Extending The Life of Your Appliances

Nothing screams being a grown-up more than purchasing brand new appliances for your home. You get bonus points if you have managed to simultaneously share the buying process with your friends via one of your many social media channels and got a thrill the moment your new toys arrived.

 

It is merely a stage in life that comes to most of us. Welcome to adulthood as they say. But after spending countless hours checking up on different brands, models, specs sizes, colour etc, etc along with trawling all major stores to see your top choices in person, the last thing you want to do is to subject it to undue stress and rough handling along with improper care.

So now you are that stage of adulthood – welcome – what is the best way to make sure you keep your appliances in good condition to make sure you get the best from it for as long as possible? First, let’s look at the pros of taking the extra time to look after your appliances, no matter how much they cost.

• Extended lifespan. Sure, we get a guarantee but you want your new purchase to last. The proper care will make sure your appliance runs as new for longer.
• Better performance. Neglecting your appliance will reduce its effectiveness during use.
• Fewer repairs. No one likes to come home to a much-needed appliance in a state of disrepair. The better care you have taken of your appliance on a day to day basis, the fewer call out repairs you will need to make during ownership.
• Value for money. Much like a car that is running inefficiently, appliances that are in a poor state of repair will cost you more money to run. From running the dishwasher twice as it didn’t clean well the first time to extended drying times due to a dryer not working well.

Washing Machine

We all rely a lot on our washing machines. Especially those with bigger families or jobs that mean our clothes get dirtier more often than everyday wear and tear. The fact is, washing machines can go wrong in so many ways, it is hard to cover them all in one short post. What we can discuss are the best ways to maintain a good state of repair for your machine and help keep it in good condition for as long as possible.

• Check the pipes. You should really be checking your washing machines connecting pipes as often as every 3 months. Why? To look for loose connections, damages or signs of wear and tear.
• Do not overload it. It can be tempting to just add those last couple of tops or jeans to get all your washing done in one go. But did you know excess load sizes cause undue stress to the drum and bearings? When you need your bearings replaced you will notice your machine will move around more and become excessively noisy. Avoid this by keeping it to smaller load sizes – this will be indicated in the size of the washing machine you buy. This is, of course, a load limit guide and you should aim to keep it lower at all times when you can. Even if it means more washes.
• Regularly clean your machine. Run some disinfectant or build-up remover through the machine on an empty cycle around once a month at least. This will remove any build from detergent and keep your machine able to clean well and stay fresh and hygienic.
• Use a water softener. People who live in a hard water area will tell you of the damage this can cause to appliances all over the home. Look for the best water softener for well water and hard water to help you maintain the health of your home appliances that use water – including coffee machines, kettles and dishwashers too.

Cookers/Ovens

Ever served your dinner to find that despite locking at the recommended temperature for the right amount of time, it was still raw or undercooked? Then you have an issue you need to identify and rectify with your cooker or oven.

• Check the door seal. Damaged or broken door seals can let heat escape thus reducing the cooking temperature inside your oven. And we all know what this means – food takes longer to cook or doesn’t cook properly and increases energy consumption.
• Clean it. Simple we know but essential. Most people are guilty of putting off cleaning their oven. It’s a hard arduous task and quite frankly it can be a little bit disgusting. But neglecting to clean your oven can mean a build-up of food and grease which does affect how well your cooker or oven works and drastically shortens its lifespan.

Dishwashers

OK, aside from the arguments over who is filing it, having a dishwasher at home can save you so much time. Let’s face it, does anyone enjoy even washing dishes? So the last thing you want is for your dishwasher to break down and you go back to hand washing those dishes!

• Clean it. There it is again. A machine that cleans things for you needs cleaning from any residue to keep it at it’s best. Limescale remover, clean filters, nozzles and anything else that makes you machine work. This will give a good consistent clean wash after wash. Trust us, you will be grateful you did it on a regular basis when you see the dirt and grime you can remove. This goes for self-cleaning machines too.
• Don’t overload it. Not even that one last glass. Whilst you may not think this will cause damage, over time, overloading your dishwasher will cause it to underperform and produce less than clean results at the end of a circle.
• Clean away breakages thoroughly. Be thorough and examine your machine for debris including broken bits of glass and/or crockery. Leftover pieces will inevitably end up in your cycle and cause damage during washes.

Refrigerators/Freezers

We all know that fridges and freezers need to be kept at certain temperatures to keep our food fresh and healthy. But did you know there are things you can personally do to make sure the places you store your food are working at optimal capacity?

• Keep doors closed. All that opening and closing has a detrimental effect on the temperature inside the fridge/freezer. Make it a habit to keep all doors and drawers closed at all times. It may be convenient to keep doors open when perusing snacks or refilling your shopping. Keep it closed as much as possible to avoid ruining the food that might spoil as the temperature changes due to excessive fluctuations.
• Clean it up. Leakages happen. From food or drinks. Making sure it is cleaned as soon as possible will keep the environment inside the refrigerator and freezer safe for all your other foodstuffs stored in them.
• Defrost your freezer regularly. This will remove any ice build-up that can affect temperature, performance and of course, storage.
• Don’t overload drawers. Stop trying to jam that box in the drawer! If it is full it is full. Overloading your fridge and freezer will not only damage food but it will lead to less efficient storage at the correct temperatures. From boxes pushing doors open, too much food blocking important sections of the fridge/freezer, the damage overloading can cause could be higher than just letting the single item go to waste.

It makes sense that you would want to maintain the optimal performance of your appliances for as long as possible, especially those which you can least afford to replace. So do your part and make sure you are doing what you can to help your new appliances work as they should for as long as possible. This is essential when it comes to extending the life of your appliances.