Quote:
Originally Posted by LuckySevens
So yesterday I had 2 brothers Appliances (recommended by someone on TOTV) come and check out my broken washer (GE less than 4 years old). The guy came in, said the green light wasn't on, which meant the inline fuse was broken. He proceeded to remove the fuse (had to cut it out) and said that GE told them not to replace this fuse because it just wasn't necessary. I questioned him, saying 'why would they put a fuse in a washer if it wasn't necessary' and why not replace it? He said it would be money wasted as it wasn't needed per G.E. He put the wires back together, charged me $75. and was on his way. As he was leaving the driveway, I walked into the laundry room and smelled an electrical burning smell. My husband quickly called him and asked him to turn around and come back, which he did. He walked into the laundry room and smelled the electrical smell.... and immediately said that our waher motor was fried and would need replacing (almost $300) or I could just replace the washer. He DID give us the check back for $75. I did not know what to do at that point about putting another $300 into my washer, or know what I wanted to replace it with. I am still just stunned and puzzled as to how this all played out. The fact that right after he cut out the fuse and put the wires back together, my motor just happened to fry. Nice enough guy but I question a few things about what he said that GE told him to do about the fuse, etc. He didn't even look for another problem other than the fuse. Has this happened to anyone else?
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The motor had almost certainly seized up , causing an overcurrent surge to blow the fuse (exactly as fuses are supposed to, to protect the equipment) Removing the fuse allowed the overcurrent condition to resume as soon as power was restored and, predictably, caused the smell of burning insulation until the breaker on the main panel did its job and opened the circuit. . This guy is a lousy excuse for a service repairman. The motor may well have been toast in any event, but his actions constituted a greater risk of fire than should have existed. If he's not the owner of the company, I'd complain that the motor may not have been ruined if he had checked first. A simple resistance check with a voltmeter across the motor leads should have been the first step.