A Few Things To Check Before Calling For Appliance Repairs
Posted on: 4 August 2015
Whether it is the refrigerator, stove or washing machine, having an appliance that is not working correctly can upset your whole day's schedule. You are either going to need to throw out foods that have spoiled and buy new, spend money on a meal bought at a restaurant or end up going to the laundromat. In addition to this, you will have to wait around for the repair technician to show up. However, before you spend any time or money, here are a few quick fixes that will have things back on track for you and your "broken" appliance.
Refrigerator
Having a refrigerator quit can cost you a lot of money. Not only do you have to pay for the service call and repair, but you have to replace all the food that was in it. Even if you don't have a week's worth of groceries in it, you will have condiments and other items you don't have to buy all the time but need to keep on hand for certain recipes. Before you call the service technician, take a look at the coils. They are found either on the back or bottom of the unit. Coils that are covered with pet hair, dust and debris will cause the compressor to overheat and shut off. Use a brush to clean them off and let the fridge sit, while plugged in, for a few hours. The unit should kick back on once the compressor has cooled off.
Stovetop
When you have an electric stove with a burner that does not work, you may just use one of the other burners. However, eventually, you are going to want to use all the burners to have all the foods of a meal ready at the same time. Turn off the burner and try wiggling it around. If it feels loose where it is connected to the stove, you can adjust the burner prongs. Pull the burner out and very gently bend the prongs out a bit to make a tighter fit. Plug it back in and try it again. If it still does not work, you may have a bad burner. Buy a new one and try it. This is much less expensive than having a service tech come and do the same thing.
Washing Machine
If you seem to always have trouble with an unbalanced load in the washing machine, it may not be that the clothes need to be redistributed. When the machine is empty, adjust the legs. Use a carpenter's level to make sure that the machine is level on all four legs. If your machine has self-adjusting rear legs, level the front legs, tilt the machine forward a bit and then slowly lower it onto the back legs.
If these simple fixes do not take care of the problem, it may be time to call in the repair technician or company such as Prompt Appliance Services, Inc. However, when you do this, you can be assured it was needed and not a problem you could fix quickly and inexpensively yourself.
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