Buerste wrote:
Something doesn't work so you take it apart and troubleshoot all the
components. You can't find anything wrong so you put it back together
and...IT WORKS PERFECT! It has happened to me for forever but what's going
on? My latest is the icemaker in the kitchen refrigerator. I spent hours
and hours finding documents and troubleshooting. No, it wasn't frozen-up,
(the most common fault it seems) the motor worked, the thermostat checked
out, the heater passed muster. The water valve is OK and all cleaned out.
(I've replaced plenty of those in different units over the years). Of
course, I find nothing else that could cause it to crap out so put it all
back together and...it works just fine. Go figure. I've had hundreds if
not thousands of this kind of thing, I'll bet everybody else does too!


Bad electrical connections, almost for sure. The only question is how
long it will take to go bad again. All sorts of those tin-plated quick
connect terminals, in a variety of forms and sizes, have slow corrosion
of the contact area. If perfectly clean, applying 120 V will always
break through the oxide. When not so clean, they can amazingly sit
there with 120 V across them and no conduction, until you separate and
remate the contacts. That's why when it matters (automotive "important
stuff", aerospace, etc.) they use gold connectors.

Jon