3 years and countless baked goods ago, I got a KitchenAid Pro 600 stand mixer. I’ve used it to mix up countless pastries, and at least once a week it is used to combine and knead ingredients for bread.  It is a real workhorse in the kitchen and up until a few weeks ago, never gave me any problem.

As it was kneading a rather dense ball of whole wheat loaf with the bread hook, it started to chatter in place. After shutting it off I finished kneading the loaf by hand, set the dough aside to rise and examined my wounded friend. Clearly one of the gears inside had some teeth missing since the hook would stop part of the way around. I could advance it by pushing it past the flat spot, but it was not going to go all the way around on its own. Since it was out of warranty I opted to try and fix it – how much worse could I make it? If I really screwed it up I was no worse off than I was now.

Taking it apart was easy: 1 screw on the back removed the thin metal band and exposed 4 screws that when removed allowed the top housing to come off. Removing 4 more screws around the gear box housing exposed the gears themselves. While it was obvious which gear was missing teeth, it wasn’t obvious how to get it out. After discovering and (with much effort) removing a retaining clip on the main shaft, the top gear came off. That exposed a locking pin that when removed with a toothpick allowed the damaged gear to come off.

After some hunting around on the Internet I discovered that what I damaged was a worm follower gear. I found replacement parts at The Mending Shed – worm gear was $6, retainer ring, $4, new grease $17 (large can). Once I got the parts the messiness began – old grease out, new grease in, gears aligned with slippery hands, trial runs, adjustments, a quick trip to Home Depot for a retaining ring spreader ($21), etc, etc.. After about an hour of fiddling I finally got all the gears to line up and the gear box cap to go on correctly.

It sounds good as new and after adjusting the beater head height feels like it is ready for at least another 3 years. All together the repair cost me $61 – $27 in parts, $13 in shipping and $21 for a speciality tool – which while pricey is cheaper than replacing the mixer. Should it happen again I have the retainer tool and lots and lots of grease.

Now back to cooking and drinking wine!

The Sting’s “confidence game” acts reminded me of my just completed woodstove install. The players, actions, and events of this little drama all built confidence toward a preconceived conclusion on the part of the “stingee” (me in this case) that getting a new wood stove would be a relatively simple process along a well thought out path that others had traveled before me. And while the end result is what I wanted, a new wood stove, the journey sure as hell felt like a sting operation.

• The Players – me, my 1977 Vermont Castings Vigilant wood stove, The City of Keene, US Tax Code
• The Hook – $1000 voucher to replace an old wood stove, 30% tax credit, help with cleaner air
• The Tale – take a few pictures, fill out a form or 2, draw a floor plan, get a permit, get a voucher, take voucher to store, pick out a stove, subtract $1000, pay balance, installed wham – new stove, deduct 30% of final bill (including install) from bottom line of taxes.
• The Shutout – How big is that hearth and what’s it made of? Fire codes have changed in 30 years, need a new hearth, new non-combustible protection for  rear wall, new double-wall stove pipe for chimney connection, $$$$, oh and here’s a new form that we didn’t tell you about at first, and by the way that’ll be $75 for the permit.
• The Sting – money already committed to purchase, paper work filled out, permits obtained, do I really need this? Nothing really wrong with the old stove. Could invest money in other projects? Don’t really need tax write-off. Sniff, air quality seems fine to me.. sigh.. I’m already here – might as well continue.

To be fair, every one of the players (including the vendor/installer) was as helpful as the could be. The people at city hall went out of the way to be helpful and answered my questions no matter how many trips I had to make. The vendor and installer were professional and told me exactly what they needed from me in order to do the job right. I read all the documents available to make sure I thought I understood what I was getting into.

If I had to add another act to this saga, I guess it would be called “The Gripes”:

• Timing – This is probably my largest issue. The program only had $100,000 in vouchers. At $1000 per person only 100 people could participate in the program. With a population of 22-23K it seemed like “first come, first serve” would go fast. Add to it that once accepted into the program a new stove had to be purchased within 21 days. Install could drag out but the purchase had to be complete. Oh and the program only lasts from Oct. 22, 2009 – Jan. 29, 2010 – slightly more than 3 months from start to finish. Don’t forget the holidays…
• Requirements – there should have been a fire code/pre-install check list to ensure that the consumer understood the areas in and around the install that may need to be addressed. Hearth construction requirements, sizing issues, non-combustible space requirements, all fees, etc. Finding these out as I went along and from different people (mostly the vendor and installers) make the process feel unorganized and haphazard. Granted I could have done more up-front investigation but the “time constraints” on the project meant that things had to happen quickly.
• Game changing – to be fair, I didn’t get my install permit finished until just before the install. Problem was there was a “new form” to complete before getting the permit that neither I or the vendor had ever seen. If I had completed the permit right after the purchase, the form would not have been required – my bad. Still, adding a step to the process that some had to complete and others didn’t smacks me the wrong way. I certainly understand the need for the extra form but the city should have thought of that before hand and once added, informed all parties of the change and what it meant.

If you ever need an appliance part, here’s a shameless plug for RepairClinic. The first 2 dealers claimed to have the module in stock only to bail after I ordered it. One didn’t even bother to tell me that it wasn’t going to ship until October – I had to ask them to find out when it would ship. RepairClinic was $25 more than the first 2 places, but they shipped same day. Outstanding service from them!

The stove: rebooted

So module in hand I removed the back panel, removed the old board, swapped out the faceplate – the new one was in black and white is no longer an option evidently – reconnected all the wires, turned on the gas, connected the electric and Presto! I have a working oven!

To those of you that lent me your support, I thank you. It’s OK to stand down.

I cycled power with no change in the display. Next day I called our local appliance store and talked to “Jeff” about what might be wrong. He suggested cycling power for an extend period. So that night I tripped the breaker on the range for a good 3 hours with the same results: one lone LED segment lit and no error codes.

Maytag Control Unit

Back to “Jeff”, except this time it’s “Dave” on the other end. I give Dave the model and serial number, describe the problem, and await the bad news – new control unit, probably $215 + labor. I ask about installing it myself. Sure, just check the power to make sure you’re getting 110-120 volts across “power-to-neutral” and “power-to-ground”. If that’s OK, then they can order the part and a dozen screws later it’ll be in.

So this evening I pulled the stove out – not too hard. I shut off the gas and removed the dozen or so screws holding the back panel on. Once unplugged I tested the voltage – all set at 119 and change. I labeled all the wires to the control unit, and then removed it. I started looking around for a burned part on the control unit. It didn’t take to long to find it – a burned solder trace between 2 IC parts. Some Siemens part that controls voltage. The color of the trace was visibly discolored between the parts.

I looked up the model number on line and found the part for about $130. Jeff and Dave won’t be getting my part business but I appreciate the debugging help they gave me. Consult local, buy global – that’s my motto. Hopefully the part will be in before the weekend. Until then, grill, baby, grill.

Pictures of the PC board in various stages of dis-assembly are here.