Troubleshooting and Repairing Kitchen Appliances

Posted by Kelly Smith Mar 17, 2009

I really hate to call an appliance repair company if I don't have to, as you know if you've read many of my home improvement articles or blogs.

Even if I can't fix it myself, I like to get an idea of what's wrong so the repair person won't pull the wool over my eyes. And this is what led me to write an article on troubleshooting electric ranges. This appliance really isn't that complicated.

About the worse that could happen is getting shocked, so as with all other messing about with electrical gadgets, flip the circuit breaker!

Diagnosing a refrigerator falls in basically the same category, other than the refrigeration aspect. The average homeowner won't be able to legally purchase, add, or recover refrigerant. Freon requires a license because only some people are now allowed to hose the ozone layer and contribute to global warming.

Other than Al Gore, that is. Come on, I'm just joking!

The main tool that you will need to perform diagnostics on these and other kitchen appliances is a multimeter. They come in two flavors: digital (modern) and analog (the original kind, with a needle display). Which one you use is up to you.

In one respect, the difference is price, roughly speaking. They go for ten bucks or so up into the hundreds. Manufacturer quality is the other difference. Most professional electricians carry the Fluke brand name or something similar.

So if your kitchen gadgets are starting to falter, before going out and spending your income tax return on new ones or calling in the big guns, have a go at puzzling it out and repairing it yourself. You can do it! Si se puedes!