Electrolux dryer becomes noisy every 6 month.

One of the recent calls that we have received was a complaint from customer that their dryer becomes noisy every 6 month and requires cleaning.

As per customer another company came in to diagnose a noisy Electrolux dryer and found that blower wheel became clogged with lint. After cleaning the dryer worked well but noise came back about 6 month later. At this point our technician came in to diagnose a dryer to determine if anything can be done. After removing the front panel technician found that blower wheel is once again clogged with lint causing blower to become unbalanced leading to vibration and poor drying performance.

After cleaning and inspection it was determined that blower wheel is not damaged but due to design of the part (closely positioned wings) cause lint to accumulate on the blower rather than going out through the vent. After quick research it was determined that replacement part for this particular blower is made with further spaced apart wings eliminating the problem of clogging blower wheel. Part was successfully replaced and customer will no longer need to call service for the dryer.

         

Cause and effect

A return customer got in touch with us requesting to check the fridge in one of the rental properties of his. Tenant complained of fridge not being cold and freezer working intermittently but freezing poorly. At first glance it may seem like a sealed system where compressor is failing or system lacking refrigerant but problem turned out to be simpler and much cheaper to repair.

The fridge in question is older model GE refrigerator with freezer compartment on top and flat evaporator located between freezer and fresh food section. After quick inspection, condensation could be seen on the fresh food sealing indicating that cooling system is operational. Once evaporator cover was removed it became clear that evaporator fan blade is frozen in ice preventing air circulation causing poor performance. In case of this model drain hole is located in the centre of the freezer, right under the evaporator. Plugged drain hole caused water after defrost cycle to accumulate and refreeze blocking the fan blade. Once all the ice was melted fridge was returned to operation and all components were working properly once again.

 

 

 

If you are experiencing any issues with your appliances, do not hesitate to contact Tricity Appliances Quality Service and we will be glad to set up an appointment to repair your appliance as soon as possible. You can reach us by phone at 778-488-0397 or fill out online service request form on our web site www.tricityquality.com

Unusual symptom, usual problem.

At Tricity Appliances we work on many different brands and types of appliances and run into all sorts of issues and problems. Not every problem is what it seams at first. Today we are going to talk about couple recent service calls our technicians attended.

 

A return customer of ours called in complaining of problem with their washing machine. Customer stated that when washer was filling up, water hose started to pulsate and washer showed an error message E1. The machine in question is Whirlpool laundry centre with top load washer and dryer on top. Once technician arrived on site, first step was to confirm the issue. During diagnostic technician found that washer on warm water setting would fill half way when water would stop and water hose would pulsate followed by error message. E1 error message indicates low water flow or long fill. Technician pulled laundry centre out to access back of the machine where water supply hoses connect. After turning the water supply off and removing hoses it was revealed that internal filters on the water inlet valves are dirty with sediment and debris. Quick rinse under the sink with a nylon brush cleared the filters to their factory condition. It is important to make sure that inner filters are clean as well to avoid future problems. Once water was reconnected diagnostic cycle was performed to confirm proper operation and to check for leaks.

  

Another customer sent a request complaining of their Bosch dishwasher that had no power. Once on site technician talked to customer who advise that dishwasher was recently removed and re installed to accommodate new floor installation. After a quick inspection technician found that one of the wires inside terminal box was loose and was not secured properly causing loss of power. This issue once again underlines the importance of proper installation by a professional installer.

One more service request came in from a return customer for their Bosch dishwasher. Customer advised that burning smell is present whenever dishwasher is in use. A lot of Bosch dishwasher, especially newer ones, use a Bosch electrical junction box which allows household supply cord to be plugged into the dishwasher directly. Once again improper installation of this component can cause arching and possibly fire. Luckily this customer called in the problem in time and the junction box was replaced before any major issues occurred.

        

If you are experiencing any issues with your Whirlpool, Bosch or other brand of appliances, do not hesitate to contact Tricity Appliances Quality Service and we will be glad to set up an appointment to repair your appliance as soon as possible. You can reach us by phone at 778-488-0397 or fill out online service request form on our web site www.tricityquality.com

Recent service calls

At Tricity Appliances we work on many different brands and types of appliances and run into all sorts of issues and problems. Today we are going to go over some recent service calls our technicians attended with problems that are not so common.

 

Customer called in with the problem with their dryer. Customer stated that dryer turns on but will not start the cycle. Our technician attended the call and was able to determine the issue but not until some component were checked. Firstly the technician removed the bottom panel to gain access to some component.

After removing the cover 2 important component were checked, the drive belt and thermal fuse. Both broken belt and open fuse can cause dryer to not start but both checked out ok. Next item on the list was the control board, on Whirlpool dryers it is especially common for motor relay to short out and prevent dryer from starting. In this particular case motor relay was in fact shorted out. Control board replacement was advised and customer will decide wether to repair or replace the unit. 

 

Another customer sent a request complaining of their LG refrigerator not cooling. Customer advised that third party technician checked the fridge and could not determine exact issue and suggested couple of possibilities. After arriving to customer’s home our technician proceeded to check the fridge. First it was confirmed that temperature is out of range. Next, technician checked for evaporator and condenser fan operation, both were working normally.

While in the back of the fridge it was confirmed that compressor is running. If compressor is running but the fridge is still not cooling it could mean a number of issues from low refrigerant level to insufficient compressor. After removing the evaporator cover, evaporator coil was revealed and showed only partial frost pattern indicating restricted system condition, caused by oil blocking refrigerant supply to evaporator. Due to young age of the fridge customer was referred to warranty company for sealed system repair.

 

If you are experiencing any issues with your Whirlpool, LG or other brand of appliances, do not hesitate to contact Tricity Appliances Quality Service and we will be glad to set up an appointment to repair your appliance as soon as possible. You can reach us by phone at 778-488-0397 or fill out online service request form on our web site www.tricityquality.com

Kitchen Aid range issues

Kitchen Aid range issues. (Gas and Electric)

Kitchen Aid is a Whirlpool Corporation owned brand making a range of appliances from mixers to fridges and ovens and everything in between. Kitchen Aid known for its great design and abundance of functions to bring your cooking to next level. However, like any other brand, even hi end ones, errors and malfunctions can occur.

 

One of the recent service requests our technician attended was for a Kitchen Aid electric range that according to customer did not cook food all the way through and showed an error related to overheating. During inspection technician completed a series of diagnostic procedures to determine the cause for such error. Firstly all components such as elements and other loads were checked for continuity and shorts. Both bake and broil elements showed proper resistance, temperature sensor was also checked and showed correct reading within specifications. Last step was to check electronic control for shorted relays. Luckily Kitchen Aid products come with built in diagnostic function and allow technician to quickly check individual relays to confirm proper operation. Unfortunately this particular control had faulty bake relay causing bake element to stay on at all times causing overheating issue. Main control board was replaced the following day restoring proper function of the range.

 

Another customer sent a request complaining of their Kitchen Aid gas range displaying error code F8E0 intermittently while using the oven. This error code is rather common and indicates a problem with cooling fan not reaching proper rotation speed causing inadequate cooling of internal oven components which could lead to damage of controls. This issue is present with both electric and gas ranges by Kitchen Aid. While the part is the same for both gas and electric range, the installation procedure is vastly different between the two. On electric ranges fan replacement is pretty straight forward and requires the removal of control panel to access the fan assembly. Gas ranges on the other hand require more disassembly due to positioning of the fan in relation to gas valves and manifold. In order to replace the cooling an on gas range, the entire cook top has to be removed followed by disconnection of all 5 burners from gas manifold to allow access to the fan. Once fan is replaced, steps are reversed. It is extremely important to check all connections for gas leaks after reinstallation. If all connections leak free, control panel can be reinstalled to finish the job. 

 

If you are experiencing any issues with your Kitchen Aid or any other brand of range or oven, do not hesitate to contact Tricity Appliances Quality Service and we will be glad to set up an appointment to repair your appliance as soon as possible. 

 

You can reach us by phone at 778-488-0397 or fill out online service request form on our web site www.tricityquality.com

Condensing dryers. Are they worth it?

Condensing dryers are great invention and great alternative to traditional dryers. Condensing dryers use a heat and airflow like a regular dryer but instead of exhausting hot air to the outside, they use a condenser to extract moisture and turn it into water to be drained later by user or directly to drain. Condensing dryer is a great option for someone who wants to save energy as condensing dryers use smaller heating elements and for those who don’t have an existing dryer vent to the outside such as older buildings and retrofit installations.

 

Last couple of weeks our technicians ran into a couple of condensing dryers with similar problems. In both cases customers complained of dryer stopping soon into the cycle or clothes not being completely dry after the cycle is finished.

 

First customer had a LG condensing dryer stacked on top of washer. First thing to check is to make sure customer emptied the water container if dryer is not plumbed directly to drain. Full water container will prevent dryer from working properly because dryer not able to extract moisture from clothes and will stop before finishing the cycle. If the container is empty but there’s still a problem, next item to check is the condenser.

Condenser needs to be clean of lint in order to perform its function correctly. Condenser’s generally need to be taken out and cleaned every 3-4 loads to prevent lint build up.

 

Another customer had Bosch condensing dryer that was also stopping before finishing the cycle. Customer advised that condenser is cleaned every few loads. Behind condenser, under a plastic cover, an area called sump is located. Water collects in sump area from condensation process and awaits to be pumped to a container or drain by a small pump. Often times this area gets clogged up with lint mixed with water clogging the pump preventing it from removing water. This issue usually resolved by cleaning the sump area but in some cases drain pump will need to be replaced.

 

If you are experiencing any issues with your LG, Bosch or any other brand of dryer, do not hesitate to contact Tricity Appliances Quality Service and we will be glad to set up an appointment to repair your appliance as soon as possible.

You can reach us by phone at 778-488-0397 or fill out online service request form on our web site www.tricityquality.com

Don’t get rid of your noisy dryer

As technology progresses many things become easier to manufacture and therefore cheaper to make. While dryers aren’t cheap they are not as expensive as much more complex oven for example or a fridge. Due to its price dryers are easiest to replace but don’t run to your local appliance retailer if your dryer starts to make unusual noises. Most of the time noisy dryer is easy to fix and parts are not expensive and easily available. Here at Tricity Appliances our technicians carry a range of common parts for dryers to get them fixed quickly and properly.

Last couple of weeks our technicians visited few customers with noisy dryers. One customer complained of rattling noise while dryer was running. After little investigation technician determined that blower wheel was loose because it developed a crack. Blower wheel is a plastic wheel, most of the time driven by main motor or sometimes by its own motor on compact dryers. Due to heat inside the dryer plastic can become brittle and cracks becoming the source of rattling noise. Most of the time blower wheel is inexpensive and relatively easy to replace.  

 

When it comes to Samsung and LG dryers design, they are very similar yet different. They do share common component however, support rollers. Support rollers, most of the time four or six, depending on the model, provide support for dryer drum and allow it to turn easily. Support rollers commonly become seized up causing drum to cut one side of the roller making it lopsided which can lead to thumping noise coming from the dryer. Once again the rollers are usually inexpensive and our technician carry a variety of rollers for different brands of dryers.

 

If you are experiencing any issues with your Whirlpool, Samsung, LG or any other brand of dryer, do not hesitate to contact Tricity Appliances Quality Service and we will be glad to set up an appointment to repair your appliance as soon as possible. 

 

You can reach us by phone at 778-488-0397 or fill out online service request form on our web site www.tricityquality.com

Leaky dishwasher

Dishwasher is an amazing thing, most people nowadays could not imagine their life without one. Dishwasher’s save us countless hours of washing dishes by hand every year all while saving water and environment at the same time. But with a machine that runs for a couple of hours while swooshing water around there’s a chance for something to go wrong and that something is water leaking. While most dishwasher leaks are small and do not cause major damage there is a possibility for a larger leak that could lead to property damage. At very first site of leaking do not hesitate to contact us at Tricity Appliances to make sure your leaky dishwasher is fixed properly and fast.

 

Our technicians work with almost all brands of dishwashers and today we will talk about select few and some common leaks and other problems. Whirlpool and Kitchen Aid dishwashers often leak through a part called diverter motor or to be exact through its shaft. Diverter motor turns a screen directing water between lower and upper spray arm. Diverter motor shaft inserts into the dishwasher from the bottom and has a rubber seal preventing leaks but can leak if seal is worn or hasn’t been installed properly after repair. 

 

Older Kitchen Aid dishwashers sometimes start to leak through their fill assembly and reason is rather unusual. Fill assembly has two purposes, one to allow water to enter dishwasher and also act as went to allow hot steam to escape to prevent too much pressure build up inside dishwasher. When fill valve fails, it allows too much water too fast causing fill assembly to overfill and leak onto the floor, in this case fill valve needs to be replaced to solve the issue.

 

On a separate note, one of our technicians, after replacing faulty Bosch dishwasher fill valve found that dishwasher motor is not running although customer had no previous complaints. During diagnostic it was determined that dishwasher has heating error E1. Technician checked inline heater and motor for continuity and both checked out. It was then decided to replace control board due to faulty heating relay which prevented motor from running. Once board was replaced dishwasher ran with no issues.

 

If you are experiencing any issues with your Whirlpool, Kitchen Aid, Bosch or any other brand of dishwasher, do not hesitate to contact Tricity Appliances Quality Service and we will be glad to set up an appointment to repair your appliance as soon as possible. 

 

You can reach us by phone at 778-488-0397 or fill out online service request form on our web site www.tricityquality.com

Samsung dryer

We all really appreciate our appliances and cannot live without them, dishwasher is amazing and saves us time that we can spend with our families but one appliance that brings the most satisfaction is definitely the dryer, nothing beats getting into the bed with fresh and most importantly warm sheets. It’s a shame when dryer stops working or starts to make that annoying squeaky noise. At Tricity Appliances we carry many common parts for dryers to make sure it is repaired on the first visit.

 

Our technicians encounter all brands and types of appliances on their daily routes but one of the more common make and type is definitely Samsung dryers.

 

Like any other dryer, with age noises start to appear and the most common cause for noises are idler pulley and support rollers, these parts are usually inexpensive and relatively straight forward to replace.

 

Another issue that our technicians ran into in the last couple of weeks is complaint from the customer that Samsung dryer is not starting but makes humming noises. One of the causes for this could be clothing stuck inside blower wheel. Sometimes item stuck in the blower wheel can be removed by removing the lint filter but if stuck item is too far in, the front panel and blower housing will need to be removed. Another cause for dryer not starting and humming could be faulty motor. Good way to test whether it is the motor is to have someone start the dryer while holding the door switch in and turning the drum by hand. If the dryer starts and continues to run, motor is faulty.

 

If you are experiencing any issues with your Samsung dryer, do not hesitate to contact Tricity Appliances Quality Service and we will be glad to set up an appointment to repair your appliance as soon as possible. 

You can reach us by phone at 778-488-0397 or fill out online service request form on our web site www.tricityquality.com

Whirlpool compact washing machine

 

If you are experiencing this issue with your Whirlpool or Maytag compact washing machine or any other appliance problem, do not hesitate to contact Tricity Appliances Quality Service and we will be glad to set up an appointment to repair your appliance as soon as possible.

You can reach us by phone at 778-488-0397 or fill out online service request form on our web site www.tricityquality.com

Appliance repair

Samsung Ranges and Ovens

At Tricity Appliances we work with most major appliance manufacturers and have vast experience dealing with all sorts of appliance problems including the one we will talk about today, Samsung ranges and ovens.

 

First customer called in with complaint that Samsung oven is taking very long time to heat up. Once on site our technician talked to customer and found out some more details. Once oven eventually reaches preset temperature, oven seems to be working ok and food is cooked properly. To diagnose this problem technician pulled the oven out to access component hidden behind rear panel. With panel removed the first order of business is to check both bake, broil and convection element (if present) for continuity. With elements checked and deemed ok next component to check is oven temperature sensor. These sensors suppose to show certain resistance reading depending on ambient temperature, usually around 1080 ohms, this one checks out.

Most modern ovens are controlled by a control board that has series of relays that turn the elements on and off. After checking the control board on this particular unit it was deemed faulty and replaced with new part. Oven was tested with new part installed and reached desired temperature in half the time compared to before (around 10-13 min). Broil relay was faulty and prevented broil element to turn on to help preheat the oven.

 

Second customer called in with complaint that dual fuel Samsung range has no power to display but gas cooktop still works ok. Upon arriving to service call technician once again pulled range out to access components on the back of the unit. After all components were checked no faults or shorts was found. After reconnecting power to range power to display was restore but only to find display board with all light on and not responding. After another reset display went dark again and was deemed faulty. New part was ordered and awaiting arrival as part is special order. Customer was advised of possible delays with shipping but agreed to proceed with order.

 

If you are experiencing any issues with your appliances, do not hesitate to contact Tricity Appliances Quality Service and we will be glad to set up an appointment to repair your appliance as soon as possible.

 

You can reach us by phone at 778-488-0397 or fill out online service request form on our web site www.tricityquality.com