Troubleshooting and Repairing Major Appliances

Just What I Was Looking For: A MasterpieceI ordered this book for when I need it not because I do. This is an appliance repair tome of almost 1200 pages! I have just received the book so this review will be based only on first impressions and thumbing through different sections such as, the Table of Contents, the body of the book, diagrams, charts and the index.Initial impression: Good quality print, fairly robust pages, in general, good sized print (some of charts have small but high quality print). Line art is crisp and clear.The Review:From what I can see, this is a very comprehensive book that can serve as a text book for appliance repair. Each category or appliance has a checklist with questions regarding things like capacity, location, direction of door swing, room needed for door swing, types of clothes to be washed, number of people, options price range, colors, electric or gas…These checklists are good to review and answer because it will remind you of factors that you may not have thought of that could be important regarding the placement and or selection of the appliance.Some topics covered in the TOC:• Selecting, Purchasing and Installing Major Home Appliances and Air Conditioners⁃ Electric and Gas Ranges, Cooktops and Ovens, Cooktops, Microwaves…⁃ checklist for this category of appliance⁃ Refrigerators and Freezers (goes into the different types and configurations)⁃ checklist⁃ Dishwashers⁃ Built-ins, portables, undersink, dishwasher-sink combinations and a checklist⁃ Laundry Eq:⁃ Washers: Top/Front loaders, compact⁃ Dryers⁃ checklist⁃ Air Conditioners⁃ Sizing room air conditioners⁃ How to purchase the best AC by using the Energy Guide Label⁃ How to make purchasing decisions• Warranties: Full vs Limited• Appliance installation instructions• Where to get help• Product Recalls• Safety precautions• Grounding and voltage• Tools needed for installation and repair• What it takes to become a professional technician⁃ Verbal, non-verbal, paraverbal communication⁃ Customer Empathy⁃ Listening to the Customer⁃ Reflective Listening Skills⁃ Paraphrasing⁃ Asking Questions• Prepping for the service call• Basic Techniques⁃ Techinician Diagnostic GuidePart 2:• Electricity, Electronics and Gas⁃ Electricity and wiring⁃ What is a circuit⁃ Circuit components⁃ The 3 types of circuitsThose are only the first two parts and the first 85 pages!The book goes into troubleshooting, diagnosing with flowcharts and timing charts (when applicable), function, fault/error codes for many different manufacturers. How to locate part and serial numbers. Common washability problems one faces with dishwashers and their possible causes, including but not limited to: discoloration of Copper, Cracking of China, Metal Marks on Dishes and Glassware, staining, tarnishing, corrosion…I cannot do the book justice by trying list what is important because different things will be important to different people.The Bottom Line:If you have a good selection of tools, a fairly good grasp of technical concepts (mechanical, electronic, electrical or) the willingness and ability (or necessity) to learn, this book can help you repair almost any appliance as long as it is not a machine that is completely run by a microprocessor. Even if it is an appliance with a touchscreen or non-user serviceable parts, chances are, that as long as what is wrong has to do with the basics of heating, cooling, cooking, washing, drying, baking or dehumidifying, this book may help you fix it!This is a must have addition to your library.

Love to turn to books like this for keeping my old favorite appliances going, and tips on how to evaluate and repair, fun, interesting book to read and refer to often

This is the beginning of you understanding how and why appliances operate. It's in depth unlike any other appliance book out there. This was clearly written by a Master Appliance person who breaks it down into the simplest ways to understand the process. Clear instructions on how to troubleshoot each appliance which also gives you pictures of diagrams and schematics to explain it step by step. It starts from the beginning with learning and making sure the reader understands basic electricity which leads into operations and so much into depth with the process you need to follow to successfully troubleshoot any appliance.A must have for every Appliance tech.

I do appliance repair as a side job. This book is great for simple repairs and as a supplement to repairing appliances but if your starting out and don't know a lot about electronics i would recommend a bit more detailed training, but this book is a good read and supplement to repairing appliances.

I had an earlier edition that I used for years. For the average person, this volume is almost worth its wt. in gold. (It is a heavy think book by the way).I loaned it to a fellow repairman and never got it back. I got this newest edition and it is even better. One service call will pay for this book many times over. You will not be disappointed with this manual. It tells you about the different appliases, not just how to troubleshoot and repair them. GREAT BOOK!

Excellent book! Book is written in textbook style, which I appreciate. Very detailed. The language and diction are interesting, and one can tell that the author is passionate about this subject. It contains info on electro-mechanical theory, a sound troubleshooting method, and proper customer service methods and approaches. I work in IT and have a customer-facing role and found the author’s customer-service approach in-line with CompTIA’s method. If your goal is to be a good tech, not just to be able tix your appliance, then this is the book for you. The chapter on electrical circuits is gold!

Excellent and thorough coverage of all major appliances. Used as the textbook for online schools - very reasonably priced. Highly recommend.

Being publish in 2012 this is the most up to date book I have ever seen on appliance repair. Maybe it would be better to call this book a encyclopedia as it includes 1000 pages of appliance repair information! The author is a professional with more than 40 years of experience in commercial and domestic major appliances so even though I have about 25 years of appliance repair experiance myself I still found this book extremely useful. Having purchased the eBook version of this book I can easily access and search for information with in it on my laptop or phone well in the field. I would consider this a must have "Tool" for any appliance repair technician unless you have 40 plus years of experiance yourself. Kudos to the author for taking the time to share such valuable information in our field with so many others.