Dave's
Dictionary of
Appliance Terms
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Bail
– I suppose you would do this when your washer overflowed and flooded
the house, or when one of your kids got in really big trouble, but here I have in mind the ice control wire on a
refrigerator’s icemaker. This bail is raised during the harvest cycle,
and brought back down to the top of the ice storage bin. If it contacts
the top of a pile of ice, it doesn’t allow another harvest cycle until
the ice level lowers. Simple and effective.
Bake
element
– the resistance element that supplies the heat in an electric oven.
Usually operates on 240 volts, and glows red hot when cycled on in normal
use. The oven controls cycle the element on and off to maintain proper
oven temperature.
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Basket
– this is the same as the ‘tub’ in a washer; the container that
holds the laundry, as opposed to the tank, or outer tub.
Belt
– Still in use, this ever-popular drive system runs washers, dryers, a
few older dishwashers by connecting two or more pulleys, using friction to
transfer power. Can be flat, ‘vee’, ‘multi-vee’, or round in
cross-section.
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Bimetal
– A very handy invention; uses two dissimilar metals, bonded together,
that, when heated, expand at different rates, causing the bimetal strip to
bend. Widely used in thermostats of all types, dishwasher detergent
dispensers, and other low-torque applications where response to
temperature change is needed.
Bleach
- an agent, usually a liquid, that makes laundry white or colorless,
removing stains and disinfecting.
Bleach
dispenser
– OK, this one might be self-explanatory, but there are different styles
that accomplish pretty much the same thing: dispensing bleach into a
washer’s load, properly diluting it into the water and laundry load.
Blower
wheel
– basically a fan blade, but this term usually refers to the ‘squirrel
cage’, or radial designs commonly used in clothes dryers, the evaporator
(indoor) side of room air conditioners, and older refrigerators. Quieter
than axial fan blades, and very efficient.
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Boot
– I’d define this as a rubber seal that fits around an opening and is
highly flexible, reminiscent of an accordion's bellows, allowing movement
of the device to which it’s attached. Front-load washers typically have
a boot around their door opening (shown). This allows the tub to move freely on
its mounts, while preventing water leaks.
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Many
flexible rubber seals are commonly called boots, from the large, older GE
top-load washer tank boot (shown) down to the tiny bellows-style boot seal in
newer Maytag branded dishwasher detergent dispensers, barely ½ inch
square.
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Bottom
freezer
– also called ‘bottom mount’, this is the style of refrigerator with
the freezer located under the fresh food section, down near the floor. As
opposed to the ‘top freezer’ (which see). Slightly less efficient than
the latter, because the fresh food air supply must be ‘pumped’ up into
its compartment. But the added convenience of easy fresh food access makes
up for this, in most owners’ opinions.
Brake
– Similar to a car or truck brake in function, brakes are used primarily
in clothes washers, to bring the tub to a stop quickly and safely, before
hands can be injured.
Broil
element
– The ‘other’ element located in electric ovens, this one serves two
purposes. Mounted to the oven’s ceiling, it provides top browning during
bake, and a handy means of broiling meat and other foods by direct radiant
heating.
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BTU
– British Thermal Unit – a standard unit of measurement of heat
transfer; the amount of heat required to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree
Fahrenheit.
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