Uncle Harry's Appliance Repair Blog

Replacing An Oven Door Glass

uncleharry — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:50:59 +0000

Replacing a broken oven door glass seems like a hard job but it is a simple step by step process best done on a dining room table. It’s a simple matter of taking out all the screws until the thing falls apart. I lay out all the pieces in the order they come apart until I get down to the broken pieces, put in the new glass and gradually layer all the parts back in place.

Often the only tricky part is getting the door off the oven. On this Whirlpool a pin (screwdriver or screw) must be inserted into each hinge to allow removal of the door. The pin absorbs the spring tension that closes the door and lets you lift it off.

Ice Dispenser Repair

uncleharry — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 20:32:12 +0000

One of my students complained that I didn’t have any information on ice and water dispensers.>> True and that was for two reasons; one they are pretty simple and we don’t get many repairs on them. Sometimes students get stuck getting the cover off. Most are held by tabs on the bottom. >> A small screwdriver can easily pop off the bottom of the cover.

As luck would have it we had a little flurry of those calls and I took a few pictures. Usually the problems are one of the following:

Broken pieces in the cup cradle or ice chute >>
Bad micro switches
Bad mini-circuit board in the controls.
This one had a broken cradle pivot >> which is part of the entire cavity and not sold because it is molded in place. I homemade a repair by screwing a piece of aluminum wire to the mold and wrapping it around the cradle shaft.>> Seemed a waste to let a $220.00 repair go by because I couldn’t get the part. All worked out OK.

New Pictures on Flickr

uncleharry — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 21:32:33 +0000

What fun to simply add photos for all my students to see what happens on an ordinary day.
Diagnosing a warm refrigerator where the compressor start device turned into a pepper shaker. Just shake it and look what happens. An easy repair for $200+.
My son Reid tapping on a Whirlpool motor coupling.
Channing in Vail, CO
A busted Maytag Neptune bearing. What a racket!

Appliance Repair – An Invisible Profitable Niche

uncleharry — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 21:11:29 +0000

I went to the US Labor statistics site and found some amazing information. There are over 10 times as many electricians and HVAC as appliance repairmen. Its no wonder we do so well. Nobody knows we exist. No one bothers to regulate us.
Appliance repairmen 49,000
Electricians 700,000
HVAC 400,000
Of course it takes three or four years of formal training and apprenticeship to get a job in either of those fields and make about what an appliance tech makes. All three top out at about $25-30 per hour. The big secret is that we as appliance techs don’t have to suffer thru all the training and can still make the same amount of money and easily open our own shop. Ck out the links to the articles for more info.

Would You Recommend Uncle Harry’s Program?

uncleharry — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:03:20 +0000

Brian from Hawaii left this voice mail:
Brian’s Message

Two others answer the question.
Channing in CO,
Scott Molandas, a good ole southern boy.

Nephew Club on Facebook!

uncleharry — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:49:32 +0000

An open forum for all potential appliance repair business owners has been added to Facebook. All are invited to participate.

Nephew Club on Facebook

New Grand Children

uncleharry — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:38:54 +0000

I am now the proud grandfather of twins and off to New York to cook and clean. Phone still works for student help and service calls at home are being run by my most capable son, Reid.

Website Update

uncleharry — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:50:02 +0000

We have created a new website at http:// www.rakerappliancerepair.com (which is the same as www.uncleharry.com) as of October, 2008.
The new website incorporates our new Appliance Library section which provides sample videos and links to allow almost 200 appliance repair videos to be purchased individually. You can still purchase the Masters Program (which includes printed manuals), and individual manuals (as Adobe .PDF documents) from our Catalog Page. The Nephew Club and its online discussion forum can be accessed from the menu bar at the top of each page. Good Luck and see you soon.

Part Needed for Sears Coldspot Refrigerator

bdean — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 03:29:13 +0000

My mother owns a very old Sears Coldspot refrigerator, (possibly bought 40 years ago) model number 106 6666 510. She just had it repaired and it works fine. However, the magnetic rubber insulation tube that goes around the door and seals the space between the door and the refrigerator is brittle and no longer makes a good seal. Any suggestions how we can get this part or come up with another solution?

Thanks,

Howard Dolgin