Six months in and I just realized I was using my multimeter wrong

Ngl I've been checking continuity on dryer thermostats by touching the leads directly to the terminals, but a old timer on a job site pointed out I should be testing with the part still in the circuit to get accurate readings. Turns out I replaced three perfectly good thermostats last month because I thought they were open. Has anyone else had a basic tool habit flip their troubleshooting upside down?

4 comments

4 Comments

zarag1729d ago

Learned something new today.

cora8139d ago

Yeah that "learned something new today" hits hard when it's learned the expensive way. I've been there with parts swapping, spent 80 bucks on a capacitor once because I was positive the old one was bad. Turns out my multimeter was just on the wrong setting. It's a sick feeling when you realize you burned cash on parts you didn't need. The worst part is you can't even return them because the store sees you opened the box.

casey26829d ago

Wait, you replaced three perfectly good thermostats? That's brutal man. I'd be sick if I found out I wasted money like that. @zarag17 is right, you definitely learned something new today, but that's a costly lesson. I've done similar stuff with testing capacitors, just thought they were bad because my meter was set wrong and I wasn't reading them right. It's wild how one small habit can make you chase ghosts for weeks. Hope you didn't toss those old parts, at least they might still work as spares.

grantc8029d ago

Three thermostats at 40 bucks each is what, 120 bucks? That's a cheap lesson compared to chasing a bad wire for a week and burning out a compressor.