Your recent repair? - 2021 to ?

[Sunset]

Tonight during a heat wave, I noticed the A/C was not cool coming out the vents. So I go in the backyard and see the outdoor unit is dead.

Well it was suppertime, so we eat while I hope it's the capacitor that has blown as it did it once before.

Then, since we have had a lot of storms last night and tonight with lights flickering, I thought to go check the breaker panel. Sure enough it looked tripped for the A/C.
I had already shut off the A/C, so I flipped the breaker.
Then I went outside to watch the outdoor unit, while DW turned on the A/C.

Everything worked and that was an easy fix.

 

[38Chevy454]

......
I had already shut off the A/C, so I flipped the breaker.
Then I went outside to watch the outdoor unit, while DW turned on the A/C.

Everything worked and that was an easy fix.

That's the best kind of repair! No parts required and just a small amount of time.

 

[ncbill]

Hmmm...I know back when I had my 1988 Accord (smaller than today's Civic) only the OEM NGK spark plugs worked right...platinum ones back then caused problems...do the Iridium ones provide a real benefit nowadays?

Currently the wife & kid are trying to strip old vinyl wallpaper in the kitchen in order to paint.

The vinyl part comes off fine, but leaves behind a fusion of backing paper & glue on the Sheetrock, which even with the recommended solution sprayed on has to be tediously removed by hand.

So I they've decided instead to power-sand it as smooth as possible then paint over it...does that approach require a special primer?

I've offered to have the same color wallpaper as the paint shade they want installed instead.

 

[Sunset]

Hmmm...I know back when I had my 1988 Accord (smaller than today's Civic) only the OEM NGK spark plugs worked right...platinum ones back then caused problems...do the Iridium ones provide a real benefit nowadays?

Currently the wife & kid are trying to strip old vinyl wallpaper in the kitchen in order to paint.

The vinyl part comes off fine, but leaves behind a fusion of backing paper & glue on the Sheetrock, which even with the recommended solution sprayed on has to be tediously removed by hand.

So I they've decided instead to power-sand it as smooth as possible then paint over it...does that approach require a special primer?

I've offered to have the same color wallpaper as the paint shade they want installed instead.

The home shows I've watched, say to paint over with an oil based paint or primer, so the glue does not soften underneath.

I think I'd try on a sample area, just painting over, rather than sanding the wall.

If that didn't work, then maybe even an incredibly thin skim of joint compound as it's incredibly easy to sand it.

 

[ncbill]

The home shows I've watched, say to paint over with an oil based paint or primer, so the glue does not soften underneath.

I think I'd try on a sample area, just painting over, rather than sanding the wall.

If that didn't work, then maybe even an incredibly thin skim of joint compound as it's incredibly easy to sand it.

Thanks!

I think they're going to do the latter (skim coat over the glue/paper backing fusion) then let the skim coat dry & sand that smooth followed by latex paint (does it still need a primer?) instead of dealing with oil-based paint/primer.

 

[Out of Steam]

No need to change spark plugs on a Vega. The engines blew up at 50,000 miles, on schedule. OK, mine burned a hole in a piston.

A friend of mine bought one of the later Vegas and ran it to 100K miles. It was running when she sold it

 

[Time2]

Some of you folks that repair your own appliances might find this video interesting. This guy buys used appliances for cheap and either repairs them or sells the parts on eBay. Interestingly, it is a lot more profitable to just strip out the more expensive working parts than to fix and resell an appliance.
I've purchased used refrigerator drawers and circuit boards on eBay and always sort of wondered how this business works.

My wife the roadside picker, brought home a tv, I finally got around to testing it and found the screen had been hit or it tipped over, I think it tipped over as the stand was bad. I check Ebay to see if the PCBs had any value, yep, I sold 3 pcbs in three different sales and made $150. She picked up another Flat screen, that we used daily for over 12 years, all I had to do was buy a remote and that was only $12.

 

[Time2]

The home shows I've watched, say to paint over with an oil based paint or primer, so the glue does not soften underneath.

I think I'd try on a sample area, just painting over, rather than sanding the wall.

If that didn't work, then maybe even an incredibly thin skim of joint compound as it's incredibly easy to sand it.

Our house had wallpaper all over when we moved in, my wife hired one of our customer to come in and paint a bathroom after removing the drywall. The guy didn't remove the adhesive and it didn't take long before the paint was peeling, the guy did come back sanded and spackled over the bad spots, but where he didn't fix, it's peeling again. My daughter 15 or 16 want to paint her room, she removed all the wallpaper, and I told her she needed to wash the walls "twice' to remove all adhesive, she did and painted. She's 30 now and the paint still looks great, and it still has her name on the wall in 24" tall red letters spanning over 6FT with a couple of Yellow stars.

 

[ERD50]

Some of you folks that repair your own appliances might find this video interesting. This guy buys used appliances for cheap and either repairs them or sells the parts on eBay. Interestingly, it is a lot more profitable to just strip out the more expensive working parts than to fix and resell an appliance.
I've purchased used refrigerator drawers and circuit boards on eBay and always sort of wondered how this business works. ...

That was interesting, thanks for posting.

I'm curious about the 'big picture' - I'll check out his other videos later, but I'd like to know how he gets the appliances, does he have to pay to dispose of them, or is the scrap metal price enough to net out disposal costs?

And then, selling on ebay - I'd be a bit leery of buying used/refurbished parts for those $, is it really tested good? And being used, it might break 6 months later, who knows?

He made some comments that sound problematic, a buyer puts the part in, appliance is still broke (because the problem was not with the part he bought), so now the customer wants a refund, or writes a bad review? Or just a shady buyer could return his old bad part, and claim it was the one he was sent, and keep the good one (he mentioned watermarking his parts to counter that).

I dunno, sounds like good money when you see $100 for 2 minutes work, but there's a lot more to it.

-ERD50

 

[Winemaker]

The home shows I've watched, say to paint over with an oil based paint or primer, so the glue does not soften underneath.

I think I'd try on a sample area, just painting over, rather than sanding the wall.

If that didn't work, then maybe even an incredibly thin skim of joint compound as it's incredibly easy to sand it.

DW has used a clothing steamer to remove the glue. If you don't have one, an old steam iron will work. You just have to refill it more often. Put the steam to it generously and it will come off with a 2-3 inch taping knife or scraper.

 

[Sunset]

Thanks!

I think they're going to do the latter (skim coat over the glue/paper backing fusion) then let the skim coat dry & sand that smooth followed by latex paint (does it still need a primer?) instead of dealing with oil-based paint/primer.

Joint compound will need either primer, or an extra coat of paint, because it will suck in the paint/primer.

When I patch some holes on a wall I'm going to paint, after sanding (can use a damp sponge to do it to cut down on dust). I paint the patched areas and let them dry. If I'm going to only do 1 coat on the wall, I'll paint the patches again and let dry first.
Latex is fine.

 

[sengsational]

I installed a Delta single handle kitchen faucet a few years ago. I'm disappointed with it. It is very finicky when trying to adjust it for hot, but not to hot for you hands, I'm quite temp tolerant, but still not much range in the handle. The total handle swing is 2-1/2", the Goldilocks range is only 3/8", making it difficult to get right. Delta sent me new internals as a fix, but it didn't. I bought a new faucet quite a while ago, but, have yet to install it.

Here's a repair I did a while back to address this problem. I didn't know they offered any kind of fix for it, so just did what I knew would work.

 

[stephenson]

Microwave light and fan wouldn’t shut off. Figured out an internal switch was not being engaged when the door closed and that plastic hooks on door were wonky. In a Hail Mary pass I ordered replacement door hook finger thingys and to my surprise, the fix worked!

Yeah - the switches are problematic in a lot of MWs ... sometimes one can simply remove the switches and reinstall them and everything is fine ... ie nothing really wrong, but a tiny, tiny bit out of place ...

 

[stephenson]

Just watched the video of the fellow tearing down appliances ... wow, what a ham fisted guy ... so many of those repetitive motions could be better handled with the right tools. Like: a container for his tools, a two-three smaller electric drivers, plastic bars to pop switches off, magnetic heads on the driver bits, etc ... good business, though!

Lots of little process things to improve flow and efficiency.

 

[freedomatlast]

That was interesting, thanks for posting.

I'm curious about the 'big picture' - I'll check out his other videos later, but I'd like to know how he gets the appliances, does he have to pay to dispose of them, or is the scrap metal price enough to net out disposal costs?

And then, selling on ebay - I'd be a bit leery of buying used/refurbished parts for those $, is it really tested good? And being used, it might break 6 months later, who knows?

He made some comments that sound problematic, a buyer puts the part in, appliance is still broke (because the problem was not with the part he bought), so now the customer wants a refund, or writes a bad review? Or just a shady buyer could return his old bad part, and claim it was the one he was sent, and keep the good one (he mentioned watermarking his parts to counter that).

I dunno, sounds like good money when you see $100 for 2 minutes work, but there's a lot more to it.

-ERD50

I don't buy or accept appliances to part them out, but when I replace one of my appliances, furnaces, A/C systems, etc. either at my house or rental properties, I generally remove the parts that are still functioning properly that any have any value and sell them. I've never had a return. Many times replacement parts on older systems are no longer available, so the buyer is really happy to be able to buy it and put his appliance, furnace or A/C system back into service instead of buying a new one. Also, while most people on this board are probably fairly well off financially, we might underestimate the value to those that aren't as well off, to be able to buy, say for example, a used Honeywell aquastat for $90 vs a new one for $295. Also, many times the older OEM parts were made in the USA many years ago and are of superior quality to those new replacement parts now made in China as cheaply as possible. So there's many facets and reasons why used parts are a favorable option to some people.

While I mentioned I've never had a return, I have had the conversation with people where they say "I bought this part from you and it didn't fix my system" so we discuss what the problem is and how to diagnose a problem and how to determine what part really needs to be replaced. After they fix it they seem eternally grateful for the help and I'm glad I can help someone fix something inexpensively, maybe teach them something, and help someone who may only have enough money to either get his furnace working again or put food on the table for his family.

The other reason I do this is because any time an appliance has failed and I decide not to fix it, I've already torn it down to diagnose the problem, so it takes just a few more minutes to remove the parts I want to keep. The rest gets loaded in the truck and the metal recycler pays a few dollars for the whatever is remaining.

 

[Time2]

Here's a repair I did a while back to address this problem. I didn't know they offered any kind of fix for it, so just did what I knew would work.

Anti-scald doesn't really help me, as sometimes I do want the hottest water
available. The faucet does have a handy internal feature, there is an adjustment inside that will limit the amount of hot water mixed with the cold to set the temperature, but then, that is as high a temperature water as you can get from the faucet.

 

[sengsational]

I do also occasionally want the hottest water, and that's why I hung the temperature adjustment mixing valve where I could give a quick twist to max, on those occasions.

 

[JoeWras]

Speaking of appliances. My recent repair is a dishwasher. It took quite a bit of disassembly, but the fix was satisfying. I bought a new part because the problem was due to worn rubber parts. I'm not going to go used on something like that. (I did get an ebay part for my Subaru years ago which was a great value, however.)

Here's a view of DW's foot through the bottom of the D/W.

 

[Souschef]

Wow, next time I throw out a fridge/stove, I will consider parting it out first. I also wish I had kept a couple of my fridge shelves as the new fridge could use at least 1 extra shelf.

We did exactly that to add an extra shelf in the door.

 

[Time2]

My wife had no cranking situation with our truck, someone tried to jump the truck and it didn't help. I was getting ready to tow her home when she called me and said it started. I could not replicate the problem, but I did notice the engine turned over slower than in should. After cleaning the battery terminals and load testing the battery, and finding nothing wrong, I changed the starter. Now the engine turns over much faster and I'm pretty sure that fixed the problem.

 

[Sunset]

My wife had no cranking situation with our truck, someone tried to jump the truck and it didn't help. I was getting ready to tow her home when she called me and said it started. I could not replicate the problem, but I did notice the engine turned over slower than in should. After cleaning the battery terminals and load testing the battery, and finding nothing wrong, I changed the starter. Now the engine turns over much faster and I'm pretty sure that fixed the problem.

Could have been a faulty solenoid for the starter. Some are right on the starter, but I had an AMC hornet and the solenoid was on the driver fender.
When I couldn't start it, I'd pop the hood and rap the solenoid with a screwdriver handle, then it would start.

 

[Time2]

Could have been a faulty solenoid for the starter. Some are right on the starter, but I had an AMC hornet and the solenoid was on the driver fender.
When I couldn't start it, I'd pop the hood and rap the solenoid with a screwdriver handle, then it would start.

Yes, the solenoid is part of the starter. I have replaced the contacts in the solenoid twice in the last 22 years. Because of the slow rotation of the motor, I chose to replace the whole starter assembly.

 

[euro]

Speaking of appliances. My recent repair is a dishwasher. It took quite a bit of disassembly, but the fix was satisfying. I bought a new part because the problem was due to worn rubber parts. I'm not going to go used on something like that. (I did get an ebay part for my Subaru years ago which was a great value, however.)

Here's a view of DW's foot through the bottom of the D/W.

What exactly was the part you replaced? And what were the symptoms? Just curious - I always learn on ton from these posts. Knowledge that might some day allow me to judge whether it is worth to attempt a repair myself or not. All in all I find this perhaps the most practically useful of all threads.

Nice foot, BTW.

 

[JoeWras]

What exactly was the part you replaced? And what were the symptoms? Just curious - I always learn on ton from these posts. Knowledge that might some day allow me to judge whether it is worth to attempt a repair myself or not. All in all I find this perhaps the most practically useful of all threads.

Nice foot, BTW.

More pics attached.

So this was a Whirlpool. The failure was of an O-ring in the sump. The symptom was water leaking underneath. Because I got a class action letter which described the issue, I pretty much knew it was the diverter motor seal. Even so, I checked that the drain line and water supply line were OK. I then looked to see exactly where the water was leaking from and found it close to the diverter motor. A web search confirmed it as the likely issue. I should also say that various parts sellers out there have excellent diagnostic information, and good videos to show you how to repair. You can see my machine looks intimidating when you look at what is attached to the sump, but really, it is more simple than you'd ever think.

The hole you see in the previous picture with DW's foot is what you see when the sump is taken out. The sump holds all the good stuff (pump, sensors, diverter motor, etc.) The machines are really simple compared to the old days. The motors are light and simple. All the action inside is by hydraulics. Old school dishwashers had motors directly attached to make things spin.

The diverter is a simple disk that causes water to either go through the bottom spray arm, or top spray arm. It slowly spins each cycle. The disk is spun by a small motor with a shaft through the sump. The pump just pumps, and the disk alternates directing the water from top to bottom through a two-headed pipe in the sump that "diverts" water to the top when the disk is in the right place.

So, this spinning shaft through a rubber O-ring eventually wears it out. The O-ring is in a harsh environment of highly active soap and hot water. Pretty much every WP family (other brands too) dishwasher with this design from a certain era will fail this way over time. All for a simple O-ring.

You'd think WP would sell an O-ring to replace the old? Nope. You have to buy the whole sump part. With the exception of the cost difference, it doesn't matter for labor since you'd have to take out the sump anyway. Perhaps that's why they don't provide the part, the labor is the same, and replacing the O-ring could be done wrong. I'm also going to say there's a subtle redesign I can't quite see because a few years ago you were able to get just the O-ring, but WP doesn't provide it anymore. The O-ring looks different. Gonna guess they felt a better chance of repair success replacing the whole sump, and not just the O-ring.

My O-ring was visibly enlarged, and it feels hard and dried out. The new one is softer and seems to have a thicker design.

 

[JoeWras]

As for the practicality of repairing your own appliances... Well, I figure a chance at potentially wasting $110 is worth it.

Appliances are really cheap these days. I've been watching "The Price is Right" from 1983 on Pluto TV, and dishwashers then were $600 to $1000, not much different than today. Actually, almost all the appliances from that era have the same price as today. That's astounding. The problem today is a labor call is going to be a few hundred. Add in a part for a few hundred and people just buy new because the repair is not worth it.

But if you can DYI, it is worth it for a relatively new appliance.

The environmental impact of all the appliances being thrown away after just a few years is stunning.