Electricians in the house? A household appliance question.

Mark, nope I switch it off at the unit.

Has the vac always done this? Does it do it in every outlet? Try flipping the switch slowly -vs- quickly... Hard to say what part of the circuit is faulty ...

Hello. I have a condenser tumble dryer which is tripping the electrics for the whole house. It has been kept in the garage so may have been wrecked in the cold (I've now brought it inside). It's 13 months old so is covered for parts but not labour. Searching on the web has suggested taking the back off and drying it with a hairdryer.

Should I just accept that I'll need to pay for labour?
Should I take the back off (and accept that I may wreck it even more)?
Any other ideas?

Apologies for such a mundane question ...

Give it a shot, make sure it's not plugged in

here's a weird one. a few minutes ago, the vent fan on my microwave just turned on by itself, while i was sitting in another room. i can't turn it off. when i press the "vent fan" button, i can adjust it to low (sounds the same), high (gets faster), or off. off doesn't turn it off, it just keeps humming along at the "low" volume. i figured i just needed to restart the microwave, so i reset the circuit breaker. as soon as i tripped it, the microwave vent fan started immediately on start-up. this microwave is determined to vent.

you don't need a sparkie, you need a ghost-hunter!

I used to be a ghost-hunter, I think...

ghost i am here, you can vent on me for a while. but you have to stop at some point tonight.

I once fried the electronic fan controls PCB on a very expensive industrial kitchen fan by putting high voltage where it shouldn't have gone, and then bodged it so it so it only had 1 speed instead of 3! Then bullshitted the boss that it arrived on site like that!

sorry about the shit answers Karl. I hung up my snips about 7 years ago and even back then I was only good for fault-finding on the actual electrical installation, any electronics control stuff that is plugged into it - I have not much of a clue about!

maybe move it to another outlet just to see what happens

or unplug it where it is and leave it unplugged for a minute or two

Google says it could be a bad internal thermostat.

the problem sounds like something that will require opening up, measuring, and soldering. Maybe try leaving it unplugged awhile longer? If you are renting, you should just call the landlord (I assume this is mounted if it has a fan). I don't think you will solve this with one weird trick (unless it is something environmental that changes - heat, moisture).

A lot of people seem to have this problem online, it wouldn't hurt to do a search.

yes, and the thermostat appears to be a good bet, as you said. But it sounds like a failure and not poor air flow. microwaves are cheap enough second hand that I couldn't see wanting to replace a part.

unless you want to use the opportunity to do a cool "mic mod"

it turned out that changed the outlet fixed it!

and i'm glad it did, because the next step would have been calling the apartment management agency and requesting a repair, and that usually takes forever.

thanks for advice!!

fuck's sake, i can't type

*aims at general direction of keyboard*

now I am confused about how that fixed it

being unplugged for a little while during the outlet switch might have reset its tiny electronic brain

if so, it would probably work fine now on the original outlet

Arrgh I just typed out a long diagnostic guide for nothing (insert cry emoji here).... I'll post it anyway lest the problem reoccur. Which it very well might because i can't think of any logical reason a different outlet would make the fan turn off. If it consistently works normally in the new outlet but reverts to the fan always running when plugged into the old outlet, there's something seriously funky going on with your wiring that should be checked out.

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There are three likely culprits here: (1) a faulty main control board; this is located behind the control panel and usually has the display screen on it; (2) a bad connection in the ribbon cable or wiring, or (3) the automatic fan turning on by itself to help dissipate heat from the stove cooktop below it. Scenario 3 requires no more than letting it run for awhile, but if it turns on even when not using the stove this probably isn't the problem. I'm hoping you have scenario (2) since that can be fixed by unplugging any cables leading to the control board, cleaning the contacts. This can be done using a clean pencil eraser, cotton swabs dipped in rubbing alcohol, or a compressed air can. If that doesn't fix it, you likely have a bad main control board; replacements cost about $100.

There are lots of online guides and Youtubes that'll show you how to access the control board, but we'll need the manufacturer and model number before we can find one the applies to you. I'd first rule out the automatic fan kicking in, then access the control board and try unplugging/cleaning/reattaching the cables.

If it needs a replacement control board, it may be less expensive to find a secondhand working microwave on Craigslist; you can find good ones for $75 or less - this one at $50 for example. Be sure you have all the mounting hardware, screws, and brackets. Search on "over the range microwave", "over the cooktop microwave", "microwave hood" or "microwave fan". These are all the same basic dimensions (30 inches wide, just over 12 inches depth) so any of them should fit your space, but buying the same brand you have now may allow for easier installation since you can reuse the bracket you have and not need to drill new holes.

(3) the automatic fan turning on by itself to help dissipate heat from the stove cooktop below it.

maybe this was the problem? the microwave is positioned above the stove, and when the microwave fan turned on, i was roasting peppers in the oven at 500F and had been doing so for about 30-40 minutes. i didn't know my microwave fan could turn on automatically, though! it's odd that in never did it before, though, since i've generated that much heat below it many a time during my years in this apartment. but it makes more sense than anything else. if it does come down to replacing something, my apartment management company will cover it, so it's not too big of a deal.

also we shouldn't discount the ghost theory

you could test it using a hair dryer aimed at the underside of the microwave, see if that makes the fan start up

We fixed our dryer! It was making godawful noises — shrieking like a banshee, thumping like a poltergeist — and after a little googling I was surprised to find that taking a dryer apart seemed pretty easy. And it was. But fixing it and putting it back together was a bit more effort. My wife and I both ended up with scrapes and bruises. But it worked! At least as far as I can tell. We put a new drive belt on it and a new drum support bearing and seal. Total of $40 in parts and a few hours of labor, and if we’re lucky we’ve extended its life by a fair bit.

This wouldn’t be a big deal for more mechanically-minded people, but we are not typically people who are like, “Let’s take this machine apart and fix it.” How-to videos were a big help.