DIY & Home Improvement

LG used to be Lucky Gold Star. I remember the really cheap electronics they used to sell.

We have a stackable washer and dryer. The drum went bad on the dryer within 3 years and had to be replaced.

I went online and found pages and pages of complaints from people having the same "bad weld" problem as me. Everyone who complained to LG got nowhere. They knew there was a defect but they didn't care.

The typical repair seemed to be $300- 500 dollars - not much less than the price of a new one. It required two service calls, a dismantled dryer somewhere in your house while waiting for parts and two to three weeks return time.

Here's the good news. New appliances are all made with color coded plug and play components made easy for slave labor to build fast.

I went online and found the free service manual (don't pay for one that comes up first in Google- scam) and found step by step instructions how to dismantle. I found the part I needed from several vendors. The drum was only $100 bucks but several vendors wanted $100 bucks for shipping. The drum wasn't heavy but it was large (think giant beer can)....

And then I checked Sears!! $10 bucks for shipping!! Sears Logistics stock a lot of parts. I got it in three days. It went back together and worked like new.

Your case may be a bit more difficult. Not knowing what your symptoms are it may take a bit of sleuth work to diagnose the problem.

One place I would suggest is "Answer.com" . I used them to trouble shoot and repair my furnace and my neighbor's furnace. I'm pretty handy, adventurous and I have tools and a multimeter.

On answer.com you put like $20 or 30 bucks in the kitty and then post your question. The applicable service person will answer and tell you how much the question should cost.

The first furnace I did was like 20 bucks. The next one was like 30, IIRC. I think they got a little more popular and raised the prices. You don't pay unless you are satisfied with the advice.

For me, the process entailed like 4 emails back and forth. "Check this with multimeter, check that with the multimeter, replace this part and let me know" Done. Then I released the funds.

I could have, and this might make sense for you, just replaced the parts I suspected. In my case, I suspected the igniter plug and that's what it was. It was nice to have the tech as a back stop and moral support. It was worth the money.

For me, it's not so much saving the repair costs charged by the repair shops. It's at least two repair calls, the resultant time waiting around, missed appointments and late arrivals.