Tell us what you have fixed or replaced recently (that might be interesting)

I replaced that damned thermal fuse thing in my last dryer at least 3 times…

UGH. Wish I’d known.

3 foot drop test is a valid repair strategy. :D

My washer was leaking (LG front loader, circa 2010 model). I’d opened it up a year ago to do the painstaking operation of replacing the drum due to failed bearings and a spindle that had fused to the back half of the outer drum, so it wasn’t my first rodeo with the LG.

That last repair took $400 in parts and a day to complete. This time around the cause was just a faulty hot water valve. Amazon had the part for $10 and it took 15 minutes to finish. Much easier this time.

My next repair is one of the ball valves connected to the back flow preventer on our sprinkler system. I thought we’d escaped unscathed from the recent freezes in Houston but apparently not. That ball valve traps some water in it so while the back flow valve was ok because I’d drained it the ball valve next to it developed a crack and had a small leak. I have slowed it for the moment to a tiny trickle by using a water weld putty but I still need to fully replace that valve. That’ll be this weekend’s fun.

This kind of thing only worked in the old days of mechanical parts, I thought. Who knew modern tech could be fixed this way as well? Next time my computer goes wonky, I know what I’m going to do. Thanks.

Last time something went wrong with my 20-year-old washer, it was obviously something devastating (pieces of parts lying on the floor beneath it - fortunately, no water leak), so I just replaced the whole washer and dryer set, as the dryer was the same age.

But the time before that, it was the washer that came with my home, so I was unsure of its age. It was leaking out of the bottom, and I couldn’t tell from where, and I could not for the life of me figure out how to get the damn thing apart being as this was before the internet and YouTube, so I called Sears and they sent a guy out. The service call alone was expensive, but they said they’d apply that cost as a credit against a new machine if I bought it from them, which I thought was a clever ploy (and it worked).

But what blew my mind was that this service guy, in front of my eyes, had my washing machine stripped down to its frame in literally a few seconds! It was akin to some kind of magic trick, after I’d just spent an entire hour attempting just to get the first piece off.

Anyway, it turns out the bottom had rusted out, and nothing could be done.

Believe me, if not for the videos I saw on the Internet, I’d have probably not even tried to attempt fixing the washer. But I hate being part of the disposable society. And although the last fix wasn’t cheap, it was cheaper than buying a new mid-range front-loader. If that repair buys me five to seven more years, then I’ll accept that and replace it then.

I was amazed after getting inside the thing. Although it can be daunting to take it apart the first time, the device is actually very simple. There’s no fricking motor. It uses electromagnetism.

You were expecting an internal combustion engine? Electric motors work by electromagnetism…

Duh, it’s a washing machine. It uses a steam engine.

I’d never opened one up before and didn’t really know what to expect, but I thought there’d be some kind of motor. This thing just has an array of magnets on a drum. Pretty interesting but I’m not an appliance expert and it was just new to me, that’s all. I’ll be more careful about posting in the future.

I hope not. Post away. The content for this site are the posts, and more content is better, as a general rule.

I mean, don’t be as dumb as me or Armando, but otherwise do your thing.

In this case I think a few of us just did a double take because what you described is a motor. But you are on to something. Using the drum itself as the motor “shaft” instead of having a separate motor and a belt is pretty cool. As I thought about it, I realized that these “direct drive” washing machines must mean exactly what you’re describing and found this video:

I actually find it fascinating and I’m glad you brought it up.

I’ll be more careful to make jokes more obviously jokes in the future. It is, in fact, cool that they made the whole drum into the motor.

Yes guys that’s exactly what surprised me. I wasn’t expecting an ICE device in there but thought there would be a more discrete electrical motor. That’s also what I meant by being more careful in posting; I could have explained that part better. I thought it ingenious they essentially said “we’re not adding a motor, the washer IS the motor.”

Yeah, this was news to me as well, and I was going to ask you about that. All of my washing machines (including my new one) use traditional electric motors. What you’ve described is very cool indeed. I’m wondering what the advantages are to the new method over the old motor method, as I’ve personally never had a problem with the traditional electric motors in my machines. Maybe the new method is quieter, and/or have less parts, run smoother because of no belts to jerk around? I’ll have to watch that video @arrendek posted. I certainly like the idea of it. Could an electric car possibly use this same method, for instance?

This could be an exception, but the default answer to ‘why is something changed to this new way’ in consumer products is ‘because it is cheaper’.

Not really fixed, per se, but I just had an HVAC system put in today and decided to add-on this guy. I love it.

Right in my feelings, bb :(

Is that informing you your house is on fire? D:

Yeah. And his sprinkler reserve is down to 36%. Hope that’s enough to put out the fire.

You know I love you

And the microphone is off, so don’t bother trying to yell “Fire”.

Cool. That thermostat looks a bit to complicated for me, but very nice. What brand HVAC did you go with?