12 Helpful Tips to Repair Home Appliances on Your Own
When you depend on your home appliances, your life is disrupted when one or more of them fail. Whenever you experience such a situation, you always think how great it would have been if you knew about repairing the broken appliance. Well, the option of calling in a professional is always the best; but knowing some basics may be helpful to avoid panic and stress. Here are a few of them.
1. Pay Attention to Safety
While repairing most of the appliances, you have to deal with electricity. Hence it’s always make provisions of your safety. Wear proper safety gear and if you are going to repair or replace any part or do some other work on the appliance, make sure that it is unplugged.
2. Start with Common Sense
Before calling in a professional like an appliance repair Los Angeles service, you can find what the problem is simply by using common sense. But when an appliance breaks down, you are so stressed up that you can’t see the most obvious things as there may be a simple solution to the problem. E.g. you can check if the appliance is properly plugged in and receiving power in the first place. It might also happen that you have turned it on but the button may have not been turned properly. Some appliance may even not start if you place them on an uneven surface! Or sometimes they just don’t start because they are overheated or their filters have become clogged, that’s it. Thus, before you think that there is something serious, check if there’s a minor problem and that can relieve your stress.
3. Check for How Long You’re Using it
As a rule of thumb, if you are using an appliance for more than half of its lifespan, it’s better to replace it rather than repairing it because the cost of repair is more than 50% of that of purchasing a new appliance. You can know the lifespan of the appliance from its user manual or the company’s website.
4. Pay Attention to Any Sounds
The above mentioned tip of using common sense also applies to listening to your appliance for checking if it’s producing any sound. If it is, it may have a part moving due to wear or malfunction. When an appliance stops working, pay attention to these sounds and any moving parts. Usually these are fans and motors and you have to ensure they are working properly. Noise is a definite sign that a moving part like fan or motor is failing. Keep in mind that fans and their belts are comparatively easy to replace, whereas motors are more difficult and costly to repair or replace.
5. Know about the Refrigerant Cycle
Several appliances contain refrigerants. Examples are refrigerators, air conditioners and heat pumps. Hence it’s essential for you to know about the refrigerant cycle, its functioning and malfunctioning. Learn about the path refrigerant takes and how the condenser, compressor and evaporator work together. This will help you in finding the problem and repairing the appliances more easily. This will also help you understand what type of maintenance your refrigerator will need and if it has a refrigerant leak or something similar.
6. Call Magic Repair
MagicRepair.net is a specialist in appliance repair, washer repair, dryer repair, oven repair and refrigerator repair in Los Angeles, CA. They have a professional team of highly trained and experienced technicians that are expert in repairing almost any household appliance. Thus if you see that any of your appliance has a serious problem, you can call someone like Magic Repair.
7. Invest in a Multimeter
If the wiring of the appliance has a problem, you need a good tool to test it and a good multimeter is that tool. It enables you to measure voltage and other crucial signals that will indicate which electrical components or wires are not functioning. Don’t forget to take due safety precautions.
8. Check Ignition Processes
Gas-powered appliances rely on an ignition process to start working. Some appliances have electric starters and some others have pilot lights. But in any way, it’s a common source of problem in appliances that are highly durable otherwise. So, check your ignition process and ensure the pilot light is on, there is a proper alignment of starters and soot has not blocked anything.
9. Find out the Position of Hoses
Many appliances like washing machines, dishwashers etc. rely on hoses to move water around. If there is a kink or leak, you have to check these hoses and the valves around them to find the part that has to be replaced and re-sealed. Hoses are prone to wear out more quickly than other parts. Hence pay keen attention to their condition while maintaining and repairing your appliances.
10. Change Gaskets and Seals
Appliances like refrigerator doors, washing machine doors and oven have gaskets and seals on doors and other parts that are not seen. Regularly check these seals and gaskets for any cracks or other damage and change them if required.
11. Find Error Codes
Courtesy to the internet, you can more easily find error codes than before. Also, these days more and more appliances have them, such as ovens and microwaves, and also dishwashers and washing machines. Upon seeing an appliance error code popping up, check carefully what it shows and decide if you can solve the issue yourself or have to call a pro like appliance repair Los Angeles.
12. Get a Full Toolkit
If you decide to repair appliances on your own, you’ll need the right tools. Without proper tools it will be difficult for you to repair the appliance. Even worse would be the condition when the appliance will have an additional problem. There are excellent tool sets available on the market at affordable prices. Also you can go on making additions as per the requirement from time to time and make your tool set more updated.
Knowing these basics will help you have your appliance repaired and working again, so that your daily routine can run smoothly and you can have a great peace of mind.
