With the ever-increasing water and electricity prices, the last thing you want is to run the machine with nothing inside.

Can you run washing machine empty? Yes, you can do it to clean it and keep it in tip-top condition.

According to washer repair professionals, when you run the washing machine empty and let the water off the interior, you clean any debris that might be there, ensuring that all the clothes coming from it are clean.

What is the best way to run an empty washing machine?

The best way to run an empty machine is to run it on a hot cycle with nothing inside. The hot wash means that you should run the machine at a cycle of at least 40 degrees, but for the best outcome, set it to the hottest option that you are aiming for.

The hot cycle is more beneficial if you regularly wash your clothes using the cold cycle. When the machine goes for a long time without coming into contact with hot water, bacteria and detergents accumulate inside.

The accumulated grime might start affecting the clothes that you wash as they might start coming out with lingering smells.

You remove bacteria when you run the hot cycle, so your clothes always come out clean and smelling fresh.

Washing machine professionals also recommend running an empty cycle on your machine before you start using it for your clothes or bedding. This is to ensure that there is no dust, oils, or any other residues inside the machine or its pipes.

Don’t use any cleaning products when running the empty cycle. If you want, you can give the cycle some power by adding two cups of vinegar into the detergent drawer.

You can also pour half a cup of bicarbonate of soda into the machine’s drum before setting it to the hottest cycle and letting the cleaning happen.

Other washing machine best practices

Besides running an empty cycle to keep the washing machine in top shape, there are plenty of other things you need to do to maintain your machine. These things include:

Put the detergents in the right place

The detergent you use can make or break your machine, so you should be cautious about how you use it. If using a liquid detergent, measure it with a measuring cup or dosing ball and place the entire ball in a washing machine drum after your clothes.

If using a powder, measure it using a scoop and pour it into the correct compartment of the detergent drawer. It’s also wise to add the washing tablets to the detergent drawer or the washing machine drum before you put your clothes.

Just like the washing machine tablets, pop the capsules at the back of the drum before the clothes and run the cycle.

Remove the clothes at the right time.

Some homeowners leave clothes in their washing machines, sometimes even overnight. This is wrong as the moisture from the wet clothes can lead to a buildup of mold in the drum or even on the clothes.

To avoid this, always remove the clothes from the washer as soon as the rinse cycle is complete, then dry the clothes naturally outside.

Remove everything from the pockets.

Plenty of washing machines have been reported getting damaged by coins, nails, and other materials after they have hit the insides of the washing machine. As you can tell, this leads to expensive repairs, and you don’t get to use your machine for some time.

To avoid this, always double-check your pockets and remove any materials there. From the tissues to plastic toys, remove all of them. You don’t want a stray tissue leaving your entire load covered in white fluff, do you?

Hire a professional when issues come about

Your washing machine will develop problems such as blocked water pipe and others. While you can fix some of these issues by yourself, always avoid doing so as the chances are high that you will cause more problems than were there.

To be safe, always hire an appliance repair Alexandria professional to fix any problem, regardless of its magnitude.

The post Can You Run Washing Machine Empty? first appeared on HVAC Repair, appliance repair. The post appeared first on Express Appliance Repair

How you organize your fridge goes a long way toward keeping your fridge looking clean and determining how efficiently the appliance functions and lasts. Are you wondering how to organize your fridge? Here is how to go about it the right way as given by refrigerator repair professionals:

Sort the shelves

If you are like other homeowners, you are fond of squeezing food in any available space in your appliance. This is wrong, and it’s time to change.

You should properly organize the shelves, which comes in handy in helping reduce waste as you know where everything is. There is no right or wrong way to organize your shelves—work with what works for you. If you aren’t sure about where to start, here is a guide:

Top shelf: This is the first shelf you see when you open the fridge door and is one of the warmer shelves in your appliance. You should avoid keeping any fresh meat here. Instead, designate it for leftovers, takeout, and any other stuff that you need to eat soon.

Middle shelf: Temperatures are most consistent in the middle of the refrigerator, making it the perfect place to store foods that you need to keep cold but have a lower risk of spoiling. Some of the excellent foods to keep here are: deli meats, eggs, sour cream, and soft cheese.

Bottom shelf: This is the coldest place in the refrigerator, so you should store items that spoil easily here. The best candidates are fish and meat.

It’s tempting to keep milk on the top shelf for easy access, but you shouldn’t as milk spoils easily. The best place to store it is near the bottom and back of the refrigerator.

If you are fond of forgetting items that you have tucked into the back of the fridge, stack them on a rotating organizer so that you can easily grab them and check their expiration dates.

Keep the drawers organized.

Drawers help you keep your fridge organized and hold specific humidity levels that come in handy at keeping the various foods properly preserved.

There are two main types of drawers: high and low humidity drawers.

The vegetables store best in high humidity drawers, and most fridges will have a vegetable drawer, often at the bottom. If the drawer isn’t labeled, look for one without a vent or close the vent yourself.

Some of the items you should store here are spinach, green onion, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and leafy greens.

The low humidity drawer is often labeled “crisper” and has air vents, and is the best place to store the fruits that break down easily. Some of the best fruits to store here are: pears, oranges, strawberries, kiwi, grapes, and raspberries.

If your drawer doesn’t have a humidity control or air vent, keep the drawer a little cracked to create more airflow.

Make use of the door.

The door is the refrigerator’s warmest zone, and you should store items that don’t easily get spoilt. They include: mustard, sesame oil, ketchup, salad dressing, mayo, and hot sauce.

The door is also an excellent place to store wine, juice, and beer beverages.

Valuable tips when storing items in the fridge

To have a great time with the items, you store in the fridge, you need to consider several tips. These tips include:

Use clear containers: To stick to a system and keep everything in its place, you should use a few shallow clear containers. To avoid confusion, label the containers depending on the food you have stored inside and its expiration date.

Keep the fridge clean: You want to ensure that your fridge is clean. Besides dusting it daily, you should make it a habit to remove everything at the end of the week and give it a good scrub. If possible, remove the shelves and drawers and let them soak in hot soapy water.

You should then wipe the entire interior taking care not to use abrasive cleaning products that can harm the plastic.

Once you are done, appliance repair Springfield recommend you replace the shelves and drawers, then store a box of baking soda in them to help fight the fridge odors.

The post How To Organize A Fridge, The Right Way first appeared on HVAC Repair, appliance repair. The post appeared first on Express Appliance Repair

Are you wondering how long do dishwashers last? According to appliance repair professionals, they last an average of 9.5 years.

The appliance’s lifespan is hugely dependent on how frequently you use the unit.

An average household runs its dishwasher five times a week. This means that if you run yours more than this, it’s bound to have a much shorter lifespan and vice versa.

For example, if you run your unit more than five cycles a week, it will last for seven years, and if you run it fewer than five cycles a week, it will last for even 15 years.

How do you extend the life of your dishwasher?

Would you love your dishwasher to last for as long as possible? There are several things you can do. These things include:

Always load your dishwasher correctly

How you load your unit goes a long way towards determining how long it lasts. As a rule of thumb, you should never overload the unit, as you will inhibit its ability to clean the dishes properly. Overloading the dishwasher also creates unnecessary strain, which prevents the dishes from cleaning properly and makes the dishwasher overwork, which drives it to an early grave.

To be safe, learn how to load the dishwasher properly. This calls for you to place the different items in the right places.

Throw away the bones and food scraps before loading the dishwasher

While some powerful modern dishwashers in the market can handle food scraps, it’s still not safe to throw filthy food scraps and bones in the dishwasher as they prevent the dishes from cleaning as well as they should, so you should always remove dirty dishes.

There is also the risk of food getting stuck in the filters and causing significant damage over time.

Clean dishwasher safe items

Dishwasher companies will advertise that you can clean anything on the dishwasher, but this isn’t the case. There are some items that are hand wash only, and it’s for a good reason. This is because some of these items can damage your dishwasher.

To protect your unit from damage, take your time to analyze anything you put in the dishwasher. As a rule of thumb, don’t put anything there that doesn’t belong.

Keep the dishwasher clean.

The dishwasher is always clean as there is water flowing through it, right? Wrong. Like the other units in your home, you need to clean the dishwasher.

One of the parts you should ensure that is clean is the food trap. All dishwashers have a rubber trap at the bottom of the drain that prevents the drain from clogging. Every few months, remove the trap and clean it to keep it in top working condition.

You also should clean the dishwasher filters and door seals.

When doing the cleaning, always use vinegar as it not only removes the built-up gunk, but also gets rid of awful odors. To clean using vinegar, pour a cup of white distilled vinegar in the bottom of the dishwasher, then run an empty cycle. The vinegar will clean out any debris stuck in the crevices and throughout the machine’s interior.

Wash the dishes with hot water

When it comes to the water you use when washing the dishes, always use hot water. Hot water cleans the dishes and kills bacteria, so you have clean and safe-to-eat dishes. Hot water also prevents debris and residues from building up in the dishwasher, so you have an easy time cleaning it.

Use the right detergents.

Besides using hot water, you also should use the right dishwashing detergent. Dishwasher repair Alexandria professionals recommend you only use detergent meant for the dishwasher. And when using the detergent, don’t use a detergent that is more than the manufacturer recommended amount.

As much as a detergent might appear harmless, note that using the wrong one can lead to pipe, filter, and even drainage damage.

If you aren’t sure about the right detergent to use, get the input of a professional.

The post How Long Do Dishwashers Last? first appeared on HVAC Repair, appliance repair. The post appeared first on Express Appliance Repair

Like the other kitchen appliances, cooktops also develop a myriad of problems that you need to fix to continue using the unit. Which are these problems? Here they are as given by cooktops repair professionals:

Failure of the electric cooktop to turn on

You will switch on the cooktop, but it fails to come on. You can’t cook with an appliance that won’t come on, can you?

One of the reasons an electric cooktop won’t turn on is if you haven’t plugged it in. Before you start investigating other issues, check whether the appliance is properly plugged in. Also, check whether the outlet is functioning correctly.

Use a multimeter or test it using any other small appliance such as an iron or blow dryer to check the outlet. If you do this and still it won’t come on, get in touch with an experienced electrician to help troubleshoot it.

Sometimes you will find the outlet providing power, but the cooktop doesn’t work. If this is the case with your appliance, your unit might be having problems with the internal components.

If you have never fixed a similar problem before, let an experienced professional help out.

Failure of the gas burner to light

If you have a gas furnace, the gas burner will sometimes fail to light. And like the above problem, this issue can be brought about by several factors.

Before you go deep into the problem, observe what happens when you try to light the burner. You should hear a clicking noise and smell gas coming out of the valves. If you hear a click but can’t smell anything, the problem might have to do with gas flow.

If you smell gas but don’t hear any clicking, the issue might be within the ignition switch.

You should turn the appliance off and unplug it to fix the problem. Follow up by removing the grate and burner cap, then clean out all the loose food debris, and once done, reconnect the wires that might have gone loose.

If this doesn’t fix the problem, you might need a new igniter or look into the gas connection problem.

Failure of the electric coils to heat

When you turn on your electric cooktop, you expect the coils to heat so that you can cook. So, it’s out of the ordinary when you turn the unit on, but the coils don’t heat.

You will often have this problem when you have a loose connection between the coils and cooktop. If the problem came about after removing the coils for cleaning, you might not have properly put them back.

To fix the problem, you need to check whether you have correctly installed the coils, and if there is anything stuck between the coil element and stove.

The coils will also fail to heat if you have an issue with the cooktop’s internal ignition switch, which provides you with action you need to heat the burners.

If you have never diagnosed the problem before, don’t try to fix it yourself, as chances are high you will cause more problems. Instead, let an experienced professional help you out.

Gas stove clicking all the time

It’s normal for the gas stove to click when you switch it on, but if the clicking continues long after the burner is lit, you have a problem. Sometimes the clicking is too much that it prevents the burner from lighting.

This will happen when something is blocking the burner, and all you need to do is to check and ensure that the burner cap hasn’t been knocked out of place and there is no debris blocking the holes.

You should inspect the unit for any blocking material and remove it using a paperclip or any other slim, metal object.

If you remove it and the clicking continues, you might have excess moisture trapped in the cooktop, and you need to towel off the stovetop or point a fan at the cooking surface to soak up the extra water or grease.

If you do this and still the clicking continues, your appliance must be having a deeper sitting problem, and you should have it looked at by an experienced appliance repair Springfield professional.

The post 4 Common Cooktop Problems And How To Fix Them first appeared on HVAC Repair, appliance repair. The post appeared first on Express Appliance Repair

You need to use your refrigerator properly for it to function optimally and keep off a refrigerator repair professional. How do you do it? Here are tips on the proper use of a fridge:

Keep the used foods at the front

It’s common to open some foods then, after partially using them, return them to the fridge.

Many homeowners aren’t conscious of where they put the opened foods, which is wrong.

The right way to do it is to place the opened foods at the front of the fridge shelves, in front of the newer items. This way you are sure that you use the opened items before you move to the sealed ones.

Some homeowners will say they can remember the bottle they have opened, but this isn’t the case. Even if you place a label on the foods, don’t mix them with the unopened ones.

When storing the leftovers, move with haste and keep them before they enter the danger zone. If storing large amounts of the leftovers, store them in several small, shallow containers that will cool faster.

Remember to date them and keep them as fresh as possible by removing as much air from them as possible.

Put the non-perishables on the fridge doors.

The less perishable foods such as juices, fruits, and others respond better to temperature fluctuations, so you should put them on the fridge doors.

Remember that you will open and close the fridge door, so ensure that the foods you place here can withstand the temperature changes without changing their taste or texture.

Keep the raw foods at the bottom.

Raw meat and fish belong at the bottom of the fridge where the temperatures are lowest. These areas also don’t experience a lot of temperature fluctuations when you open and close the refrigerator.

Since the raw foods tend to be highly perishable, placing them at the bottom means that you put them away from the other foods, hence you don’t worry about them contaminating the rest of your foods.

As you put the raw foods at the bottom of the fridge, remember to keep them sealed and free of leaks.

Keep the refrigerator below 5 degrees centigrade.

You should keep your fridge below 5 degrees centigrade so that you can keep all of the food cool, fresh, and full of flavor. You are sure that even the highly sensitive milk won’t get spoilt at this temperature.

Don’t overstock the fridge.

It’s easy to be carried away and stock more than your fridge can carry, when you don’t want to make another trip to the grocery store.

As much as you will save a trip to the grocery store, overloading your refrigerator is not a wise thing to do as it prevents the air from circulating as well as it should, which, as you can guess, means that your foods don’t remain as cool as well as they should.

There is also the risk of the fridge overworking when you overload it, which drives it to an early grave.

What is the best thing to do instead?

The right thing to do is stock just the right amount of food in your fridge.

You are better off making another trip to the grocery store within the month than overloading your fridge and damaging it.

Clean the fridge once a week

At least once a week, remove all the foods in the fridge and clean them. Before returning any of the foods, find out their expiry date and discard them if necessary. You should also discard any food you aren’t sure whether should be in the fridge.

Parting shot

These are some wise fridge tips to keep your refrigerator in top working shape.

Don’t wait for your fridge to break down if you can afford it. Hire an experienced appliance repair Alexandria professional at least once a year to go over your unit and fix any issues your appliance might be having.

This way you prevent larger problems from resulting down the line, that might be too expensive to fix.

The professionals will also help you know expert tips to keep your appliance in top shape.

The post Proper Use of Refrigerator Tips first appeared on HVAC Repair, appliance repair. The post appeared first on Express Appliance Repair

When you need a new dishwasher, there are many options you can choose from. While each one has its own features, one of the more critical choices you must make is between a stainless steel or plastic tub.

It will not take long to discover that a stainless steel tub is more expensive than a plastic one. Your budget is essential, so which one do you choose?

Benefits of Stainless Steel Dishwasher Tubs

A stainless steel tub can hold up to heat and hard water better than plastic. The water temperature in a dishwasher gets as high as 160 degrees Fahrenheit to kill germs and bacteria. A plastic tub can warp and leak when exposed to high temperatures over a long period. Hard water can also cause a plastic tub to warp. 

A stainless steel tub uses less power energy.  A stainless steel tub only uses 450 watts as opposed to the 600 – 750 watts of energy used by a plastic tub. 

Stainless steel is more durable and lasts longer than plastic. Plastic is likely to crack and require a replacement. A stainless steel tub is also less likely to stain than a plastic tub.

Stainless steel tubs are better able to absorb sound, making them less noisy than plastic tubs. They produce as much as 10 decibels less noise than a plastic one. This noise reduction means that a dishwasher with a stainless steel tub is less disruptive to the household when it is running.

Stainless steel tubs use conduction, which means that the dishes dry faster. Stainless steel pulls in heat and turns it into condensation, which drops to the bottom of the dishwasher instead of becoming a puddle on the plates.

At Sarah’s Appliance Repair, we recommend a stainless steel dishwasher tub. While stainless steel may cost a little bit more upfront, the extra cost will be worth it because of all the benefits it provides in the short-term as well as saved money in the long run by avoiding the cost of replacement parts.

Having issues with your current dishwasher? Give us a call today at 505-835-1927 or text 505-388-0900.

The post Should I Buy a Dishwasher with a Plastic or Stainless Steel Tub? appeared first on Appliance Repair New Mexico.

A tidy fridge is not only beautiful to look at, but also saves you money as it runs more efficiently, not to mention lasting for a long time.

How do I keep my fridge tidy? If you are asking this, you should know that there are plenty of ways to do it, as given by refrigerator repair professionals.

Which are these ways? Here they are:

Maximize the shelf space

Most people will say that their fridges are full, but when you inspect them, you find that they aren’t using their shelf space as well as they should.

To keep your fridge tidy, you need to make the most of your shelf space. And the beauty is there are plenty of ways to make it happen.

One of the things you should do is avoid having unopened cans or single-serve bottles crowding the food that you should keep cold. This calls for you to keep the cans out of your fridge.

Instead of keeping the cans in the fridge, keep them in the pantry. If you need to cool the bottles, use ice, instead of placing them in the refrigerator.

Another way to make the most of your shelf space is to use square instead of round plastic containers. The reason for this is because square bottles store more food and look much cleaner than round ones.

If there is leftover food, don’t place it in huge, space-sucking containers. Instead, put it in individual portions in smaller bins. You can also store them in resealable bags that you can easily grab and go.

Make the food items accessible.

You will be doing double work removing items out of the way then restocking them. You will also be messing with your fridge by doing it.

You should strategically place the different items in your fridge to ensure this doesn’t happen. Of course, the items you use regularly should be near the door to easily access them.

Experts also recommend you use a Lazy Suzan.

Regularly clean the fridge.

You should regularly clean your fridge and remove any materials that might make the unit look dirty. For the best outcome, thoroughly clean the insides of the refrigerator,

Besides the cleaning, reduce the work you have to do to keep the unit clean by lining the bins with paper towels that will catch the drips.

It’s also wise to keep the sticky items such as syrups, jams, and sauces in removable shelf bins. This way, if dribbles happen, you only need to take them out and rinse them.

As you are doing the cleaning, you will come across stuck-on messes. To remove these, use a damp scrubber sponge sprinkled with baking. This will not only remove the messes, but also get rid of dirt and odors.

Clip the opened bags

When you have many bags in your fridge, it’s easy to forget what you have already opened, and you end up with many half-used food items that make your fridge look full and disorganized.

To ensure that you exhaust one bag before moving to the next, mark the bag you have already opened.

One way to do this is to clip the bags to the shelf with a binder clip. Of course, you should keep the bag close to the fridge door so that it becomes the first thing you see when you open the refrigerator.

Keep the items sorted in the freezer.

Due to its small size, things can quickly build up in the freezer, giving it an untidy, disorganized look. To avoid this, keep the items in small containers. For example, you can have fish, poultry, or even vegetable containers.

After keeping the items in clear plastic containers,  label them to make them easy to find.

Parting shot

These are some of the ways to keep the fridge clean and organized. As you organize the food items, store them to make them last for as long as possible. This calls for you to double bag certain foods such as raw meat.

Appliance repair Springfield professionals also recommend you pat the wet fruits and vegetables with a dry paper towel to get rid of excess moisture that can spoil the items.

The post How Do I Keep My Fridge Tidy? 5 Tips To Make It Sparkle first appeared on HVAC Repair, appliance repair. The post appeared first on Express Appliance Repair

There are plenty of guides on proper loading of the dishwasher, so it might be a bit cliché writing another one. This is the reason we have put together this detailed guide on how not to load a dishwasher.

Pre-rinse the dishes

You must have heard that to keep your dishwasher functioning optimally and keep away appliance repair professionals, you need to clear as many food particles from the dishes as possible.

While it’s true that removing most of the food particles will make the work easy for your dishwasher, you shouldn’t pre-rinse the dishes. This is because you will be wasting water and energy.

The dishwashing detergents are designed to cling to the food particles and separate them from the surfaces. This means that when you remove all the food from the dishes, there will be no place for the detergents to adhere to hence you might not get the clean dishes you are looking for.

The right thing to do is scrape off the large food particles instead of rinsing them.

You should only consider pre-rinsing the dishes if you aren’t planning to clean them immediately—you want to keep the dishes in the dishwasher until you have a full load.

By rinsing the dishes you prevent foul smells from emanating after the dishes have stayed in the dishwasher for a couple of days.

Load the pates in the top rack

The top rack looks great, and this is where you should put the plates, right? Wrong.

Dishes are meant to go to the bottom rack. This is why there are tines intended to hold the plates in place to maximize the number that fit and make sure that the hot water passes through for proper cleaning.

You can get away with having a plate or two on the top rack, but when you cram several of them there, you interfere with how other items fit and get cleaned.

Place glassware over the tines

The cups and glasses indeed belong on the top rack, but you shouldn’t place them over the tines. Instead, place them between the tines to prevent cracks and chips from occurring when they bump or rattle against each other during a cycle.

Place the dishwasher pieces facing the same direction

You should have all the dishwasher pieces facing one direction to maintain uniformity and have an easy time, right? Again, wrong.

For proper dish cleaning, you should place the dishes in opposite directions. This means that the dishes on the rear should face forward, and the ones in the front face towards the back.

The same thing applies to the spoons and forks—place them in varying positions in the utensil tray.

By doing this, you allow water to reach all the dishes and at the same time prevent the forks and spoons from nesting into each other.

For the best outcome, load the dishes so that they all face the center of the bottom rack.

Place the platters at the front.

Cutting boards, large platters, and casserole dishes belong at the back or sides of the bottom rack. This is not only to give you room to pack other dishes, but placing them in the front increases the chances of blocking the soap dispenser and preventing detergents from reaching the rest of the load.

Overfill the dishwasher

You might have the impression that when you put all the dirty dishes in one cycle, you save water and energy, but this isn’t the case.

Like the washing machine or refrigerator, cramming your dishwasher full makes it run inefficiently. The water and soap also don’t circulate freely; hence the dishes don’t get as clean as they should.

To be on the safe side, you should only stock what is required—don’t load your dishwasher more than it can carry.

Load even non-dishwasher safe items

I know it’s easy to throw all the dirty dishes and cutlery into the dishwasher and forget about it, but you shouldn’t do it as you will be damaging them.

According to dishwasher repair Northern VA professionals, when you throw plastic containers in the dishwasher, the hot water can melt or even warp that plastic. There is also the risk of cracking wooden spoons and gold flatware discoloring.

To protect your dishes, always confirm whether dishwasher safe before putting them in.

The post How Not To Load A Dishwasher—A Detailed Guide first appeared on HVAC Repair, appliance repair. The post appeared first on Express Appliance Repair

Thanks to washing machines, we no longer worry about washing clothes with our hands. To draw the most benefits from these machines, you have to use them properly.

How do you use washing machines properly? Here is how to go about it as given by washer repair professionals:

Always prepare your clothes before putting them in the washing machine

Don’t just toss your clothes in the washing machine—prepare them for washing. A good rule of thumb is to close the zippers, unbutton shirts, secure straps, hooks, and Velcro, and inspect the pockets for any important items before putting the clothes in the machine.

The purpose of doing this is to prevent the clothes from getting damaged as you are cleaning them. For example, if you leave the clothes buttoned, you risk losing a thread around the buttonholes. Lint can also catch on the Velcro straps if you don’t close them properly.

Remove stains beforehand

While it’s possible to put bleach in the washing machine and remove stains or even whiten the clothes as you are cleaning them, it’s unwise to do this as sometimes the washing machine fails to remove the stains properly.

If you have stained clothes in your basket, remove the stains before putting the clothes in the washing machine with the other clothes. Besides having an easy time getting rid of these stains, removing the stains beforehand prevents stain transfer.

Separate light and grey clothes

The purpose of separating the clothes before putting them in the washing machine is to protect them from damage. For example, if you put lightweight clothes such as t-shirts and leggings together with jackets and other heavy clothes, it means that the clothes will stay in the washing machine for a long time so that all the dirt can come off the jackets.

As you can guess, this puts the leggings and the other lightweight clothes at the risk of getting damaged for staying in the washing machine much longer than they should.

To have an easy time sorting the clothes, have multiple hampers. You also should sort the outfits by their material. For example, put clothes made from lighter materials such as shirts and leggings in one basket and clothes made with thicker materials such as jeans and jackets in another.

You can also separate the clothes by color. Dark-colored clothes have dyes that can seep into the lighter clothes, so you should put them separately.

Turn the clothes inside out.

The point of doing this is to prevent your clothes from fading and maintain their original color. If you have fading clothes, it’s always recommended you clean them with cold water. The cold water sets the dye to the fabric, preventing it from floating away in the wash water, so you keep your clothes in their original color.

Don’t overload the washing machine.

When you have a large load to clean and minimal time, it’s tempting to load all of your clothes in one go and get done with it, but don’t. This is because you end up overloading the machine, which makes it work harder than it should and puts it at the risk of getting damaged.

All washing machines have their capacities indicated, so you can’t miss that. All you have to do is check on the indicated figures and ensure that you don’t overload your appliance.

Leave the washing machine door open.

After using the washing machine, don’t close the door. Instead, leave it open for air and light to get in. Mold and mildew thrive in damp areas, so when you close the washing machine’s door immediately after using it, you keep the insides damp, promoting mold and mildew growth.

By leaving the door open, you give the appliance time to air out and dry up, which kills the mildew and mold and prevents foul odors from occurring.

Keep the washing machine clean.

Since the washing machine cleans clothes, you don’t need to clean it, right? Wrong. According to appliance repair Springfield professionals, if you don’t regularly clean your washing machine, you don’t get rid of dust and debris that might get on your clothes, and they come out dirty.

To keep your appliance clean, clean it at least once a week.

The post How Do You Use Washing Machines Properly first appeared on HVAC Repair, appliance repair. The post appeared first on Express Appliance Repair

Would you love to keep your fridge in perfect working order and keep off refrigerator repair professionals? You should keep these fridge rules into consideration:

Keep the fridge at the right temperature

Setting the fridge at the optimal temperature not only keeps your food fresh, but also prevents it from overworking. The ideal fridge temperature is between 1c and 4C as you have to keep the food at 5C or lower. If you recently visited the grocery store, so the fridge is full, keep the temperature settings a little lower to save energy.

If it’s empty or cold, keep the temperature a little high.

Besides doing this, make it a habit to defrost your appliance when the ice is more than 5mm thick or prevent the air from circulating as effectively as it should.

Keep the fridge clean.

It goes without saying that you have to keep the fridge in top shape to keep it clean. As a rule of thumb, clear any spillages as soon as they happen. You should also wipe down the handles daily and clean the door outside at least once a week.

Regularly inspect the shelves and containers for lackluster or out-of-date food items and remove them.

At least once every three months, empty the refrigerator and draw out all the removable parts (drawers, shelves, and racks), then wash them with hot water and washing liquid.

Never use bleach or any non-food-safe chemical cleaners.

If the fridge is too dirty or you have gone for a long time without cleaning it, you need to deep clean it. To do this, use a toothbrush and thick paste of bicarb mixed with water and get rid of any stains.

You should then unplug the unit and clean it by hovering underneath and behind it. You should also remove any vented covers and reach the dust-coated fans and coils.

Store the right things in the fridge

What you store in your refrigerator goes a long way towards maintaining sanity in your appliance. Don’t store opened tin cans in the appliance as once you open them to the air, the tin from the can can transfer more quickly to the can’s contents.

Only place cans that come with resealable lids in the fridge, and always decant leftovers.

You also shouldn’t refrigerate hot food as they cause contamination and mess up the fridge temperature, causing it to overwork.

If you want to store your food in the fridge, wait for it to cool completely.

Some of the items in the fridge include: milk, yogurt, all berries, citrus, fish, and any opened products that specify refrigeration once opened.

Eggs require consistent temperatures so if you bought them refrigerated, keep them that way.

You also should keep large tubs of nut butters that you don’t need immediately and open pickles and jams.

Place the items on the right shelves.

Placing the right items in the refrigerator isn’t enough—you need to put them on the right shelves.

Top shelf: This shelf belongs to the items that don’t need cooking. These include: dips, sliced meats, deli dishes, leftovers, tortilla wraps, etc. This shelf is also perfect for any unfinished tin cans.

Middle shelf: The best items to store here are dairy and eggs. Don’t store the items on the door racks or egg holders to avoid damaging your door.

Bottom shelf: You place meat and fish here

Vegetable drawers: These are designed for fruits, vegetables, herbs, and leaves. Lettuce and other greens belong here.

Store all soft, fresh herbs (except for basil) here.

Door racks: Door racks are for juices, condiments, spreads, and other items with long shelf lives.

Undertake regular inspections

After buying, most homeowners don’t inspect their appliances, which is wrong. To ensure that your unit is in top working condition, make it a habit to inspect it at least once a year. Go around the unit and find any issue it might be having.

You can inspect yourself or hire an appliance repair Springfield professional to help you out. When hiring the repair expert, ensure they are experienced and know what they are doing.

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