We are a repair company, so treat what follows accordingly. We are also going to tell you which parts of the usual list we would skip if we were the ones paying, because anybody who claims every item matters equally is not worth listening to.
Genuinely prevents breakdowns
- Cleaning the dryer vent run. The highest-value thing on this page by a distance. It is fire prevention before it is efficiency, and the whole run matters, not the four inches you can reach.
- Vacuuming the refrigerator condenser. A coil packed with dust and pet hair makes the compressor work through a blanket. Twice a year, and more in a house with a dog.
- Clearing the dishwasher filter. Most machines built since about 2010 have one you unscrew by hand, and a surprising number have never been touched.
- Leaving a front-loader open between washes. Costs nothing and prevents the door seal problem that generates more complaints than any other laundry issue.
- Running a descale on a hard-water dishwasher or ice maker. Scale takes the heater and the valves first, and it is cumulative.
Worth doing, lower priority
Checking the washer inlet hoses for bulges. Levelling anything that has started to move. Wiping the oven door seal rather than replacing it. Cleaning the burner heads on a gas range before they start clicking rather than after.
Largely theater
Annual inspections of appliances showing no errors. Nothing measurable happens at the visit, and the problems we actually attend do not announce themselves a year ahead. Vinegar cycles in a washer that is not smelling. Additives sold to protect a pump that a filter clean would have protected for free.
The one thing worth more than all of it
Calling early. Almost every expensive repair on this site started as a cheap one that ran for another six weeks. A washer that has begun to knock, a refrigerator that runs a little longer than it used to, an oven taking an extra ten minutes: none of those stop being true on their own.
Call (847) 555-0142.
