5 Energy Efficient Dishwashers for Your Home

 5 Dishwashers Across The Board In Terms Of Price And Efficiency, With All Sorts Of Features. 

With prices for energy set to go up this year and again next year, we're thinking quite a bit about what "energy efficiency" means to us. We're looking at different appliances and methods around our homes and office to see what we can do to make things better. This week we're looking at energy-efficient dishwashers with 5 of the best on the market. 

Each of the different dishwashers we're looking at has two additional ratings we wanted to consider in addition to their price. The first is the kilowatt per hour per year average. This is not actually how many kilowatts per hour you're using, as your blogger initially thought. A kilowatt-hour measures the energy an appliance uses in kilowatts per hour. For example, if you clean your floors with a 1,000-watt vacuum cleaner for one hour, you consume 1 kWh of energy. When you see kWh on your monthly energy bill, it’s a measurement of your electric appliances’ wattage and the amount of time you use them. So if you use that vacuum for 1 hour a week, for a full year, by the end of the year, you'd have used 52 kWh just for that vacuum. 

The second rating is the water factor. The water factor is the number of gallons used per cycle per cubic food of the dishwasher. The lower that factor is, the more efficient the dishwasher is, and the lower your water bill... at least in relation to this.   But every bit counts, right? 

So since we're looking at Energy Efficiency this week, we wanted to include these numbers so that you can get a feel for not only what a dishwasher might cost you now but also over time. 

LG 24-inch LDF454HT - Longest Warranty  & Uses the least amount of water 

Price $698 - 849    

Energy Use (kWH/Year) 258 kWh/Year

Water Factor: 2.9

Quad wash - Washes from four different angles at once. 

Silent work - Has a 3 stage filtration system to trap food particles as it works to reduce noise and make the dishwasher more efficient. And it tops out at 48 dBA. 

Dynamic Dry - dries dishes faster and more thoroughly 

3rd Rack- Offers a third rack for storing ladles, spatulas, knives, and the like. And with the careful setup of grooves, it protects your knives from being tossed and banged around. 

App Connectivity - This title is so much more than just that. There is an NFC tag on the dishwasher that you can tap your phone against to transfer new cycles from your phone to your dishwasher. And more important, in our opinion, you can troubleshoot your dishwasher the same way. 

We like this one for the silent work feature. The quieter a dishwasher is, the better, in our opinion.

Samsung StormWash DW80R5061US - Best Overall 

Price  $899–$1,100 

Energy Use (kWH/Year): 239

Water Factor: 3.5

Storm Wash - Powerful rotating spray jets clean at every angle for tough-to-reach spots. 

Auto Release Door - At the end of a wash cycle, the door opens to allow air to circulate more freely. 

3rd Rack -  A third rack for utensils, and it has extra teeth so that they don't rattle around. 

Quiet Wash - 42 dba 

Adjustable racks - The top rack can be moved up and down when washing larger items like pots, pans, and glassware.

For the Storm Wash, we were most interested in the Storm Wash feature. The dishwasher is supposed to be powerful enough to use rotating jets to reach everywhere, delicate enough that it doesn't damage your dishes. However, it's still got a water factor that is low enough to be considered energy efficient.  We find that rather impressive. 

Bosch SHE3AR72UC Ascenta 24" White Full Console Dishwasher - Strongest Brand Name & Best Budget Option

Price $549

Energy Use (kWH/Year) - 269

Water Factor: 3.2 

PrecisionWash - precision arms target all of the stuck on  food so that you don't have to do multiple washes. 

Sanitize Options- The Sanitize Option operates at a higher temperature and can be selected to achieve the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) standards of cleanliness, eliminating 99.9% of bacteria, and enhances your drying results as well. 

Goes though almost 500 different quality checks before being sent to market. So the price might not be as high as others on the list, but the quality is. 

Sometimes you really do get a good option at lower prices. Although the Bosch doesn't have any of the features that our other dishwashers do,  it's still a solid option that will last you for years, without breaking the bank, and that includes your electric and water bills. 

Miele G 7366 SCVi SF AutoDos

Price: $2,199

Energy Use (kWH/Year)- 230

Water Factor: 3.2

AutoDos With Power disk - Analyzes the amount of dishes within a load and dispenses only the amount of detergent needed. 

FlexLine Basket design -  Racks have extra flexibility for dealing with dishes of different sizes. 

Quick Wash - Washes dishes in 1 hour

All Dry Feature- Opens the door when a cycle is done 

Offers Washing cycles for general dishwashing, fine china, children's dishes, high sanitization, for pots & pans, and for grates and filters. 

Ecofeedback: Shows you the estimated amount of electricity and water used when you select a program on the display. 

The Miele dishwasher has been on our radar for a while, and we're intrigued by the AutoDos feature the most. Although it's not a revolutionary concept in general, this is the first time we can think of it being applied to your dishwasher. 

Frigidaire FGID2479SF 24" Energy Star Fully Integrated - 

Price $1079 

Energy Use (kWH/Year) - 270

Water Factor: 3.5

OrbitClean® Wash System Clean dishes with OrbitClean® Wash System, which uses four times more water coverage for a complete clean. 

3rd Rack Serving utensils and tools are mealtime-ready with our Store-More™ removable third rack, which offers easy loading and unloading access.

Automatically Adjusts Cycles

DishSense™ Technology automatically adjusts the cycle time based on the level of clean that your dishes need for an efficient clean.

Status Indicator Floor Beams

Convenient LED Floor Beam Indicators illuminate the floor with a blue light when your dishes are washing and a green light when they are clean.

We swear we're not a bunch of cats pretending to be appliance technicians. We're just impressed by the status indicator and find it useful. 

Which of these was your favorite? Which one fits your needs best? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page. As always, we'd love to hear from you. 

If you're not happy with the idea of buying a new dishwasher and would rather just fix the one you have, we can help. You can reach out to us on our contact page or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055). At Appliance Rescue Service, we're here to help. 

10 More Kitchen Gadgets That Shouldn’t Be Connected To Wi-Fi

We’re Still Trying To Figure Out Who Thought This Was A Good Idea.

With every passing year, more and more products are connected to the Internet of Things that just.. Don’t make sense to us, and to many of you as well.  When we reviewed our last list of IoT gadgets, you wanted more. So we’re looking at another 10 kitchen gadgets that don’t make any sense for being connected to the internet, having an app or being ‘smart’ in some fashion. 

Name: HidrateSpark TAP

Price:  $20 

What It’s Supposed To Do: HidrateSpark TAP - the smart water bottle that tracks your water intake through the HidrateSpark App and glows to remind you to drink. Our powerful Tap To Track technology updates your water intake on the HidrateSpark App by simply tapping your smartphone to the NFC Tag. HidrateSpark TAP glows to remind you to drink and with our Tap to Track technology you can easily track a full bottle when you tap your phone to the NFC tag on the bottle. Keeping your daily goal updated as you go. Opt in for our fun HidrateSpark App notifications to help you stay on track. Compete with friends in fun hydration challenges and earn trophies for your collection.

Why We Don’t Care For It: Why do we  need a water bottle to glow or vibrate? There’s bullet journals, there’s phone apps, there’s even the old school method of just making a mark somewhere. What’s the need for an NFC tag attached to bottle? Although the price isn’t bad, it still doesn’t make much sense to us. 

Link: https://hidratespark.com/

Name: Lg CLOI. 

Price:  Price currently unknown. 

What It’s Supposed To Do: CLOI for the home is meant to be an all in one system, connecting your thermostat, your appliances and the rest of your home. 

Why We Don’t Care For It:  When showing off the CLOI for the first time, the poor thing didn’t function. It wasn’t a matter of misunderstanding the commands given, nor was it an issue of the wi-fi not working.  CLOI flat out refused to respond to the presenter. As of right now, although the CLOI guide bots and server bots are both functional, the CLOI home hub hasn’t been introduced to the market, and we’re grateful for it. 

Link: LG ROBOTIC PRODUCTS | LG NEWSROOM 

LG CLOi robots will be working together to improve our life - Personal Robots

Name: Revolution InstaGLO R270 Toaster

Price: $400 

What It’s Supposed To Do: The InstaGLO toaster has a special diamond shaped heating element inside that quickly toasts the outside of any food, and leaves the inside sweet and soft. It also has a touchscreen that can handle 34 different types of bread and save 10 of your favorites. 

Why We Don’t Care For It: This is another “just why?”  It’s not that we’re against it so much as us wondering why we need it. Sure you can test out all of the functions and find out precisely how toasted and crisp you want your bread, but.. Why? 

Link: Revolution InstaGLO R270 Toaster | Williams Sonoma (williams-sonoma.com)

Name: ANOVA Precision Oven

Price: $600

What It’s Supposed To Do:  The ANOVA is a combi oven, or a combination of steam and convection cooking, as well as offering a sousvide setting.  It has a quick start menu that allows you to quickly select what you want it to do, be it convection baking, broiling, baking, proofing, air frying or steam. It can also connect to Google or Alexa, although it does offer more capability when working with Alexa. 

Why We Don’t Care For It:  Can turn itself on in the middle of the night & it advertises itself for you to be able to set your food to cook in it at the beginning of the day and set it to cook when you’re ready. The problem here is that many of us will typically include a fish or meat with our dinner. Which can’t be left out all day. 

Link: Anova Precision™ Oven - Anova Culinary

Name: Barsys 2.0 +

Price: $1,500

What It’s Supposed To Do: The Barsys is a product we’ve covered in the past, but in theory, it’s been updated and improved! It’s meant to be a self-contained system where you load in liquors of your choice and use the app to tell it what type of drink you want. The app controlling the system is now better than before, and it’s easier to mix your own drinks using the app for precise amounts.

Why We Don’t Care For It: The app controlling the system seems to be the primary thing that’s been worked on in the ‘+’ version, but since that was our primary concern, we’re good with that. Unfortunately, the bluetooth connecting it to your phone still seems to be buggy and the app still has its detractors even since the update. 

Link: Barsys 2.0+ (thebarsys.com)

Name: SAMSUNG BESPOKE Cube Air Purifier,

Price: $549

What It’s Supposed To Do:  The Samsung Bespoke Cube is an air purifier that’s designed to fit into your home. It has interchangeable front panels that make it easy to blend into your home.  More importantly it can sense impurities and automatically boosts the purification intensity. On the app it will show the real time levels within your home by monitoring its micro air sensor. Better, it has a multi-layered HEPA  system to help trap dust, pollen and pet dander as well as odors. Easily check and manage your purification settings and filters with the SmartThings App and use the app to buy replacement filters when needed 

Why We Don’t Care For It:  We’re not averse to the concept. It’s a filter for your home that helps whether it’s tree pollen or smog. What bugs us is that it’s connected to Wi-Fi and voice connected. Why? Why is it needed? 

Link:  Amazon.com: SAMSUNG BESPOKE Cube Air Purifier, Odor Eliminator, Home System w/ HEPA Filtration, 360 Degree Purification, Pet Mode, Smart Control, Traps Dust, AX350A9350N, Grey : Everything Else 

Name: Tyent Undercounter 

Price: $3,250

What It’s Supposed To Do: The Tyent UC11 is an under the counter water ionizer. It requires its own plug and offers ionized water after filtering it. It allows you to set your water to be more acidic, alkaline if you dont care for the taste of minerals or metals in your water. 

Why We Don’t Care For It:  We love the concept. Having the ability to alter your water to your taste, or having a guaranteed filtration system is fantastic. What bothers us is the idea that everyone is going to use all of the different features. When faced with something with 55 different options (yes, that’s their claim) how many are you going to use? And if you don’t know which ones are what you or your family need?  It seems like something that is more complicated than what it needs to be in our opinion. 

Link: Amazon.com: Tyent Undercounter-11-Plate Turbo Extreme by Tyent : Tools & Home Improvement

Name: 4T7 Smart Cutting Board

Price: $169

What It’s Supposed To Do: The 4T7 cutting board is multiple pieces of kitchenware in one. It comes with a cutting board, a defrosting board, a digital ingredient scale, a timer, and a magnetic knife holder on the back. Plus, it has its own app with recipes, guides and a community to connect to as you learn, or just to try out different recipes with others. 

Why We Don’t Care For It: It’s the app. The rest of it is amazing. It’s the app we can’t get our heads around. Was it just a way to tack on an additional fee? To set up what sounds like a digital cookbook? To us, it seems like if you’re a home cook who finds a cutting board like this useful, you’re already going to have a wide number of recipes that work for you. 

Link: 4T7 Muti-function Smart Cutting Board Built-in Scale and Kitchen Timer

Name: Zega Intelligent Cookware

Price: $149

What It’s Supposed To Do: This is a double wall insulated pot that can have the heat turned off after it comes up to temperature. It keeps cooking the food inside of it and alerts you when its done. 

Why We Don’t Care For It:  The knob is connected to Bluetooth. This means that it can connect to your phone, and tell you that your food is done cooking. Which is nifty. But once again, why? The idea of not needing to tend your food also leaves us concerned. Too many dishes need to be watched over to keep them from boiling over or sticking to the bottom of the pot. And you have to charge the knob when all is said and done. So, we’re saying nifty, but not necessarily needed. 

Link: Zega Intelligent Cookware – Zega Cookware US

How it works – Zega Cookware US

Name: Nespresso Prodigo 

Price: $266

What It’s Supposed To Do: The Prodigo is a coffee machine. It has a built in milk frother for all sorts of recipes,  a rotating water tank and automatic cartridge ejector. It also keeps track of how many k-cups you have, and when it needs water or maintenance. 

Why We Don’t Care For It:  well.. We can’t actually find a reason for it. It’s coffee after all, and that’s something many of us love. We will say though that we question why the smart options are needed. We have had coffee machines that could keep track of when to make your coffee for decades. As to making ones that are meant for keeping track of what k-cups you need, that’s pretty easy too? So it’s less of a “we don’t like it” to “How necessary is it?” 

Link : Prodigio Coffee Machine | Nespresso

Most of these for us seem to boil down to “why??” Why attach these things to the internet when it’s not /needed/ for the item to do its work. Some of them are fantastically useful, but the connection to the Internet of Things doesn’t make much sense to us. Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page what your thoughts are and which if any of these you would purchase. 

If it’s your Core Appliances that are giving you hell, we can help. Reach out to us on our contact page or by giving us a call at ((214) 599-0055  ) to set up an appointment that works for you. Whether it’s a smart appliance or one that’s as old as you, we’ll work with you to 

Which Grill is Best For Your Food?

 When it comes to what you're cooking and how you like to cook, what's the best grill for you? 

Summer is officially here and that means it is grilling season!* We’re tackling the 4 major types of grills as of 2022. What prices should you expect to pay for them and which grill is best for your needs. Although we know some of us would love to have one of each, let’s assume you’re trying to narrow your choices down to just one, shall we? 

Grill Basics: 

You want your food to finish cooking at the same time so everything is ready to serve. 

This means your grill needs to either a) disperse heat evenly or b) you need to know your grill well enough that you can move food around to different "cool" spots so that everything cooks at the speed and temperatures you need. 

-Preheat your grill for at least 10 minutes before throwing food on. This allows the grill to be fully heated and the grates to be less likely to stick to your food. 

- If you want to impress your guests with the 'perfect' grill look, turn your food 90* halfway through the cooking time. It will give that look everyone loves, and you'll look like a professional. 

Gas Grill

Gas Grill from Home Depot

Let's start off with the grill that's easiest to obtain, the gas grill. These will run anywhere between $100 and $3500, depending on the bells and whistles you want.  They come in all sorts of sizes and styles, from the tiny picnic top grill to the behemoth that can feed 100 people. (Yep, we've seen those too, we just get stuck at finding the space to put it.) A gas grill is the workhorse of grills. They're capable of grilling everything from delicate fish to searing pork chops or knocking out large amounts of hotdogs and burgers. The reason for that is that they can hit temperatures as low as 150* and as high as 850*. They're also extremely easy to work with, which is why most people who grill, do so on these. They light quickly, they heat quickly, and did we mention how easy they are to work with? You can also find all sorts of attachments (or a youtube video that shows you how to make them) from pizza ovens to smokers. 

Charcoal Grill 

Charcoal grill from Home Depot

So a gas grill isn't for you? You don't like the idea of hauling around a tank you need to refill? We get that. Charcoals are the next step then. Many people see them as the next step for when you want to go from "party grilling" to "nightly grilling for good food."  Working with charcoal will give your meal a smokier flavor, no matter what you're cooking. This does mean that you need to be careful in selecting what you choose to grill though. You need something that can stand up to the smoke without losing its own flavors. Some examples here include brisket, prime rib, grilled pizza (yep, it works), rotisserie chicken, smoked turkey, and shrimp. Charcoal grills don't get as hot as gas grills do though, which means you're not going to get much of a sear on your food. It's best for foods that you want to take your time with. A charcoal grill will usually take between 20-30 minutes to completely heat up,  and the temperatures are going to only range between 150* and 550*. When it comes to lighting your best bet is to use a charcoal chimney to get it to that point, otherwise, you'll be fighting for much longer than 20 minutes.  A charcoal grill should run between $70 and $375. Not very expensive, but you have to remember the price of the charcoal as well. 

Kamado Grill 

A Kamado is the priciest of the grill options, but it's also able to get you the highest temperatures out of the four primary options. A kamado can go as low as 150* and as high as 1000*. That is going to give you a delicious sear when you want pork chops.... which your blogger is now wishing she could get. 

Anyway! Because of the supreme level of control a kamado offers you, they're great for hitting the extremes of food. Either things that need low and slow cooking like ribs, roasts, and briskets or foods that need to be seared, like we mentioned, pork chops are a good example.

Kamado Grill from Home Depot

Kamado grills come in two varieties, ceramic and nonceramic. The ceramic ones are, in our opinion, the better option because they are sturdier than their nonceramic counterparts. They are also insulated which leads to even more temperature control. Although they are more difficult to assemble, we feel like this is a grill that is worth the investment of time and money. Speaking of money, a Kamado grill should cost between $300 and $2500, depending on the type you go for. 

One thing to be aware of (that many will call a downside) is that the Kamado grill will require an hour or more before it's ready to be cooked on. If you're looking for a quick dinner, this is not a good option. If you want to spend time outside cooking for friends and family and really enjoying the craft of grilling? This might be a good choice. 

Pellet Grill 

If smoking isn't for you and you don't want the guesswork of dealing with a gas grill, a pellet grill might be for you. They're great for foods that burn easily like pork chops and chicken with the skin still on. They're also ideal for large cuts of meat that you want to toss on and not have to worry about or fuss over. 

Pellet grill from home depot

A pellet grill uses wood 'pellets' rather than charcoal, and they give a delicious smokey flavor. Plus you can choose which type of wood you use and get different flavors into your food that way. You can experiment with different wood types and foods to see what flavors work for you palette. Some examples are almost sweet like oak or pecan, while others give a very umami/smokey flavor like hickory and mesquite.  

One interesting fact about pellet grills is that although they run on wood, their temperature control is digital. As the grill works it automatically draws from the pellet hopper to keep the grill at the temperature you chose. This is a great benefit to the chef that wants to set it and forget it, but still wants something more than a gas grill. Pellet grills are well worth their price tag, running between $350 to $2000. 

Your grill choice is going to be dependent on you. What do you like to cook? How do you like to cook? These two questions will affect your choice as much as the price. 

Which one are you most interested in? Grills aren’t something we fix, but we do love grilled food as much as the next person, so we’re interested in hearing what you have to say. Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page!

If you’re not up for grilling next weekend though, that means you’re probably cooking. If your range is giving you trouble, you might want to give us a call. Whether it’s broken, behaving oddly, or you just want to give it a thorough going-over, we’re here for you. You can reach out to us at our contact page or by calling us at ((214) 599-0055).

*Yes we know you started long before this, but give us this. 

Additional Reading:

Fire in the Kitchen

7 Reasons To Build An Outdoor Kitchen

What To Know Before You Build Your Outdoor Kitchen

What Brand Has the Fastest Dishwasher?

 Finding out which dishwasher has the shortest cycle time to make your life easier. 

Table of Contents

The Heavyweights

The  Mid-Tier 

The Lightweights

And the  Best of the Best 

Speed is everything when your to-do list is always getting longer. You've got to get dishes done, but it's one of the worst jobs ever, and you want dinner to be on the table by... when? And of course you need dishes in order to make and serve the food. So the dishwasher is one of the workhorses in your kitchen, even if you hate having to load it and get everything clean.  

Fortunately, speed is one of the things that dishwasher makers have been focusing on of late, so let's take a look at where we're at. 

An important note before we go on, all our research has been gathered together from a third party doing extensive testing and research. All dishwashers were tested when set to their basic settings for a normal wash.

The Heavyweight Dishwashers

These are the longest cycles on our list today. Don't let that dissuade you though, as they are also some of our best rated machines as well.  Out of 100 possible points, testing for washing, drying, noise level and energy usage, all three of these scored 70 or higher. (It doesn't sound great, but many machines don't score over 70, and very few score over 90.) Out of these three, the Thermador did the best, with a solid 84 points. 

How well these are rated though, is only one part of why you're here though. You're wondering why you should bother trading off speed for one of these. That is where the points come into it. Although each of these takes roughly 2.5 hours to run a load of dishes, they all do very well at making sure the dishes really get clean. Whether you're dealing with baked on foods, dishes that have been sitting in the sink all week, or that coffee cup you forgot was in your office, all of these are great for tackling built up food. That's where the trade off often comes in, of speed versus depth of cleaning.  

The Thermador dishwasher did the best at getting baked on food cleaned off, as well as being energy efficient. We also loved just how much you could fit into it at one time and that it displayed the remaining amount of time left in the cycle.

Cafe CDT805P2NS1 - $983 - 155 min 

Thermador DWSD650 - 1399 - 155 min 

Whirlpool WTA50SAKZ - $759 - 150 min 

The Mid-Tier Dishwashers

Let's move on to the mid tier selection. Here we've shaved off ten minutes on the standard time for the cycle length. Both the LG and the Kenmore are 24 inch counter depth dishwashers.  The LG would have actually scored higher than the Kenmore if it wasn't for the known issues over time that many owners cite with LG products in general. We love the True Steam function as well as the adjustable racks and we're especially pleased by the Energy Star certification. 

LG LDT7808BM - $1200 - 145 min 

Kenmore 14573 - $845 - 145 min

The Light weights

Next up, we have some of the fastest dishwashers on the market as of right now.  If you notice, all of them are just over 2 hours and all of them are under $1000. The question that we have to ask, which is the best of the four?  After looking all of them over closely, the Ikea Essentiell is surprisingly the best. It does the best at both washing and drying the dishes, as well as being very efficient with energy. The biggest issues for us were that it was noisy and the interior coating is plastic. As we've mentioned in the past, having a plastic coating can be problematic over the life of the dishwasher. This is a fantastic dishwasher if you're looking to outfit an apartment or rental property as it's cheap, energy efficient and very good at getting things clean. 

KitchenAid KDFE104HPS - $854 - 135 min 

Ikea Essentiell (80.655.85) - $580 - 135 min

Thor Kitchen HDW2401ss - $899 - 130 min 

Samsung DW80K505OUS - $600 - 130 min 

And the Best of the Best 

Bosch Ascenta - 595 - Cycle length 95 min 

Drumroll please, here we have the best of the best, the fastest dishwasher available on the market right now. We've got the Bosch Ascenta at a cycle length of 95 minutes. That's an hour and 35 minutes. You can get everything washed in the time it takes you to make a good meal.  It also scores the best out of all of the dishwashers on the list of 88 points. It scored the best on washing, drying, noise level and customer satisfaction. This is Bosch after all, and as we've seen in the past, they make very reliable appliances. 

What we wanted to know was, "what makes a dishwasher fast? What are they giving up by being faster?" 

Most fast dishwashers give you adjustable settings so you can choose a shorter cycle at the expense of a through cleaning. But the research shows that that's not the case with the Bosch Ascenta. As we said earlier, all of the dishwashers are tested on a standard cycle for their speed, washing and drying capabilities. And after digging around and finding nothing, we have to assume that the information for what makes a dishwasher fast is proprietary.  It might have something to do with the speed of the internal water jets, or the temperatures that the water is heated to. Let us know what you think it might be, or if you have any insight! 

With all of this in mind, let us know which one are you most interested in? Do you value speed or strength when it comes to your dishwasher? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you! 

If your dishwasher is giving fits but you're not interested in buying a new one, we can help! Give us a call at ((214) 599-0055) or head over to our contact page to set up an appointment that works for you. Wherever you are in the Dallas area we can help get your home running smoothly again. 

Important note: We have heard about the Thermador Star Series. We didn't include that one on our list because these are the base speeds for the dishwashers, not specialized settings. We will have to do a review of the Thermador at some point in the future. 

Additional Reading

Dishwasher Deep Dive 

What Can vs Can’t go into a dishwasher 

Help I melted plastic in my dishwasher(!) 

7 Areas to Clean Today to Prevent Home Disasters Tomorrow

Also known as: Seven areas to keep clean if you don't want a bigger mess.

Table of Contents

Gutters

Air Ducts 

Dryer Duct

Refrigerator Coils

Washer Filter

Dishwasher Filter

Shower Drain

The worst thing about washing machines is that they have to be cleaned. Most of us don’t even think about that. The problem is that by not doing so, you can end up with some horrible messes. Absolute disasters of messes if we’re being honest.  It’s not just your washing machine though, it’s also several other places around your home that need to be cleaned regularly to prevent a variety of disasters around the home. 

Gutters

When To Do It: Twice a year, best at the end of fall and spring. 

Why To Do It:  If your gutters aren't cleaned regularly, you will get a buildup of leaves and other debris. Not so big a deal, until that starts to rot in summer or freeze in winter. Then the gutters get heavier and over time will start to pull away from your house. Or they might just overflow in certain sections where you don't see it. Which if you're lucky, will lead to an overwatered section of your garden. If you're not lucky it can lead to a molded wall and destabilization of your home's foundation. 

How To Do It:  To put it simply, you'll want a three-step process. First, you want to go by eye to look for areas that are damaged or overflowing, or possibly pulling away from the roof. From there you'll need a ladder so that you can go ahead and dig everything out. Whether you're dealing with compacted leaves and debris or just some slight build-up, you'll want gloves and a  trashcan at least. Your final step is using a hose, to check that you've gotten everything cleaned out.  For a more in-depth guide, check out the additional reading at the bottom of the post. 

Air Ducts

 When To Do It: Every 3 to 5 years, fewer if you have pets that shed. 

Why To Do It : This one isn't as obvious a threat to your home.  For many of us it just means a little extra hair or dust floating in our homes. Over time though it can lead to mold, mildew, and fire hazard in your home. Which can sound weird. Mold, mildew and a potential fire hazard? Yup. During the wetter times, air can become trapped in the ducts and the build-up, leading to mold and mildew spreading throughout the ducting system and your home. During dry seasons though, when the material trapped in the system is bone dry, you can end up with a fire hazard. 

How To Do It: Call a professional for this one. While all of the others can be done with only one or two tools, in order to do the best job of cleaning out all of the ducting in your home, you want to call a professional in. (Sadly, that's not us.  We'll happily fix your appliances though!) 

Dryer Duct

When To Do It: Twice a year, best in spring and fall. 

Why To Do It: Much like your air ducts, your dryer duct is sucking dust, dirt, pet hair, dander, and other materials out of the air and your dryer. That gets caught in the dryer duct and over time it becomes compacted. This is a fire hazard, especially given how dry it is kept. While cleaning out your lint trap every time you run your dryer is a good start, it's doesn't get rid of everything. Cleaning it out will also make your dryer work more efficiently and effectively, allowing for air to flow freely. 

How To Do It: Always start with unplugging and disconnecting your dryer from any sources of power, be it gas or electric. From there, take a vacuum and clean up as much of the inside of the dryer, and the vents inside and outside as possible. Then, use a dryer tool to work the lint-free inside the duct itself. This is a long-handled tool with a brush attachment that you can pick up at your local hardware store for relatively cheap. Once you've done that, grab your vacuum again and suck up everything from where you were working on the duct and from inside the duct itself.  Reconnect everything carefully, turning the power back on as the final step and you're good to go! 

Refrigerator Coils

When To Do It: Once a year, more often if you have pets that shed a lot.

Why To Do It:  The coils are part of the system that keeps your refrigerator cool. If the coils are covered in dust and hair, then your refrigerator has to work overtime and will have a shorter life for it. 

Image courtesy of Mark Florence

How To Do It: Start by transferring as much of your food to a cooler as you can, to lighten the load. Then unplug it and go looking for the coils. Sometimes they'll be under a panel in the front, on the back, or on top if you have a built-in unit. Once you've found your coils, you'll want to grab your vacuum and a dust mask, these coils are going to be covered in a very fine dust that you don't want to breathe in. Now use a long-handled brush to gently scrape away at the coils. You want to go on top of them and between them, trying to remove as much of the dirt as possible. Once you're done with that, vacuum up all of the ick and go enjoy a hot shower. 

Washer Filter

When To Do It: Once a month.

Why To Do It: Your washer filter, as we've discussed in the past, catches much of the larger debris and soap scum that comes off of your clothing during the wash.  If that filter is covered over, with soap, with dirt, with debris, then the water can't pass through and it will begin to back up. It can even lead to the washing machine flooding over, and you needing to clean or even replace your floors. 

How To Do It: Most of the time, a front-loading washer is meant to save you pain and annoyance... Sadly that's not the case when it comes to cleaning your filters. Look on the front for a  small door, and lay out a towel and something like a casserole dish. On opening the door you should find a hose and a drain pump filter. Pull the plug from the hose and let the water empty out into your dish. There's going to be a fair amount of water in there, and it's probably going to reek and be full of ick. Once nothing else is coming out, unscrew the filter, wait for water to stop dripping out of that, and pull out the filter. It will probably have slime on it, and you might even find coins. No, this isn't where the goblins stash all of your lost socks (sadly.) Dump out the filter, and use an old toothbrush and some warm water to scrub it clean. 

If you have a top loading machine, you're in luck! The filter is going to be in the drum or on the back, but check your manual if you can't quite find it. Once you've located it, it's easy to pull out and rinse with hot water. 

Dishwasher Filter

When To Do It: Once a month 

Why To Do It: Your dishwasher filter is much like your washer filter. It collects dirt and food debris and keeps it from going out with the water. (Because that would lead to the drain becoming clogged over time.) At first, this issue can lead to dishes not getting cleaned properly, and with time to the machine flooding. Not fun!

How To Do It: Remove your lower rack and look for a mesh filter on the floor of your dishwasher. If you don't see what we're talking about, grab your manual to find out where the manufacturers hid it. Found it? Ok, at this point, it should be a matter of unscrewing the filter and rinsing it with hot water and soap, and then pop it back in. Nice and easy, and it keeps your kitchen from flooding. 

Shower Drain

When To Do It:  Some will say when the water becomes ankle deep. We say you should do it as soon as you notice the water is beginning to back up.

Why To Do It: Flooding bathtubs. That's all we have to say. And just. EW.  

How To Do It:  Grab a facemask, some old clothes, and a drain snake. Some people will say to start with a drain cleaner, like draino but as long-hair having people, we suggest starting with a snake. Wriggle it around until it goes all the way down your drain and then draw it out. It's going to be gross. It's going to be a lot of hair, dirt, and soap scum. We know.  Depending on when the last time this was done, you might have to do this more than once. Once you've pulled everything that you can out, grab a kettle, boil some water and send that down the drain. Let that do its work and then an hour later, you can hit the drain with a drain cleaner. For best results, we advise letting that sit overnight, this way it's undisturbed for several hours.  If that doesn't clean up the issues with water backing up, we'll advise calling a plumber as the problem could be more than just a clog in your drain. 

Congrats you've just tackled seven of the most common problems in owning a home. As you saw each of these problems can cause serious issues, many of them involving water, soap, and ick going everywhere. Did we miss any areas? Are there appliances or other major areas that you're curious about how to clean? drop us a line over on our Facebook page or in the comments below. We'd love to hear from you. 

If doing all of this cleaning hasn't solved the issues that your refrigerator, washing machine, dishwasher or dryer are giving you, you might want to give us a call. We'll work with you to set up a time that fits your schedule, and help to not only determine what the problem is, but more importantly, to fix it. At Appliance Rescue Service, we're not happy until we've gotten your appliances back in tip-top shape. 

You can call us at ((214) 599-0055) or reach out to us on our contact page to set up an appointment time that works for you. 

Additional Reading:

Gutters 

Cleaning Your Refrigerator

How to Deep Clean Your Dishwasher

Dryer Duct