Hope you all had a great holiday! I’m happy to be blogging again after the dishwasher disaster.

Right before thanksgiving, my 3 year old dishwasher took a dump on me. Kaput. It gave me a few days worth of half ass cycles and drains in it’s death throes then bit the big one. I was desperate so I kept going downstairs to trip that breaker ~ which sort of worked for a while. Mind you, it wasn’t dead enough to stop blinking it’s little green ‘normal’ cycle light mockingly at me, but dead enough that the keypad wasn’t functional and it wouldn’t do shit.

Those of you who live without dishwashers should be laughing your asses off at me right now. I was a wreck. miserable. My hands were dry & splitting despite gloves and lotion (i hate both). The underside of my counter is flaking and my sticky floor tiles are starting to pop from the moisture. On the other hand, my counter and floor have never been cleaner. I have never lived in a house without a dishwasher. With the exception of times when the ones we owned were down, I rarely had to do dishes by hand. SPOILED ROTTEN.

We even bought our rowhome with dishwasher and air conditioning  over another possible candidate – a single family home without. We really did not want a rowhome, but I guess we value amenities more than being stuck (only on one side though) to somebody else.

Anyway, I figured this whole experience would make a good post on my approach to basic appliance diagnosis and repair. This is one of my tools and I should know how to maintain and repair it within reason. I wouldn’t expect to do a really complicated repair, but easy stuff like cleaning filters should be withing my scope of understanding.

So far there haven’t been any problems we couldn’t fix on our own, except when the washer started leaking while I was 7 mo pregnant. I was not about to squeeze my fat ass behind that thing. Turns out the hoses weren’t tight enough and it cost us 112 bucks for the repair guy to tell me that. ouch!

I have had to pull this dishwasher apart before to clean the filter of a toothpick and other assorted gunk (eeewww) so I wasn’t too intimidated by having to do it to diagnose the problem. The keypad is dead, so that means, at the very least, a new keypad. Duh. I figured we’d replace that part first and then see if it worked. This is usually the first part to fail just because of the nature of the part and where it is located. Water and electronics don’t get along and eventually water wins.

So we replaced the keypad and cleaned the circuit boards with swabs and alcohol and she is back up and running! We only had to remove a few screws and the ribbon cable just needed to be plugged into the new board. Anybody could do it with the right tools and the right frame of mind. Seriously, it was really easy. You can sometimes even find service manuals like the ones the repair guys use which makes the jobs even easier. JUST REMEMBER TO TURN THE POWER OFF AT THE BREAKER BEFORE TINKERING WITH YOUR APPLIANCES! DON’T BLAME ME IF YOU GET DEAD BY CRACKING OPEN A LIVE APPLIANCE. DON’T FUCK WITH ELECTRICITY!

The one sorta specialty tool that you will need for basic appliance repair is a set of torx screwdrivers. Ya know, the star shaped ones. Totally worth the investment if you don’t already have a set. Hell of a lot cheaper than a service call.

Here’s a few websites with info on appliance repair. Sometimes just googling your product model number and the symptom (or the error code if it displays one) can bring you a whole bunch of info.  I’ve diagnosed clogged filters in my washing machine and my dishwasher this way. Found some icky cloth wipes, a baby sock and a toothpick but saved a bunch of money. Sometimes you’ll even find you have a very common problem with an easy fix.

fixitnow is my favorite. It doesn’t always have what I need, but I usually start here to absorb some of the Appliance Samurai’s knowledge about the particular appliance that is giving me a hard time. The first step of diagnosis, grasshopper, is understanding the patient.

applianceguru is the forum for the Appliance Samurai

This guy’s motto is “If  I can’t help you fix your appliance and make you 100% satisfied, I will come to your home and slice open my belly spilling my steaming entrails onto your floor” Gotta love that. All he wants is for you to donate to his beer fund.

fixya is the most comprehensive and well organized, but with none of the bizarre charm of the Appliance Guru.

repairclinic offers exploded views and you can order parts from them. The prices are competitive, but there are plenty of local parts warehouses you can go to.

We usually end up at Landers Appliance. They are close to home, have decent prices and the staff is helpful.

I usually attempt to diagnose and fix these things myself. I’m not very mechanically inclined, and I didn’t used to know a lot about appliances, but out of necessity, I’ve learned. Once you have a basic understanding, it’s really not hard or even intimidating anymore. You owe it to your budget to at least give it a shot. Who cares if you end up calling someone out? At least you tried! That’s what it’s all about!

Now go figure out what is wrong with that washer/dryer/fridge/dishwasher/oven/freezer/furnace/air conditioner condensate pump/ (fixed that one this summer!)/whathaveyou/thromdimbulator AND FIX IT! YOU CAN DO IT!

SHINE ON!