Appliance upkeep extends their lives

We rely on these pieces of machinery every day but when they break many of us are quick to replace a dishwasher, a microwave, or even a refrigerator without hesitation. Just ask Tex Lincoln what he's seen people throw away.

“Anywhere from dishwashers, stoves, refrigerators, air conditioners,” said Lincoln.

Lincoln has been a building maintenance manager man for over twenty years. Take this refrigerator. It retails for about $400 but when it all of a sudden stops cooling like it did when it was brand new, Lincoln says many people tend to think the appliance is broken when all they really need to do is some simple maintenance which involves popping off the vent at the bottom of your fridge.

Lincoln explains, “Just grab some dust from underneath and you can see it that's what causes your fridge to not run properly.”

But after a quick vacuuming your refrigerator will run properly and live a longer life. How does ten years sound?

And the same goes for dishwashers.

“They think it's just broke so they go out and buy a new one and have it installed,” said Lincoln

When dishes still have food particles on them after the wash, some think that the machine is all washed up itself. Lincoln demonstrated a part of the machine not many ever knew existed. The filter. Simply remove the dish rack and pop the filter out.

Lincoln said, “At least once a month this should be cleaned.”

So just by cleaning this once a month how many years can you get out of a dishwasher like this one?

“Well you can probably get about 15 years out of it,” adds Lincoln

The same goes for simple maintenance on the oven. You can actually get up to 20 years out of this appliance as long as you’re willing to change your own heating elements. That amounts to plugging them in. Lincoln says a lot of people think their oven needs to be replaced when it stops heating well, when in reality, all it takes is a fraction of the money it would cost to buy a new oven to fix the old one.

“What does a heating element for the inner oven l go for? $40. $40 and what does this oven cost to replace? This particular stove would run you just about $350,” exclaimed Lincoln.