Best Maintenance Tips

Household appliances make life easier, but they require proper attention in terms of cleanliness. Otherwise, sooner or later they will start to malfunction. To prolong the life of your appliances, it is important to follow the care recommendations. Proper care is the place to start if you need to limit the damage from wear and tear. By consistently caring for your home appliances, you’ll be able to get the most out of each one. Here are some tips from Jacob Dillard (Appliance Repair Expert engineer) to help you keep your appliances in top condition.

Clean your refrigerator’s rubber gaskets

Regular maintenance of your refrigerator is the key to long service life, even after the warranty period expires. Wiping shelf surfaces and doors is not enough. Cleaning the shelves is also half the job. It is also necessary to monitor the condition of the gaskets.

Often the rubber gasket is not even mentioned. But that’s where most of the harmful bacteria accumulate.

The rubber gasket is damaged for three reasons:

1. Spilled liquid and crumbs provoke the rotting process. A typical sign is an unpleasant smell in the refrigerator.
2. Deformation, loss of elasticity. The rubber gaskets hold the temperature of the unit. If the gaskets begin to weaken, the food spoils prematurely.
3. Accumulation of dirt: food, dust, trash and other junk. We usually remove them from the shelves, but we forget about the hard-to-reach pads.

Therefore, it is necessary to strictly monitor the cleanliness of this part. There are several ways to do this quickly and well:

• Soap solution. Apply liquid soap or dishwashing detergent to the soft side of a damp sponge and gently remove the dirt. A large amount of water will help dissolve the excess.
• Soda solution. A faithful helper for disinfecting and removing odours. For cleaning, it is enough to dissolve two tablespoons of baking soda in a small amount of water. Soak a sponge in the resulting solution and thoroughly rinse the rubber bands.
• Purchased remedies. Any kitchen grease remover will work for cleaning rubber gaskets.

It is recommended that you clean your refrigerator at least once a month. An additional procedure is a treatment with glycerin. The product will save from drying out and loss of elasticity. You can apply undiluted glycerin directly on the sponge.

Useful tip: Avoid contact of vinegar, and other acids with the seal, these substances destroy the structure of the material.

Keep your microwave oven clean

To keep your microwave oven working properly, you need to keep its walls clean, which get splattered with greasy food. This is unavoidable, but knowing how to clean it will help everyone do it effortlessly.

Use:

1. Vinegar solution. Pour water and vinegar into the container and put it in the microwave for no more than 5 minutes. Take out the container, and wipe the inner walls of the microwave with a soft sponge, removing traces of grease and food.
2. Lemon. Slice it, and set the timer on the control panel for 1 to 2 minutes. Wipe the inside of the oven with the lemon. The natural essential oils found in the rind of the lemon will take away the unpleasant smell.
3. A warm soapy solution will also, with regular cleaning, easily handle fresh food splatter.

After cleaning the walls and plate of the microwave, leave the door open for a couple of minutes. During this time, wipe the inside with a dry cloth, as excessive moisture can harm moisture-sensitive parts.

Keep it clean in the dishwasher

Washing dishes is not the most pleasant time in the kitchen, so getting a dishwasher will make life a lot easier. But it also needs to be taken care of. Here’s what to look out for:

1. The first signal of the need for cleaning is an unpleasant smell.
2. Leaving the door open after washing is good prevention against mould.
3. The rubber seal should always be wiped dry.
4. Make sure that no grease accumulates on the rubber. In the future, the door may not hold water because of this.

Every two weeks, it is worth following the recommendations:

• clean the drain and inlet filter;
• wipe down the detergent compartment;
• clean the inside of the device.

Special dishwasher salt softens and cleans the water from harmful impurities and reduces the likelihood of limescale formation. Such prevention will prolong the lifespan of the dishwasher, which means that plates, cups and pots will stay shiny and crispy clean for a long time.

Contact a dishwasher repair service if you find your dishwasher broken.

Don’t forget about filters and hoods

When delighting your family and guests with culinary masterpieces, pay attention to the fact that the smell in the apartment should also be pleasant. If grease and fumes are deposited on the walls of the hood, it means that the grid is so clogged that it will take a lot of effort to clean it. The solution is preventive cleaning of the hood and filters. There are four remedies for this:

1. Soap and soda solution.
2. Laundry soap.
3. 9% vinegar.
4. Lemon (peel the lemon, and rub the pulp on the surface of the appliance).

The hood body should also be cleaned as needed. Grease stains are extremely difficult to remove from metal surfaces, so manufacturers do not recommend cleaning the appliance with anything other than neutral cleaners. Therefore, stainless steel must be cleaned with a soapy solution.

Remove crumbs from the toaster

Germs and bacteria do not linger in toasters. They cannot withstand the high temperature and die. But bread crumbs when making toast do not. Accumulating in the tray, they emit an unpleasant smell of burning and spoil the taste. This can easily be avoided by cleaning the crumb tray regularly.

If the tray is missing, turn the toaster upside down and shake it, all the debris will fall out. To be sure, run a brush over it and shake it again. If you take care of your toaster in this way, it will last you for many years.

Check the washing machine hoses

When taking care of your washing machine, it is sometimes a good idea to check the drain hose. It should not be broken, kinked or damaged. It is necessary to pay attention to the periodic cleaning of all components of the washing machine.

Tip: If you notice a broken drain hose, replace that part. You can do it yourself or by calling a washing machine repair technician.

Buttons, coins, keys, small construction parts, etc., fall into the filter. And if the filter is broken, it gets into the drain hose. As a consequence, the water from the washing machine does not drain. To prevent small parts from getting into the drain hose, check the integrity of things, and use special bags for washing.

Quick Repairs

When you see that one of your appliances is not working as well as it should, you should call a professional. The more you delay, the worse the problem can become. For instance, if your freezer is starting to make unusual noises, you should call a freezer repair specialist as soon as possible. Remember that minor repairs are cheaper and easier to fix.

Author: Jacob Dillard

My name is Jacob Dillard, and I am the author of articles at Appliance Repair Expert. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by technology and spent much time reading different books and trying to repair my first CD player. Then, I graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Applied Science and Engineering. In a year, I got my first job as a technician at an appliance repair company. After years of practice and working with professionals, I decided it was time to share my knowledge and experience here at Appliance Repair Expert. I want to help you understand everything related to appliance repair, maintenance and installation in the simplest way possible. It will be fun, believe me!