Free Appliance Repair Training vs. Paid Training

Free Appliance Repair Training vs. Paid TrainingFree resources are available on the internet, and some of them are very helpful, but paid training can catapult you onto the next level that free training can’t.

Free appliance repair training takes longer to accumulate the knowledge that paid training can condense into a much shorter period of time. There is a huge amount of free information on YouTube and elsewhere on the web but, unfortunately, it is unfiltered and often in error.  Rarely do you find accurate diagnostic instructions. Instead, you only find how to replace parts videos. Plus the value of time is seldom mentioned. A pro is constantly weighing time in his profit calculation.

Paid training is also much more thorough, and fills in a lot of gaps that free training leaves.

If you spend your money wisely, you can get a great education in a short period of time and get your business started quickly.

Books:  Choose wisely and you don’t need that many of them. The first book you need to learn appliance repair troubleshooting is Troubleshooting and Repairing Major Appliances, by Eric Kleinert.  It’s like a troubleshooting encyclopedia. For a practical application of the techniques, it really needs to be supplemented with Uncle Harry .

Uncle Harry’s Course:  There is nothing else out there like Uncle Harry on the market.  Harry has worked since 1997 developing step-by-step repair manuals and videos and teaches you how to actually run your appliance repair business including advertising/marketing, parts inventory, customer service,  invoicing.  This training is the closest thing you’ll ever get to hands-on training in an online course – it can bridge the gap between reading the book and actually taking service calls. Getting text, email, and phone support are critical to your success. I know that from personal experience.

Penn Foster has as appliance repair technician’s training course which focuses on theoretical training. The price is reasonable, but unfortunately, Penn Foster spends a lot of time on small appliances such as mixers and toasters.  Professionals in the appliance repair business turn down such requests and focus on major appliances where they can make $100 per hour.

Samurai Appliance Course.: The Samurai course is basically a useful library of helpful hints on appliance repair.  He advertises himself as the ultimate source of knowledge in appliance repair and I admit he posts a lot of useful information. If I had only seen his material when I was pondering my venture into appliance repair I’m afraid I would have been frightened off. Two things bothered me: one, everything seems so technical when he presented it and two, I immediately concluded that most jobs involved meters and high tech circuit  analysis solutions.  Once I talked to Uncle Harry, who has degree in electrical engineering, I calmed down and realized that I was worrying way too much. Only 10% of my work gets technical and I always work around it using simple tricks.  Once I mastered Uncle Harry’s techniques, I have been amazed at how problems can actually be easily solved. So if you are an electrical novice, as I was, go the Uncle Harry route. If you feel you want to dig deeply into schematics Samurai is your guy. Personally I’m more interested in making money.

12 Replies to “Free Appliance Repair Training vs. Paid Training”

    1. Andrew,
      Uncle Harry’s training includes hundreds of videos which I found very helpful plus over 80 online lessons that are like PowerPoint presentations.

    1. Fred’s is great if you need and can afford hands on training. He is closely aligned with the manufacturers and focuses on factory and warranty work. There is nothing wrong with that if that is your path. Fred’s is more of a technician training school rather than a business start up school. I prefer the independent path myself. Many of Fred’s students have their tuition paid by the boss. They don’t tend to be independent businessmen. You can self teach the skills like I did, if you have a mechanical background.

  1. Hello: I’m trying to start a appliance training school here in dallas
    texas there’s a demand for it. How do I gather resources to start
    a school like that. I’m a A/C general contractor and appliance in-
    structor. so many people want me to teach appliance repair so I
    need the material to start a school. Uncle harry’s, Fred are good
    but people in this part of dallas can’t afford them so I’m taking
    on the charge. any advice.

    1. Bronchee’
      Sorry but that I can’t help with that goal. Starting up a school is a major deal. It is far cheaper to start up a service company.

  2. First of all, great blog/site! Very informative!
    Second, I know you are a big fan of Harry’s but what about Master Samurai Tech Academy? Have you heard any feedback on them?

    1. The Samurai guys certainly knows the technical side of things very well. The feedback I get is that he gets too technical too fast and some guys have trouble with following him. His program includes little on the business side of things. I found that in the beginning I needed a lot of personal help on basic stuff. Good question. I will post any further feedback that I get.

  3. This is some great content. Troubleshooting is probably the most important part of the repair business. We like to take our people through the local technical school, before we start training them in the field.

    1. Jaki,
      You are very fortunate to have a technical school nearby. Few people have that luxury. I agree that troubleshooting is the most difficult and important part of the repair business. Just about anybody can replace parts. YouTube shows you how to do that. The trick is, “Which part do you replace?” Unfortunately, guesswork gets you into big trouble.
      I agree that hands-on training over a long period of time is the ideal situation. I sure hope that you get your investment back after sending your technicians to school.

    1. Hi Tom – Absolutely not! You can just study and get to work without any educational background or prior training. I was a complete technical newbie when I studied Harry’s course and I was able to start taking calls in 30 days. Go for it!

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