Overview

What do I mean when I say “utilizing resources”?

If you’re anything like me, you have little interest in the documents that customers’ can easily get their hands on. You want the technical stuff – the wire diagrams, the service manuals, the tech sheets. While this is our bread and butter when it comes to repairing appliances, I feel that we often overlook the basics.

At the start of your career, it’s easy to fall into the mindset that something needs to be replaced; if the customer calls you, something is wrong with the unit. I have taken countless calls where everything tests good and the issue boils down to user error. These calls can often be the hardest because we’re telling the customer that they’re not using the appliance right. They’ll sometimes huff and puff, or they’ll express disappointment in that brand for making this appliance different from the last one they had.

In order for us to approach an appliance repair with the right mindset, first and foremost, we need to be knowledgeable on the appliances we’re inspecting. When we lack the proper knowledge, we are in essence depriving the customer of their resources (their time and money) without giving them a valuable return. When you go to a restaurant and spend $40 on a plate of food, there is the general expectation that you’re going to get what you paid for. Not always the case, but if you leave that restaurant feeling like you didn’t get your money’s worth, are you going back? … The same holds true with appliance repair.

Scenario

Scenario: Customer’s complaint is that their washer is not filling enough water into the machine. It barely goes over the top of their clothes.

Approach 1: Approaching with the technical mindset, we zero in on the inlet valve. We test it and it tests in spec and gives a solid water flow into the unit. Since it tests good and the customer’s complaint is that there is not enough water, we decide that the control board is bad, so replace it and the water valve. The customer stands there and watches as you run it through a test cycle, and guess what? It’s doing the exact same thing as before. Now you’re standing there knowing the customer previously agreed to the $500 repair, but since it’s doing the same thing, they’re not going to pay you a penny. And you can’t return the control board because you already plugged it in.

Approach 2: We remember to ask some clarifying questions, such as, “How long has this been an issue?” The customer tells you it’s a day-one complaint; it has never filled enough. You ask them what model they previously had, and they tell you. You look it up and see that it has an agitator. You also notice that the new unit they just got has an agitator plate, not an agitator. You then ask the customer how do they know it does not fill enough? They tell you that their new unit has a see-through top and they see the water level just above the clothes. Their last unit did not have a see-through top. You then ask them how their clothes come out after the wash, and they say it washes fine, they just don’t think it’s putting enough water in.

Debrief: As we can see, in approach one, we go down a Parts Changing rabbit hole, replacing parts until the customer is satisfied. (News flash, they will never be satisfied because the unit is working as designed and no matter how many control boards you throw at it, it will always fill the same amount.)

Now, in approach 2, we ask some clarifying questions and determine that the customer got a new unit, they can see inside (because of that really sleek glass top), and are under the impression that it should be filling more. Us being professional technicians, we can deduce that this is how a top load washer with no agitator will operate, but the customer does not know this. And we cannot expect them to take our word for it, so what do we do? We pull up the Owner’s Manual where it details that this is how the unit is supposed to work. We can ask them if they have any complaints of overall wash performance, or if their concerns are perception based given what they are looking at.

And the same thing applies to the Installation Manual. I have been on calls and have dealt with customers who have ridiculous drain line routing or obscene dryer vent run lengths and their complaints start the day they thought their installation was genius. Some will refuse to take your word that a 75 foot dryer vent run length with five 90 degree bends could be causing the dryer to take forever to dry. But why take my word for it? I pull up the Install Guide and show them where the manufacturer says the max length is XX feet….

With that given scenario, I aim to clue you in to the variety of useful information that we need to use and understand to perform our jobs to the best of our ability. Throughout this training, I will present you with lots of scenarios that are derived from my experiences in this field in the hopes that you will exit this program with a comprehensive understanding of fixing appliances and fixing customers. Some repairs do not even require you to pull out your tools.

In this training, we’re going to go over some basics, but essentials. And the thing to remember is that there will be times where no tech document will tell us what we’re looking for. While service manuals outline a majority of the common issues we’ll come across, it’s impossible and impractical for them to outline everything.

Example: I spoke with a tech recently and he was on a service call where the oven hot surface indicator light remained on. He was complaining that the tech sheet and service manual made no mention of this and he didn’t know what to do. I sympathized with him but at the same time was pulling my hair out because this is such a simple issue to zero in on if you apply yourself. In under one minute, we figured out what the problem was, and it was not because I knew some industry secret that he didn’t. It was because I looked at the wiring diagram and saw how the hot surface indicator light got its voltage. It was as simple as that.

I say this because I don’t want you to be the person who relies on a service manual or a tech sheet to tell you what to do, and be completely lost if there is no guidance. Since you are taking the time to do this course, I have great confidence that you have no intentions of being that guy.

Owner’s Manuals & Use and Care Guides

Owner’s manuals outline the basics to using the appliance in a way that will promote peak performance. I would say 99% of customers don’t read this because they feel they already know how to use an appliance, and that’s fine. 95% of the time when you get called out to a repair, it’s going to be something other than user error. But for that 5% that you do get one of these instances, it’s imperative that you know where to find the information you’re looking for. This will help you in the long run as you won’t be replacing unnecessary parts just to find out that the unit was working as designed and the customer didn’t know because they were comparing it to their previous unit.

• In Owner’s Manuals and Use and Care Guides, you’ll often find the process to enter and exit Showroom or Demo mode (I’ve spent countless hours searching tech sheets and service manuals before finding this out.)
• I have dealt with complaints that ice makers are not producing enough ice. In 24 hours, there’s only half a bucket. Well, guess what? The Owner’s Manual says it can take 2-3 days to fill the bucket. Doesn’t matter what your last fridge did, or what your friend’s fridge does, this fridge takes as long as the Owner’s Manual says it does.
• Appliance-dependent, you will find details on what cycles do what, proper loading, recommended detergent and usage amounts, and how to properly care for the unit. This is important “proof” for when the customer says their last unit could do this, so why can’t this unit do it? It is also important when the customer says one setting causes issues, but the other settings don’t.

Installation Instructions

As the name suggests, this document covers the appliance’s installation requirements. These guides often contain overlooked details, so it’s worth familiarizing yourself with their contents to know where to look when questions arise. I can’t count the number of times I’ve searched through a tech sheet or service manual, only to find the answer hidden in the installation guide.

YouTube

When you’re starting out in appliance repair, you won’t know everything right away—that’s completely normal. You’re still learning. So, when you come across a situation where you’re unsure how a component works or how to access something easily, it’s perfectly fine to do some research before you arrive at the job.

YouTube is an excellent resource with videos covering just about everything you might need. However, the problem is that there’s also a lot of irrelevant or misleading information out there. As a professional appliance repair technician, it’s your responsibility to filter through the noise and determine what’s actually useful for diagnosing and fixing the issue at hand.

Many DIY customers rely on YouTube to attempt their own repairs, and there’s nothing wrong with that—who doesn’t want to save money? The issue arises when videos claim, “If this is your symptom, then this is the fix,” without demonstrating any diagnostic steps to confirm the problem.

As professionals, we have a duty to arrive at service calls prepared. There have been plenty of times when I’ve worked on appliances I’d never seen before. In those cases, I did my research beforehand by watching YouTube videos and forming a game plan. For example, I once had a service call for a dishwasher with a fill-related error code. In my research, I found that the inlet assembly on that particular model often gets clogged. I took note of that but didn’t stop there—I watched about 10 other videos to get a broader understanding. When I arrived, I verified the complaint, checked the inlet assembly, and sure enough, it was clogged. After cleaning it out, the issue was resolved.

Here’s what I really want to emphasize: It’s okay to watch YouTube videos before you arrive at a job. I still do it to this day. I’m leveraging other people’s time and experience to better prepare myself. In today’s appliance industry, you’ll encounter a wide variety of issues, and it’s impossible to know everything. Different brands have unique quirks, and some models develop problems that others don’t.

What you don’t want to do is stand in front of the appliance watching YouTube videos while on the service call. Do your homework ahead of time. That preparation will set you apart as a professional.