An Appliance Maintenance Checklist to Add to Your New Year’s Resolutions

We often focus on taking better care of ourselves with our New Year’s resolutions (for good reason), but sometimes taking care of the things around us makes it easier to take care of ourselves. In that spirit, here’s a new resolution to consider adding to your current list:

Take better care of my home.

Having your home in tip-top shape is not only incredibly satisfying, you also avoid issues that could derail your routines and, hence, your personal resolutions.

APPLIANCE MAINTENANCE CHECKLIST

One of the keys to achieving resolutions is to choose small, manageable goals to complete. What does that look like when it comes to home care? We can’t speak for everything, but when it comes to appliances, the following should do the trick.

• I will clean my refrigerator condenser before the weather gets hot. This will reduce your electricity bill during the summer and keep food fresh for longer. To learn more about why this is important, read our blog on condenser cleaning.
• I will suck it up and clean out my dishwasher filter at least once this year. Eww, gross. But if you want your dishwasher to continue to, you know, actually clean dishes, it’s essential you do this small task. Run some Dishwasher Magic after to complete the cleaning.
• I will use rinse aid in my dishwasher. Rinse aid reduces water spots and helps food debris slide off dishes during the rinse, but it requires at least 3 mL per wash to be effective. Make sure your rinse aid dispenser is set to the highest level, as the default on most dishwashers, 1 mL, is not enough.
• I will also clean my washing machine drain trap at least once. Again, gross, but as with the dishwasher, clean clothes are worth a bit of grit and grime. The drain trap is front-accessible on most front load washers, consult your washing machine manual to locate it. After that’s finished, a round of Washer Magic will finish the job.

And there you have it. Simple enough, right?

WHAT ARE Hometown Hero’S RESOLUTIONS?

Well, since you ask.

• Deepen and improve our training processes. Step one was to hire a Director of Training, which we did (congratulations, Vince Dussetschleger!) Now to spend more time at manufacturer training and continue our online appliance training with Master Samurai Tech.
• Improve first call completes and reduce callbacks for yet happier customers.
• Update our stocking list to carry more items for our parts counter and first call completes.
• Pursue new ways to be efficient in the work we do.
• And, of course, make new content (like this) to help educate the world on appliance repair and maintenance.

We’re excited to see what the new year brings and hope you and your family have an amazing 2018.