That Wednesday I fixed a 20 year old fridge with a paperclip and a toothpick

Had a call in Medford for a Samsung that wouldn't stop running the ice maker, found the flipper arm was snapped off and the customer was about to drop $400 on a new main board, so I busted out the paperclip to rig a new pivot point and used a toothpick to shim the microswitch and it's been running fine for three weeks now, has anyone else had to MacGyver a random household item to fix a board that was otherwise toast?

2 comments

2 Comments

victor21916d ago

Wait did you hear about that guy who fixed a 2000s era microwave with a bent paperclip and a piece of gum wrapper? I read about it on some repair forum a while back. Honestly your fridge fix sounds way more legit though because you actually saved the customer from dropping serious cash on a whole new board. That microswitch shim with the toothpick is genius, I bet 90% of techs would have just told them to buy a new board and walked away. It's crazy how many boards get tossed just because of a tiny plastic part breaking or a switch getting a little loose. Makes you wonder how many perfectly good fridges and other appliances end up in the dump because people don't know you can fix stuff with stuff you already have.

the_charles16d ago

Oh buddy, that's a beautiful fix right there. Nothing beats that feeling of saving someone a big bill with just junk from your pocket. I've shoved a soda can tab under a relay before to get a furnace blower running for a few more months, and it still makes me smile.