Like everything else in life, regular maintenance is key to ensuring that your home’s major appliance provide a long serviceable life. This article provides some helpful tips which can help keep them working as designed, help keep your energy costs in check, and help prevent future headaches.

Refrigerator/Freezer –

A refrigerator/freezer works on the same principle as an air conditioner. It uses a refrigeration cycle to move heat from inside the appliance and redistribute it to the kitchen air using changes in refrigerant pressure and temperature. It does this through the appliance’s rear opening(s) using coils, a refrigerant, and a compressor. To function properly, the refrigerator must have, at least, a few inches between the appliance’s rear and the adjacent wall(s). Without this needed space, the appliance works extra hard which means it runs longer, raises your electric bill, and may also shorten its life.

The back of the refrigerator/freezer should be cleaned regularly (at least, annually) because dirt, dust, and cobwebs can limit this needed air flow of heat out of the appliance’s rear. Sometimes a plastic or cardboard cover needs to be removed to access where the dust and debris accumulates. A vacuum cleaner with a hose attachment can make short order of this cleaning. Also, never install a source of heat (like a stove/oven) next to a refrigerator; doing so will lower the refrigerator’s ability to properly dissipate heat to the air around it. Refrigerators remove heat from inside the appliance to the air around the unit. Making a refrigerator work harder means that it runs longer and drives up your electric bill.

Checking the door gaskets of the refrigerator/freezer is important. Over time, the door gaskets can become deformed. If this happens, cold air leaks out of the refrigerator or freezer making the unit run longer and harder. Again, this means higher electric bills. Freezers should be set between 0~10º F and refrigerators between 32~39º F. Also, if your refrigerator/freezer has a water line behind it, check it periodically for leaks. Since these water lines are often out of view, a small leak could spell big-time damage to flooring or walls.

Dishwasher –

The job of a dishwasher is to clean and sanitize your dishes, cookware, glasses and silverware. If improperly installed or maintained, it can’t perform this function well. Something that I find very often when inspecting homes is the dishwasher drain is not properly installed. Dishwasher installation instructions normally tell the installer to either use an air gap or a high loop although this is often ignored. Either option helps prevent the backwards flow of dirty contaminated water back into the dishwasher. High loops are a simpler option.

In most cases, the dishwasher’s semi-flexible drain line runs through a cabinet wall between the kitchen sink and the dishwasher. Ideally, this drain penetration should occur up high (just below the countertop) but, if the dishwasher drain enters the area under the kitchen sink down along the sink cabinet’s lower shelf, a portion of this drain should be clamped up high (just below the countertop) so that the drain then discharges downhill either into the sink drain pipe or a disposal. If the termination location (sink drain or disposal connection) is the high point of the drain’s run, dirty contaminated water can easily run back into the dishwasher by gravity.

The photo to the right shows an improperly installed dishwasher drain hose running uphill into the disposal (drain hose is indicated with the red arrow). The photo below shows how the dishwasher drain hose should be connected; the same setup is needed whether or not there is a disposal installed under the sink. Read my Dishwasher Drain Installation article.

Many people also never clean the filter which is located below the dishwasher’s lower spray arm. This filter is where the dirty water from the dishwasher’s cleaning cycle drains out. Large food debris can clog this filter resulting in water accumulating at the bottom of the appliance. The filter most often snaps in and out of place for easy cleaning.

To prevent the dishwasher’s door from leaking, regularly inspect the perimeter rubber gasket. With regular usage of the dishwasher, the gasket should stay semi-flexible due to water. If the dishwasher gets used rarely, this gasket tends to dry out and then the door leaks once the dishwasher is run on rare occasions.

Stove/Oven –

The maintenance needed with a stove/oven is pretty simple and really just entails cleaning the cooktop and oven’s interior. Glass cooktops should be cleaned with a cleanser meant for that purpose; abrasive cleaners can damage glass cooktops. Old food debris on the cooktop or inside the oven can potentially catch fire. Many ovens have a self-cleaning function which is often helpful in removing caked-on debris inside the oven.

A safety feature which I find missing in approximately 95% of the homes that I inspect is the anti-tip bracket. Since 1991 (yes, that’s over 30 years ago!), floor-mounted (free-standing) stoves have come with an L-shaped metal bracket that gets mounted to the floor behind the stove. A small groove in the stove’s rear or bottom allows the appliance to slide into the bracket. The anti-tip bracket’s purpose is to prevent the stove from tipping out when weight is applied to the oven’s open door. This can be from pulling out something heavy from the oven (think of a turkey) or even a child or pet putting weight on the open door. If the stove can tip out, this presents an injury or scald hazard and can even be deadly. Several large well-known appliance stores have been involved in lawsuits over the years due to their installers not installing the supplied anti-tip brackets and consumers being injured or killed due to their stove tipping out. Read my Missing Anti-Tip Brackets article.

An anti-tip bracket sitting inside an oven (not installed) doing absolutely no good.

A photo showing a stove tipping over.

Illustration should how easy it is for a child or pet to cause a stove to tip out away from a kitchen wall.

The above photo shows a properly installed anti-tip bracket.

Laundry Appliances –

If your laundry appliances are installed in or above finished space (or even in a finished basement), a washing machine pan is a must. These pans normally have a drain either in the bottom or a side to discharge any collected water to a proper location. The pan and its drain help prevent a leaky clothes washer from flooding the home. Many modern homes that have a laundry area on the first or 2nd floor often have a small drain pipe (connected to the laundry pan) installed down to the basement for this purpose.

Washing machine hoses have a notorious history of leaking at some point. The rubber hose variety (often black, red, or blue) typically have an approximate 3 year life span whereas the braided steel hoses generally last much longer. Most homeowners never replace their washing machine hoses. Even when the washing machine isn’t running, the hoses are under constant full water pressure (approx. 40~70 psi) unless you turn off their valve(s). There are sensors available that get installed on the floor next to the washer that can detect if a leak has occurred either from the hoses or the washer. If a leak is detected, the sensors can shut off the water supply to the washer and/or hoses and either make an audible alarm or send a message to your smart phone. Different sensors offer different alarm functions. Replacing your laundry hoses on regular basis is a wise idea, especially if they have bulges or rust or mineral deposits on them.

Clothes dryers definitely need maintenance on a regular basis. The first chore is cleaning the inside of your dryer vent; twice a year is suggested. Dryer lint is very flammable and can start a fire inside the vent which can then spread to your home. Dryer vents should be as short as possible, have few bends, never be constricted between the appliance and the wall, and should constructed only of 4” rigid metal duct. Dryer vent seams should only ever be foil-taped; never use screws. Building codes clearly stipulate the approved type of dryer vent although I find many homeowners using vinyl or mylar tubing. Mylar is a plastic type of flexible shiny tubing; just because it’s shiny doesn’t mean it’s metal. In some instances, a very short run of mylar is approved for connecting the dryer to the actual dryer vent. This short run is called a transition duct and may be mylar as long as it is short and does not run behind wall or ceiling coverings.

Dryer vents should only ever terminate to the home’s exterior; never inside the home, basement, attic, garage or within an enclosed basement window well. Doing so increases the risk of a fire and/or mold. Screens should not be installed at the exterior end of the dryer vent either; the building code (IRC) is very clear on this topic. Only louvered or dampered exterior covers should be installed on clothes dryer vents.

Also, dryers have a pull-out filter normally along the bottom of the front door opening. The filter should be removed (it normally slides out vertically) and any accumulated lint removed before every use of the dryer.

A clothes dryer with a dirty vent system causes the dryer to run considerably longer than it needs to which results in wasted time and energy (meaning higher utility bills). See my companion article specifically about clothes dryer vents called “Clothes Dryer Vents – The Proper and the Improper“.

HVAC Equipment –

Although heating and cooling equipment should be professionally inspected and serviced annually, there are some things for the homeowner to do. First, air filters in furnaces, heat pumps, and central A/C systems should be replaced regularly. How often depends upon the type of filter installed: fiberglass air filters every 30 days whereas 1” pleated filters every 3 months. If you have a larger media filter (often 4.5~7” thick), those can often last 1 year.

Keep stored items away from your heating system so you can access it and help find potential issues earlier. Fossil fuel-fired (gas, LP, or oil) furnaces and boilers need fresh air for combustion. Most newer gas/LP furnaces have a 2 pipe setup (called direct-vented) which brings in combustion air from the exterior via 1 pipe and exhausts out of the other pipe. If your system has only 1 pipe (indirect- vented), that fresh air comes from the room where the system is installed (often the basement) and the only PVC pipe installed is used for venting the exhaust to the exterior. Don’t store paint, gasoline, paper, wood, etc. or other stored items within 10’ of the any fossil fuel (natural gas, oil, LP) fired appliance (furnace, water heater, etc.), as these materials could catch fire and/or limit needed fresh air to the appliance. Starving these appliances of fresh air could also lead to carbon monoxide generation. Also, a quick check to make sure you don’t smell natural gas or propane (LP) near these appliances is a good idea. Use your nose to search for the odor of mercaptan (the chemical added to natural gas to give it an odor).

Central air conditioning and heat pump (non-geothermal) systems have an outside unit which needs, at least, 24” clearance around it for proper air flow. Don’t store garbage cans, etc. nearby and also keep vegetation trimmed away. An A/C or heat pump with limited air flow around their outside units results in reduced efficiency, longer runtimes, and higher utility bills. Also, the exterior refrigerant liquid line to the outside unit should be properly insulated.

Water Heaters –

 
Like furnaces and boilers mentioned above, fossil-fuel (gas, LP, fuel oil) fired water heaters also need a good amount of clear space (10’ is wise) around them to ensure needed combustion air and to help prevent a possible fire or carbon monoxide (CO) hazard. Also, if a water heater tank is leaking, you want to be able to tell early on. A water heater with clutter around it may leak for a period of time before you notice. As mentioned above under laundry appliances, a pan with a sensor under the water heater is also important especially if the water heater is located in, above, or near finished space. Some of these water sensors can shut off power and water as well as gas supply to the water heater if a leak is detected.

Checking the water heater’s output temperature is also important. They should be set no higher than 120º F. Gas and LP water heaters normally have a dial on them for this setting. The triangular arrow often is the default 120º F setting. For electric water heaters, there are thermostats inside where the heating elements are installed. To measure the output temperature, run hot water at a sink and use a cooking thermometer (for example) to measure the temperature immediately under the faucet. 140º F water on skin can cause 3^rd degree burns within 5 seconds.

Also, make sure the water heater’s temperature pressure (T&P) relief valve has a proper discharge pipe connected to it. This valve is located either on the tank’s top or side (dependent upon the water heater’s model and manufacturer) and exists to help prevent the water heater from becoming a pressure vessel (think ‘a missile’) should the pressure or temperature reach dangerous levels. The discharge pipe must be a hot water-rated pipe material, such as copper, PEX, or CPVC. It must NOT be PVC pipe or a garden hose and may never be threaded at its bottom nor smaller in size than the actual T&P valve. In my home inspection travels, I routinely find water heater T&P valves missing a discharge pipe or the installed pipe is the wrong material (most often PVC). I wrote an article specifically about missing T&P Valve Discharge pipes.

More Information

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers provides additional information about home appliances, safety standards, energy efficiency, and more for consumers.

© 2022 Matthew Steger
All Rights Reserved

Matthew Steger is a Certified Level 1 Infrared Thermographer, an ASHI Certified Inspector (ACI), and an electrical engineer. He can be reached at: matthew@thehomeinspectorsnotebook.com

No article, or portion thereof, may be reproduced or copied without prior written consent of Matthew Steger.