In the UK, it’s common for homeowners to plug in their kitchen or home appliances, and just forget about them! However, the maintenance of these appliances is more important than you might think. Without the proper attention and care, they can suffer more greatly from regular wear and tear, and degrade beyond repair over time.

If you’re not quite sure how to carry out regular appliance maintenance yourself, don’t worry. At Essential Repairs, we have carried out quality maintenance services for years, and offer you our expertise in this blog. Read on for more.

1. Clean Your Appliances Regularly

The quickest way to maintain regular appliances in the home is to clean them! This includes every appliance from your microwave and toaster to your showerhead or bidet. This should be a regular programme of cleaning, too, not just a once-a-year event.

Washing machines, fridge-freezers and ovens should all be cleaned every two to four months. Your kettles should be cleaned every three months, as should your fans and light fixtures. Appliances that receive the most personal use frequently, such as your showerhead, should be cleaned at least once a month.

With a microfibre cloth and the right cleaning solution, cleaning your appliances regularly has many benefits. It prolongs their lifespan and ensures that they perform at a higher, more energy-efficient level. Dirty appliances are also more likely to become dangerous electrical hazards, because of increased dust and lint. 

Home appliance maintenance doesn’t have to be challenging, and cleaning is a great starting point.

2. Check and Replace the Filters

Most home or kitchen appliances have filters to maintain proper performance by removing impurities from their systems. But, when these filters are allowed to become dirty, your appliances must work harder to complete the same jobs as before. This costs you more money on your energy bills and increases the need for repairs in future.

To maintain these appliances for as long as possible, we recommend checking and replacing these filters at a minimum of every six months. For air conditioners and furnaces, where debris builds up quickly, you should replace their filters every month. This small act of appliance maintenance keeps your home functioning as it should for a much longer time.

3. Inspect the Connections of Your Appliances

Your appliances function through a mixture of wires, cables and, for some fixed kitchen appliances, hoses.

A consistent power supply is extremely important, which is why wires and cables are needed. Yet, dishwashers and washing machines must also be able to manage flowing water, making hoses an essential part of their installation. As part of the maintenance of such appliances, you must regularly inspect these connections to ensure their safety and functionality.

Wires, hoses and cables can wear out over time and frequent use, causing leaks and reducing the efficiency of your appliances. When it comes to your washing machine, dishwasher or fridge freezer, make a habit of checking for bulges and cracks monthly. Everything should be securely connected to avoid leaks!

These inspections enable you to carry out swift repairs and replacements with the help of Essential Repairs’ experts.

4. Test Your Appliances’ Safety Features

Although you might think of appliance maintenance as a ‘cleaning’ or ‘replacement’ kind of task, this isn’t always the case. Indeed, testing your appliances’ existing safety features – of which there are guaranteed to be many – is also essential.

As an important example, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are featured in every home. You should make sure that they are working properly by pressing the test button on these alarms at least once a month. Replace their batteries on an annual basis, and keep yourself and your family safe.

5. Defrost Your Fridge-Freezer

Frost can easily build up in fridge freezers. The more frost there is, the less efficient this appliance becomes. As such, when it comes to your kitchen appliance maintenance schedule, make sure to regularly defrost your fridge-freezers as soon as the frost becomes around ¼ inch or 0.5 cm thick. Certain fridge freezers are ‘frost-free models’ – this simply means that you need to regularly inspect and clean the defrost drain to avoid clogging.

Frost can also take away some of your fridge-freezer’s storage capacity! There’s not really a way to avoid the build-up of frost over time, but through maintenance tactics such as defrosting, you can manage it properly.

6. Make Sure to Level Your Appliances

It’s essential that you make sure your fixed household appliances are level and stable during their installation. Otherwise, they can cause excessive noise and vibrations during their operation, which causes premature wear and tear. This is especially true for washing machines, dryers and fridge-freezers.

However, we admit that it can be difficult to tell if your appliances are unbalanced if you’re not a professional. Make sure that you always use a level during the installation process to avoid problems in future, and make sure the surface beneath is completely flat.

This decreases the amount of maintenance you’ll need to carry out in future, whilst enhancing the longevity and performance of your fixed appliances.

7. Always Follow Manufacturer Guidelines

Every appliance in your home, from your HVAC systems to your smoke detector, will come with a detailed user manual that contains manufacturer guidelines regarding their regular maintenance and upkeep. While we can offer tips for appliance maintenance in this blog post, we always recommend following the unique manufacturer guidelines that you have been given as closely as possible.

Read the maintenance section of these guidelines back-to-front, and follow the timelines provided for any filter replacements, cleaning and inspections required. This also means that you can maintain your warranty coverage, protecting you against the cost of any future repairs or replacements should maintenance not be enough to preserve the condition of your appliance.

8. Address Small Issues As Soon As Possible

A good rule of thumb when maintaining your appliances is to address small issues that pop up as soon as possible. For example, if your washing machine is making unusual noises, or your toaster suddenly stops working as well as it used to. Small issues such as these can escalate quickly, and increase in cost the longer you leave them be.

In sum, our tip here is to investigate, troubleshoot and resolve problems immediately!

9. Keep A Maintenance Log

Regular appliance maintenance can soon add up. It’s important to keep a maintenance log so you remember what problems you’ve addressed, and when you last maintained your home appliances. Although this might sound time-consuming, it’s very useful. You will never overlook another maintenance task, and you can refer to past maintenance activities if repairs are required.

Always record the date, tasks that you’ve performed, and what parts have been replaced after each maintenance activity.

10. When at-home maintenance isn’t enough, seek professional assistance

Sometimes, at-home maintenance tasks aren’t enough to keep your property in the best condition possible. Whenever you feel out of your depth, don’t hesitate to seek professional assistance.

For West London property maintenance that you can rely on, contact Essential Repairs as soon as possible. Our team members are easily contacted through mobile at 020 3813 1038, or our online booking system. Rest assured, we keep appliance maintenance simple. If you’re concerned about keeping your equipment or appliances in the proper condition, we look forward to offering you more personalised advice.