Summertime is all about weekends, cool drinks, kids at home and long, hot afternoons. People tend to spend more time inside their chilled rooms, using the air conditioning appliances more and more. Excessive usage and weather conditions such as extreme heat and humidity take a toll on your home appliances, air conditions, refrigerators, washing machines and dryers. Not just that, power failures, heat waves, they all can end up damaging the appliances. All these factors call for a regular maintenance for your home appliances.

Here are ways how you can extend the life of your appliances and make them survive a hot summer.

Refrigerator

• Refrigerator’s condensing coil

Condensing coils are located at the back of the refrigerators and in the new models, they are found underneath them. Condensing coils cool the refrigerant flowing inside it by taking away its heat and then condensing it. After some time, condensing coils tend to get clogged and dirty as dirt, hair, pieces of food and debris get stuck on it, and that effects how efficiently the coil releases heat.

Condenser coils need to be cleaned at least two times a year, especially in the summers. You can turn the refrigerator off and use a toothbrush, small vacuum and a special coil brush made for this exact purpose, to clean them up. They are easily available at hardware shops. You can also ask you appliances dealer to provide you with the cleaning kit.

• Refrigerator’s gaskets

It is a strip made of flexible rubber attached to your freezer’s door. It is designed to keep the cool air inside the fridge and keep the external warm air from getting inside. It serves as a temperature regulator, keeping the food fresh. With rigorous use of refrigerators, these seals often are worn out, brittle and gets thin with constant opening and closing the door. Because of this, the cool air starts to leak out, affect the freshness of food inside, and increase the use of electricity.

It is advised to get the gasket replaced once in two years for increased life of your refrigerator. Often these rubber seals are infected by molds because of the moisture. If you notice refrigerator running for too long or the door not shutting close properly – you are in for a maintenance need. You can do it easily at home; all you would need is to get a new gasket and that will not cost you more than $70. As an alternative, you can simply call in professional services.

HVAC systems

• Air filters

Every air conditioner owner knows how important air conditioning service in Dallas, TX is. Humidity, dust and extreme weather condition of Dallas makes it necessary to get the conditioning done every three months. Air filters in HVAC systems gather dust and dirt particles over time and their accumulation makes it difficult for the cool air to pass through. This is why regular changing and cleaning of air filters is recommended.

• Condenser coils

Condenser coils are attached to your HVAC systems at its outside unit. Its purpose is to drive the heat away from the inside unit and release it outside. Condenser coils release the heat from the AC unit to the outside. If the coils are dirty, clogged with dust and all, then it will reduce its heat exchange capacity. It will run longer and consume more energy as well.

It is recommended that you clean the coils after every 6 months at least. You can buy a biodegradable coil cleaner to clean the coils. These cleaners are 4x efficient than normal water. They are concentrated, cut the grease easily and have non-caustic properties that will preserve the life of the coils.  All you would have to do is turn the AC unit off, both inside and outside, and dust it off first with a duster. Then spray the cleaner on it, leaving it for few minutes and spraying water on it to wash it all down. If you think you cannot do it yourself, you can always call in an air conditioning service in Dallas, TX.

Dryer machine

• Lint trap

Dryer lint traps are there in your dryer machines to catch the small pieces of lint that gets out from the clothes after every wash. However, after two or three washes, the lint accumulation blocks the passage of air. That affects the drying process. Professionals recommend that you should clean the dryer lint trap after every wash to increase its efficiency.

All you would have to do is take the dryer sheet out, and dust all the build up off with a special lint brush. Moreover, the remaining particles can be cleaned up by small vacuum.   

Gas grills

• Grill’s interior

We all know what summers are for: outdoor evenings, BBQ parties, poolside lunches. The season requires you to take the grills out and get those burgers ready. You need to have your gas grills in working mode before you can do all that. Not difficult at all!

Turn off the gas source and remove the burners. Brush the insides of the grill with a brush especially made for grills. Clean the burner ports as well. Once you are done, turn on the grill and heat it up for 10 to 15 minutes before use. To prevent the grill from rust, apply cooking spray before every round.

• Check for leakages

Always make sure that the pipes connected to the propane tank are sealed tight and there are no leakages. To check that, take the pipe off the tank and flush soapy water through it; if you see bubbles forming on its source, you know the pipe has leaks. Replace that pipe as soon as you can or it could lead to a hazard.   

All these tips are very easy to follow through and they can enhance the life of your expensive appliances and save a lot of energy costs. However, if you think that you do not have time or you cannot do it on your own, you can always call K&S Heating and Air to fix the problem for you.