Appliance Repair Tips
10 DIY tips for appliance maintenance and repair
1. Locating appliance access screws: Many DIY people find trying to
locate access screws difficult. Some access point screws can be so
hard to locate that you can end up taking apart everything but still
not be able to open up the appliance. A good idea would be open up the
manufacturer’s nameplate. Just unscrewing the mounting screws should
be enough to open up the appliance.
2. Getting through a plastic housing: Many appliances available today
do not have screws so opening them up can be a tricky task. Molded
plastic housing type cases can only be opened after a thorough
inspection in order to find their closest seam and then use this to
pry open the appliance with the help of a pry tool.
3. Picking up dropped parts: one of the biggest challenges when
repairing appliances is trying to find tiny parts which inevitably
fall off the table. One good method of finding these parts is to turn
off all excess lighting, close the blinds in order to make the room
dark and then using a flashlight scan the floor using a swinging
action similar to a search light. This is a really effective method
since it will reveal the shadows of the object.
4. Opening up air vents of home appliances: Often times appliances
which are motor powered may begin to malfunction owing to blocked
vents. The obstruction will cause poor circulation of air which in
turn causes overheating. When faced with a situation like this the
best thing you can do is to use a small pipe cleaner to break up the
large chunks of dirt into small ones which can then be pulled out
using a handheld vacuum cleaner.
5. Power supply issues: When appliances such as air conditioners and
heaters fail the faulty culprit can often be the power supply of the
unit. While at first inspection major repairs may be one of your
diagnoses, simply replacing the power supply of the unit in most cases
fixes the problem. This is usually the case with appliances which have
suddenly stopped working.
10 DIY tips for appliance maintenance and repair
6. Keep yourself grounded: static electricity is known to damage
circuits and major components. This is why it is strongly recommended
that you always ground your body prior to working on an appliance.
7. Clean up refrigerator coils: Now depending on your specific model
the coils can either be located behind the kickplate or on the rear of
the appliance. All you’ve got to do here is to clean up all the
particles of dirt using a vacuum cleaner. This should be done every
twelve months.
8. Make sure to discharge an appliance: Appliances which store
electricity such as CRT televisions can store a rather lethal charge.
This is why opening up the device will be dangerous. The best way to
deal with an appliance like this is to unplug it and let it stand for
a few hours or even a day until you’re sure all the electricity has
drained out.
9. You should always clean your dishwasher’s sprayer: The most common
reason why the sprayer could not be working is because it is clogged.
All you need to do is to remove the sprayer and immerse it in warm
water and white vinegar for a few hours. Finally using a common pipe
cleaner you can clean out each and every hole.
10. Fist out last in: It can be difficult to put appliances which have
many small parts together again. However, a rule of thumb is that the
parts you take out first go in last and vice versa.