Although most of us seldom stop to consider how essential they are, washers and dryers are among the most important appliances found in modern-day homes. Without functional laundry machines, attending to your family’s dirty clothes would be a difficult, cumbersome and time-consuming process. Given how much most households depend on these devices and how expensive they can be to replace, it’s in every cost-conscious family’s best interest to take proper care of them. To ensure that your washer and dryer provide you with many years of reliable service, put the following tips to good use.
Find a Good Home Warranty
Few things are more frustrating than dealing with large-scale appliance issues. Not only can problems with big-ticket appliances prove costly to repair, they can often occur for no discernible reason. If you’re dealing with a newer appliance, there’s a chance the device’s manufacturer warranty will provide coverage for the issue at hand. However, a washer and dryer warranty generally lasts for very limited time frames and covers a fairly small assortment of problems.
If you’re not content with leaving things to chance, consider investing in a good washer and dryer warranty. A comprehensive washer and dryer warranty will provide sweeping coverage for your household’s most important appliance and is affordable on virtually any budget. With a dependable home warranty at your disposal, a problematic washer or dryer no longer has to mean the end of the world. Anyone interested in speedy appliance repair at agreeable prices would be wise to start comparing home warranty prices.
Don’t Overload Either Device
Wanting to complete a task as quickly as possible is basic human nature. As such, there’s little wonder as to why so many of us habitually overload our washers and dryers. Instead of sticking to recommended load sizes, we simply pack these machines to capacity. Although this may seem like a timesaver, overloading can have serious long-term consequences for both washers and dryers. Heavy loads place a terrible strain on the devices and can cause lasting damage to their drum and internal components. Frequent overloading can also result in washers and dryers needing to be replaced well before their expected lifespans.
In some cases, overloading can present a safety hazard. For example, when a dryer is overloaded, the increased strain placed on its internal components causes these parts to work extra-hard, which can cause very high temperatures and result in fires. No matter how eager you are to finish a load of laundry, making great time isn’t worth risking your family’s safety.
With this in mind, make a point of sticking to the load sizes recommended by your washer and dryer’s respective owner’s manuals. This may mean spending a little more time on laundry, but this minor inconvenience is well worth the money you’ll save on repairs and replacements.
Be Mindful of Lint
Improperly maintaining a dryer isn’t just financially negligent – it can also place the safety of your household at risk. Failure to be mindful of lint, in particular, can result in a serious fire hazard. To nip this in bud, clean your dryer’s lint filter before and after every use. Furthermore, you’ll need to regularly inspect your dryer’s vent pipe to ensure that it remains unrestricted. You’ll also need to frequently check on the device’s exhaust duct to confirm that it’s free of lint. Both the vent pipe and exhaust duct should be professionally cleaned and inspected at least once a year. However, if your household does a fair amount of laundry with lint sheets, these cleanings and inspections may need to take place as often as once every three months.
Many dryer manufacturers recommend that you use flexible or rigid metal venting materials instead of accordion-type ductwork. The latter has a tendency to trap lint, which can create dangerous clogs and blockages.
In the absence of a reliable washer and dryer, most households’ laundry needs would be impossible to meet. Despite how essential functional laundry machines are to many families, most of us misuse these devices without a second thought. However, consistently abusing washers and dryers can result in costly repair bills, premature replacements and improperly cleaned clothes. Anyone interested in keeping their washer and dryer in top form for the foreseeable future won’t want to pass up the pointers discussed above.
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