Tips for maintaining your appliances
Refrigerators
- If your refrigerator/freezer is not cooling, check to see if the door is closed tightly. A loose door seal can cause a huge loss of our cooling capacity resulting in higher electric costs and a shorter life for the refrigerator components. Often it is just either sticky syrup or food that spilled causing this problem. Cleaning it up with a mild detergent quite often solves the problem at no cost to you. If the door still doesn’t seal tight, call A-Team Appliance Repair for a professional evaluation of the problem.
- Check to see that the refrigerator/freezer is not over-filled so that cool air cannot properly circulate.
- If moving your refrigerator, remember to always keep it in an upright position. Laying it on its side can cause an oil leak from the compressor and be very costly to repair.
- Keep your refrigerator off of carpeting because most heat disbursement mechanisms are locate underneath and the carpet will absorb the heat not allowing for proper cooling.
- Always plug the refrigerator directly into a wall outlet. Make certain that the outlet isn’t a ground-fault breaker. A regular outlet should be used because a slight surge will trip the ground-fault breaker, making it appear as though the refrigerator is not operating at all. If an extension cord must be used, purchase one as short as you can use to reach the outlet and make sure it is labeled heavy duty.
- When going on vacation remove food that will go bad, turn off the ice-maker switch (or the wire arm should be in the Up position) but leave the refrigerator running.
- Vacuum or sweep the dust and or dirt around your refrigerator. If you have pets, you should have your condenser coils cleaned on a regular basis.
Washing Machines
- Make sure hoses are properly connected to the water faucets. Check regularly for leaks. Steel hoses sold at major box stores, are less likely to burst compared with rubber hoses. If practical, turn water faucets on and off before and after washing clothes. This can extend the life of the hose. It is recommended that you change hoses every 6 to 8 years.
- Visually check your drain hose. Make sure there are no kinks or other visible problems with draining. If your machine has its drainage function restricted it can cause the water pump to overheat and stop working.
- Take a small level and make sure that your machine sits on solid flooring, and its level. Without being perfectly level your machine could be out of balance and trip a safety switch or cause loud banging and scraping noises which cause added wear and tear on your machine.
- Use the proper kind and amounts of detergent. Too much detergent can cause suds-lock which prevents your machine from functioning at all. If this seems to be the problem, fill machine with cold water and put 2 cups of white vinegar in, then run your machine through a cycle.
- If clothes are not spinning properly, during the last cycle, they will come out wetter than normal. This will cause your dryer to take twice as long and work twice as hard. If improper spinning seems to be a problem, call the A-Team for service.
Dryers
- Always check, and empty your lint filter after each use for both effective drying and fire protection.
- Do not over-load your dryer as it will take unusually long to dry everything or some of the clothes will remain damp. Also, over-loading uses excess electricity and causes moving parts to wear our much more quickly.
- Do not place rugs or other items with rubber-foam backing in your dryer. Additionally, clothing items which are soiled by gasoline, grease, alcohol or other flammable substances should not be placed in the dryer to prevent possible fire.
- Check and empty pockets of all clothing. Crayons, ink pens and certain other items can melt and cause damage to both the machine and especially the other clothing. Quite often a screw, nail, pencil or an under wire from a bra slip through the holes in the basket and cause the need for professional service to remove these items. This often requires taking apart the entire machine. If you feel such service is needed, call the A-Team.
- If your dryer is taking several cycles to dry your clothes, the cause may be the location of your vent. If you have a dryer in a fully enclosed interior room, (not against an outside wall) chances are your dryer is vented to the roof. This is okay if the vent was constructed properly, but, in many instances the vent goes up through the wall, makes a 90 degree turn in the ceiling, then another 90 degree turn to the roof. A dryer is only capable of pushing air about 30 feet. You must subtract 5 feet for each curve (starting at the bottom of your dryer) plus 5 feet for each 90 degree angle you cannot see. In addition you subtract another 10 feet for going up. It becomes easy to see that the hot air from the dryer is not able to reach the outlet on top and therefore causes your dryer thermostats to be satisfied sooner than they should be. The only solution is to re-vent the dryer.
Dishwasher
- Do not overload your dishwasher as it will cause the machine to not work at its peak capabilities.
- Do not fill the machine with more detergent than recommended in the instructions. Doing so may cause leaks. NEVER USE DISHWASHING DETERGENT (SUCH AS DAWN) IN YOUR DISHWASHER.
- Once every 3 to 4 of months (depending upon amount of use) run an empty dishwasher with cold water and 1 cup of white vinegar through a cycle. This will help clean, deodorize, and sanitize odors and hard water buildups.
- Check regularly to make sure your dishwasher is balanced. If not properly balanced it will make funny noises and cause excessive wear and tear. To correct these situations remove the bottom panel, shut the circuit breaker, and adjust the four legs on the bottom with a wrench until level.
- Check your spray arm to make sure that holes are not clogged. If they are, use a tweezers to remove any debris.