3 Easy Appliance Maintenance Tricks: Part 2

In our last article, we talked about three easy ways to help keep your appliances in tip-top shape. Many people don’t understand the importance of consistently checking your appliances to make sure that all the parts are in working order.

Inexperienced Homeowners

Even if you feel like you don’t have the skills necessary to check on your appliance, you should still be able to check on the parts or clean out the filters or hoses. Regularly checking the appliance and its parts can increase the appliance’s longevity, and make it more efficient.

Run-Down Appliances

Having an appliance that struggles to keep food cold, thoroughly clean clothes, or unevenly cooks food can be a huge inconvenience. By taking these few tips into account, you could avoid the hassle of deteriorating appliances.

Here are three more tips and tricks that you can use to keep your appliances running at full power:

1. Clean the Refrigerator Coils

Your refrigerator coils help keep the fridge cool and remove the excess heat emitted by the appliance. Because the coils are located on the back of the refrigerator, it is rare that people think about cleaning them.

Refrigerator coils often acquire lots of dust build up, and they also attract various particles and junk that falls off the back of the fridge. This build up is bad for the efficiency of the refrigerator, as dirty refrigerator coils often lead to an unevenly cooled fridge. In worst-case scenarios, these coils can overheat and break your fridge.

The coils should be cleaned at least once – if not twice – a year to remove dust and other particle build up. To do this, you can use a shop-vac or a handheld vacuum.

2. Clean your Rusty Dish-rack Tines

If you have a dishwasher that you frequently use, you may have rusty dish-rack tines. These rusty tines can adhere to your silverware or dishes throughout the wash cycle, which can ruin your dishes.

In order to fix rusty tines, you will need to purchase a tine repair kit. Use the sealant in the kit to cover any rusty or chipped tines. Make sure that you give the tines at least a day or two to dry after using the sealant.

3. Clean out your Garbage Disposal

Have you ever walked over to your sink after doing dishes and noticed a slightly musty smell? Even if you have a garbage disposal, some of the food you scrape off dishes can get stuck to the blades or the sides of the sink drain. This smell can start to intensify the longer you leave your disposal unclean.

To clean your disposal, make sure that the disposal has been turned off. If your disposal is attached to a breaker unit that you can turn off while you clean your disposal, turn off the breaker.

Next, look into the disposal to see if any food pieces are stuck or partially disposed. Use tongs or a long spoon to fish those items out. Then, prepare a mix of ice cubes and vinegar to pour down your sick. Turn the disposal on and run cold water for 10-20 seconds.

If the odor still exists after cleaning the disposal, take a few orange peels and place them in the drain. Run cold water and turn on the disposal for 10 seconds. Repeat this process in case some of the peels don’t go down the disposal.