Even if you have appliance cover, you will still want to take all reasonable steps possible to keep your kitchen appliances working as efficiently as possible for as long as possible. Kitchen appliance breakdowns are surprisingly common, and their consequences can be severe. For instance, while a cooker breakdown might hamper your ability to cook decent meals, a refrigerator breakdown could lead to hundreds of pounds’ worth of expensive food rotting away.
Read on for our top tips on extending the life expectancy of kitchen appliances:
Gas ovens and gas hobs
- Keep your oven and hobs clean – give the inside of the oven a thorough clean-out with oven cleaner every few months, and scrub away any baked-on food or grime from your hobs until they look good as new. Try to clean your hobs every time you use them.
- When cleaning ovens and hobs, carefully ensure that cleaning products or water does not enter the internal components of the appliance, such as through switches and dials. This can cause the electrical components in the appliance to short-circuit or malfunction.
- If your oven or stove needs to be repaired, calculate how much it would cost to replace it, and consider getting a replacement if the cost of the repair is half of the cost of a brand-new appliance. If you have appliance breakdown cover with 247 Home Rescue, our contractors will immediately determine if this is the case – we call these appliances ‘beyond economical repair’ or ‘BER’.
- Be wary when aluminium foil in ovens or under grills; some believe that this can alter the heat level in the appliance, making it harder for people to cook food properly and potentially damaging the heating elements. Of course, aluminium foil makes it far easier for you to clean the grill pan.
Refrigerators and fridge-freezers
- Ensure there is ventilation room behind these white goods – many people put them right up against the wall, but this can cause the white good cover to overheat and break down, and can even lead to fire. There should be at least three inches between white goods and the wall, and another inch or two between the appliance and your counters.
- If your freezer does not have an auto-defrost function, empty it out and defrost it whenevr you think it is necessary to do so. A thick layer of ice seriously hampers the efficiency of the heating mechanisms and can cause freezers to work overtime. Not only will defrosting the freezer improve its efficiency, and reduce your energy bills, but it will also significantly increase the lifespan of the appliance.
- Clean the white goods’ condenser coils every year. You can find these coils somewhere around the appliance cover – usually at the back. Much like frost within a freezer, dirty condenser coils reduce the efficieny of the appliance and can cause the item to overheat or break down.
Dishwashers
- Scrape food scraps into the bin before you load your plates into the dishwasher. Large food scraps can block the mechanisms of the machine, while smaller food scraps can promote bacterial growth. Many recommend that dishes should be rinsed until almost clean before they are put into dishwashers.
- Use the recommended amount of detergent. Too much detergent will cling to dishes, giving future meals an unpleasant soapy taste, and will build up on the internal components of the dishwasher, making it vulnerable to a breakdown.
247 Home Rescue accepts no liability for any injuries or damages you sustain following the advice on this website. If in doubt, seek professional assistance.
