Three years back, a fridge in a basement apartment taught me to always check the floor slope

The customer was sure the compressor was shot because it kept short cycling. I spent an hour on it before I noticed the whole unit was leaning back about two inches, starving the oil from the pump. Leveled the feet and it ran fine. How many 'bad parts' are really just installs that weren't checked?

4 comments

4 Comments

samk772mo ago

Totally, I've seen that with washing machines too. They'll shake themselves out of level and people call for a repair when all it needs is a twist of the feet.

cooper.drew11d ago

Blaming the install for every problem just lets bad parts off the hook" - yeah, but sometimes it really is the install. My buddy @samk77 spent a weekend fixing his dryer, turns out the vent was crushed behind the machine from day one. Was that the part's fault?

amy_craig282mo ago

My last washer repair was just that, @adams.uma. Felt so dumb.

adams.uma2mo ago

Come on, that's a crazy rare case. Most of the time when a part fails, it's just worn out. You can't expect installers to check every single angle forever. Stuff settles, things shift. Blaming the install for every problem just lets bad parts off the hook.