Family owned · Serving the Quad Cities within 50 miles

saveyourapplianceqc@gmail.com (309) 430-9594

Working out what is wrong

What can I safely check before I call someone out?

Short answer

Power, doors and airflow. A surprising share of call-outs are a tripped breaker, a door latch that is not engaging, or a blocked vent. Checking those three costs you five minutes and occasionally saves you a visit entirely.

The five-minute checklist

Is it actually getting power? Check the breaker, and on an electric dryer check both halves of the double breaker — losing one leg makes a dryer turn without heating. Try the outlet with something else.

Does the door or lid latch properly? Washers will not spin, dryers will not run and dishwashers will not start if the machine believes the door is open. A worn latch or a failed switch presents as a completely different fault.

Is air moving? Blocked lint paths, crushed vent hoses and clogged condenser coils cause overheating, poor drying and poor cooling respectively, and all three look like component failures from the outside.

Where to stop

Stop before anything gas-related. Stop before removing an outer cabinet or panel. Stop before disconnecting plumbing, and stop immediately if there is water anywhere near an outlet. None of that is worth the money you would save.

You are also entitled to just call. There is no expectation that you diagnose your own appliance, and we would rather come out to a tripped breaker than have someone take a dryer apart on a kitchen floor.

What to write down either way

Model number, what the machine does and does not do, any error code, and when it started. Bring that to the phone call and we will often know what to load before we set off.

Still not sure how this applies to your machine? Call and ask — we would rather answer a question over the phone than have you guess. We cover Rock Island, the Quad Cities and every community within 50 miles.

(309) 430-9594

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Related questions

Short answers. Each one has a page of its own if you want the reasoning behind it.

Where do I find my appliance model number?

Look on the door frame, under the lid, behind the kick plate, or on the back panel. It is a printed tag or sticker with a long alphanumeric code — that code, not the brand name, is what tells us which parts your machine takes.

Why will my washer not drain?

The usual causes, in the order we find them: something blocking the drain pump, a kinked or clogged drain hose, a failed pump, or a lid switch telling the machine it is not safe to spin. Most are inexpensive; all of them look identical from the outside.

Why is my dryer running but not heating?

On an electric dryer it is usually a failed heating element, a blown thermal fuse, or one half of the 240-volt supply gone — the drum still turns on 120 volts, which is why it runs perfectly and dries nothing. On gas it is more often the igniter or a flame sensor.

Why has my refrigerator stopped cooling?

Most often a failed defrost system icing over the evaporator, a condenser fan that has stopped, or coils so clogged the system cannot shed heat. A compressor failure is what everyone fears and is far less common than the three above.

All 21 questions

Appliance down? Let’s get it fixed.

Same-day service in most cases across the Quad Cities and 50 miles around. Talk to a real technician, not a call center.

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Greg was recommended to me and they said if Greg can’t fix it you’ll probably have to buy new. He was prompt, honest about what was wrong, and completely professional. In my 57 years he is the most honest and personable repair man I have ever met.

Paula M. Sherrard, IL · savemeqc.com
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