406's Repair Thread

Hey everyone,

Hope you’re all doing well and keeping busy. I decided it was time to start posting about my repair endeavors. I mainly have stuck to doing electronics recycling and small kitchen appliance repair (microwaves and such). However, I have expanded into doing major appliances for recycling/repair. Why would I do that? Money, time, and accessibility. Montana is a large state with cities being super spread out. Our closest major city is 150 miles one way. That means that sourcing electronics far away is an expensive challenge. I’m not getting out of ewaste, but I’ve wanted to play, I mean repair, appliances for several years, but just didn’t have the time. Well, you make time for what’s important to you and increasing my income is becoming important.

We broke ground on building a house last June and have had things become more expensive than expected with increased delays too. We spent the bulk of last year trying to get someone to do our concrete (something that was very difficult because of how far out of town we are). To make a long story shorter, we found a company 2 weeks ago and am going full steam ahead on concrete/other projects. Additionally, we are trying to do this project without loans so a buffer of cash is essential.

Now on to what this thread is going to be about:

I get a lot of broken things in for recycling. Many of which are beyond repair. However, a solid 25% of what comes in can be repaired and sold for money. This thread will focus on what repairs I do each week. Some weeks it will be microwaves, other weeks it will be TV’s. You never know what’s going to come in for recycling/repair!

Looking forward to your challenges and adventures.

I recently picked up a nice frost free fridge a neighbour had put out to the curb, needs a new control board several hundred to replace but can be repaired for around $20.00 with 30 minutes soldering time.

Capacitors have about a 10 year life span when one fails the whole board no longer functions. Caps gone bad are easily recognized by bulge the top of the canister but this is not always the case. Check the board for hot spots and burnt areas.

For more specific information on the board your attempting to repair check out Youtube.

This week has been one for finishing up a bunch of random repair projects on the warehouse. I'm working through 4 fridges, 1 restaurant mini fridge, a wine cooler, and a mountain of TV's. Below is a breakdown of issues:

I've been delving into doing french door fridges lately as the appliance shop that I work with absolutely refuse to learn how to fix them. Understandable when you're getting in 25+ appliances per day as a one man operation. What I've learned over the past month on these french door fridges:

-LG linear compressors are crap and fail very quickly.
-These fridges have a tiny amount of refrigerant compared to the older fridges.
-There a butt ton and a half of flat surfaces in french door fridges that have to be cleaned.

Now onto the repair details!

1. Kitchenaid french door refrigerator (new pricetag of $4,400): compressor will not turn on. I ordered a replacement compressor controller board so we'll see if that fixes it.

2. GE french door refrigerator (new pricetag of $3,200): freezer fan not working. I ordered a replacement fan so we'll see if that fixes it.

3. Kitchenaid double door fridge (older unit, but stainless): runs great for 3 days then quits working unless you unplug it plug it back in. I ordered a new defrost control board.

4. LG french door fridge (new pricetag of $1,500): units cools! (which for an LG linear compressor unit is a major plus), fans do not run. It for sure is a faulty main board, but it has been replaced once before and I want to get this board issue figured out because I've had numerous LG units with the same issue.

5. Off brand restaurant mini fridge: Unit compressor is not kicking on. I pulled the board out and replaced a puffed capacitor. Unfortunately, that was only part of the issue. I'm tracking down another part on it and will hopefully have it fixed over the weekend.

6. Mini wine cooler: transformer is making a lot of noise and the entire unit is not running. I'm actively tracking down the issue on the board.


When I first started doing appliances I thought fridges were going to be a super complicated thing to work on. Fast forward a few months and the older ones are super basic. The newer ones are challenging, but doable which is interesting. Hopefully when parts come in I can get a few units out the door because they take up a lot of floor space!

Newer fridges, led lighting, 12 volt fan motor on the evaporator, electronic thermostat, these items should be easy to diagnose with a decent OHM meter, as for a compressor that runs intermittent this could be a faulty thermo safety disk which is internally attached to the motor winding's.

A decent clamp on amp meter will let you know how any amps the compressor is drawing on start up, check your findings against the manufactures data sheet, if the compressor uses a start capacitor I would check it's values.

Older fridges had a start relay attached to the compressor prongs, how the relay worked the copper coil was topside, inside a metal plunger when the compressor tried to start power initially went to both start and run winding's, the copper coil in the relay became energized lifting the metal plunger thus disconnecting the run winding from the circuit.

From older fridges that had external high side coils attached to the rear, save them. Once you understand the chest freezer you'll understand why.

The chest freezer looking inside you can see lines of frost forming on the inner walls, this is the low side, now slowly run the palm of your hand down the outside front of the freezer you will find warm spots, this is the high side ( condenser ) where the gas has been returned to a liquid.

The condenser lines are also located topside of the flooring, when people defrost the freezer, that frost you seen on the inside walls also forms on the backside where you can not see it and what happens if the defrost water settles unnoticed to the bottom where it rots out the steel condenser lines a pin hole is all it take to leak out the freon.

What I've done in the past is to eliminate the leaking high side, attach the external condenser previously salvaged from an older fridge to the rear of the freezer, don't worry about drilling into any lines when affixing the external condenser because we're excluding the old leaking internal condenser from the system.

Compressor lines, the smaller one is your high side.

How to check if your curbside fridge is worth the cost, time and effort, plug it in put an ear onto the cabinet near the freezer compartment, you will hear a spiting sound this will be the freon as its leaving the capillary tube as a liquid fast becoming a gas.

Check were the previous owner last left the thermostat setting, if its at max that's a good indication the defrost timer is faulty, when the timer goes south the evaporator gets choked with ice and the air can no longer flow through the fins.

As the defrost timer goes into its defrost cycle there's a heater embedded into the evaporator coil to assist, these heaters are known to burn out and sometimes when they do they'll arc and burn a hole into the evaporator letting out the freon.

Another thing to look for, water from the defrost cycle goes down a plastic tube,, sometimes a bag of peas or corn will spill inside the freezer some of which finds its way into the drain this blocking it, also check for mold inside the drain tube, spoonful of bleach will kill the mold, another thing to look for make sure the drain tube underneath the fridge is correctly positioned into the drain pan where the water is heated from the compressor to be evaporated adding humidity into the house.

Most of the dryers I've worked on either had a heating element burnt out, yea fabric softeners are mostly to blame, broken drum belt, worn glides located front of the drum, once the glides are worn the drum makes noise, metal grinds away leaving the whites discoloured.

Replacing the heating element, I purchase only the coil, run a string through the insulators, place and end of the new coil in the vise along with an end of the string, now pull the other end of the coil until its the same length as the string. This method is the most economical repair to replace the heating coil.

While the dryer is dismantled I'll check the door felt and glides if the dryer has drum rollers at the rear check and replace as needed.

Lint from the dryer will find its way into the lower cabinet this lint will wick the oil from the motor bushings used as bearings, they're cheap for the manufacture to use but the eventual departure of lubricant makes for hard motor starts. dryer motor will refuse to start when the overload protector will not allow the motor to run.

After removing the lint I'll re-lube the bushings giving the motor an extended life.

https://i.postimg.cc/sXnL9LF6/bush.png

With the washing machine brands listed below, common failure is the rag joint used to couple the motor to transmission.

https://i.postimg.cc/D06wgnfV/rag.png

Update of the week:

Over the weekend I posted on one of the local facebook groups that I was interesting in picking up appliances to tinker with. I was figuring I'd get 2-3 appliances. Well...the post blew up and now I have about 60 appliances that people want picked up! I'm a lot less stressed about this volume now that I have a rolloff to work with. I know some will be good and some will be bad. Hopefully the good ones outweigh the bad ones. I'm going to do the pickups for a week or two and see what comes in. Hopefully I have some luck with good ones.

The results so far:

1x french door samsung fridge (planning to repair if possible)
1x older side by side fridge (planning to repair if possible)
1x black side by side fridge (busted door seal so just scrap)
1x black side by side fridge (planning to repair if possible)
1x washing machine (scrap)
1x glasstop oven (not worth repair, but good parts value)

Why did I post that I want MORE appliances you may ask? The biggest challenge with appliance repair is getting units in that have no stated symptoms (because it's changed hands multiple times from the installer, to the used appliance store, to me). By picking up directly from the customer, I get a detailed statement of exactly what they've been seeing issue wise. This helps me track down the problem a lot faster.

The other big reason for picking appliances up: When you have to pay a flat rate on each appliance picked up from the used appliance shop, It's a lot more frustrating when you can't get a unit working and have to junk it. With free appliances, I don't feel as much pressure to get them sold. If I get overwhelmed, I can just toss them into the rolloff and still make money (not as much, but still a positive profit)

In other news, parts FINALLY arrived for 3 fridges. Parts for a fourth will be in today. I'm going to start getting some of the french door units fixed today so they can start burning in. I will post an update on the 4 fridges tonight when I get parts into them!

This thread is very informative, I now know how to obtain used appliances.

When ever I sold a used appliance would give the buyer some trade in value towards the purchase made from me. I was never short on inventory.

Thought this thread was going to be on how to diagnose and repair, instead tuned out as click bait.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 406Refining

3. Kitchenaid double door fridge (older unit, but stainless): runs great for 3 days then quits working unless you unplug it plug it back in. I ordered a new defrost control board.

---

Possibly a hard start compressor, have you tested the compressors internal insulation for leakage.

https://youtu.be/94XnAalS_Sk

My Maytag curbside, easy $500.00.

Needed a defrost timer.

The door is convertible, can be changed to open from opposite side, no charge to customer.

https://i.postimg.cc/Y0vsCjjD/timer1.png

https://i.postimg.cc/Jh4VWr3v/timer2.png

Thank you 406 for this thread. It is nice to see a legit thread, an educational resource, and an example of what the forum should be about. Thank you Alloy 2 for your interest and additions to the thread. Time for the rest of us to step up to the plate.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Patriot76

Thank you 406 for this thread. It is nice to see a legit thread, an educational resource, and an example of what the forum should be about. Thank you Alloy 2 for your interest and additions to the thread. Time for the rest of us to step up to the plate.

---

I quit the appliance trade when the big stores were offering credit with no payments for 12 months, twenty some odd years later I believe there's a market for used appliances.

The mechanics have changed, most washing machines now use three phase motors controlled by an onboard inverter which controls motor rotation and speed. Three phase motors do not have start winding's nor any capacitors. Direct drive eliminates the need of a transmission.

Most issues would be with the electronics on the controller board.

Front load washing machines have an issue with the spider being eroded by electrolysis, not wroth the cost to repair but those smart drive motors have a following - people purchase them to convert into wind generators.

https://youtu.be/iNOHuoXaRU4

Well...It's been a busy week! I started making headway on my 60 appliances needing to be picked up from my facebook post. Fortunately, (or unfortunately) about 15 were out of my pickup area so that dropped the total down to 45. I picked up about 15 last week. Interesting results so far.

Fridges:

The good rule of thumb on fridges is that when plugged in, the freezer should be blowing air in the freezer section. 2x of the fridges were not. I popped one open and the evaporator fan (the fan in the freezer section) was completely seized up. The second one had a busted wire on the coil. What I've found is that if a blower motor fails a continuity, the little copper wires for the motor coil might be broken. A simple soldering of them again fixed the issue.


This brings me to the other 3 fridges, and 1 oven:

1. GE side by side fridge. Symptoms: freezer getting slightly cold, but not cold enough.

I popped the freezer panel off and noticed that only the copper tube coming into the freezer was frosted with the coils not getting cold. I am running it right now, but it's looking to be a low refrigerant situation. The thing about low refrigerant situations is that it leaked out from somewhere. That being said, adding more to the system only pushes the problem off a few years. Usually on units like this, I just part them out and move on as I don't have nitrogen setup for finding leaks yet.

2. GE side by side fridge. Symptoms: The front control panel is dead, the compressor is not turning on, but the lights inside turn on.

This one was interesting. On these older GE units there's a red and black wire coming out of the upper left hand connector (usually position 2 and 3 from the left). When probing, there should be 12ish volts. This one was resetting the voltage every second (leading me to believe that something is getting over-voltaged). Needless to say, it's definitely got a bad component on the board. The challenge is that it takes time to track down issues on circuit boards, time that also requires space (something that I don't have at the moment lol). I ordered a replacement board and will get it thrown in shortly.

3. 1990's white whirlpool fridge. Symptoms: freezer not getting as cold as it should.

when that starts happening it's usually an issue relating to dust build up, or ice build up. This one was sitting unplugged for about a week and got cold just fine. I'm going to pop the freezer cover off and see if the unit has a faulty defrost sensor or element.

4. Kenmore (really a Frigidaire) oven. Symptom: bake/broil not working.

I have dealt with the typical Frigidaire oven board relay burning out often. As a result, I have a full inventory of the 220v relays to fix these issues. I pulled the old relay off, put a new one on, did a little bit of trace repair, and got it fixed. Most ovens have other issues, but anytime I see that style of board, it's usually a relay issue

I'm learning a ton on these units that is really helping to speed things up on testing/repairing appliances.


Things that got the white flag of defeat:

1. LG french door fridge (both fans inside the unit do not spin, unless the unit is put into test mode). I will figure out that issue one of these days, just not when so many appliances are rolling in.

2. mini wine cooler. I just don't have time to go through the unit that would only bring in $20-$30.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by alloy2

I quit the appliance trade when the big stores were offering credit with no payments for 12 months, twenty some odd years later I believe there's a market for used appliances.

The mechanics have changed, most washing machines now use three phase motors controlled by an onboard inverter which controls motor rotation and speed. Three phase motors do not have start winding's nor any capacitors. Direct drive eliminates the need of a transmission.

Most issues would be with the electronics on the controller board.

Front load washing machines have an issue with the spider being eroded by electrolysis, not wroth the cost to repair but those smart drive motors have a following - people purchase them to convert into wind generators.

https://youtu.be/iNOHuoXaRU4

---

I never knew you could do that with those big coil motors! I always just left them in the units because of how large and heavy they were for shipping (just not worth selling). Very interesting!

Fridges used for remote cottages and RV's, some are offered as 3 way or 2 way the latter is missing one heating component, but operates under the same principals.

This type of fridge is called an absorption fridge, the refrigerant is water and ammonia.

Each of the 3 methods be it line voltage from an RV park, 12 volts DC from a battery or a supply of propane they all produce heat, this heat drives the ammonia out of the water reservoir as a gas, ammonia is lighter than air.

Driven from its home as a gas the ammonia is on a journey to seek out moisture, yea It wants to reunite with that water.

On this journey the ammonia absorbs heat from the interior, as it exits the gas pass's through a heat exchanger, that weird looking coil located on the rear of the fridge.

Contrary to popular belief there are no high pressures to deal with, just the obnoxious smell of ammonia should the closed system circuit be breached.

Most repair shops that repair these units will purchase the core,

If the RV fridge does not smell of ammonia chances are after sitting idle for a very long time the ammonia has separated from the water and sits as a gas near the top of the closed system, simply turn the fridge upside down to reunite the two.

The doors are convertible, the front panel depicts the colour scheme by removing the panel on the reverse side you'll find another scheme to choose from.

Big demand for repairmen, not much required for tools and equipment.

https://i.postimg.cc/wxXjTs9y/Absorp...frigerator.jpg

After repairing a refrigerator and cleaning it up ready for sale. I give the inside a shot of Ozium. This stuff is amazing.

World famous Ozium, the original air sanitizer with glycol technology. Microscopic spray droplets are hydroscopic (Attract moisture) and attach themselves to odour, smoke, dust and other airborne particles, sweeping the air of objectionable contaminates. Works great in garbage areas & stale smelling fridges. Effectively sanitizes, deodorizes, and leaves a fresh fragrance in the air

https://i.postimg.cc/qqP1QmvC/ozium.png

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by alloy2

After repairing a refrigerator and cleaning it up ready for sale. I give the inside a shot of Ozium. This stuff is amazing.

https://i.postimg.cc/qqP1QmvC/ozium.png

---

In college this was always on the shopping list. Does wonders when selling a vehicle.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by alloy2

After repairing a refrigerator and cleaning it up ready for sale. I give the inside a shot of Ozium. This stuff is amazing.

World famous Ozium, the original air sanitizer with glycol technology. Microscopic spray droplets are hydroscopic (Attract moisture) and attach themselves to odour, smoke, dust and other airborne particles, sweeping the air of objectionable contaminates. Works great in garbage areas & stale smelling fridges. Effectively sanitizes, deodorizes, and leaves a fresh fragrance in the air

https://i.postimg.cc/qqP1QmvC/ozium.png

---

Most of the fridges that come in for me are pretty clean so there hasn't been a need for a nuclear option yet. I am totally going to buy a few cans of this! The other thing that some people try apparently is the little charcoal bricks for grilling (something about the carbon neutralizing odors). I haven't tried it yet, but I am totally going to do that as soon as my secondary testing location is set up. I've wanted to set up a spot at home for my "problem fridges" that I can experiment with a few repairs on. Soon....

Frost free fridges are the filthiest, unhealthiest appliances on the face of the planet, on every defrost cycle water from the melted ice flows down the drain tube into a pan or tray located near the compressor.

Heat from the compressor evaporates this water adding humidity along with any available mold spores into the house.

The drain trough under the evaporator that catches the water then feeds the drain tube are subject to mold growth, I've seen so much mold in drain tubes the water would not drain down to the pan, customer complaint water on the inside bottom of the fridge.

Back in the day when freon was not regulated the technician would use gas from the bottle to clear the line of mold. After clearing the drain tube I always pour a bit of bleach into the tube.

Some people especially young children really react to mold's.

I'm sure you've heard of Legionnaires' disease, if your going to be a repairman do the job right the first time, your reputation counts on it.

The bacterium Legionella pneumonia is responsible for most cases of Legionnaires' disease.

Outdoors, legionella bacteria survive in soil and water, but rarely cause infections.

However, legionella bacteria can multiply in water systems made by humans, such as air conditioners.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 406Refining

Most of the fridges that come in for me are pretty clean so there hasn't been a need for a nuclear option yet. I am totally going to buy a few cans of this! The other thing that some people try apparently is the little charcoal bricks for grilling (something about the carbon neutralizing odors). I haven't tried it yet, but I am totally going to do that as soon as my secondary testing location is set up. I've wanted to set up a spot at home for my "problem fridges" that I can experiment with a few repairs on. Soon....

---

BBQ Briquettes won't remove odour.

Only activated carbon would work and the vapours would have to pass through the particulate.

I've successfully rejuvenated a couple of EVAP canisters on both of our Dodge pick up trucks.

https://i.postimg.cc/vm5fDf1z/P-A-1-Filter.png

https://youtu.be/1N2sPvRssuY

This is how I reconditioned the EVAP canisters from two of our Dodge pick up trucks.

https://youtu.be/z341C-WNPj4

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by patriot76

looking forward to your challenges and adventures.

---

bump

Bump

Hope everyone is doing well!

Another week, another load of appliances. I picked up a stomach bug on Thursday that took me down for a solid 4 days (so much lost processing time). I was hoping to make some progress last weekend, but that didn't happen. I am down to about 40 appliances left on my pickup schedule so that's progress! Below are the fridges/appliances that are fixed and working/in the que!


- Samsung french door fridge: symptom: freezer working, fridge getting to about 45-48 degrees.

It turns out that one of the temperature probes was faulty (supposed to read 6.5k ohms at room temperature, reading 12k instead). On a lot of these fridges, the manufacturer has a temperature chart for their probes so a quick reading of the air temperature to the ohms reading tells you if your probes are working.

-Whirlpool standard fridge freezer unit: symptom: not cooling.

I plug it in and the freezer fan is not running. After removing the freezer back panel, I found that the fan was just a little stuck. My guess is the rotor got jostled one of the times it was being moved. A quick spin of the fan put it back where it needed to be. Fixes like this are nice because they don't cost any money in parts so that's always nice.

-Older fridge freezer: symptom: stuff is freezing in the fridge section.

A lot of my bulk buyers are property management companies. As a result, if a tenant is having issues with something, they just swap the unit out. This fridge has been running for 3 days now with the temperature staying at the perfect 38 degrees.

-**same management company that gave me the 2 above fridges** 2 stackable washer dryer units. One powers up and doesn't run and one drains after filling up. I was hoping to get into these yesterday, but they have a different 220 plug that what I have. So I guess that means off to lowe's to build another 220 plug adapter (I'm up to 4 different ones now lol). These stackables are a repair job so the customer will be taking them back as soon as they're fixed (opening up 2 additional appliance slots. YAY!!).

-kitchenaid dishwasher: Symptom: unit was completely dead.

I popped the front panel off and found that the main thermal fuse was blown. Put a new one in and the unit is working great! What I'm finding on dishwashers is people mainly toss them out if door seals fail, or they "don't clean as well as they used to". So far, I'm seeing roughly a 60% success rate on units (units that are able to be fixed and resold).


I'm starting to get a good process figured out and am learning a lot. The biggest thing I learned is selling someone a fridge (plus charging delivery), then picking up their old one while I'm there. When I get their old one back, I just fix it and resell it, swap for their old one and repeat the process. I get them for free (no core charges or anything like that) so that's a plus.


So far, I've only had one of the older side by side fridges with low refrigerant which is a good sign because I am not ready to track down system leaks yet. When I started playing with appliances I was mainly looking to sell about 10 a month, 15 on the high end. So far, I've done right around 8-10 so that's awesome! I know I could sell and handle WAY more than that, but the warehouse has a strict "nothing left outside policy". In other words, my outdoor storage is pretty limited.

Well, figured now that the spam is gone (for now at least) I'd post a bunch of updates. A few good things and a few bad things have happened.

First, the good:

I am month 3 into ramping things up and am really hitting my stride which is awesome! I am still getting requests for pickups on my facebook post done almost a month ago. I've been so busy with appliances that I haven't bumped my post either. I am reconnecting with several of the local shops that I used to buy parts from. Fortunately, they are all super interested in having me buy dishwashers from them again which is very good!

That brings me to the bad:

The main appliance shop that I have been buying microwaves and dishwashers for the past 5 years jacked up their prices by 5x on microwaves, and 2-3x on dishwashers. On microwaves, that means they are no longer feasible to buy. On dishwashers, it would sort of be feasible, but would really eat into the profits quite a bit. This came out of nowhere so it completely hit me by surprise. A little background into this appliance shop: They have a contract to buy all of the used appliances from one of the stores that installs new ones. While this is normally a good way to get nicer stuff, that only works if you're fixing and selling the majority of it. Unfortunately for this shop, it's a one guy operation which means he's tossing a solid 2/3-3/4 of it into the steel bin at a hefty loss. Additionally, he's hesitant to toss anything into the steel bin (understandably). As a result, his appliances have spilled out of his building and frequently are on the city sidewalk, something code enforcement has not been happy about for years. Anyhow, to make a long story short, the owner ran the numbers and found his losses were larger than expected (leading to the price increase). The items I buy are 20% of the volume so not the underlying issue. I countered his prices with an increase of 2x on microwaves, and 2x on dishwashers which he flat out refused. Sometimes you gotta know when to hold em and know when to fold em. Oh well, I'll get them from someone else. So now they're just getting tossed straight into the steel bin at a larger loss because that's how you turn this around. Mind you, my prices were 4-5x what steel is paying currently.

Anyhow, my gut says they'll be closing within 3 months or by the end of the year. I'll likely post an update later this week on what's been fixed this week. Learning a lot as I go and having fun while doing it is always a good sign!!

Well, It’s been another interesting few weeks.

I met one of the appliance installers for the local Home Depot. Turns out, they currently are taking all of their used appliances to the scrap yard and were super interested in finding another option that pays better. On top of that, the contract is a smaller one (exactly what I’ve been looking for), and I would be able to buy only the units that I want. In other words, I get to pick which appliances I buy without having to pay money for the junk units! They dropped off their first small load on Friday. Definitely an interesting load! I got 2x upper lower fridges, 1x junk fridge (for free), 1x mini chest freezer (for free), 1x electric oven, and a portable dishwasher.


This week I didn’t do too much for getting appliances in as I was focusing on getting the misc. Electronics processed and out the door. This also meant that I could get a bunch of appliances finished up that have been sitting in the warehouse for too long.

Repairs:

Stainless Samsung oven with the split door feature (from 2019!): completely dead:

-These ovens typically have a main board and a separate display board powered by 12v. I tracked down the issue and found that something in the 12v power supply from the main board was faulty. Threw another board in and it’s working now.

Whirlpool dryer: faulty heating element:

-I’m finding that brand new elements are pretty darn cheap on ebay which is great! I bought a replacement one and the unit is working perfectly now.

Restaurant mini fridge: display is on, but everything else is completely dead:

-I popped the main board out and replaced a puffed capacitor. It’s working now which is awesome! That fridge has been sitting in the warehouse for over 3 months!

Under counter restaurant fridge: does not cool:

-Sadly, it was looking like this unit has either a bad compressor or no refrigerant. I’m going to give it the benefit of the doubt today and add a piercing valve to see. If it’s pressurized it’s likely a bad compressor, if it’s not pressurized it’s got a leak. UPDATE: I put a piercing valve on the unit and it was super low on refrigerant so not a bad compressor. I am waiting to hear back from the customer on their plan for the unit.

White Frigidaire Upright Freezer: not running, not cooling, lights do turn on:

-The temperature controller is what failed. The first thing to check is that an overload relay hasn’t kicked the bucket (usually fans will run with the compressor not running). In this case I wasn’t even getting that. The next thing to check is that the temperature controller is working. In this case it was not. Fortunately, I had a replacement one from a different upright freezer so I got it going fairly quickly.



Items that went to the great shredder in the sky:

1. GE stackable washer dryer unit: fills, runs for 10 minutes then drains. I ended up having to call it quits on the unit and move on to other things. Now that I have Home Depot turnaround time is extremely important.
   
2. Black Whirlpool upper lower fridge: not getting cold enough. After numerous tests I am fairly certain that this unit has either low refrigerant or a faulty board. I ended up parting it out and tossing it due to space and time constraints.
   
3. Maytag dryer: keeps eating belts. This unit was completely in pieces so I ended up just parting it out. Normally I would fix something like this, but I needed to fill the rolloff so in the bin it went.

Yesterday I purchased a couple of good working commercial appliances that came from a Subway shop, a Turbo Chef oven and a microwave,

The microwave puts out 3500 watts of power and the oven is unique in that it also uses a combination of convection and microwave, new the oven sells for $18,000.00 US

I'm going to keep the microwave and sell the oven.

406 if your installer delivers, he'll soon get tired of your cherry picking, why not put some icing on the cake and have him deliver and install your sold units this will also free up your time enabling you to concentrate on repairing your inventory.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by alloy2

406 if your installer delivers, he'll soon get tired of your cherry picking, why not put some icing on the cake and have him deliver and install your sold units this will also free up your time enabling you to concentrate on repairing your inventory.

---

I agree! I'm working on everything prices for them as a way to save having to do multiple trips to me/the scrap yard. I hadn't considered having the installers install the appliances I sell (usually leave that to the customer), food for thought for sure! Now that I've gotten the basics figured out, I'm working on finding ways to make things significantly more efficient (especially in the way things are cleaned). In a few weeks I might have a "game changer" piece of equipment coming in, TBD though.

If anyone gets fridges frequently/comes across them while scrapping I am looking for a few different parts. The best part is that these parts can be removed from a refrigerator in under 3 minutes leaving the refrigerant system completely intact!!

- compressor overload relays (the little thing that plugs into the side of the compressor): Old style units are typically a little white box with a black box attached. PLEASE leave the connectors plugged in and cut the wires about 3" from the relay so I have a little bit of wire to work with. Paying $1 per unit, need about 100-250 of them. For units that have overheat damage/sound like a bunch of loose parts when you shake them, I don't buy those, but can sort them all out when they arrive.

-compressor overload relays (newer ones): typically can be unplugged from the fridge. Paying $1 per unit, need about 100 of them.

-fridge/freezer temperature thermostats (little units with a dial and a long metal tube). Paying $1 per unit, need about 100-250 of them. Please make sure the tube is not creased or cut in any way. Coiling them up is ok!


I will pay shipping as well! Payouts will be processed within a few days of receiving a package. I'd like to pay via paypal, but venmo works too. Anyhow, anyone who comes across this type of stuff, feel free to send me a message!

We get more than a few fridges where i am. I know what a sealed unit looks like, and basically how a fridge works, but that's about the limit of what i know. It would help if you could post a few pics of the parts you're looking for. Might be able to figure it out and set a few by for you as the summer wears on. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 406Refining

If anyone gets fridges frequently/comes across them while scrapping I am looking for a few different parts. The best part is that these parts can be removed from a refrigerator in under 3 minutes leaving the refrigerant system completely intact!!

- compressor overload relays (the little thing that plugs into the side of the compressor): Old style units are typically a little white box with a black box attached. PLEASE leave the connectors plugged in and cut the wires about 3" from the relay so I have a little bit of wire to work with. Paying $1 per unit, need about 100-250 of them. For units that have overheat damage/sound like a bunch of loose parts when you shake them, I don't buy those, but can sort them all out when they arrive.

-compressor overload relays (newer ones): typically can be unplugged from the fridge. Paying $1 per unit, need about 100 of them.

-fridge/freezer temperature thermostats (little units with a dial and a long metal tube). Paying $1 per unit, need about 100-250 of them. Please make sure the tube is not creased or cut in any way. Coiling them up is ok!


I will pay shipping as well! Payouts will be processed within a few days of receiving a package. I'd like to pay via paypal, but venmo works too. Anyhow, anyone who comes across this type of stuff, feel free to send me a message!

---

I said this before and will once again say it, if the compressor is blowing the start relay the reason could be an internal failure, the insulation on the motor winding is breaking down.

To confirm this your need to do an amperage test on start up to see if the compressor conforms to factory specs.

Also I think your projection of buying hundreds of capillary type thermostat's is an overkill, the cost of new often around the $20.00 mark so why are you gambling your reputation on used parts.

Newer refrigerators have all switched to electronic thermistors which you can purchase new from DigiKey for less than a dollar.

https://i.postimg.cc/XqxS7pSk/Screen...4-05-39-47.png

https://i.postimg.cc/HW8ycXVN/Screen...4-05-36-25.png

https://i.postimg.cc/QCz9PN40/Screen...4-05-34-58.png

https://i.postimg.cc/KvpgkjJj/Screen...4-05-19-36.png

Another few weeks, another few loads of appliances. We got to move into the new warehouse section on Friday and it is HUGE! I'm not renting the whole unit, but the space I have will definitely make a big difference in my overall efficiency and reduce turnaround time on appliances. A few weeks ago I got on the radar from the local Rent-A-Centers here in town (2 locations). The first few pickups weren't anything too awesome, but good parts and rolloff material so that's nice. Last week, I got a call to pick up some appliances from RAC again. When I show up, they have 6 BRAND NEW scratch and dent washers that they were giving me. Definitely a score!

REPAIRS:

The past few weeks have been pretty slow on getting appliances fixed (mainly clearing out inventory that has been sitting for too long).

1. stainless whirlpool side by side fridge: works great, but periodically stops cooling and need to be turned off and on again.

This one was interesting and I had to reach out to the folks at the appliance repair forum for help. As it turns out, the thermostat was on it's way out. When it entered defrost mode it would finish up, but not kick the compressor back on. In opened the thermostat up and the contacts were super corroded and arced out.

2. White kenmore french door refrigerator: freezer fan error (also missing refrigerator light assembly)

This one has been in my warehouse for TOO LONG. I finally finished rebuilding the light assembly. After putting a replacement fan in, the unit was working perfectly. I'm now onto the next issue which is the icemaker not working, then it's out the door!

3. maytag top load washer: door lock not engaging

This one was a RAC unit that just needed the door to be popped back up. For them, their job is to sell new appliances on payments. Once the payment plan expires, they don't care about fixing them (good for me lol!).

4. Whirlpool top load washer: transmission gear partially engaged causing the worst plastic grinding sound I have ever heard

I removed the plastic shifter assembly, cleaned and regreased it. Still didn't fix the issue. The gear is supposed to spin both ways. One way is gripped just fine, but the other way skipped gears. I put a replacement one in and the unit is working perfectly.

5. maytag dryer: unit not drying clothes like it used to.

I opened the front door to take a look at it and the lint holes were completely packed with a mix of lint and cat hair. After taking the unit apart and deep cleaning everything it still didn't run (lights on, no spinning). I ended up checking the various thermal fuses and one had blown. Put a new one in and it's working now.


Overall, it's been a pretty good few weeks. I finally set up some quotas for appliance sales of between 10 and 15 per month. As it turns out, there's so darn many of these appliances out there that it would be extremely easy to feel like nothing is getting done. It's been 2 months since I posted my appliance ad (still on the fence about reposting it). Every time I list an appliance I typically get 2-3 additional units that people want gone so it's kind of an interesting situation. I'll likely post my pickup ad again soon to start getting more stuff in, but TBD. I mean, the appliances can just go straight to the rolloff, but it's super difficult to justify junking an entire rolloff of appliances when 2 fixed units would pay the same as the whole rolloff.

406 when are you going to show us how to repair appliances, Hills has a basic idea of how refrigeration works but you've made no attempt to explain the mechanics behind it.

Answer me this, what issues take place when moisture enters a system charged with Freon.

What type of refrigerator uses ammonia and is there water in this system if so why what function does water have.

IMO if you knew what you were doing instead of bragging about your new inventory you could have an A+ thread in the making.

What ever happened with the scrap guy who would deliver, I'm guessing you wanted to cherry pick or not offering enough $$$.