Your recent repair? 2013 - 2020

[grasshopper]

Guys, you are making me nervous about my 22 YO a/c unit in S Arizona 102-105 all last week.

 

[NateW]

Home A/C condenser unit compressor/condenser fan (dual) start capacitor and condenser unit contactor (relay) failures are the reasons for the majority of "no a/c" service calls. Each of these parts is around $10 to $20. I keep one of each on hand. They are quite easy to replace. But first please disconnect the electrical power to the air conditioning system. I turn off the power at the circuit breaker pannel and pull the disconnect at the sub-panel outside next to the condensing unit.

 

[Texas Proud]

Moen cartridges are guaranteed for life. They will send you a new one free.

Same with some other faucet brands.

It helps to take and save a few photos of the receipt and box for years later, but they have never asked me for them.

Nice thing is, the official parts fit well.

Yea, but the time to get one is awhile... I did call to get one for my kitchen faucet as the plumber suggested so I have one the next time it fails.... if it does fail...

 

[pdxgal]

I just fixed my $250 Breville countertop oven that had suddenly stopped working. Thank goodness for enginerd types who post videos and blogs on how to fix things. Sounded relatively easy to do, and it was. Bought a new thermal cutoff fuse for about $2, installed it and voila. Did the same repair on my rice cooker. Most satisfaction so far this year!

 

[Texas Proud]

Have to post this as it is a 'repair' as far as DW knows...


Our washer machine started to throw out an error code.. there was an error between the control panel and the water pump...


Looked it up and saw on the internet what I was supposed to do... take off front panel, look at wire... if wire is OK then probably the pump is bad etc. etc...


SOOO, unplugged the machine and went back to the couch for 10 minutes.. when I got up to get some more beverage. plugged it back in and it was 'fixed'....


Enjoyed the beverage...

 

[ERD50]

....

SOOO, unplugged the machine and went back to the couch for 10 minutes.. when I got up to get some more beverage. plugged it back in and it was 'fixed'....


Enjoyed the beverage...

Hope your luck holds out. A power cycle might clear the error, but I bet that when it goes through a wash cycle, it will sense the pump problem and throw up the error again.

It's possible it was a one-time fault, but I sure would not bet on it.

-ERD50

 

[Boho]

My first replacement of a CMOS battery. I'm back on my desktop. I bet there's some benefit to hardwiring the battery holder to a switch on the computer case so I can easily cut power to CMOS and maybe reboot it. I won't bother until I'm more convinced of a benefit.

Maybe for security. With a dead battery it just gave a continuous beep and wouldn't boot up. I could hide a dip switch and nobody would think of looking for one.

 

[Walt34]

Not a "repair" really, but had to fix a screw-up. I bought some red mulch dye to spray on the existing red mulch. I don't really like the red mulch, but DW does, so all married guys know how that goes. Anyway to keep her from buying more every year to pile on top of the old faded red mulch I saw some red mulch dye and thought "Hey, that's easier/cheaper/faster than more mulch so I'll use that!" I figured all I needed to do was use "due care" and I'd be able to keep it off the white painted foundation wall. No such luck, I stumbled over something (probably my feet) and sprayed some on the wall.

"No problem, I'll just hose it off". Ha. Dang, that stuff dries fast.

Okay, get out the Graco 360 VSP airless paint sprayer and repaint that section of the wall. I love that sprayer for little jobs like that. Yes, I could have used a brush or roller, but with all the dirt it would get on it I'd probably end up throwing it out anyway, and quality brushes are not cheap. As usual setup and cleanup takes longer than the actual paint job but I find that I really don't mind that part and the spray paint job looks much better than brushing.

 

[ERD50]

I see the problem as making something electronic when mechanical is fine. Just let me turn the dial to 3 minutes on my microwave, don't put in a board that costs $9 and them when it goes bad charge me $89 to buy it.
Same on a washer, good old mechanical timers worker great. They only time I think I got a good price on an elctronic board was for an excercise bike that my wife picked up because someone used the display as a handle and broke the PCB, I got a new one for $26 and it wasn't just a simple PCB. I have a treadmill ( another freebe the wife picked up) it would not start. I troubleshot it a part level and found a bad part, I replaced it and now it runs... FULL SPEED! So, more troubleshooting. I can buy the board, but it's $130.

Sometimes mechanical is best, but electronics can be very, very reliable, and cheaper, and more flexible. The problem that I'm talking about, is all these specialized parts. If they were generic, they'd be cheap.

I can buy a micro-controller board, with 4M of flash storage, wi-fi, USB, an analog-to-digital converter, a bunch of GPIO, uarts, SPI, I2C interfaces, for less than $5 (nodeMCU). I can buy displays for that for less than $5, that connect with 2 wires plus power and ground. There's no reason that these boards need to be expensive, other than they are all unique.

Mechanical is fine and sometimes better. My air cleaner went through a period where it would turn on and change settings by itself. It has touch switches. I want a snap action switch. ....

I'm not a fan of touch switches either, they seem to have a lot of problems.

...

I'd like to install a conventional switch on my cell phone and laptop (when I get a laptop with a working battery) that disconnects the battery. I'm afraid I'll do something to make it explode though. I wish they would come that way.

Back in the day, you could just pop the battery out.

-ERD50

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Have to post this as it is a 'repair' as far as DW knows...


Our washer machine started to throw out an error code.. there was an error between the control panel and the water pump...


Looked it up and saw on the internet what I was supposed to do... take off front panel, look at wire... if wire is OK then probably the pump is bad etc. etc...


SOOO, unplugged the machine and went back to the couch for 10 minutes.. when I got up to get some more beverage. plugged it back in and it was 'fixed'....


Enjoyed the beverage...

The absolute BEST kind of repair. Here's hoping it holds up. Or... "fails" just at the right frequency to allow you to enjoy your beverages.

 

[Time2]

My first replacement of a CMOS battery. I'm back on my desktop. I bet there's some benefit to hardwiring the battery holder to a switch on the computer case so I can easily cut power to CMOS and maybe reboot it. I won't bother until I'm more convinced of a benefit.

Maybe for security. With a dead battery it just gave a continuous beep and wouldn't boot up. I could hide a dip switch and nobody would think of looking for one.

OH! That's a good reminder, my computer is 9 years old. I just install Windows 10 and hoping for many more years.
Isn't 10 year CMOS battery replacement suggested?

 

[Boho]

OH! That's a good reminder, my computer is 9 years old. I just install Windows 10 and hoping for many more years.
Isn't 10 year CMOS battery replacement suggested?

I don't know about preemptively. One reason I delayed it is because I read someone complain that their computer stopped working when they replaced the CMOS battery. I don't know whether that's common or that was the only person who has had that problem, but that was enough to scare me because I wasn't even sure the battery was the problem. I was getting an alert for about a month when booting up that said it MAY be the CMOS battery. I think it was a checksum error. I thought battery testers were cheap. I don't know why they can't put a battery tester in computers. Then the computer crashed and wouldn't come back on. There was just a steady tone when I tried turning it on, like that tells me anything!

 

[Sunset]

The cmos battery helps to keep the data in the bios.
Depending upon the computer, this can simply mean the computer loses it's date, so which means a person should reset the date each time they turn on the computer.

On old computers it also knew the HD info, so then it also had to be input so the HD could be used.

I don't think I've ever replaced a cmos battery, but keep a computer (desktop) plugged in.

The steady tone is the CMOS failure alert

 

[Texas Proud]

Hope your luck holds out. A power cycle might clear the error, but I bet that when it goes through a wash cycle, it will sense the pump problem and throw up the error again.

It's possible it was a one-time fault, but I sure would not bet on it.

-ERD50

Has been working fine since I reset it... maybe 5 to 10 loads...

 

[ERD50]

Has been working fine since I reset it... maybe 5 to 10 loads...

Have another beverage! I don't think I've ever been that lucky!

Wait, I just remembered. Probably 20 years ago, on our Maytag dryer from the 80's, the timer buzzer got stuck. It just kept buzzing and buzzing and buzzing. So I unplug it, I'm figuring I'll need to pull it, order a new one, etc. Not a terrible job, but I've got better things to do (I was still on the job, so free time was limited).

But before I do that, I just give it a good whack with my fist, and it shuts off. There, I fixed it! Hah! I'm certain it will do it again the next load, or next week.

Here we are, 20 years later, and it is still running fine, buzzer has never acted up (I have replaced the heater coil and the belt and 'bearings' (a Teflon guide) since then, but all cheap and easy fixes).

Sometimes, you win. Take it!

-ERD50

 

[Boho]

I fixed my fridge like that about a year ago. It would buzz sometimes and it got too loud. The slightest touch on the right side stopped it, until I let go. One day I pressed hard on a few areas. I may have pounded it too. It's been quiet since then. But my fridge, range, AC, computer, and TV are about at their end of life.

 

[kgtest]

Replaced failing wood 4x4 treated/stacked+rebarr with 12" block. First time doing retaining wall. This was a 3 tier, with a secondary wall ... I'll post pics in a bit when we get all landscape done. This is the year of landscape apparently.

Shoveled 2 yards of class V, 1 of 1 1/2' Sioux rock and who knows how much dirt. Lots of overseeding and fertilizer this year. Patching and killing ants, pulling weeds. Lawn looks great though

 

[sengsational]

Fixed the emergency release cord on my FIL's garage door opener.

True story: DW was working in the garage (we're cleaning the place out in order to sell it), a fly landed on the red emergency release handle. She hit the cord with a flyswatter, and the cord broke off an flew across the room!

So come to find out that the cord used by these "Marantec" garage door openers is programmed to disintegrate after a year or two. This was a Marantec M4700e that was labeled as a PDS-4700e (from the "Precision Door Service" chain). I've got to wonder if this was just a company that got blind-sided with cheap cord when they sourced it as a manufacturing input, or if they decided it would make them lots of money in repair business. Didn't make any money on me, but I did spend some time on the repair.

I repaired it "the hard way", but I didn't know any better. I made a video so other people wouldn't do what I did, but instead do it the quick way.

https://youtu.be/OARqF4ZUbCk

 

[Boho]

the cord broke off an flew across the room!

You probably weren't pulling the cord straight down and it was rubbing against an edge that wasn't rounded. Filing the red and black plastic edges might help.

 

[sengsational]

You probably weren't pulling the cord straight down and it was rubbing against an edge that wasn't rounded. Filing the red and black plastic edges might help.

One might conclude that the problem was repeated friction against a sharp corner, but that would not be accurate in this case. I could take any section of the cord and pull it gently, and it would break. Sewing thread would be stronger. I'm tellin' ya... the cord was somehow programmed to disintegrate, probably a UV activated process.

 

[jazz4cash]

One might conclude that the problem was repeated friction against a sharp corner, but that would not be accurate in this case. I could take any section of the cord and pull it gently, and it would break. Sewing thread would be stronger. I'm tellin' ya... the cord was somehow programmed to disintegrate, probably a UV activated process.

+1
I replaced the ropes on our Craftsman openers after ~15 yrs. They looked like they would fail if hit with a fly swatter. Appeared to be UV deterioration. Pathetic for an device intended to be used in an emergency.

 

[calmloki]

20 or so years ago we put some track lights on the ceiling above the middle landing on our stairs going to the second floor. Put a lot of thought into having them wash the landing wall so we could hang favored rugs and have them well illuminated but with the light sources out of sight from most view points. 20 years ago changing the E26 Edison base spotlights wasn't a very big deal. Scary, but my balance was better. With time problems had developed and I resolved to replace the four spot lights and go to LEDs. Checked the dimmer 3-way switch to see how much box room was available and resolved to buy new spots, LED lamps, and LED 3-way switch.

Getting the spotlights down was a treat - confession of stupidity. I'm 6'4". By standing on, not the top rung, but the top of my 6" ladder on the stairway landing and stretching my arms up I could just undo the spotlights. Doing that for the two spots by the stairs going down was more exciting than I prefer. Once down though I was able to repair one spot and replace another and several bulbs tested bad. Hunh. Discovered that some regular Edison base lightbulbs that we had on hand looked pretty OK in the spotlights, so up the ladder again and tried them out. Hunh. No spotlight hot spots, and the wall wash was pretty acceptable. Put all four spots up and aimed them and then discovered that the dimmer switch controlled the those LEDs just fine! That was a big surprise.

So. Tempted the ladder gods, didn't die, spent $0 on new parts and have all lights burning and dim-able. With luck I'll never need to replace those bulbs or climb in that area again.

 

[Boho]

One might conclude that the problem was repeated friction against a sharp corner, but that would not be accurate in this case. I could take any section of the cord and pull it gently, and it would break. Sewing thread would be stronger. I'm tellin' ya... the cord was somehow programmed to disintegrate, probably a UV activated process.

It was probably polypropylene. You need nylon or something.

 

[austin944]

I fixed my refrigerator that was not cooling in the bottom compartment. After searching on YouTube, I found one symptom that matched my situation: there was significant frost built up on the rear inside of the freezer.

The YT video explained that there is a heater element in the freezer that periodically kicks in and defrosts the evaporator coil. If it does not turn on, then frost builds up on coil and can block the flow of cool air to the bottom compartment. (Some of you may remember your mother having to manually defrost the frig each month when you were young).

After testing the heater element with an ohm meter, I found that it was an open circuit. Unfortunately my fridge is pretty old and parts are no longer available for it. However I found a place on Ebay that tears apart appliances and sells the parts. I found an element that had about the right size and connector, ordered it for $50, installed it and it works great!

 

[grasshopper]

I fixed my refrigerator that was not cooling in the bottom compartment. After searching on YouTube, I found one symptom that matched my situation: there was significant frost built up on the rear inside of the freezer.

The YT video explained that there is a heater element in the freezer that periodically kicks in and defrosts the evaporator coil. If it does not turn on, then frost builds up on coil and can block the flow of cool air to the bottom compartment. (Some of you may remember your mother having to manually defrost the frig each month when you were young).

After testing the heater element with an ohm meter, I found that it was an open circuit. Unfortunately my fridge is pretty old and parts are no longer available for it. However I found a place on Ebay that tears apart appliances and sells the parts. I found an element that had about the right size and connector, ordered it for $50, installed it and it works great!

Look like this?