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Pro tip: Stop replacing whole control boards when it's just a bad relay
Was out on a call last Tuesday in a rural farmhouse outside of Boise. Their fridge stopped cooling, compressor was running hot. Customer already ordered a $350 main board online. I popped the old one out, saw a tiny cracked solder joint on the compressor relay. Ten minutes with a soldering iron and it was back up. Charged $85 for the service call. They returned the board. Why are we so quick to swap whole assemblies? Has anyone else found these simple fixes pay off way better than parts swapping?
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jasonallen28d ago
Ha, I guess I'm the opposite. I'd rather slap a new board in and be done with it. My time's worth more than messing with a soldering iron for 20 bucks.
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gibson.avery28d ago
Isn't the soldering part of the fun and the whole point of repairing stuff yourself? You're just creating more e-waste swapping whole boards over a single bad cap.
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janah8328d ago
Old VCRs and radios had like 10 components total, now a single board has 50 tiny smd parts packed together. The time to diagnose which cap failed, desolder it, and clean the pads isn't worth it for most people, @jasonallen. It's the same with cars now - swapping a whole alternator is quicker than replacing the voltage regulator inside it.
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