Hot take: Most homeowners don't need a full diagnostic machine

I was talking to a guy at the supply house in Phoenix last week who said he still fixes 80% of stuff with just a multimeter and his ears. He made me realize I was relying too much on my fancy tester instead of actually listening to what the fridge or dryer was telling me. Do you think we lean on expensive tools too much instead of the basics?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordan46411d ago

Bet the guy in Phoenix has seen it all. What's the biggest thing you've heard a unit tell you that a code on a screen would've missed?

williamprice11d ago

Gotta disagree a bit here. I've had plenty of folks tell me wild stories that sound great but don't match what the paperwork says, you know? Like a guy swearing his check engine light only came on after he hit a pothole, but the code showed it had been misfiring for weeks. Codes are just data points, sure, but they don't lie about timing or frequency the way a customer's memory does. I'll take a freeze frame data readout over someone's "it just started doing this" story nine times out of ten.