406's Repair Thread

[alloy2]

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.

[alloy2]

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.

[alloy2]

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

[alloy2]

looking forward to your challenges and adventures.

bump

[alloy2]

Bump

[406Refining]

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.

[ChildhoodDream]

bump

[406Refining]

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!!

[406Refining]

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.

[alloy2]

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.

[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.

[406Refining]

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.

[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!

[hills]

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.

[alloy2]

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.

[406Refining]

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.

[alloy2]

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 $$$.