Love Your Kitchen

Take time to love your appliances and they will love you back. Follow these steps from Mr. Appliance to cook up some romance, instead of frustration with inefficient appliances.
Give Your Oven Some Lovin’

• Don’t run the self-cleaning cycle within one week of a big dinner – ovens have a tendency to fail during or right after a self-cleaning cycle.
• Clean the reflector bowls under the burners to help cook more efficiently.

XOXO For Your Dishwasher

• If you’re unsure whether or not an item is dishwasher safe, just wash it by hand.
• Run an empty dishwasher with a cup of white vinegar to eliminate odors and buildup.

Keep Your Garbage Disposal Smelling Like Roses

• Place a handful of ice cubes in the disposal. Add lemon, orange or lime peels and run disposal with cold water for 15 to 30 seconds. Continue to rinse with cold water.
• To avoid clogging your garbage disposal, remember to not pour grease down the drain.

Rekindle Your Refrigerator

• Unplug your refrigerator and use a vacuum to remove any dust from the coils. This will help it run more efficiently and trim your utility bills.
• Make sure it’s loaded properly. Contents should be evenly distributed.

Happy Holidays!!!

From all of us at Mr. Appliance of Clearwater

Why would my washer be using cool water during the warm cycle?

Your washer is actually combining hot water and cold water to create the warm water and during certain times of the year cold water gets colder. So, during the colder months, you can expect your warm cycle to run cooler. You might also want to check to see if there is anything blocking the hot water coming into your machine.

 

Why do prices of similar appliances vary so much?

Retail prices for major household appliances have stayed flat over the past 15 years even though manufacturing costs and inflation have risen steadily during that time. Manufacturers today continue to offer low prices on their lower quality appliances and then offer their choice lines of appliances at a higher price point.

So, where $400 would buy you a top-quality washer 15 years ago, that same $400 today would only buy you a low-end machine that you'll be throwing away or repairing every three to four years. What has changed? The difference between the $400 washer of today and yesterday (or the $300 dishwasher or the $350 oven range, or the $300 dryer, or the $600 refrigerator, etc.) is in the internal components used in the machines. The lower end machines today are constructed of lower quality materials than similarly-priced machines 15 years ago. In part, this is attributable to the globalization of manufacturing with various internal parts made at different plants all over the world. While this has allowed manufacturers to cap retail prices for low-end machines over the last 15 years, it has also contributed to a degradation of quality. Therefore, the high-quality appliances you'd buy today command a correspondingly higher price tag ? realistically reflecting the increased costs of manufacturing for high quality machines. You should expect top-end dishwashers to retail for approximately $900, washers $1,100, dryers $600, etc.

 

Using Front Load Washers

Front load washing machines provide superior wash results compared to top load machines. They allow clothes to remain newer looking for a longer period of time, and save energy in the form of reduced water, detergent and electricity consumption.

• Sorting and loading the clothes correctly will provide the best results when used with a detergent approved for "HE" High Efficiency washers.
• Separate clothes that shed lint (chenille and terrycloth) from clothes that attract lint (synthetics, corduroy, velveteen).
• Pilling, which can look like lint, is produced by normal wear on cotton/polyester blend fabrics. To reduce pilling, wash these fabrics inside out, using the delicate wash cycle.
• To prevent "yellowing" of whites, use the hottest recommended temperature for each type of load.
• Retain the dark or bright colors by washing in cool or cold water.
• Read the labels on the clothing for recommended wash cycles, a simple but often overlooked tip.