Imagine you’re hosting a dinner party, and your oven decides it’s the perfect time to stop working.
The harsh truth is that home appliances can be like old friends – primarily reliable, but sometimes, they are prone to letting you down.
When things like that happen, knowing how best to handle the situation smoothly is essential so it doesn’t strain your routine.
Here are a few tips to help you, but first, let’s understand the mystery behind home appliance breakdowns.
Why Do Home Appliances Break Down?
While many factors could cause your home appliance to fail unexpectedly, a significant reason is the age factor.
Over time, they accumulate wear and tear from tirelessly serving your needs. And this tends to happen as they age. So, it might be time to change that home appliance of yours.
Another factor that could break down your home appliance is a power surge. A power surge occurs when there is a sudden increase in the voltage of your electrical systems.
Sudden power surges can be caused by various factors, from lightning strikes, utility grid fluctuations, wiring issues, and power outages to downed power lines.
When any of these occur, the excess voltage can overwhelm the sensitive components of appliances, causing them to malfunction.
So, what do you do when this happens?
Stay Calm and Assess the Situation
It is not unusual to give in to panic when your home appliances suddenly malfunction during a chore. However, being calm and focused on discovering what went wrong with the appliance is the first step to finding a possible solution.
Panicking and grumbling about the faults and inconveniences will not solve the problem. Instead, it causes you to lose precious time or exacerbates the damage.
So, your main aim at this stage is to calm down and evaluate the issue to see if the appliance is repairable or if you’ll have to get a new one.
Ensure Your Safety
You may or may not already know this. But a faulty or malfunctioning appliance may cause you harm, like a shock or even worse. This may be due to hazards such as exposed wires, compromised insulation, faulty circuits, etc.
When you find yourself in this situation, your first action is to ensure your safety. You can do this by switching off the appliance, putting on protective gear like insulated rubber gloves, and setting a perimeter around the affected home appliance so your family members will stay clear of it while you find a solution.
Try Out DIY Methods
DIY methods are only effective when you perceive the fault as minor and perhaps something you can fix. In this case, there will be no need to call a professional and incur unnecessary bills for a minor repair.
You can use the primary DIY tools you have at home and combine them with a short tutorial on YouTube and have your appliance working in no time.
However, if the issue is very complex (beyond your set of skills), the best course of action would be to consult with a professional (this is something we will be talking more about later on in this blog) to come check it out.
DIYs are tremendously cost-saving, but the last thing you want is to escalate a fundamental issue just because you don’t know what you’re doing. This could because you harm or increase the amount of money needed to fix the problem. Both of which you don’t want.
Consult the Appliance Manual
This idea may not be needed if you’re hoping for a professional to handle things. However, if the issue affecting the appliance is minor and fixable through a DIY method, then an appliance manual can help you a lot.
These manuals have valuable details about your appliance that can save you time, money, and frustration when handling them through a DIY method.
With the appliance manual and a few YouTube videos, you can quickly fix your malfunctioning appliance. It will help you decide whether to resolve the issues or seek professional assistance for efficiency.
Know When to Call a Professional
If you’ve tried every method within your capacity or perceive that the problem is beyond your level and a basic DIY technical know-how, then your best alternative is to consult a professional to come check it out.
Calling a professional doesn’t mean you’re lazy or frightened. No! It only means you’re smart enough to know when to handle things yourself and when to allow those with the technical knowledge to take over.
You won’t only be preventing yourself from potential harm but also saving money from making mistakes that could be costly.
If you require an experienced professional who offers appliance repair services, you can ask for recommendations from people around you, like friends or family. Or better yet, use online directories to search for local appliance repair companies with glowing reviews and ratings around you.
Consider temporary alternatives
While fixing your appliances, you should have alternatives to help you carry out your chores without stress.
If it’s your microwave that’s faulty and getting repaired, you can use a stovetop or oven to warm up your food for the main time.
The goal is to ensure you have an alternative sorted out to help you carry out the task your appliance was in charge of. This strategy will save you stress and anxiety and help you cope before your appliance is repaired.
Maintain Your Appliances Frequently
The maintenance of your home appliances frequently should be emphasized. It’s one thing to buy a home appliance, and it’s another to ensure its constantly in good shape and won’t surprise you anytime soon, especially when you need it the most.
If you’re worried about the cost of maintenance, then you can opt for home protection plans. According to the experts at Cinch Home Services, a renowned home warranty company, a home protection plan can protect you from unexpected costs of appliance breakdowns and help maintain them frequently.
The vital thing to note when getting your home protection plan is to be aware of the kind of appliances it covers and the different packages available that you can choose from.
With that said, here is a checklist for DIY routine maintenance for some of your home appliances to keep them in optimal form;
Refrigerator
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Regularly inspect and clean the interior of the refrigerator
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Check and carefully clean the refrigerator coils and condenser fans
Washing machine
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Cautiously check for leaks around the washer
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Clean the drain pump and lint filter frequently
Oven
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Use an oven thermometer to monitor its temperature and recalibrate it when necessary.
Microwave
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Frequently inspect the microwave door seal to see if it’s intact and functional
Wrapping Up
No one can predict when an appliance will disappoint us, but we can certainly do something about it when they do. Use the tips here to your best advantage whenever you are in that situation.