Refrigerator not working again

[Michael A. Terrell]

Beware of relatives bearing grease! ;-)

[David]

Hello Steve, It is fortunate for the HVAC industry that the general public does not read the alt.hvac newsgroup. The regulars there seem to know more about their reproductive organs and lower digestive tract than anything about HVAC. I remember a reply from a homeowner asking a question and the slew of BS that came back was amazing. One memorable reply came from a regular poster (pjm) that said this was group for "professionals only" and homemoaners (sic) were not welcome here. Well my sampling of "professionals" on that group does not speak well of their competence and people skills. They do not seem to realize that basic refrigeration and heating is quite simple. The complexity comes from the newer electronic controls and they know nothing about that other than swap things until it works. A case in point was a neighbor that called a professional because the blower motor in the furnace had stopped working. The "pro" said the motor controller was bad, the board was no longer available, so both the motor and controller needed replacing for $800. The neighbor is a bit of a handyman so I asked him to bring the control board to my house and I would look it over. One look and it was obvious that there was a bad solder joint on the line input common mode choke coil and a bit of solder restored it completely. I will bet not one in a hundred of these "pros" even know what a common mode choke is.

David

David

[Michael A. Terrell]

Or that broken solder joints are quite common failures.

[Stormin Mormon]

Yes, cold solder joints are a common problem. GE refrigerators are another example of this. A friend of mine is a computer repairman, so I've given him a couple GE boards to remelt. Havn't used them in the field yet, but I'm guessing they are fine.

I'm glad you were able to repair the board.

[Stormin Mormon]

I've also noticed a severe lack of manners. Sadly, so. Not sure what's that all about.

[Stormin Mormon]

The blinker fluid reservoir is right next to the back seat choke.

[Rich Grise]

I remember TV repairmen, and the most prominent memory, other than that tube caddy and their genial personalities, was the B.O.

Thanks, Rich

[Rich Grise]

I was reading a review of some computeristic trade show, and the writer was discussing some pitchdrone, who would answer all his questions very enthusiastically, with little or no information: "Yes, yes, we have all the latest features." "But, does it have ventricles?" "Yes, we keep up with all the latest technical advances!" "But, does it have ventricles in the frammistan?"

The writer says, "It was probably "frammistan" that tipped him off that I was messing with him" or some such.

But actually, the first time I heard "Frammistan" was on the "I Love Lucy" show (ca. 1950's), when Lucy and Ethel were trying to scam somebody, by impersonating the "Maharincess of Frammistan".

Or maybe "Franistan." ;-)

Cheers! Rich

[Rich Grise]

I've also heard that called the "three-pronged blivet"

the "Mad POIUYT." But "veeblefork?" That's a new one on me! ;-P

Cheers! Rich

[Rich Grise]

In USAF electronics tech school, we used to send the newbies out for a bucket of prop wash, 20 ft. of flight line, a cup of grid-leak bias, and when doing the floor, a buffer amplifier. ;-)

Some guy actually came back with a cup of some pink liquid, which they had told him was "grid-leak bias."

And then there's the guy who wanted to borrow a Crescent wrench, and the shop guy asked, "Metric or standard?" ;-)

Cheers! Rich

[Gunner Asch]

Its closely related to, but totally different from the famed veeblefetzer.

Gunner

I am the Sword of my Family and the Shield of my Nation. If sent, I will crush everything you have built, burn everything you love, and kill every one of you. (Hebrew quote)

[HeyBub]

That, plus the Yellow Pages are so quaint...

Do you have a web site? (The new Yellow Pages)

[Steve B]

Or a soldering iron.

Steve

[The Daring Dufas]

I wasn't working on any of the missile systems, I was working for a contractor building facilities. The only electronic systems I worked on were the office phone system, the two way radios, any control problems, access control, Halon fire suppression system, of course, any of the guys having a problem with a TV, VCR or tape player asked for my help. I had to rebuild the voltage regulator for the 20kw gen set on our crew boat. I took it to the TV repair shop there on the island and found an FET from a TV that worked in the regulator and had the generator back up and running. The gen set ran a compressor for the air starters on the twin 12 cylinder supercharged Detroit Diesel engines. The smart ass captain liked to start those monsters when I was down in the engine room checking things out. I kept ear plugs handy, especially whenever I had to go to any of the power plants. I loved it out there and would have stayed if I hadn't been transferred to a 20 man housing unit that had 19 smokers living in it.

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

It showed up again in the tv show MASH, where a general was trying to distract Blake long enough to make time with Hot Lips.

Framistat plan, was to make motor oil last 6,000 miles and then make it edible.

[Stormin Mormon]

And shows the mechanic's ignorance. They only come in Metric, English, and very expensive in Whitworth.

[Michael A. Terrell]

That's like sharing a four bay room in Army barracks with three slobs. :(

Luckily, most of my time after basic I had a one man room. It only took 15 minutes a week to keep it clean enough to pass all inspections. It was funny, at Ft. Rucker. I was an E2, but in a slot for an E5, so I managed to get the key for the assigned one man room. It was a real mess, and took about two weeks to clean all the old floor wax off the floor, baseboards and even the walls. A month later we were visited by a bunch of generals from Washington. One asked my captain who's room they were in, then said it was the cleanest he'd seen on the whole trip. When he found out it belonged to an E2 he got mad, then laughed and said, Anyone who spends enough time to keep his quarters that neat could keep the room. I barely spent 15 minutes a week. Luckily, he didn't see the coil of coax hanging outside my window. I worked in the Weathervision system, which included 17 Cable TV systems. The man that maintained the civilian cable TV on base gave me permission to run a drop to my room in the barracks when he caught me repairing the damaged drop to our dayroom. He figured that if I had cable, I would keep the two paid drops working for him. :)

[The Daring Dufas]

The majority of HVAC techs have no idea how to do board level repairs. I find cold solder joints all the time and am able to get a system up and running without having to replace an expensive circuit board. The catch is, how much time will it take to repair a one hundred dollar circuit board vs $85.00 per hour.

[The Daring Dufas]

I put an oscillator inside a hollowed out D-cell to show smart asses who asked me for an AC battery. When I showed up with my AC battery I would get this "we're just kidding, there's no such thing." Then I hooked it to a scope and said "SEE?". I swiped the idea from I don't remember who. 8-)

TDD

[.p.jm.]

Causing many heads to look like the watermelons at a Gallagher show, I assume :-)