Maintain your home appliances with these easy tips

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Home appliances are a great investment for all homemakers and are designed to make life easy, comfortable and convenient for all. The unseen reality is, you cannot live a day without these appliances. Hence, these have to be properly maintained so that they last longer. Home appliances are man made machines and need proper care and service to work efficiently. Some of the basic ways to maintain home appliances such as the fridge, washing machine, dishwasher, etc are regular cleaning, following safety measures and getting them serviced at regular intervals. Even though home appliances reduce our workload to a great extent, with them comes some hidden risks as well. As all the home appliances have some life expectancy after which they start to have problems, to prevent yourself and your family from any hazard it becomes even more significant to repair and maintain them regularly. Proper usage will save you time, effort and money. With this ideabook, we bring you few tips to maintain your home appliances on a regular basis.

Maintain your appliances with care

Maintaining your home appliances is very important as it can extend energy efficiency, working life cycle and improve performance. These appliances are the heart of your home therefore; keep them in good shape. Instead of facing major problems you can correct problems at an early stage. You should remember that a clean and maintained appliance works more efficiently and can reduce your utility bills too. Apart from this, proper care to your appliances can also keep you and your family safe from accidents. Waiting until a problem occurs can lead to expensive repair or you might even have to end up buying a new appliance. The thumb rule to long life of your appliances is cleaning and servicing them regularly but, be cautious if any sign of improper functioning arises, contact a professional and don’t wait for the weekly or monthly cleaning.

Washing machine: decalcify it and change the filter

Cleaning your washing machine is crucial to keep it running well and smelling fresh so that your clothes can look good and smell good. The inner surface of a machine starts building lime scale caused by hard water (that contains high level of magnesium and calcium). This can accumulate in the drum, inside of the pipes, heating element and water filter. To descale your washing machine, clean it at least once a month that helps in loosening the accumulated lime scale. The first step is to run an empty hot water cycle. You can add baking soda to it and then finish the cycle. You can also repeat these steps with white vinegar. However, if you are not comfortable with these products, you can opt for a commercial lime decalcifier. If you are a budget-conscious home owner, then you can opt for an all-purpose decalcifier that can be applied to other home appliances as well. If your filter catches any hair grips or fluff then simply unscrew the filter cap and remove all the dirt, you can also replace it with a new one if it doesn’t work properly.

Dishwasher: how to clean the filter and the gasket.

Dishwasher cleaning is necessary because deposits and debris build up over time and clog the outlets. To keep your dishwasher running smoothly, there are two important parts that should be cleaned on a regular basis and these are the filter and the gasket. Dishwasher filters are located at the bottom of the appliance that can be cleaned by removing the filter from the bottom rack. Wash the filters in hot water with soap to remove debris and dirt. Once cleaned, refit them in your appliance. As a gasket is fairly expensive, replacing them will not be a good idea instead you can maintain them properly. To clean the gasket, dip an old toothbrush into hot soapy water and start scrubbing the gasket and other surrounding areas. The particles that get hardened can be removed with a soft abrasive cleanser and a sponge.

Fridge: defrost it

Most of the refrigerator does not require defrosting because frost can be automatically removed and defrosted by the appliance itself. But, if you don’t have a self-defrosting fridge then you have to defrost it manually. The freezer compartment must be defrosted regularly when the ice layer is about 5 mm thick. Before defrosting make sure that you remove all frozen food from the freezer and place it in another cool place or wrap them in cloth. To collect water and ice, pull out the drain trough from the bottom of the freezer and place a container under it. Avoid using any electrical appliance to defrost such as defrosting spray, hairdryer, etc. Clean the freezer with a towel or sponge to soak up the defrosted water. After defrosting, wipe the appliance dry, insert the plug-in socket and switch on the appliance. A word of caution is, never use any cleaning agents such as chemical solvents, soda, etc. to defrost a fridge. Make sure that water does not seep into the temperature selector, drain hole and channel while cleaning. This wonderful kitchen interiors shown in the picture has been designed by Donakaza, architects from Brazil. 

Tips to clean the oven: baking soda and water (eco-tips)

Needless to say, oven cleaning is a time-consuming task and most of the cleaning is done with chemicals that are toxic. Therefore, opting for a more eco-friendly method is both cheap and safe. An oven must be cleaned once a week or occasionally. Charred food and built-up grease accumulate in the oven and convert it into carbon. If you don’t have a self-cleaning oven, then here are some tips to clean your oven easily. First, spray your oven fully with water and pour a layer of baking soda paste. Leave it for an hour and then wipe up the paste with a cloth and you will find a shiny and clean oven. It is a natural process and you can also prepare a cleaning solution by taking a 1-litre spray bottle and adding 4 tablespoons of baking soda to it. Shake the spray to dissolve the soda and then spray it in the interior of the oven. Focus especially on the stained areas and if you have a very dirty oven, then increase the amount of soda to make a thick paste. Finally, wipe it off with a soft cloth. 

Tips to clean other small appliances: coffee machine, microwave

To get the most out of your appliances timely care and servicing is important. This can be applied to even small appliances such as a coffee machine, microwave, etc. Though a coffee maker is a small appliance, water deposits, hardened sugar and coffee stains can affect the taste of your coffee in the long run. You can clean them with soapy water but, to remove tough stains use vinegar. Mix a ratio of 2:1 water and vinegar solution and pour it inside the coffee pot to do the cleaning. Turn the coffee maker on, once it is done brewing, pour out the coffee pot and run the coffee machine with just water to clean the pot. Microwave is yet another very essential home appliance that should be cleaned from time to time. There are many ways to clean your microwave such as cleaning with vinegar and water, with lemon, with dishwasher liquid and with baking soda. No matter what method you use, make sure that you air out and let the microwave dry after cleaning for at least 10 minutes.

We hope cleaning appliances will not seem difficult anymore. With this ideabook on homify, give a fresh new start to the year 2016! - Start the year fresh and clean.

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