Things I've fixed, not that you should
follow my advice, since I have electrocuted my self and singed
an eye
brow, and been to the ER to get stitches.
Plumbing
Tip on clearing drains: if you can run the snake all
the way to another clean out, do it, run it out, put a spiral saw
cutter on it and pull it back through! you get a lot more roots out
this way.
Soldering copper is the only fun part of plumbing.
Appliances:
Gas dryer - Maytag - this took a while to figure out
when the problem was really quite basic, clean/replace the vent
pipe. I'm a slow learner I only shocked my self twice on
sensors/switches in the dry when I forgot to unplug it, there's 120v on
all those wires! I figured out via fixnow.com
the high temperature limit switch on the combustion cone was
tripping 5 seconds after the flame came on. So I replaced it, but
the problem did not go way, then I realized the flame was fat and
hitting the high temp limit switch. Search the web for "dryer abnormal
flame", dryer flame shape, fat flame, normal flame, etc. I could never
find a picture of what it should look like. After dumping rust dust out
of the burner and disconnecting the vent pipe and cleaning out the
pipes in the dryer, I got a long flame back that doesn't touch the
hight temp limit switch. Note: on dryers that you take the front
off to service, you have to cover the dryer opening with a piece of
cardboard/towel to have proper draw.
The got another ten year of life out of my dryer by replacing wheels
& belts.
Washing machines - when the transmission goes out, give up and buy a
new machine.
Dishwashers - yep the motors do burn out, gaskets do go bad, they are
replaceable.
NETGEAR DG824M DSL modem with wireless - Sep 2, 2005
Starting about two months ago, my dsl connection started getting flaky.
Called the ISP, they had SBC test the line, said it was ok, it
got better for a few days, then back to flaky, called again they came
out and tested it to the D-mark and it was better for a short period
(they boosted the signal), then back to flaky. I called again, they
came out and said it was fine, the nice SBC guy said the next step for
them was to replace the dsl modem, but it was mine .... craps. So
having nothing to
loose, I opened it up (there is a screw hidden under the G (voids
warranty, but heck it's out of warranty for me anyway).
Side note: having dealt with 18 bad Dell GX270 PC in our lab, some more
than once, ...
I quickly spotted the bad capacitor by the power jack, the top was
puffed up (info
1)
(ieee
note)
The cap is a 2200 uF, 35v, 105C, (thought my modem was toasty but boil
water? :) ), the replacement I dug up was bigger and axial
but it fit fine up against the side, It looks like Radio
shack carries replacements too, I'm sure any electronics place will
have them..
I clipped the leads on the bad one, so I would have something to solder
to. Put the bad one on the tester at work, it was only 20 uF, that
sends one heck of a lot ripple into a DC circuit. Thanks to Dave G, Ed
R, and Dave Z for their help.