Posts By: Scott Brown

Appliance Tech Training Scholarships For Military Veterans

Posted on May 24, 2015 by - Academy Talk, Career Talk

FlagWithLogoJust in time for Memorial Day, the Samurai Tech Academy and ApplianceZone.com are thrilled to team up to offer a unique scholarship opportunity for free appliance tech training to military veterans. It's our way of saying "THANKS!" to all military veterans for the sacrifices they've made for us by serving in the armed forces.

Learning a skilled trade, like appliance repair, is a great way to ease the transition back into civilian life if you're just coming off active duty. Skilled appliance techs are in great demand with lots of employment opportunities. It's also a great way to start your own business and be self-employed.

Scholarship recipients will have ½ of their tuition paid at the start of the Fundamentals of Appliance Repair training course at the Samurai Tech Academy, with the remaining tuition costs being reimbursed to the recipient pending completion of the course. The course must be completed within 90 days to fulfill the scholarship criteria for reimbursement.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

Applicant must be retired, honorably discharged, active duty, or a member of the National Guard or Reserve.

Learn more about the veteran's scholarship program and apply at ApplianceTechScholarship.com

When Icemakers Fail… Remember To Check The Obvious

Posted on May 23, 2015 by - Tech Talk

When there is a no-ice complaint, sometimes the icemaker is fine and instead the plumbing or installation is to blame. Low water pressure to a refrigerator can cause undersize icemaker cubes and result in the icemaker jamming during harvest. But how much water pressure do you need? And how do you determine what the pressure is? What does that look like?

The exact water pressure requirement for a particular make and model of refrigerator is specified in the installation manual, which no one reads. Nonetheless, it is there, so the manufacturers have made a good-faith effort to get that information out there. It's not their fault that most people who install wet appliances (hello, plumbers) and most appliance techs, for that matter, refuse to read these specifications or gloss over them with a "Yeah, whatever."

But there's good stuff in there! Most refrigerators require a minimum of 20 to 40 psi. The exact minimum is spelled out in the installation instructions. Most GE refrigerators, for example, require a minimum of 40 psi water pressure for the ice maker to work properly. Samsung requires a minimum of 20 to 30 psi depending on the specific model. As a rule of thumb, all refrigerator ice makers will work properly with a minimum of 40 psi water supply pressure.

But how can you tell what the water pressure is? Well, you could use a pressure gauge to measure it but, UGH!, what a freakin' hassle!

Wouldn't it be awesome if you could calibrate your eyeballs to tell when water pressure was less than 20 psi just by looking at a discharge stream from the 1/4" supply tube? Ya sure, ya betcha! And now you can do exactly that with the Samurai Calibrated Eyeball Water Supply Pressure Assessment Technique™ (SCEWSPAT, pronounced, "skew-spat").

Using my patent-pending SCEWSPAT technique, you can determine the pressure of any refrigerator icemaker water supply line using only your soon-to-be calibrated eyeballs! In this video, you will see what an inadequate water supply pressure looks like.

 

In general, if you disconnect the water supply tubing from the refrigerator, open the valve and see a lame, pee-pee stream of water, you done found a major problem, Hoss! That obvious problem has to be fixed first before you can determine if the icemaker is operating properly or not.

As mentioned in the video, an adequate water pressure (20 to 40 psi) exiting the 1/4" water supply tubing should be coming out with enough force to knock over a cup. At 20 psi, a 1/4" tubing is exerting almost a pound of force on the cup's sidewall. That's a lot and will knock over any cup!

Need more specifics? Okay, try this...

The specifications for the dispenser stream in a GE refrigerator is 13.5 oz/20 seconds. This is close enough to all the other manufacturer's specs that we can call this a universal spec.

Now, take a two-cup measuring cup (borrow from customer) run the dispenser and time it. If it doesn't fill 13 oz (or 400 mL) in 20 seconds, Houston, we have a situation. After doing this just a few times you will have calibrated your eyeballs so that you don't have to use the measuring cup/timer method again. Let's hear it for SCEWSPAT!

Learn more about how to kick refrigerator and icemaker bootay in the Samurai Tech Academy's Refrigerator Troubleshooting and Repair training course!

A Master Samurai Tech Presentation: Troubleshooting Appliances using Ohm’s Law and Schematic Analysis

Posted on March 26, 2015 by - Presentations, Tech Talk

Learn from the Samurai and become a troubleshooting master!

In this action-packed, riveting, 30-minute, recording of a live webinar, Samurai Appliance Repair Man explains:

  • Ohm's Law: what it is and how Master Samurai Techs deploy it with deadly accuracy to nuke appliance bootay
  • Understanding power and work in electric circuits
  • Applying Ohm's Law to real-world troubleshooting situations
  • Schematic analysis of real schematics using Ohm's Law and series circuit analysis
  • Understanding voltage vs. voltage drop
  • Understanding series loads
  •  

Here are a few tantalizing screenshots of the presentation...

Ohms Law 2
 
Ohms Law 1
 

Pricing:
Samurai Tech Academy Fundamentals Students: FREE!
Professional Appliantologist member at Appliantology.org: FREE! (with coupon code)
Appliance Tech Community-at-large: $10

The Samurai Tech Academy announces upcoming webinars as well as course updates, new course offerings, and special discounts in the STA newsletter. If you'd like to subscribe, you can do so here.
 

Click here to begin your journey of Total Appliance Enlightenment!

 

A Master Samurai Tech Presentation: Series and Parallel Circuits

Posted on March 21, 2015 by - Presentations, Tech Talk

A recording of the webinar held on March 19, 2015, on series, parallel, and series-parallel circuits. If you missed the live webinar, you can watch the recording and still partake of this cup of wisdom. Topics covered:

- Components of a circuit
- Voltage and current relationships in series and parallel circuits
- Introduction to reading schematics

Pricing:
Samurai Tech Academy Fundamentals Students: FREE!
Professional Appliantologist member at Appliantology.org: FREE! (with coupon code)
Appliance Tech Community-at-large: $10

The Samurai Tech Academy announces upcoming webinars as well as course updates, new course offerings, and special discounts in the STA newsletter. If you'd like to subscribe, you can do so here.

 

Click here to begin your journey of Total Appliance Enlightenment!

A Master Samurai Tech Presentation: What is Electricity?

Posted on March 21, 2015 by - Presentations, Tech Talk

A recording of the webinar held on March 19, 2015, on basic electricity. If you missed the live webinar, you can watch the recording and still partake of this cup of wisdom. Topics covered:

- The nature of electricity
- Voltage
- Current

This is just a small sample of what we teach in the Fundamentals of Appliance Repair training course. We go into great detail in a series of self-paced lessons explaining basic electricity, circuits, schematics, troubleshooting, motors, and much more! Enroll today!