DIY Troubleshooting

There are many things on appliances that you might be able to fix yourself. The trick is to know what you need to fix. Luckily, that could be an easy fix.

Find out the make and model of your appliance. Once you have that, look up the owner's manual for it. There is almost certainly a section on troubleshooting in the manual.

Follow the steps to determine the error code, and look up the problem online. If its a bit more complicated than you'd like to handle, just give us a call and we can work with you on fixing your appliance!

Ignition Lighting?

Gas powered appliances depend on some sort of ignition process in order to work.

Often times these igniters can get covered with soot and buildup.

If your appliance isn't working, you might just need to clean the igniter. Regardless, once a months its a good idea to check on the igniter to see if it needs cleaning.

The Dollar Test

Refrigerators work hard, and often they work harder than they have to. The seals on fridges often wears out, leaving the cold air the ability to escape.

A good test to see if you need to replace this seal is the dollar test.

The test is simple: take a dollar and close your fridge on it half way in the fridge. If it stays, the seal is fine. If it slips, you need to replace the seal.

a good seal lowers energy bills and keeps your food chilled and ready to eat!

DRYER OVERLOAD!

As a young adult, I went over to my grandmother's house to do my laundry. I didn't want to be an imposition to her, so I tried to stuff the machines to the brim. One day, my grandma walked by the dryer as it was running and heard it "moaning and groaning". He opened it up and found that it was much, much too full to run effectively.

A dryer needs enough space for air to circulate over all the clothes. If you overload it, it ruins the motor, leaves your clothes with a musty or burnt smell, and wastes energy.

Don't clean under you oven's knobs

While we all know a clean oven is a happy oven, you shouldn't clean under the knobs. The knobs to your oven are a part of an electrical system that tells the oven how much to heat it's coils.

When you put water on an electrical system, it could short circuit it, electrocute you, or both.

If a short occurs, then it'll be a service call for us to come out and fix it for you.

If its an electrocution, a hospital trip or funeral would be in your future.

The best plan of action: don't clean under your knobs!

Sure-fire way to ruin your washer

Having laundry the size of Everest in a pretty common thing. The laundry just never seems to end!

You may want to try to pack your washer to get rid of all of it quick. You must resist this temptation! Overloading a washer may cause flooding and may ruin your motor.

Slow and steady wins the race, and keeps your washer alive!

When was the last time you replaced your water filter?

Your tap water can have more than just water in it. It may have herbicides, pesticides, heavy metals, benzene, and a bad taste to it.

Luckily, there's a very simple method to getting all of this out: Change your water filter. Your water filter needs to be changed every 3-6 months to ensure that it's filtering properly.

When was the last time you changed yours? Is it time?

Condenser Coils

Condenser coils are the coils in the back of the fridge or freezer that cool and condense the refrigerants, which keep your food cool.

When these coils gather dust on them, these coils have to work even harder to remove heat, which means they need to work even harder.

You should clean these coils at least twice a year. Why not clean them this weekend?

Washing Machine Hoses

You should inspect your water hoses to your washing machine at least once a year. Make sure that they're securely connected  and are free of cracks, or bulges.

If there is any damage present, contact us immediately and we'll help you get it fixed before it floods your house!

Freezer Gaskets

With the heat going full force, freezers are working overtime.

If your freezer's gaskets (the rubber seals) have gunk in them, are cracked, or otherwise not working, it could mean that your freezer is sucking energy or slowly thawing your food.

If you need help replacing them, give us a call today!

Looking sharp!

Did you know that garbage disposal blades dull with time? It makes them less effective at chopping up food bits.

One of the easiest ways to keep them sharp is to put ice down the disposal while its running.

This sharpens the blades and keeps them working great!

For an added bonus, throw some lemon down there to keep it smelling fresh!

Don't forget to wash behind your gaskets!

Dust, mold, mildew, and food particles can get stuck in your fridge's gaskets. Your gaskets help keep the cold air in, and if something is preventing a clean seal, it'll make your fridge not work as well.

This is an incredibly easy fix though. All you have to do is get a damp towel or wipe and clean it out!

Odd Tasting Water

Is your water or ice tasting or smelling odd? Chances are that you need to replace your water filter. Ideally, water filters should be changed every 6 months or so. Usually replacing them is easy enough to where you can do it on your own at home. Just look up the manufacturer’s instructions on how to do it.

Tips to make your repair go quicker

There are a couple of things that can make our job helping you a lot easier. Let's go over them!

Brand

Knowing which brand your appliance is helps us narrow down what the problem may be, and how we can correct it. Certain brands operate in certain ways, and if we know which one it is, it makes it that much easier for us to fix it!

Model

Knowing the model further narrows down what the problem may be. Like with brands, certain models tend to wear out in very specific ways.

How to check if your gaskets are good

This is a very simple fix to ensure that your gaskets on your fridge or freezer are still good. Open the door and shut it with a dollar bill in it.
When you try to pull it out, there should be a little tension - you can't just pull it straight out.

The Month of Smells, Week 4: Garbage Disposal

This is the appliance that probably gets the least amount of cleaning, because you never know when to clean it until it is in desperate need. Luckily cleaning it is a piece of cake! Here's the best tips:

• Put citrus peels down the disposal. 
• Plink - a garbage disposal cleaner 
• Don't overload it. Give it stuff it can handle.
• Baking soda and white vinegar 

The Month of Smells, Week 3: Oven

The last 2 weeks have chiefly dealt with appliances that include a water aspect. However, this week's is different; no water included. When cooking in an oven, some smells can linger and can affect future meals cooked in it. There's some very quick and easy ways to try to get those smells to no longer linger.

• Fill a baking dish with an inch of water and put vanilla extract in it and turn your oven on low heat, while checking on it periodically
• Bake a citrus peel (orange, lemon, lime, etc)
• Fill a baking dish with lemon juice and turn your oven on low heat, while checking on it periodically
• Fill a baking dish with white vinegar and turn your oven on low heat, while checking on it periodically
• Scrub everything with a mixture of baking soda and white vinegar

The Month of Smells, Week 2: Dishwasher

When you pull your dishes out of the dishwasher, you expect them to be rather smell-free or even have a slight pleasent scent. However, if your dishwasher is in need of cleaning, you may be assaulted by a wave smells from mold and/or mildew. Luckily there are some tell-tale places that these smells come from that are easy to clean!

The screen

In the bottom of the dishwasher there should be a cylindrical screen, and it may or may not have a cap on it. Remove this and clean any gunk out of it.

The arms

The thing that spins around and sprays water - that's what we're focused on. Food particles may get stuck on, in, or around the arms. Give these a good scrub!

The seal

Food bits can get stuck under the seal of the door. Wipe these down, but be careful not to break it!

What We Do

Besides being the best appliance repair service in the Treasure Valley, we also sell a variety of top quality appliances that come with a warranty and a lifetime service agreement. Here are some examples of what we sell:

washers

dryers

washer and dryer sets

top-down fridges

side-by-side fridges

freezers

ovens

If you're in need of any of these, come into our store to get the best deal in the valley!

Calibrate Your Oven

A properly calibrated oven is important for baking your food perfectly. An oven that isn't calibrated can over or undercook your food and cost you money and the loss of a great meal.

The first step is to get an oven thermometer. This one on amazon is just over $5. You will use this to determine how accurate your oven's internal thermometer is.

Place the thermometer you bought from amazon in the center of the oven, and turn your oven onto 350 degrees. Give your oven plenty of time to pre-heat. Once it is pre-heated, check to see what the thermometer says inside. After that, move the thermometer around the oven and see if there are pockets that are hotter or colder. If it's accurate, it might just be you burning those cookies!

If your oven's temperature is off, give us a call! We'll fix it right up for you. Contact us at 208-385-9074, or come see us at 530 N Orchard St, Boise, ID 83706!