TECH TALK Appliance Repair 101: It's about the parts. Byline: STEVEN ROSENBERG Fixing computers is pretty easy, especially if you've got lots of spare parts. The same is true for cars and trucks - if - they were made in the 1980s or earlier.
What you may not know is that major appliances - everything from clothes washers and dryers to stoves, dishwashers and refrigerators - are pretty simple and often easily fixed by anyone with a few tools and a little time on their hands.
I did my first major-appliance repair - replacing a broken belt on my 20-year-old Maytag dishwasher - with the help of the sadly out-of-print "All Thumbs Guide to Repairing Major Home Appliances," by Robert W. Wood, as well as the guys at Authorized Appliance Parts and Service in Reseda, who have consistently helped me get the right parts and given me tips on how to install them.
It's a very lucky thing that my treasured "All Thumbs" guide is readily available used through Amazon.com and Alibris.com for less than $3 (plus the inevitable cost of shipping).
And I've recently discovered a number of Web sites that can help you both diagnose what's wrong with your appliance, figure out what parts are inside it, and purchase those parts online.
PartSelect (www.partselect.com) has diagrams and parts list for just about every appliance out there, as well as a repair guide and hints from folks who have done the repairs before.
At www.AcmeHowTo.com, I found even more detailed repair guides, including one that just might help me fix my ailing Maytag gas clothes dryer, which starts heating up but then cools all too quickly. According to the site, I need to check the dryer's coils, which function as solenoid - electronic parts that produce a magnetic field when electricity is run through them. The first thing I'm going to do once I remove the sides of the dryer is test these coils with my digital multimeter to see if they're good.
Midwest Appliance Parts (www.midwestapplianceparts.com) offers much helpful info along with what looks like great prices on dryer coils and other parts.
If the coils turn out to be bad, I'm out maybe $20 to $40 to replace them. I'll also be checking the dryer's two thermostats. If ALL of those parts Fridge Repairs in Johannesburg test "good," then I'll call in a professional, but hopefully by early next week I'll have a working dryer and won't pay hundreds of dollars to make it happen.
And I don't want to mess with my record: I've fixed the dishwasher two additional times (loose door, worn-out faucet-coupler),
the clothes washer once (dying timer: one of the more expensive repairs you can do), and replaced my own gas water heater (don't ask).
If you want to get in touch with Authorized Appliance, call 818-342-2055, or stop by the shop at 18450 Vanowen St., Reseda.