Symptom index

What is your appliance doing?

Every symptom our 108 repair guides cover, grouped by appliance. Start with the symptom pages if the same fault could come from more than one machine, or go straight to your appliance below.

Symptoms covered: 108
Appliance types: 12
Symptom pages: 14

Start with the symptom

A leak, a noise or a dead panel behaves the same way whichever appliance it happens in. Each page below covers one symptom across every machine it affects: what it usually means, what to check first, whether it is DIY or licensed work, and the likely part and cost.

Can be urgent6 guides
Leaking water
A leaking appliance almost never leaks from where you find the water. The puddle is the end of the trail, not the start of it. Kill the power at the breaker before you kneel in it, shut the appliance's own water supply valve, then work backwards from the puddle: a blocked drain, a failed inlet valve, a split hose, or a door seal that has stopped sealing accounts for the large majority of leaks across every water-carrying appliance in the house.
RefrigeratorWasherDishwasherGarbage Disposal
Can be urgent7 guides
Not cooling or holding temperature
Start with one question: does the freezer still freeze? On almost every modern refrigerator a single evaporator cools both compartments, so a cold freezer with a warm fridge points at airflow — a fan, a damper or a defrost fault — and typically lands in the $180–$400 band once a technician has fitted the part. Neither side cold points upstream at the compressor circuit or the sealed system, which is a different order of cost and, for anything involving refrigerant, licensed work.
RefrigeratorFreezerWine Cooler
7 guides
Not heating
Every heating appliance has the same three-part chain: a power supply, a heat source, and a safety device that cuts the heat when something is wrong. When heat disappears but the machine still runs, the safety device has almost always done its job. On a dryer that is a thermal fuse tripped by a blocked vent; on an oven it is a bake element or igniter; on a microwave it is the high-voltage section, which is the one case on this page where the honest answer is to stop and call someone.
DryerOven & RangeMicrowaveDishwasher
Can be urgent2 guides
Burner won't light
If you smell gas, stop reading and leave — this page is for a burner that will not light with no gas odour present. A gas burner that clicks but never catches is almost always a burner cap seated wrong or a port clogged with boil-over, and the fix is free. An electric coil that stays cold is usually a burnt receptacle rather than the element, which is why swapping in a known-good element is the single most useful test you can run.
Oven & Range
8 guides
Won't turn on or won't run
A completely dead appliance is far more often a supply or an interlock problem than a broken machine. Work outward in this order: the outlet, the breaker or GFCI, the appliance's own door switch or lid switch, then the control. Every washer, dryer, dishwasher and microwave has at least one safety interlock that silently refuses to let the machine start, and those switches fail far more often than control boards do.
WasherDryerGarbage DisposalRange Hood
4 guides
Won't drain
Standing water almost always means the drain path is blocked, not that the pump has died. Work the path in order: the filter or trap, then the hose and its high loop, then the air gap, then the pump itself. On a dishwasher installed alongside a new garbage disposal, check one thing first — if nobody knocked out the disposal's dishwasher plug during installation, the dishwasher has never had anywhere to drain to.
WasherDishwasherGarbage Disposal
4 guides
No water, no ice, won't fill
Water problems have a short list of causes and they are the same across a dispenser, an ice maker and a washer fill: the supply is off or restricted, a filter or inlet screen is clogged, a line has frozen, or the inlet valve has failed. Check them in that order. A six-month-old water filter and a partly closed saddle valve account for a surprising share of calls where a new valve gets fitted for nothing.
WasherRefrigeratorIce Maker
6 guides
Making noise
Noise is the most diagnosable symptom on this site because the sound names the part. Squealing is a bearing or an idler pulley; grinding is metal on metal and means stop; rhythmic thumping is a load imbalance or a worn roller; buzzing that stops when you open the door is a fan hitting ice; and banging during a spin is suspension. Match the sound first, because it changes both the cost and how long you can safely keep using the machine.
RefrigeratorFreezerDryerWasher
4 guides
Bad smell
Odour is never the appliance itself — it is biofilm, trapped food or standing water somewhere you have not looked. In a front-load washer it is the door boot fold and the detergent drawer; in a disposal it is the underside of the splash guard, not the grind chamber; in a compactor it is the drawer channel below the bag; and in ice it is usually the freezer's contents rather than the water. Clean the actual source and the smell does not come back.
WasherGarbage DisposalTrash CompactorIce Maker
8 guides
Door won't open, close or seal
Doors fail three ways and each has a different answer. A door that will not open is usually an interlock doing its job — a front-load washer holds the lock until the tub is drained, and a self-clean oven holds it until the cavity drops below roughly 500°F. A door that will not latch is nearly always alignment rather than the latch. A door that closes but no longer seals is a gasket, a hinge, or a cabinet that is not level.
WasherDishwasherOven & RangeMicrowave
Can be urgent3 guides
Sparking or burning smell
Stop using the appliance and cut its power at the breaker. Sparking, arcing and a burning smell are the three symptoms on this site that are never worth one more cycle. Inside a microwave, arcing is usually a burnt waveguide cover or metal in the cavity; at an electric cooktop it is a receptacle overheating under load; and grease dripping from a range hood means the duct is carrying a fire load. None of the three gets better on its own.
MicrowaveOven & RangeRange Hood
5 guides
Not cleaning or drying
Poor cleaning and poor drying are usually plumbing and airflow problems rather than broken machines. In a dishwasher, check the filter, the spray arm jets and the water temperature before anything else — a machine fed below about 120°F will never clean or dry properly. In a dryer, a load that needs three cycles is a restricted vent nine times out of ten, and that restriction is also a fire risk.
DishwasherDryer
7 guides
Jammed or stuck
A motor that hums without turning is jammed, not dead, and the fix is usually free. Cut power at the breaker first — a wall switch is not isolation — then free the mechanism by hand or with the tool the manufacturer supplied. A garbage disposal has a hex socket in its underside for exactly this; a compactor has a manual drive method; and a microwave turntable is a drive coupler or a roller ring that has come off track.
Garbage DisposalTrash CompactorMicrowaveIce Maker
4 guides
Weak airflow or venting
A range hood that will not clear steam and a dryer that takes three cycles are the same fault in two appliances: the duct, not the motor. Test it by measuring what happens with the duct disconnected — strong airflow at the appliance with weak airflow at the outside wall means the run is restricted, crushed, too long, or terminating at a flap that no longer opens. Duct work is cheap; motors are not.
Range HoodDryer

Every symptom, by appliance

All 108 guides in the library, listed by what you would actually notice. Each one links to a full diagnostic walk-through with tools, parts, costs and the point at which it stops being a DIY job.

Refrigerator

12 symptoms

Washer

15 symptoms

Dryer

10 symptoms

Dishwasher

12 symptoms

Oven & Range

10 symptoms

Microwave

10 symptoms

Garbage Disposal

6 symptoms

Ice Maker

8 symptoms

Freezer

8 symptoms

Trash Compactor

5 symptoms

Wine Cooler

5 symptoms

Range Hood

7 symptoms

Before you troubleshoot

Some symptoms are not a diagnosis

Three faults skip this page entirely. A smell of gas means leave the building and call the utility from outside — do not troubleshoot it. A sealed refrigerant circuit is EPA Section 608 certified work and nothing else. And a microwave’s high-voltage capacitor can hold a lethal charge long after the plug is out, so the cabinet does not come off, ever.

Water near anything electrical is the fourth: kill the breaker before you touch the appliance or the floor around it.

What to shut off right now Find a pro near you

Businesses listed: 873
With their own page: 873
Guides behind this index: 108

Using the symptom index

How do I use this page?

Find your appliance in the list below and read down until you see what yours is doing. Each symptom links to a guide that works through it in diagnostic order. If several appliances are doing the same thing, or you are not sure which appliance is at fault, start from the symptom pages at the top instead.

How do I know whether it is a DIY repair or a licensed job?

Every symptom page states the split explicitly. As a rule: unplugged mechanical work, filters, hoses, gaskets and cleaning are homeowner jobs; meter diagnosis and model-matched parts are technician work; and gas piping, sealed refrigerant circuits, fixed wiring and microwave high-voltage sections are licensed-only, without exception.

What if my appliance is doing several of these at once?

Work the most dangerous symptom first, not the most annoying one. Sparking, a burning smell, a gas odour or water you cannot stop outranks everything else on this page. After that, faults usually share one root cause — a blocked vent or a failing seal typically produces three symptoms, not one.

Are these guides specific to my model?

No. They are written around the mechanisms every manufacturer shares, which is what makes the diagnostic order valid across brands. The part you eventually buy is model-specific, so find the model number — inside the door, behind the kick plate, or on the back panel — before ordering anything.

These pages are for informational purposes only and were compiled from publicly available sources. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions and your local codes. Cost figures are estimates for a typical US job, not quotes. If you are not confident performing a repair, hire a licensed professional.

Start with the symptom

Every symptom, by appliance

Some symptoms are not a diagnosis

Using the symptom index

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