I don’t know if repairmen are having a difficult time making a living these days.
But I know over the past few years, I’ve saved lots of money by fixing things myself.
Years ago, people in the trades - plumbers, electricians, heating and cooling experts and appliance service people were in high demand because the average person didn’t know much about home repairs.
I learned a long time ago that it could cost hundreds just to fix a refrigerator, stove, unclog a drain or change an electrical outlet.
My father was a refrigeration mechanic - a trade he learned in technical school along with plumbing, heating and electric when he returned home from the Philippines after World War II.
Because of his skills, we never had to call for anyone to repair anything. He fixed the refrigerator, washer and dryer, and small appliances, like the toaster and blender. He also did repairs for other people on the side to make a few dollars.
One day he brought home a large console TV someone had thrown away because it didn’t work anymore.
I remember he had the living room floor covered with parts and tools. He said he hadn’t ever worked on one before. It took him a day or two, but he fixed it.
It was our first television, and it worked for a long time.
Years later, after I bought a multi-family house, my father helped me with the plumbing, heating and electric, until my parents retired and moved to Florida.
That’s when I found out how expensive repairs could be.
First, a refrigerator in one of the apartments stopped cooling. I called an appliance repairman. It cost $70 just for him to show up. He told me he could take the refrigerator to the “shop” and fix it for about $300.
I don’t know if he was an honest guy, or if he was trying to take advantage of my ignorance. But I knew I could buy a new unit for not much more than his repair estimate, so I did.
I wanted to avoid that expense in the future, so I started collecting appliance repair manuals and home repair books. At the time, there was no Internet, so everything came from the library or hardware store.
Over the years, I learned where to order parts for the refrigerator and stove. I read up on changing outlets, installing locks and replacing faucets. I learned enough to keep things working in the apartment building without paying someone else to do the work.
Now, with the Internet, I’m constantly learning how to fix other things. I’ve repaired a lot of my farm equipment. I had to replace a pump on my washing machine and a belt on my dryer.
After my water softener stopped working, I found an online service manual and discovered it was probably just a rust clog.
It was, and it took me about an hour to fix without buying any parts.
Just last weekend, my lawn mower stopped. There was oil coming from the air filter and I couldn’t pull the cord to get it started. And it wouldn’t move forward because the wheels seemed like they were locked.
I looked up the model on YouTube. There were about 15 different videos explaining how to purge oil from the motor and what to check if there was a problem with the drive belt.
It took about three hours and a handful of tools, but the mower is working now.
I also learned that I probably caused the problem in the first place by shaking it and turning it on its side to clean out all the caked grass.
I don’t know how much it would have cost for someone else to fix. But now I know how to fix it next time.
I wonder what will break next.
