How to Fix 11 of the Most Common Household Appliance Problems

At least a quarter of all appliance repair calls are resolved with no-brainer solutions like pushing a button or flipping a circuit breaker. The team at Family Handymanshares what to look for and how to avoid these expensive lessons.

Garbage Disposal

All disposals have an overload feature that automatically shuts off the power when the motor becomes overloaded and gets too hot. Once the motor cools, simply push the reset button on the side of or under the unit.

On the other hand, if it hums but doesn't spin, it may have something stuck in it. Switch the disposal off, then try working through it by turning the blades with a special disposal wrench (sold at home centers) or by turning a bottom bolt. Many disposals have an Allen wrench for that purpose, inset on the bottom of the machine.

Lights

When a light goes out or a switch doesn't work, you should first check the main electrical panel for a tripped circuit breaker. But don't stop there. Before you change out light bulbs and switches, see if a GFCI outlet (which may be upstream from the troubled light or outlet) has tripped. Sometimes all the bathrooms or the outside lights are powered through a single GFCI located in one bathroom or elsewhere, such as in a basement. Simply push the reset button on the GFCI and you could be back in business.

Refrigerator

your refrigerator conks out on a hot day and you have a cat or a dog, immediately check the coils for pet hair. Service pros find this problem on half of their refrigerator calls. The coils are the black tube-and-wire grid that cools the fluid in the compressor. A buildup of hair will cause the compressor to overheat and trigger the overload switch. On many fridges, you get to the coils by opening the grille at the bottom of the refrigerator. Then push a coil cleaning brush (sold at home centers) into the coils, pull it back and vacuum it clean.

coils, pull it back and vacuum it clean.

If the coils are located on the back, pull out your fridge (it's often on rollers) and brush them off. Bonus: The clean coils will cool more efficiently and save you money on your utility bill! Once the overload switch is tripped, you may have to wait a few hours for it to cool. It will reset itself and turn the refrigerator back on.

Gas Stove

If your stove burner won't come on, the likely culprit is the spaghetti sauce that boiled over a few days ago. Use a toothbrush to clean off food spills from the igniter. On an electronic ignition stove, it's a little ceramic nub located either on the stovetop or under the ceramic seal strike plate. Also make sure that the round ceramic seal strike plate is properly seated on the burner.

Electric Range

If your electric stove burner won't heat, turn the burner off and pull it out from its socket. Then plug it in again and wiggle it around. If it feels loose, remove the burner again and gently bend the burner prongs slightly outward for a tighter connection. Easy does it. You could end up pushing the whole socket out of its bracket.

Standing Gas Pilot Range

To access the ignition system in an older-style standard gas range, pop the lid. It's usually hinged on the back side. If the pilot flame is out, poke a needle into the pilot hole to clean out soot (be careful not to ream it wider). Brush off any debris and clean the tube that leads from the pilot to the burner. Then relight the pilot.

Oven Controls

Blame it on the technology. It so happens that if you set the “time cook” function, the oven, much like a programmed VCR, won't turn on until the appointed time. You may have done this inadvertently, but if your digital display reads “hold,” “delay” or “time cook,” then the timer is engaged. You'll have to clear it first by pushing the “off” button. On ovens with dials, be sure the knob is turned to “manual.”