Tips and Hints to Maintain Your Home Appliances

To start with, we have a lot of appliances in our home. This can range from our fridge to the washing machine and over to the T.V.

So, like every tool or equipment, productivity and efficiency will eventually be lacking. The air conditioner might not work properly and the rate at which it cools down the air will drastically be hampered.

Efficiency, on the other hand, means your appliances won’t properly manage the energy available and hence, more bills due to energy consumption will have to be settled.

That said, if you’ve been noticing an increase in electricity consumption or decrease in work output in any of your home appliance, new or old, the following items might be at fault.

Maintaining your Television

Your television, as a start, should not be placed in an environment that’s too hot as this will severely affect the lifespan of your television. Also, the brightness level of the TV shouldn’t be too high since the likelihood of you exhausting the light emitters of your TV increases. We always keep ours at 58 percentage, though, that’s with the amount of light in our room. You can tailor the brightness to the room light as need be—but still, don’t let it be too high (some curtains or blinds can be used in reducing light).

Finally, use a voltage regulator if you experience irregular power in your area, lest the fluctuations damage your TV.

The Washing Machine

Your washing machine’s water hose should be checked every 3 months for leaks since that could lead to floods. Also, replacing the hose after 5 years is also recommended as it safeguards you against unwanted complications.

Also, when using the washing machine, do not overload it, since that’ll just restrict the movement and might cause damage to the agitator. The washing machine should lastly be cleaned every two weeks in order to eliminate odor and residue.

Your Refrigerator might need some Help

You keep your food in your fridge and food, as everyone knows, is sustenance. Nonetheless, why do you have to spend more to preserve food? As a matter of fact, the money you spend on energy bills can be better used for purchasing food.

So, it’s only advisable that you maintain your refrigerator regularly. In that regard, the following must be taken into consideration.

Always check the door and the rubber gasket sealing in the cool air. You do this to avoid the gas escaping and thus, leading to an increase in power consumption as your fridge tries to compensate for the loss.

The worst thing about this is that most individuals ignore this part of the fridge. As a result of that, they won’t even think of such fault as their bills start and keep on rising.

Tip: Always close your refrigerator even if you think you’ll be back in a jiffy. By not closing your fridge doors till it becomes an habit, there’ll be an increase in power consumption. Though, it might not be much, but why waste what you can save right?

Clear out the dust on the coils behind the refrigerator, since it hampers insulation, and thus, causes overheating. Now, to properly understand why this step is necessary, you have to understand how a refrigerator works.

A fridge has a refrigerant that sucks out the heat from the interior and lets it out through the back. This is the reason why the backs of your fridges are always uncomfortably hot. So now, when dust settles on the coil, it makes it harder for the temperature of the fridge to be maintained and this, productivity will be affected.

Lastly, your refrigerator has a drain pan at its bottom, that hold the residue water from the fridge. You have to clean out the mold in the pan if you don’t want to spend funds on a replacement you could have avoided.

Clean your Dishwasher

Every few months, you should invest some time into cleaning your dishwasher. Start with the spray arm nozzles by cleaning them out. Doing this equals to better results (clean plates) since water output will be consistent.

You should also clean the filter if it’s not self-cleaning. To distinguish between them, a self-cleaning filter will have circular holes covering the filter in the dishwasher. If the bottom of your dishwasher doesn’t look like this, you have a manual cleaner which you will have to wash periodically lest it results in odor and debris/smudges on your plates.

Moving on, occasionally use acids like vinegar or lemon juice to get rid of build up in your dishwasher and also to give it a pleasant scent. Finally, do not overload the dishwasher if you want to get the most out of it.

Open your Oven

And just take a look inside to see a lot of stains. If you want to get the most out of your oven, always make sure to clean it everytime you use it. Heat is an element that’ll harden any spilled food, and if that accumulates, getting rid of it becomes a chore. You can use a paste made of baking soda or some citrus/vinegar and soap mixed together.

Note: Even if you have a self-cleaning unit, still check your unit as it can have cleaning issues. In which case, you’ll have to clean it yourself.

Also, carry out inspections on the door gasket because like your refrigerators, the oven might be losing heat due to cracks and it’ll be overcompensating by demanding more energy.

Your Vacuum Cleaner should be taken care of

We all know how important the vacuum cleaner as it’s used regularly in cleaning the house. So, some maintenance is needed if you want a good lifespan and excellent productivity.

For one, make sure you change the bag regularly because when it gets full and you don’t notice, you’ll find that the vacuum cleaner is dumping back dirt in areas that are already clean.

Also, do secure the bag to the vacuum cleaner properly, lest dirt enter your item and cause damage to it.

Moving on to the belt, we advise that you change it every 6 months to get better work efficiency. Also, every two or months or so, you should evaluate the quality of the belt. See if it might be thinning, stretched out, or even plain out weak all over. In that case, you can ignore the advice above and just simply change the belt.

Lastly, if your vacuum cleaner has a filter, you may have to clean it regularly since it gives you better air. The filters you find in your cleaner might be made from foam, cloths, and paper, and you only need to wash them. HEPA/cartridge filters though might be washable or not and you’ll have to check the manual before deciding whether or not they need washing.

Nonetheless, as vacuum cleaners come in different forms, you might experience slight difficulty in removing the filter. Hence, it’s time to pull out some of your skills.

Check out your Air Conditioner

It’s one of the most used home appliances when summer rolls in, so, there’s a need for you to do some minor maintenance to keep it running like new.

For your A.C, you have to swap out the filter with a new one (just detach the panel covering the A.C) if it’s not reusable but if it is, you only need to clean out the dirt. If this is done every 2-3 weeks, distributing cool air throughout the house won’t feel forced and the consumption of electricity on the part of the A.C should decrease or stabilize.

Conclusion

The tips and hints for maintenance are to be used across various home appliances. But we think it might be better to say it applies to the most used electronics or appliances in your home. That said, even if there’s no increase in energy consumption, you should still maintain the items in your household. This helps efficiency as items like your fridge will retain its cool temperature longer and lifespan too will be maintained.