) Be aware of what you are doing and where you are at while doing these tests. I accept no responsibility for any problems you encounter if you attempt to do this yourself. That being said – Enjoy!
httpvh://youtu.be/USwxpyS151A
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New Stove Exterior Really Hot
I’ve been getting more complaints these days about the outside of new stoves being way too hot. I’ve called several manufacturers about this issue and am getting the same answer across the board: Normal!
Apparently they have been approved with the higher temp ratings by CSA here in Canada and UL in the States. Not sure if these are new ratings that have been approved or if the exterior temp ratings have always been this high and I’ve just not noticed if before.
The temps are hot enough to burn you if you touch the stove in the wrong place or if you leave your hand on the stove long enough.
Here is a picture of the temps:
