While some people do the bulk of their home cleaning in the springtime, regular maintenance on appliances and other features in your home all year long can prevent disasters. If you take a little bit of your time every few weeks or months, you can keep these appliances in top condition all year long.
Faucets
You likely have faucets all over the house, and none of them should be neglected. Through regular maintenance, you can avoid the dripping faucet phenomenon that drives anyone crazy. If you’re concerned about getting into plumbing fixtures and accidentally causing damage, most of the time aged rubber washers cause that unwanted dripping and are easily accessible without going into the faucet pipes. As long as you can remove a sink handle, you can easily install a new rubber washer.
Air Conditioning and Heating
As the temperatures get hotter and colder, you will need to rely on your air conditioning and heating unit for a majority of the year. If you have a central cooling and heating unit, you will need to maintain it. These units are expensive, and failure could mean a pricey replacement. To avoid this, you can change out the air filters in the unit regularly. This small step goes a long way towards prolonging the life of this appliance and keeping your home comfortable all year long.
According to home lifestyle resource Money Crashers, you shouldn’t leave your filters in your air conditioning and heating unit for more than two months during the summer or winter. Purchase fiberglass filters because these cut back on the amount of energy expended by the unit and are also pretty cheap.
Water Heater
To keep the water in your sink, toilet, and shower at a regular temperature all year long, your water heater needs to be in good health. No one likes cold showers when it’s freezing outside, so take care of your water heater throughout the year. Sometimes built-up debris can accumulate within the water heater. In order to clean this debris out, you will need to empty the water heater entirely. You’ll need a hose to siphon the water elsewhere besides your basement or wherever your water heater is stored.
Make it a habit to empty your water heater yearly. This prevents that debris from damaging the water heater and making it function improperly. Not only is it uncomfortable to wash your hands, shower, or use water at all when your water heater is on the fritz, but this is also another costly replacement.
Refrigerator
Refrigerators are the central hub for your household’s food. If it and your freezer start malfunctioning, you can’t store your food, which leads to a lot of money wasted. Regular refrigerator maintenance is paramount. You’ll want to empty your fridge periodically to clean it out fully, especially if yours is the kind with visible coolant coils. If these coils don’t work, your fridge cannot stay cool, so make sure that you clean these and keep them pristine.
You’ll also want to check how well that the fridge and freezer doors open and close. If these don’t fully close, the fridge has to work much harder to keep your foods cool, which could lead to a shorter lifespan for this appliance. If your door seals are old or if you’ve never changed them out before, it’s time for new ones. This is a rather simple DIY repair that you can take care of without many expensive supplies.
Toilet
Toilet problems will annoy anyone, and they can be quite pricey too. Make sure that the toilet flushes properly and that no water is managing to leak out anywhere. This could lead to a lot of money spent on fixing a damaged bathroom that’s waterlogged as well as buying a new toilet. Most leaking issues tend to be attributed to the flapper, a part of the toilet that you can easily replace. You can find replacement flappers at most home repair shops and install them yourself.
Washer and Dryer
If you enjoy clean clothes, then make sure that you carve out regular time for washer and dryer maintenance. The machine supply line can be the first to go with appliances like your washer, which leads to excessive dripping and malfunctioning. You’ll have to keep a close eye on these supply lines. Just to be on the safe side, every couple of years you should probably consider getting a new supply line just to avoid problems.
Your dryer can cause you problems as well, especially if the lint screen has accumulated debris buildup. Too much lint on that screen can lead to the dryer straining to function, which makes it more likely to accidentally cause a house fire. Whenever you notice that the lint screen has a buildup of lint and other debris, clean it right away.
