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No. 11
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No. 119 lessons
Learn how washing machines, dishwashers, ovens, fridges and tumble dryers fill, drain, heat and cool. Read what a stalled programme is waiting for, make the safe checks that are yours to make, and hand the rest to a repairer with evidence they can use.
Recommended orderLessons build on earlier ideas. Follow the numbers as you read.
Read a stalled programme as a machine waiting for a sensor to report back, and use the cheapest observation to find where it is stuck.
10 steps
See why a dark display can still hide 230 V, take control of an appliance's supply the right way, and work out whether a dead appliance, its plug or the socket is at fault.
9 stepsBuilds on How a Programme Thinks
See how mains pressure, a solenoid valve and a pocket of trapped air fill a machine, and tell a supply problem from a fault in the machine itself.
8 stepsBuilds on How a Programme Thinks
Follow waste water from the drum to the drain, clean a pump filter safely, and spot the installation faults that stop a machine draining or make it drain too much.
10 stepsBuilds on What Off Really Means, How a Programme Thinks
Work out an element's resistance from its power rating, see why heat needs resistance, and read what an RCD trip during heating does and doesn't tell you.
9 stepsBuilds on What Off Really Means
Follow one small batch of water round a dishwasher many times, and use that loop to fix gritty plates, cloudy glasses and a machine that stops with water in its base.
8 stepsBuilds on Draining: Pumps, Filters and Siphons, Heating Elements and Trips
Follow heat out of your food and into the kitchen, and use that loop to explain a warm fridge, freezing salad, a puddle under the drawers and a freezer that thaws in the garage.
11 stepsBuilds on Heating Elements and Trips
Follow the water out of your washing in vented, condenser and heat-pump dryers, and use that path to fix damp clothes and early stops, and to spot overheating before it becomes a fire.
10 stepsBuilds on Fridges: Pumping Heat Out
Know the jobs that are never yours, combine what you've learned to solve a real fault, compare a repair with a replacement on complete costs, and hand over evidence a repairer can use.
12 stepsBuilds on What Off Really Means, How a Programme Thinks, Draining: Pumps, Filters and Siphons, How a Dishwasher Cleans