[homeclinic] Homeclinic'ers, Here's Your DRSNews!

From: Dave Harnish <drs@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: homeclinic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 2004 14:01:56 -0600
The DRSNews
June 2004
By Subscription Only
Published by Dave?s Repair Service, All Rights Reserved 
You are currently subscribed with email address:
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You are encouraged to forward this newsletter to friends! 
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A Special Welcome to all our new subscribers! Howdy!

Note: to ensure this newsletter gets through all the 
?spam? filtering now in use, I recommend that you add my 
address to your email program?s address book: 
drs@xxxxxxxxxx

Hi Homeclinic'ers!
 
In this issue:
 
1) Summertime - Can Your Refrigerator Breathe?
2) Send me a Testimonial - I'm Offering Bribes!
3) Reminder: Saving Your Refrigerator Door Seals

1) Here we are once again at the start of that season when 
refrigerators start to shudder. To help keep yours humming 
along through the heat and humidity of summer, here are a 
couple of tips I always repeat this time of year:

Best Refrigerator Tip #1:

Keep that condenser clean! 
All the heat removed from the food inside a refrigerator is 
moved 'outside the box' by the condenser coil. Nearly always 
black because black radiates heat best, these coils used to 
be flat and nearly the size of the cabinet. They hung on the 
back, where they quietly radiated heat to the kitchen, requiring 
no fan to keep them cool. It was a good system, using gravity 
to provide airflow and saving energy by not requiring a fan 
('Did require 2-3 inches of airspace above the refrig, though).

There are still a few units out there with their coils hanging 
on the back, and if this describes yours, wonderful! You will 
never have the pleasure of doing what most of us get to do 
every year or so. (Guys: you can still lie on the kitchen floor 
and pretend to do something useful, but be sure she doesn't 
read this newsletter <g>). 

Nearly all condensers these days are folded or rolled and 
stuffed underneath the refrigerator, and need a fan to pull 
air through them to do their job.

I won't get into the logic behind this change, but it adds one 
more item to the list of preventive maintenance jobs around 
your house. And it's probably the number 2 reason a refrig pro 
is called in (and paid!), so you can save some money here.

Once a year - early summer's a great time - pull the toe-plate 
off the refrig and have a look underneath. Most condenser air 
inlets are on the right side, though some pull air in across the 
whole width of the cabinet. (note there are a few - Maytag 
products mostly - that require back cover removal to clean 
the inlet of their 'jelly-roll' shaped coil).

This air inlet area's where you'll see lint buildup, and it's often 
just a solid wall of lint - definitely NOT what you want! You 
don't want any lint there, bc it acts as insulation, and you want 
the best heat transfer efficiency you can get from that coil.

Just turn the refrig off and fire up your trusty shop-vac. A 
brush specifically made for this purpose is a really handy tool 
for the job, and on the models with tightly packed coils, is an 
absolute must. 

Here's an example of one that works well for me and really 
speeds up the job:
http://www.DavesRepair.com/SaleParts/condbrush.htm

For more on this job, including a precaution or two, please see 
item #4 in the May '02 DRSNews:
http://www.DavesRepair.com/DRSNbackissues/drsn0502.htm

2) I'm looking for testimonials from our subscribers/customers 
to post on my website, and I'll BRIBE you to get one! <grin>

Here's the Deal:
If the DRSNews or your dealings with Dave's Repair Service 
have been at all beneficial to you (or even if you've been 
disappointed - this'd be a good time to fix whatever might be 
broken!), please send me a short testimonial at drs@xxxxxxxxxx 

If your testimonial is selected for publication, I'll post it, along 
with your first name, initial of your last name, and city/state/
country, on my website. I do reserve the right to edit it for clarity 
and brevity.

And here's The Bribe!
I'll publish, along with your testimonial, a one-line description of 
your website, and a live link to it, so be sure and include the URL!
(I have a legal obligation to tell you that I reserve the right to 
screen your website for inappropriate content before posting)

I plan on keeping one of these testimonials near the top of my 
homepage, with a link to a separate page (or pages) of them 
underneath. This homepage testimonial will be rotated on a regular 
basis to keep it 'fresh', so there's a good chance yours will end up 
there at one time or another. 

Any of you that have been marketing for a while know that the 
more 'external' links pointing to your site, the more traffic you get, 
and you'll recognize the value in this 'bribe'.

I hope to have at least some of these published in next month's 
issue, so don't wait - send 'em on in! Remember to include your 
name, city/state, and the URL of any website you promote, along 
with a one-line description of the site. Send them to 
drs@xxxxxxxxxx

And I'm serious about emailing me even if you've been disappointed 
or dissatisfied. Please do so. I won't be personally offended, and if 
there's a problem, I 'can't fix it if I don't know it's broke'.

Thanks in advance! And a special Thanks to you kind folks who've 
already sent your 'unsolicited' feedback. I appreciate that.

Ok, back to refrigerators...

3) Best Refrigerator Tip #2:
Another preventive maintenance item that is more important than 
ever is door gasket lubrication. Those of you who've been with 
me for a while have heard this before, but this is a great time of 
year to check on it. I've copied the following article from my website, 
'How to add 10 years of life to your refrig door seals', below:
(from http://www.DavesRepair.com/DIYhelp/DIYrefseallube.htm )

Here?s a simple trick that will most likely prevent your ever 
having to replace either of your  refrigerator?s door seals.  It becomes 
even more valuable if you own one of the newer models whose seals 
are no longer attached with screws, but GLUED on (a really dumb 
idea there, manufacturers!) 

Once every year (make it a part of Spring housecleaning? 
Anyone still DO Spring housecleaning?) wipe down the 
working surfaces of the seals with a damp cloth, and dry. 
Then  apply a thin film of Petroleum Jelly to the HINGE side 
surface of both seals. (ONLY to the hinge side working surface 
that contacts the cabinet, NOT  the whole seal!). This allows 
the sliding face of the seal to, well, slide, across the hinge-side 
cabinet face, and prevent its twisting and tearing, the #1 cause 
of failure. 

There was a time when new refrigerators, at least Frigidaires, 
arrived from the factory with this already done, but that was 
back in the late 70?s so I?m dating myself and we?ll drop that 
subject! <grin>

***

Thanks again, Homeclinic'ers, for allowing me into your inbox again 
this month. 

Feel free to invite others to subscribe. They can just email 
me with ?Subscribe DRSN? in their email subject line, or sign up 
on the website www.DavesRepair.com 
 
Also, if you have any topics you?d like to see discussed here or 
covered in an online article, let me know and I?ll do my best to 
oblige. The website's a resource I'm excited about, because it 
allows a lot more flexibility and detail than email. It's a lot easier, 
for example, to use photos to illustrate something in a web 
document than via email.
 
May the Lord richly bless you & yours!

Your Friend,
 
Dave Harnish
Dave?s Repair ServiceNew Albany, PA
drs@xxxxxxxxxx
www.DavesRepair.com
(570) 363-2404

Only one thing in the physical world is unaffected by entropy!
Know what it is? (Hint: see Isaiah 40:8)

Real Security is NOT a Regular Paycheck.
http://www.RetireQuickly.com/26556 ;

Discount Appliance Parts, Vintage Manuals, Appliance Help 
for the ?Handy?, DRSNews Back issues, and More: 
http://www.DavesRepair.com

***

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[homeclinic] Homeclinic'ers, Here's Your DRSNews!

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