Monthly Archives: December 2018

Dishwasher Repair: How To Clean The Dishwasher

While the dishwasher is meant to keep the dishes clean, it also needs to be clean for it to function properly. The cool thing is that you don’t need to hire a dishwasher repair professional or any other expert to help you with the cleaning. To help you out, here are the steps to follow when you are looking to clean the dishwasher:

Step 1: Empty the appliance

Are there any dishes in the unit? You need to remove them before you do anything. In addition to the dishes, you also should remove the racks, blades, and any other thing that you can remove from the unit.

You should rinse off any attachments before you return them to the dishwasher. When removing the gunk, remember to pay attention to the dishwasher drain. Gunk in this area tends to impede drainage which can lead to damage to the dishwasher.

Step 2: Clean the filter

Does your dishwasher have a filter at the bottom? Reach under it and check whether there are any items stuck down there. The most common materials that tend to get stuck are spoons and containers.

The point of doing this is to ensure that all the lines are clear. If you don’t clean the drains, you might find yourself standing in dirty water when it comes to the time of clean the lines.

Once you are done cleaning the filter, use a piece of cloth and dish soap to clean the edge and outside of the door.

Step 3: Run a vinegar cycle

Once everything is running properly, you should run a cycle of nothing but a cup of vinegar. All you need to do is to fill the dishwasher with a cup of white vinegar and place it on the upper rack of the empty dishwasher.

For years, vinegar has been used as a natural cleaner and when you use it properly it takes care of problems: it eliminates clogs and bad smells. It has been shown to get rid of grease lining the walls of the previous dirty loads, get rid of any old detergent that might have built-up, and even dissolve mineral deposits.

After placing the vinegar in the dishwasher, you should close the door and run the dishwasher. Give it time and it will remove all the grease and grime that might have been present.

If you can’t get access to vinegar, you can use a package of unsweetened lemonade mix. The citric acid in the mix gives the same results given by vinegar.

Step 4: Run a short rinse cycle with baking soda

After running the vinegar cycle, you should now run a short rinse cycle with baking soda. You need to sprinkle a cupful of baking soda at the bottom of the appliance then run it on a short hot-water cycle.

The purpose of doing this is to get rid of any food smells that might not have been wiped out by vinegar.  You should place a cup of baking soda in the dishwasher the same way you did with vinegar. Once the cycle is done, you should notice your dishwasher smelling much better. It also will have a much brighter look.

Step 5: (Optional) Consider a cycle with bleach

You should consider running this cycle if your dishwasher has been affected by mold. While vinegar will kill mildew, some of the extreme cases will require you to use a harsher cleansing agent such as bleach.

You should place a bowl filled with bleach at the bottom of the basing then run the dishwasher on a full cycle.

Dishwasher maintenance tips

For you to have an easy time cleaning the dishwasher, you should observe a number of tips. Some people have the notion that by prewashing the dishes they make the work of the dishwasher easy, but this isn’t the case.

For the detergent to do its work effectively, you need to have a certain amount of grease and food residue on the dishes. If you have to prewash the dishes, appliance repair Springfield professionals recommend that you avoid going overboard with it.

The dishwasher shares a drain with the kitchen sink. If you have a garbage disposal, always run it before you wash the dishes. This is to ensure that the drain is clear.

Refrigerator Repair: Refrigerator Cleaning Hacks

One of the ways of keeping the refrigerator in top shape is by regularly cleaning it. While people have been cleaning refrigerators for years, refrigerator repair professionals observe that they don’t clean them as well as they are supposed to. To help you out, here are refrigerator cleaning hacks that will be of value to you:

Always get rid of all food

The first step to cleaning the unit is getting rid of all food in the fridge. The best time to remove the food is when the food levels in the fridge are low. This is often before the weekly shopping trip. This way you have fewer items to get rid of.

Most of the food will remain fresh when they are out of the fridge for a short time, but when you remove it for an hour or so, you will be putting it at the risk of getting spoilt. One of the ways of ensuring that the food remains fresh is having a cooler in place.

When you remove the food, throw away any aged, moldy, inedible, or any other food that is questionable in any way. The key to telling the food that should be thrown out is to check the expiration date. If any of the food is beyond its day of expiration, it’s time that you think about throwing it away.

You also should think about whether you have used the materials lately. If you haven’t touched the materials for months, you most likely won’t use it in the future thus you should throw it out.

Clean the interior of the fridge

After you have removed all of the food, you should now clean the fridge, starting from its interior. Take out the shelving, drawers, and other removable surface areas of the unit. Clean the drawers, shelving and other surfaces by hand. You don’t have to use a fancy soap—dish soap is enough to give you the desired results.

If you have a glass shelf, don’t clean it with hot water. This is because the sudden temperature change will shatter the glass. Are there heavy duty spills on the drawers? Use dilute ammonia and warm water to get rid of it.

In addition to cleaning the drawers, also remember to clean the insides of the fridge with your preferred cleaning solution. You shouldn’t use a strongly scented soap or cleaner as it will give your unit a bad look. It can also make the food go bad.

One of the best cleaning solutions you can use is baking soda and apple cider.

Pay attention to the outside of the fridge

Once you are done with the interior, now you should turn your attention to the exterior. Clean all the exterior parts of the unit. These include the front, back, sides, and top. On the outside, its where you will see the condenser coils and fan blade.

The role of these parts is to release heat back into ambient air. When the coils are covered with dust, debris, or hair, they make the compressor work harder than it should. You should use a vacuum to get rid of dust from the coils.

You can also use a coil brush and a damp piece of cloth to remove all the dirt that might be on the condenser fan blade.

Tips to keep the fridge clean all year round

For you to keep your fridge clean and tidy you need to observe a number of tips. One of the things you should do is to undertake seasonal cleanings. At least once every three months, remove all the food from the fridge and give your unit a thorough cleaning.

Do you want your unit to smell great and be odor free? Make use of homemade air fresheners. You can place freshly ground coffee. All you need to do is to put the coffee ina small dish and you will be good to go.

Appliance repair Fairfax professionals also observe that unscented chlorophyll cat litter comes in handy at keeping the fridge smelling fresh. You need to place the kitty litter in a shallow pan at the back of your fridge and your fridge will function properly.

Appliance Repair: Tips On How To Make Your Refrigerator Function Efficiently

If you have a refrigerator, you know that the monthly bill can easily get high if you don’t take good care of it. For you to avoid spending a fortune keeping your food cold, you need to ensure that your refrigerator is running efficiently.

To help you out, here are tips given by appliance repair professionals on how to ensure that your fridge is functioning optimally:

Vacuum the back of the fridge

As a homeo wner,you know that you need to pull the refrigerator as far away from the wall asmuch as possible. This is to ensure that air is circulating properly so thatthe fridge can work as properly as possible.

While the area makes the fridge work better, the area tends to accumulate a lot of dirt and dust which can make the unit function worse than it’s supposed to.

At least once a month, go behind your unit and check whether there is any dirt there. If there is, get rid of it. By doing this, you make it easy for the refrigerator to transfer heat with ease.

As a consequence, the refrigerator cycles run for a shorter time hence you have a low monthly bill at the end of the month. If you have pets, you should considercleaning the back more frequently than this.

Take a look at the door seal

Is the door seal losing air? You should check it as you don’t want it to. This is because if it is, you will be losing a lot of money. The best way of doing it is using a thin piece of paper or dollar bill.

Hold the seal next to the closed refrigerator door and see whether it flutters. If it does, the seal isn’t strong and its time that you think about getting new seals. The cool thing is that it’s easy to replace the rubber or plastic seals on your fridge.

If you have the skills you can replace the seals by yourself, but if you have never done it before, hire a professional to help you out.

As you might have guessed, when you seal the fridge doors, you ensure that no air is leaking thus the fridge doesn’t work harder than its supposed to. As a consequence, you don’t spend money that you shouldn’t.

Cover the food you put in the fridge

Unless you are keeping crackers in the fridge, most of the food you put in the fridge contain moisture. When you don’t cover the food, the foods leach the moisture into the air, making the compressor work hard to remove it. What is the consequence of this?

The refrigerator ends up spending a lot of energy thus you have an unnecessary monthly bill.

Repair the refrigerator

It’s common for the fridge to develop problems every now and then. Most people tend to ignore the issues, especially if they aren’t affecting the workings of the fridge. This is wrong. 

You should note that when the fridge is making noises or showing other signs of problems, it’s not functioning as properly as it’s supposed to. This leads to the unit consuming a lot of energy than it’s supposed to.

For you to keep your monthly bills low, you should make a habit of fixing the issues as soon as you notice them. You can fix the issues by yourself if you have the skills, but if you have never done it before, let an experienced fridge repair expert handle it.

Fill the empty spaces with water

Are there empty spaces in your fridge? Don’t allow them to remain this way. The best way of going about it is filling the spaces with water. You can use soda bottles,juice containers, or use water jugs.

The water in these bottles keeps the food cold so that the fridge doesn’t have to work too hard.

Replace the refrigerator

Sometimes you might be spending a lot of energy cooling your food due to an old refrigerator. Is your fridge more than 15 years old? It’s time that you start thinking about replacing it as it must be functioning inefficiently.

You should buy a unit that fits your needs. The unit should also be energy efficient. If you aren’t sure of a unit with a high energy rating, get the input of a refrigerator repair Northern VA professional.