Lisa asks…
What could be wrong with my clothes dryer?
I have a GE clothes dryer and its a few years old. It never had a problem before but we recently had our floor done. They had to move all the appliances to do the job. After that the dryer seemed to get hot sometimes and other times it wouldn’t. This went on for about a week and now it doesn’t get hot at all. It turns on and all but no heat.
Before it broke altogether, I had did two loads of laundry and dried them. I then went to work and came home to a load of wet laundry. Thinking that I may have forgot to turn it on, I ran it again. NO HEAT. I tried again later on, NO HEAT. I have a handyman who is a friend and he said to check the gas hose, check the small exhaust xylophone hose, and make sure nothing is blocking the hoses or that any of them are crimped or the like. ALL WAS FINE.
I am now wondering if the guys who moved the appliances put it back wrong or broke it in transfer. Wondering if it is better for me to call sears and take out a contract for $200plus or call a plumber and maybe pay $50 for a replacing of a hose or something simple.
Thanks for the help, C.L.
James Conley answers:
Many flooring guys I know won’t move appliances for just this reason.
They leave their removal to the owners.
That way they won’t be responsible for any damages.
Which is obviously what happened to your dryer.
And it’s really hard to diagnose your problem over the internet.
It could literally be anything.
When a dryer is moved, sometimes the lint that is stuck to the inner walls of the air venting ducts, inside and outside of the unit, are disturbed and can affect the safety sensors inside which detect overheating.
Once tripped, the sensors shut down the gas supply.
If you’ve cleaned the unit THOROUGHLY, then this probably isn’t the problem.
But any other repair involves working with the gas lines and I don’t recommend anyone who hasn’t done that kind of work before mess with the gas..
As to the contract:
If you are happy with the dryer and want to keep it for many years to come, then I would suggest a contract.
If not, then just a repair.
Joseph asks…
microwave trips breaker?
I recently purchased a GE microwave and installed it in my new townhouse (built in the 1980s). After working for a week, the microwave started tripping the breaker. As far as I can tell it is a dedicated circuit since other appliances/outlet I checked don’t go dead when the breaker is turned off. I opened the outlet and found that it was reverse polarity and I bought a new outlet and rewired it correctly. How microwave still trips the breaker. I plugged the microwave into another outlet and it seems to be working fine. I then plugged my coffee maker into the outlet that the microwave used to be on and it tripped the breaker. I want to plug the microwave into the original outlet because this is an over the range microwave and the outlet is in the cabinet above the microwave. If I plug into a different outlet using an ugly orange extension cord I can get the microwave to work but there is no way to hide the extension cord. Does this mean the breaker is broken and needs to be repaired? Or is something wrong with the outlet? The outlet is 15 amp but the breaker switch has a 20 on it. (Don’t know if this means it is a 20 amp?) Any suggestions?
Thanks so much for your answer!
I made sure I got the black wire attached to the brass screw and the white wire attached to the silver screw. The bare copper is attached to the green screw. I bought a new (heavy duty – whatever that means) outlet and made sure I wired it correctly. Also, I should mention that ordinary electrical devices that have 2-prong plugs such as vacuums and toaster does not trip the breaker on this outlet. BUT any 3-prong plug on a electrical device trips the breaker. Does that mean anything?
Thanks so much for your input! I did use a coffee maker with 3-prong plug and it tripped the problem outlet while 2-prong plugs are fine. However, I am reluctant to remove the panel from the breaker box because replacing the outlet was the sum total of my experience with electrical problems. I’m going to wait for an electrician/handyman to take a look.
Thank you again for your help!
James Conley answers:
The breaker is the proper size for the circuit AND the outlet (15 amp) is normal. You said you replaced the outlet and wired it properly. That means you wired the black wire to the brass colored screw, the white wire to the silver screw and the ground (bare or green insulated) wire to the green hex screw near the bottom outlet.
If you didn’t wire it that way then your statement about rewiring it properly is not accurate. I’m not trying to find fault with your work. Since you said that before you touched anything everything worked properly, microwave waved, breaker did not trip, I’ll assume the circuit was in every way normal.
What COULD have happened is that the microwave trying to run on the wrong polarity MIGHT have caused issues to arise within the breaker itself. MOST electronic equipment can be sensitive to being properly wired. I had a power supply that would blow its fuse if you plugged it into a wrongly wired outlet. That was how I discovered my wiring was wrong back in Connecticut. Other issues such as your microwave, though I can’t imagine why it would, MIGHT have damaged the breaker. But usually the first thing those things see is a transformer, and transformers (to my knowledge) are not polarity sensitive.
I guess I’m leaning toward thinking your breaker has failed. In all properly wired breaker boxes there’s always an extra breaker installed for future upgrades. It’s likely a 20 amp breaker. Save yourself a buck and (if you are competent enough not to shock yourself to death) swap the breakers. IF THERE ISN’T A SPARE, remove the suspect breaker and simply wire it directly to an extension cord (that is, don’t use the house wiring, cut a cord and wire it directly) then you can plug the coffee maker in and see if the breaker blows. If it doesn’t then there is issues with the wiring in the house somewhere. On a dedicated circuit such as the microwave, there should be no junction points anywhere. Hopefully someone hasn’t added one in somewhere and then covered it with drywall.
If you determine the breaker is bad – replace it. If the breaker appears to be good, you may still want to replace it just for peace of mind but you will likely need to call an expert in to look at the problem. Improperly wired homes don’t do well when they have an electrical fire and insurance refuses to pay. You are far better off having a licensed professional do the job IF you don’t think you can solve the problem.
Good luck.
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Laura asks…
Maytag Refrigerator not COLD and Doesn’t make ice?
Hi Experts,
My Maytag Admiral (Model #: LTF2112ARZ) is NOT cold and make ice on the freezer
compartment (top), and no cool air on the food compartment (bottom).
Fan of condenser unit on the back keep running to cool the condenser unit
Fan on freezer compartment unit keep running to blow the air. The air in freezer compartment unit is just little bit cool not cold enough to make ice, and the ice maker is not making ice.
In the food compartment, it is almost no air circulate.
Would you help me to troubleshoot this problem:
1/ Is the freezer bi-metal thermostat ( Model #: KS-2N-MF ) is bad ?? How do I know it bad?? Method to test it?
Model link:
http://74.125. 93.104/translate _c?hl=en& sl=ko&u=http: //www.inchang. com/shop/ item.php% 3Fit_id%3D119735 5881&prev= /search%3Fq% 3Dks-2n-mf% 26hl%3Den& usg=ALkJrhhwhWOh Ql-nxEhCEYtMaIpw DFMTpA
2/ Or condenser unit (black iron round pot shape) is having problem? Doesn’t it have enough pressure to compress freeze-on to create cold air? Freeze-on leak??
3/ Or is the condenser capacitor ( 2 x 2.5 inch rectangular shape) that connect with condenser which doesn’t work properly?
Can I do it myself or need the expert to do the job?
Where can I order the parts?
Thanks in advance, and all help, comments and instruction are welcomed.
James Conley answers:
I’m no technician. I have a 35 year old GE refrigerator that is still limping along. Here are a couple of things to consider:
1. When my refrigerator/freezer had the same symptoms as yours, the problem was the ‘timer.’ The unit was not defrosting, so built up a lot of ice between the freezer and refrigerator. In my unit, I can remove the floor of the freezer and see the ice. If I thaw it, then the unit will run okay for a few days until the ice builds up again. The timer has been replaced 3 times in my refrigerator.
2. A few times when the refrigerator was not cooling properly, I’ve pulled it out and cleaned around the motor and compressor and the coils under the unit. That has taken care of the problem unless it was the timer.
3. Once a dead mouse got caught in the cooling fan! I found that (YUK!) while cleaning the unit.
You sound like you know lots more about this than I. If you isolate the problem, you can order the parts — look in the Yellow Pages. In my Yellow Pages, the places are listed under “Appliances Small Supplies and Parts.” Or maybe you could find something online.
I just hope I outlive my refrigerator! Good luck with the repair!
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