When your washing machine breaks, how do you know whether to roll up your sleeves, work the phones to find a repair technician, or give in and swipe your Visa at the nearest appliance dealer? It’s a ...

The odds of getting your washing machine repaired right the first time aren’t great. Only 61 percent of all repairs were done correctly on the first attempt, according to a Consumer Reports’ survey.

There’s great potential in salvaging a motor from a broken appliance, but so often the part in question is very specific to its application, presenting a puzzle of wires to the experimenter. This was ...