Talk to a technician

Calling us about a built-in in La Jolla

The call takes about two minutes and it decides whether the appliance is fixed on the first visit or the second. Say which compartment is wrong and what it is doing, when it started, and read out any code on the display exactly as it appears. If you can reach the data plate — inside the door frame on refrigeration, behind the lower grille on some columns, on the frame behind the door on a range — the model number tells us the control generation, the evaporator layout and which fan motor or thermistor to load before we leave for La Jolla. Nobody is turned away for not knowing any of it.

The second thing worth telling us is how to reach the kitchen, because La Jolla is not one drive. Village houses off Prospect and Girard often have no driveway and an alley behind them; the blocks around Windansea and Lower Hermosa are narrow and park solid by mid-morning; Bird Rock runs on the roundabouts down La Jolla Boulevard; and up through the Muirlands, Country Club, Hidden Valley and out along the La Jolla Farms bluff the kitchen is frequently a level or two off the street with steps between. Tell us where to park, whether there is a gate, and whether the unit is indoors or on a terrace. What comes in is a coil brush, a vacuum, a probe and a parts case, and knowing the route saves a walk back to the van.