Make Your Appliances Last: 3TV Segment

It may not the most glamorous of tasks but cleaning your appliances is still a worthwhile endeavor. Routine home maintenance can mean the difference between spending a few dollars on preventative measures to thousands of dollars in costly repairs if something breaks. Steve Higgins, our VP of Field Services, shows us simple tasks that you can do at home to keep your appliances in shape.

Show Transcript
3TV
KTVK 01/24/2017 09:55:57 AM

Lina: Good morning! I have to confess to you — you said that this sounds boring. No. I’m telling you — it is the most exciting thing I have seen in an age. We’re going to get to that part in a second, but I want to introduce you to Steve Higgins with Platinum Home Warranty. You have some amazing tricks for us. Scott was saying he had no idea we are supposed to clean our appliances… I mean, he’s a guy. We know that we’re cleaning the inside of the refrigerator, right? We’re cleaning the front of it, but you’re saying there’s something else we need to pay attention to.

Steve: The seals around here need to be cleaned, probably twice a year. Just get all the gunk so it makes a good seal around here. So, clean both that and the inside here.

Lina: And that’s going to keep us from…

Steve: Losing energy, right. The unit will just run more and more. And a lot of people don’t know that half full or full refrigerator is better than an empty refrigerator. Empty uses more electricity than half full or full refrigerator.

Lina: Cha-ching. We’re already saving you some money. And, you should also do that with your dishwasher seal as well. We’re going to save you more money when it comes to the air filters. So, you probably think — you know what — I’m going to spend a little more. Get a better air filter. That is not what we want to do.

Steve: It’s not the case. No. We want to actually let it breathe. So these cheap filters that are sold in the big box stores. Change them once a month. They’re actually better for the utility consumption, than it is for these heavier ones.

Lina: Right, because all the air is going to push through this, and that’s going to take more energy.

Steve: Correct. The motor runs faster, runs harder to get the air through the filter.

Lina: Okay, so cheaper filters.

Steve: Right. Or you can use the one you can wash out. You cut it to fit, then pull it out when it’s dirty, and wash it off, let it try, put it back in.

Lina: And no matter which one you use though, we should be doing that once a month. One of my friends said — you know whenever you make your mortgage payment, do it then. Right? So you keep on schedule. Here’s the most exciting thing. And it doesn’t sound exciting, but we’re talking about cleaning out your garbage disposal and your drain.

Steve: Correct. When you get that smell in the house, just take time — you can use the home remedy one, which is a little lemon, the ice and the baking soda. Chop it up. Run it with warm water, and flush it down the disposal. Or, the big box stores sell these packs of ten. You can take the little orange ball. Just throw it in there. Let it run with hot water, and it will take the smell out too.

Lina: So, we’ve got a little less than a minute left, so let’s show the garbage disposal.

Steve: The disposal — when it clogs, it clogs because of the disk. There’s stuff jammed on the side. The tool that everybody thought the plumber left is really just to unclog this disposal. You can see how you can turn it and unclog it manually.

Lina: Easy and cheap. But guys, I have to tell you this — so at the box stores, this sucker right here — the pipethon is three bucks. This is what you use to get all of the dirty, nasty, gunky hair out of your drain, and it comes with a little bag — a disgusting bag we’re calling it — so that you don’t have to touch all the gunk. You guys. Thank you so much. We gotta go get these after the show. Alright guys, I’m going to send it back to you.