Extend the life of your kitchen appliances with these helpful maintenance tips.
Sure, you’ve heard of spring cleaning before, but how about fall maintenance? As the weather gets cooler and you begin to find yourself spending more time indoors, dedicate some of that time to performing some maintenance on your kitchen appliances. That way, when spring-cleaning season rolls around, your appliances will still be in excellent shape and you can focus on prepping your appliances for summertime use.
Here are some of the best ways you can protect your appliances from rust, damage, and old age:
1. Check the oven seal
When the oven door doesn’t properly seal, your oven will lose nearly 20 percent of the heat it generates. Not only will this heat your home (which isn’t very appealing during hot Okanagan summers), your food will take longer to cook, and it may not cook evenly.
2. Clean the kitchen ventilation
Range hoods are excellent for filtering out heat and odours, but only when they’re working properly. To make sure they’re doing their job, wash metal filters in hot, soapy water or run them through the dishwasher. Don’t forget to replace any charcoal or paper filters.
To learn more about why kitchen ventilation is important, read out blog post, Breathe Easy: 5 Important Reasons for Kitchen Ventilation.
3. Vacuum the coils on the wine fridge
You should also do this with the main refrigerator too. Over time, the coils can attract dirt, dust, dander, and pet hair, which means the fridge will have to kick it into overdrive to keep the stuff inside cool.
4. Replace the refrigerator’s water filter
It’s a good idea to replace the water filter on your fridge every three to six months. To help you remember, change the filter every time the season changes.
5. Love your laundry appliances
Once you’ve taken care of the kitchen appliances, head into the laundry room to perform a little maintenance magic.
With respect to the dryer, spend a little bit of time removing clumps of lint from the exhaust pipe and surrounding area then give it a good vacuum to ensure all of the lint has been removed. You can even vacuum out the lint trap if you’re feeling up to it.
As for the washing machine, inspect the hoses. Look for any loose connections, cracks, leaks or weak spots. On average, hoses should be replaced every five years. If you think it’s been at least that long since they’ve been replaced, consider ordering a new set.
6. Give your appliances a good clean
Last and definitely not least, give your appliances a really good scrubbing. Besides getting you prepared for the upcoming holiday season, keeping your appliances clean can extend their life and make the spring-cleaning process run a little smoother.
If you’re looking for reliable appliance repair in Kelowna, consider the team at Genier’s in Vernon. Besides providing some of the best appliance brands in the industry, we’ve also got expert repair specialists that are second to none. If you’re in the market for new appliances, we can help with that too. Come and see our live showroom today! We promise it’s worth the drive.