Performing general maintenance on a routine schedule can go a long way to ensure the longevity of your household appliances. At Neli experienced qualified appliance technicians will walk you through performing your own preventative maintenance check-up on all your appliances. For only $19.99 you can help your machine run strong for a longer time frame, that is a $120 value for about the cost of a large pizza! In addition, preventative maintenance checks can save you from the potential nightmare of major damages to your home due to a faulty appliance.
Quick story, one day I had a customer who owns a small hotel. He ordered a repair for a dryer that wouldn’t heat. The heating problem was a relatively easy fix and I finished the repair quickly, freeing up more time for me to be extra helpful for my customer. I offered to conduct a maintenance check-up on the washing machine. The washer was a good, older model machine and hey, it sits right next to the dryer so why not right! I’m a great technician so my customer was more than happy to pay additional fees for a little piece of mind on the washer, especially after already paying me around $250 to fix a broken dryer. I conducted the preventative maintenance check-up of the washer and when I tilled the machine to check the motor windings and transmission cam, I found a very slow leak coming from the drain pump. The leak was so slow it took about ten minutes to verify. The leak rate was slow enough that no matter what my customer was washing, there would not be enough water leaked at any one time to spill out from underneath the machine where anyone passing by would see it. The water leak was also consistent enough to cause some water damage to the flooring underneath the washer. The floor was not level and slightly slopped to the rear of the machine and after what looked like years of leaking, the water had eaten away at the flooring causing the floor to concave into a kind of bowl directly underneath the washer allowing the leaking water to pool. It was a good thing I caught it when I did because on the lower floor, below the washer was a hotel room. My customer was so very glad I went the extra mile to offer additional services. I was able to repair the unit that morning and saved my customer from the heartache of a collapsed floor that could drain into the subfloor and the units below.
Always check your owner’s manual. Most of my customers are surprised at the wealth of information within the owner’s manual. I am a General Appliance Technician, or Generalist for short. I cannot possibly remember every minute detail of every appliance product on the market, and given this industry is a business of details, its an irrational task to try to achieve. Often times when customers ask me questions very specific to their machine, I will ask them; “do you have your owner’s manual?” their eyes get wide, as if to say “I didn’t even think about that!” Check your owner’s manual, the answers to your questions just might be in there. Most of my customers find their manual in the “drawer of forgotten and neglected things”, you know the one. It’s that drawer in the kitchen with that one old rusty spoon, two or three half folded take-out menus for restaurants that have been out of business for years, and about a dozen pens that should’ve been thrown out. Look carefully, it’ll be covered in a lot of dust!
Not all owner’s manuals are created equal. Some owner’s manuals offer little to no information outside of the brand name. Some owner’s manuals are so dense and convoluted you can’t make any since of it, you keep getting lost in the index or legend! In the more useful owner’s manuals, you’ll find helpful tips on using the appliance optimally, some of the details that make your appliance unique and recommendations or guidelines for the use and care of the product. I recommend consulting your owner’s manual every time you buy a new appliance. In some owner’s manuals you will find important disclaimers that explain why some of the great features of your product don’t actually work the way you thought, or were led to believe by a salesman. This can save you a lot of lost time and money on in-home service calls to find out your appliance is working as it was engineered. I’ve done warranty work for many brands and manufacturers and most of them have policies which state that if the customer is wrong about a machine fault and I as a technician simply explain something written in the owner’s manual, the customer will have to pay the service fee. I’m not talking about a $99 trip charge, I mean job codes that read “customer instruction: $180.”
The modern residential appliance in loaded with electronics. I’ve repaired machines that made me almost scream in frustration: “why is this thing in my customer’s home, this machine belongs on the International Space Station!” Electronic control boards are very sensitive to heat, water and pressure and it doesn’t take a whole lot of either of those things to ruin them. Due to all the electronics in modern machines, regular routine maintenance is supremely important. Proper maintenance also improves the longevity of your machine.
When considering a new appliance, you could do worse than starting out reading this article My Picks of the Best Performing Appliances, which can be found on the TinLizzee.com blog page. There you can find not only this article, but interesting information about most aspects of appliances, from how to keep them looking their best to which ones NOT to buy. Check back often, and give us feedback, we love hearing from you!
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