In Praise of Appliance Repairmen….
This switchboard controls your fridge
There seems to be some misunderstanding by the uninformed who think, incorrectly, that Mr. Phillipps/Stanard’s MOS as a fridge repairman in the Marine Corps was under scrutiny.
Unless you’ve been without a working fridge for three days, all of which just happened to be the hottest that year, you don’t know how valuable a good reefer/APPLIANCE repairman is. I would give a ‘by name’ shout out to the guy who fixed mine last summer, but as many idjits as there are on the internet, just looking for trouble, I won’t do that here.
Instead, I will take the time to let you know that when the reeferman returns your phone call while he’s out of town on vacation, sets the date and time to get to your house, tells you what is wrong over the phone, provides a quote, as well, and shows up promptly and even lets you take pictures of what was wrong, he’s probably the best thing on the planet since the invention of the microwave.
To explain what was wrong: in the photo, there are two red lights barely visible at the bottom of the circuit board which are part of the mechanism that tells your modern-day fridge when to defrost and when to freeze stuff. They are switches. They also signal the fridge to send cold air into the non-frozen compartment to cool it and run the fan.
And he did explain everything, got right to work because he had another appointment, had the part in his truck, charged the correct price, and let me take a moment to get a picture of what was wrong. I did not know, until he pulled the freezer panel apart, that behind that blank wall at the back of the freezer section is the circuit board which controls the defrost/cooling cycle, and that it had a switch that simply quit working. He was kind enough to leave a magnetic card for my fridge door and told me how much it would cost to replace the igniter in my oven. I wrote a very positive review for him on Yelp, which I thought he deserved, and he sent an e-mail acknowledging it to me.
Without modern refrigeration, we’d still be using ice boxes and ordering blocks of ice to keep the cooling compartment chilled so that the milk won’t spoil. It used to be that people went out to ponds and creeks to cut ice to store in the family’s icehouse, if they were lucky enough to have one. We don’t have to do that now.
So anyone who thinks that we’ve been maligning APPLIANCE or FRIDGE repairmen – just get over yourselves. We are not doing that.
We have been addressing someone who was given job training at no expense by the military, and just did not want to do the job that could have given him a good career as an independent businessman.
My appliance guy told me that he is never out of work. He is, in fact, so busy that he has to put a notice on his website that he’s out of town until whatever date, but will make appointments for when he gets back.
I’d hire him before I’d let that silly old goat with a history of being a slacker and a drunk anywhere near my front lawn.
Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves"
They’re all just fukking scat.FACT
Except the guy that just replaced my blower motor in the central air…he’s a fukking God!
A good repair guy is gold in this age of “some things you just can’t fix yourself anymore”. Great post ma’am👍
Kurt Schlichter refers to Mr. Phillips as “fridgidairborne”.
Where did you get a photo of my shower stall?
Same way she got a picture of Dave and his pink robe.
Close your window curtains.
Your cat sent it to me, after consulting with the dog, Beans.
Don’t have anyone like your guy, but do have a neighbor who is nearly as good at fixing mysterious ailments in everything from appliances to HVAC units thanks to preveiously being Mr Fixit for several rental properties owned by family and friends. He got very good at it as a side line. Don’t know why he doesn’t do it full time, except that his current job provides health benefits. Besides, if he did work the Fixit job full time, I might have to wait in line when I need his services.
At least you know he’s available!!!
True and a certain “elder” wasn’t even one at that… just a Basic Electrician, probably having to OJT as a Reefer Mech “stuckee” outside his MOS on his own.
BREAKING NEWS:
Mr. Phillips said of Ex-PH2’s article, “if she wants me to fix her refrigerator … I will … using my USMC training and fighting skills … employing hand to hand techniques attack the expansion valve, with my K-Bar scrape away any scale on the condenser and coils, strangle hold the high and low pressure lines ’till proper pressure fills the system, using laser focus stare down the thermostat and finally clean the entire unit with 100% pine oil from a one gallon steel can.”
PS: Ex-PH2 … if you ever use him for repair … hide the beer first!
The coils are encased in the fridge’s steel shell. There is no way anyone, including the cats, can touch them.
By all means hide the beer.
But I think it will be safe to leave the toothpaste out…
I don’t know about that…is there any possible way to alter your mental state with toothpaste? If there is, hide that too. Definitely hide the mouthwash and the hand sanitizer!
I used to think technology would be the end of appliance repairmen. It was mostly mechanical failures and no great knowledge needed.
I was wrong.
Todays appliances are a marvel of high tech and the repair person cannot be uneducated in basic troubleshooting of complex systems.
The ones who kept up with it are making good money now and have their own success stories.
Now try and find someone who can repair slate roofs.
Slate roofs? You may need a Welshman who also knows how to repair a thatched roof.
Slate roofs can be repaired by the right person.
http://www.slateroofcentral.com/repair_slate_roof.html
You should be able to find someone in your area.
I never denigrate anyone’s role in the overall process and respect anyone who does their job well no matter the job.
For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost.
What Nathan Phillips did was denigrate his OWN role, by implying it wasn’t good enough to claim honestly.
The rest of his lies spun out of that simple notion.
My advice to someone deciding what to do with themselves is train to be an RV Mobile Tech! Dealerships keep your rig for weeks/months and then still screw it up. A good Mobile Tech can hardly work in a campground for people coming over and ask him/her to look at theirs when he finishes. Front end investment is a truck/trailer for parts and tools and training. Training includes electronics, electrical, plumbing, heat/air, generators, etc. (Most don’t do engines and vehicle stuff). Shop rate of $100/hour and $75 to just show up are normal. Some also work on boats because the systems are similar/same.
Any trade learned well now is money in the bank. The newer generations have trouble with the most basics of simple mechanics and do not have a do it yourself mentality.
Any trade is money in the bank! Especially those skills in high demand.
But what do I know …
Hellz yeah…just go to Mike Rowe’s website and look at the opportunities he highlights.
Trump should make Mike Rowe Secretary of Labor.
Mike Rowe is more productive NOT being in government!
Trade School Graduates are far more in demand than most four year Grads are, just look at the amount of Job Recruiters that visit Trade Schools!
There is an aggregates company over on the highway, busy all the time, has women driving those trucks. I don’t know what pay they get (not being familiar with that line of work), but I’m sure it’s quite high, regardless.
There is a lot of road construction and repair going on around here, never mind in other counties.
Pay is usually per load or on a percentage basis, meaning the driver works hard but makes lees than they would working an hourly job.
Our local tech college brags (rightfully so) about their 100% job placement rate in virtually all of their programs.
What? I thought all Marines were infantry!
Are you telling me that all Marines are not like, Special Forces or sometin?
You must be wrong.
No, Joe, someone has to be responsible for keeping the beer cool.
All Marines are Riflemen. I’m sure they’ll continue to be so despite your misgivings Joe.
Maybe Joe the Slow needs some remedial training on “this is my rifle, this is my gun.”
I need to re-gear my Jeep’s tear AMC 20 for 33 inch tires.
I found a shop: East Coast Gear Supply, Mt. Herman Road, Raleigh, NC.
Does anyone here know if this shop and their skills?
Oh, and I have to then re-gear the front as well.
The BT rate was so much easier.
All the rolling resistance of 33s on a stock Jeep is a recipe for disaster. Consider that you need to bring all that gas-hungry mass to a stop, too, and need suspension upgrades as well. Folks who just stick lift pucks and 33s on a stock anything-J Jeep are a repair shops best friends. Make sure they understand the vehicle as a system, not just how to bolt on accessories.
The greatest threat to repairmen is YouTube and the greatest threat to refrigerators (aside from the Round Ranger) is dust and other crap that chokes off air flow. It’s an ugly job, pulling the refrigerator out and cleaning under and behind it but doing so each year will save your Kelvinator.
I disagree. YouTube is a boon to actual repair people, who have to come in and clean up after the amateur DIY fix the owner did not learn from YouTube…
Unless it’s electrical or has computer components, I’m fairly comfortable fixing most stuff around the ol’ homestead. Nearly got electrocuted when I was a kid, so I just don’t play with that. Not a computer tech, so I don’t mess with that. Still gives me lots of stuff to work on, although as I get older, I’m much more inclined to keep the trades gainfully employed.
Good points there MAJ Arkay. Way back yonder when I had a shop repairing electronics a sign over the shop door and a note printed on each sales invoice read:
Labor Rates: $35.00 per hour
With you watching: $45.00 per hour
With you helping: $55.00 per hour
If you tried to fix it first: $100.00 per hour
Word got out quick that the best course of action was to call me first. I saw many a high end hybrid or solid state component get butchered up by a supposed “electronic technician out at the base.” In many cases it would not be economical to repair. Those jobs helped out the sales department.
Like you, and I suspect a lot of others here, I will call a younger, more limber, more up to date person and pay them their rate to fix it for me. Lots of times it would take any of us more time to gather the tools and parts that we may need than it would take someone else’s time to do it.
Fixed mine getting advice from Youtube (bad control board) and my hot water heater and A.C….Youtube is a great resource…
I bought a new travel trailer last year. Turns out the furnace was installed before the cabinets were built and when the cabinets were installed the furnace and the cabinets had zero clearance. it nearly incinerated us the first night the furnace ran.
I have as much respect for an appliance repairman as I do a neurosurgeon, but for obviously different reasons. Yes, the day of the $25 service call passed decades ago, but I don’t have a problem paying for quality work. I’ve been burned by crooked/incompetent workers. Paying twice for the same work sucks. We have been using the same companies and independent workers for many years. Several of those who have worked here over the years got their training in the military. The training one gets from the military is second to none. Each time we found a company or independent worker who did quality work, we latched on to them.
I am happy with my appliance repairman. He can and will fix any model from any year, doesn’t matter.
There is a big business in rebuilding/renovating antique stoves and fridges from the 1930s onward, partly because an old gas stove like that is not reliant on electricity to start.
A Masters Degree in “20th Century Transgendered Disabled Authors of Color” gets you a job making coffee at S+@0%ucks.
A military school and a few years of experience gets you a career (a well paying one if you do HVAC in Florida).
What the hell is wrong with the younger generations?
Oh yeah, they don’t want to work.
Part of it IME is that parents push college too much without considering a career path and trends of salary/employment. It’s the any degree is a good degree misnomer.
There’s a metric shit tonne of degrees worth pursuing. However, there’s a lot of occupations in trades that can yield 6 figure salaries for those that want to pursue them instead.
Remember vo-tech and how everyone sniggered at the kids that went there? It’s just ignorance.
Not just that, there are internships available like in becoming a Power Lineman and they earn good money while they’re training. Like the story I read somewhere “Sally went to college for a four year degree with no demand and is $120,000 in debt with no job. She snickered at Steven who took an internship as a Lineman, Steven is debt free with a high paying job and is disconnecting Sally’s electricity for nonpayment.”
Power lineman? I know a 20-year old who is that. Because he is still on his parents’ health insurance, the company takes his $16,500.00 annual health insurance subsidy and puts it in a pre-tax 401K for him! And then there’s the salary. How did he do it? Two-years in community college in electrical distribution and some balls. Meanwhile, I’m sure his friends in four-yr schools (those that actually get degrees, that is) will be looking for jobs while he is on his way to becoming a certain millionaire from the 401K alone.
I think the vo-tech students are now making somewhere between $35/hr and $65/hr, depending on the specific job they are doing.
And a Dermatologist can pull in over a half million with no overtime. Point is there’s more than one way to skin a cat and no reason to be derisive about any method that works.
Too much false dichotomy around here sometimes and not enough reason.
Buddy of mine just fixed an annoying HVAC blower that sounded betimes like a Huey passing overhead. Sometimes annoying, sometimes quiet… drove both him and me nuts for two years. Finally he started seriously tearing into it, and found a long chunk of foil tape had gotten in the ducts (who knew when) and was occasionally getting sucked onto the bottom of the squirrel cage. 20 minutes to fix. He drinks free and I paid for his ticket to They Shall Not Grow Old. Nice to know an AC guy.
Had a garage door spring bust, called the guy. Turns out he’s from my church and just bought the business from a retiree. So busy, he’s booked solid.
Fixed my garage door for a reasonable price in 30-40 minutes and was off to another job. Seems like a good business for someone. Works for him.
Youth, pay attention.
Told my nephew to stop fantasizing about being a rich lawyer and look into HVAC, plumbing, or electrician. Our plumber bought a fishing boat for the Gulf of Mexico based upon his quality work around here. Our master electrician has five apprentices with him at any one time, having them do the work while he watches like a hawk — they all blossomed into excellent journeymen and several are already masters. And every one of them earn far more money than the typical lawyer.
Well, after reality slapped Neph in the face, he raised his hand and will be off to USAF basic in March. Very proud of him and older brother, who’s a WO1 in Army Aviation school, after being a helicopter mechanic and crew chief.
If neither makes a military career, they’ll come out with highly employable skills.
On workers in the skilled trades, and education: The WSJ had a letter to the editor today from a former military person who was stationed in Argentina 25+ years ago. He got a kick out of asking the cabbies what their degree was in. They were holders of engineer, chemist, biology – all sorts of high-end degrees. At the time, Argentina offered free college education, so everyone got a degree. The public universities weren’t much good – too many students (shocking, right?), too many professors who were not actually experts because the colleges needed bodies to teach. The good jobs went to the best and brightest who typically went to private colleges. The rest of the holders of the valuable college degree drove cabs. Who’d a thunk that could happen?
Like the 1171 Water Technician (Water Dogs) the Refrig kids get no respect until there’s no H2O or cold stuff.
As an MET grad I have fixed a number of items in the hooch through the Readers Digest Repair it Yourself books and now YouTube.
Fridges seem to be the devils tool.
Ours stopped chillen the box.
Found the maint manual on line.
Reviewed various internet fixes.
Attempted all the suggestions and no go.
To include all drains, defrost heaters, etc.
Almost had 80 percent of it apart and finally found the prop had fallen off blower motor that pushes cold to the main compartment.
We had overstuffed the freezer and it frosted up enough that the defrost cycle struggled.
I suspect the blade hoar frosted enough to unbalance and climb off the shaft.
Put it back on and am kinder to the freezer compartment.
No more issues.
Now the water dispenser gets air bound.
I suspect the ice maker bypass check valve has silted up. Waiting a couple seconds for water dispenser is a small price to pay for not having to dive into the guts again..
I’ve stocked up on popcorn
I feel like one of my daughters waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve
BHWHAHAHAHAHA !!!!
I was born in 1970, so I am a Viet era vet?
Here is a comment from a fellow combat warrior, but from Iraq times instead of Vietnam times, about the warrior ethos of the reefer recon Injun: I was in the Marines back in the Iraq times. We had an HVAC guy attached to our unit. We used to give him a lot of crap. We’d say hey HVAC Marine, is that even a real MOS? You see all the crap we got civilian contractors doing around here? We could probably add your job to the list. That all changed on fateful afternoon. We came back to the barracks after a day of kicking ass and taking names down in Sadr City to a fridge full of lukewarm beer. He sprang into action, got us coolers of ice to put cool our beer, got out his tools, and after a couple hours the fridge was working again! He may not have been out there dodging bullets with us that day, but on that evening he was the most important member of our platoon and we all sung his praises well into the night. Later that night, I went out back to take a pee, to find the HVAC guy working on a refrigerator. I looked at the fridge and it had a couple pictures of Iraqi kids on it and a magnetic menu for take out falafel. I said, “PFC Fast Horse,” that was his name, “what are you doing? You can’t fix the enemy fridges!” I’ll never forget what he told me. He said “No fridge is born an enemy, it becomes an enemy when the person who brought it home from Sears becomes the enemy.” I looked down to see what I was peeing on, and it was another broken fridge. There were broken fridges everywhere, PFC Fast Horse was going to stay up all night fixing all the broken fridges in the village. A couple months later, we were looting one of Saddam’s palaces. It was like a big crazy party. We had all taken most of the extra bullets we carried in our packs out so we… Read more »
Now I fail to see how that C_Myers fellow could have a problem with this laudable tale of the refermech. ExPH2, I think
you and the rest of us here at TAH have redeemed ourselves and corrected any misunderstandings.
I think his sarcasm detector may be in need of a minor adjustment by a suitable professional.
Being on the West coast and being forced to wait until dinner time to post leaves me often wondering who, if anyone, ever reads my two cents. First, on this issue I must STRONGLY endorse the commendation of skilled workmen. Alas, keeping his word both in showing up and performing good, sound repairs is too rare, even when WE take items to someone’s shop, much less on a home visit. Last I never tire of telling all who will listen that my Navy training & experience, not my college degree, opened EVERY door to ALL the jobs I won.
DOUGout
I read your two cents and add two peso…
Thanks.
I read your two cents and raise three…
Thanks. We’re up to a nickel and two pesos.
DOUGout
I was wondering if Mr. Phillipps/Stanard was a reefer mech in the USMCR, would be qualify for the Arctic Service Ribbon? Just curious. 🙂
Naw, he was never the type of person who could keep a fridges running sufficiently to reach Artic levels of efficiency. He couldn’t even run his own ass sufficiently to stay out of trouble.